Our cars
FIRST REPORT What’s our reigning Car of the Year like to run day in, day out?
Updates on Land Rover Discovery, Ford Edge and Peugeot 3008
THE new Land Rover Discovery impressed us so much on test that we gave it the ultimate accolade – our 2017 Car of the Year Award. Now it’s time to put it through an even bigger challenge – everyday life with my family.
Our Td6 HSE Luxury model joined us in September as a used car – first registered on 1 January 2017, and with 10,000 miles on the clock. At that age and mileage it would have been on a Land Rover forecourt at around £60,000 – not a bad return on a car that lists at £66,595 new, or £76,400 with the plethora of options fitted to my car.
So is the Discovery living up to its billing as Car of the Year? Well, mostly. We’d be lying if we said the car had been trouble-free (more of that in a bit), but by and large the abilities that impressed us first time out still hold true.
It’s a big car – fine for me, with my need to carry five adults and a dog regularly. And seats six and seven that rise majestically out of the boot at the touch of a button are put to good use to avoid the need for two cars when friends or family are around.
It’s also a heavy car; when I visited our sister title evo recently, I slipped it on to its scales and it registered a whopping 2,517kg (without me inside), which may explain the average economy of 32mpg. That’s not too far from the claimed average of 39.2mpg, but given the 8,600 miles I’ve covered in a little over three months have been mostly on the motorway, I’d hoped for a little better.
However, the number of miles my car has racked up in such a short space of time is an indication of what a pleasure it is to drive and be in.
It rides well on pretty much every surface, while it’s also eerily quiet, especially at 70mph. And thanks to the elevated driving position, you get a good view of corners, so it’s easier to drive around town than you might expect.
Part of the Discovery’s appeal has always been the thoughtful touches that make it so easy to live with – and this latest model is no different. I’m always impressed by how the driving position is spot on – including armrests in just the right places – and there are numerous handy cubbies and a fridge in between the front seats (although it would be handy if it could have reminded me that my daughter had put a salad in there and forgotten about it).
In seven-seat form the Disco has 258 litres of luggage space. This rises to 1,137 litres with the rearmost seats folded down, so it’s one of the most practical cars on our test fleet. The boot opening is huge, too, which means we’ve been impressed so far with the Land Rover’s real-world practicality.
I’m not a fan of the fold-down section in the boot that just seems to get in the way (a pointless nod to the split tailgate in the old model), but the bigger problem is that the powered boot door is temperamental. We’ve also had issues with the infotainment system that decides to power itself down on occasion. It’s not the greatest set-up in the world anyway, with dated graphics and tediously slow reactions to inputs. But when it decides to say goodbye to a Bluetooth connection mid-phone call, it’s had me shouting at it. And in spite of trying two different SIM cards, I haven’t yet get the Discovery’s connected services to work, either.
The car’s been into a dealer once for an Adblue top-up to the exhaust system (at £29), but staff failed to improve the infotainment or cancel the erroneous service light that was showing. So another trip back to the garage will be required soon.
It’s a shame that we’ve already had problems with the Discovery, but its wide range of talents does continue to impress anyone who drives it. Whether it’s heading to the local dump or off on a long-distance road trip, the Land Rover is proving a big hit with us so far.
“The number of miles my car has covered in such a short space of time is an indication of what a pleasure it is to drive”