Subtle changes but big difference
The new Land Rover Discovery Sport is a lot newer than it might look, writes
Imust admit that the overwhelming feeling I had towards the Land Rover Discovery Sport was . . . nothing, really. It never made me feel much of anything.
It wasn’t as good as a proper Discovery and it wasn’t as stylish as a Range Rover Evoque. It didn’t have a particularly special interior – it was just all right – and it didn’t drive particularly memorably, or have overly-impressive off-road abilities. It simply was.
But it did sell well. Well enough that a second generation was launched – and it seems that Land Rover must have felt a bit the same about the Disco Sport, because it has tried much harder with the new one.
Well, yeah, that’s a bit confusing really, because while the new Disco actually looks like a mild facelift, around 70 per cent of its parts are new, including every body panel apart from the bonnet, roof and tailgate, and it also sits on Land Rover’s all-new C-SUV architecture (that also underpins the new Range Rover Evoque) that is primed for electrification.
From the outside, the changes are subtle, despite the extensively new body panels – there are new headlights with a Discovery daytime running light signature and the rear gains new LED tail-lights with dynamic indicators. A new grille with a lower and wider mouth dominates the front, and the ‘‘visual mass’’ of the car has been pushed further down to exude a sportier look.
While it doesn’t look terribly different, it does actually look better – a more cohesive design that brings it subtly into line with the rest of the family.