LAP OF LUXURY

Land Rover Discovery Sport packs in the treats,

Autumn is most definitely here. The weather’s grey, wet and miserable and the threat of having to scrape the car every morning is just around the corner.

Thank goodness, then for cars like the Land Rover Discovery Sport. As well as a fourwheel-drive setup able to tackle the worst our wet and cold roads can throw up our test car also featured a heated front windscreen, heated seats and, most vitally, a heating steering wheel.

Yes, they’re relatively little features but they make the frozen start and slow slog in lousy weather that bit easier to endure.

As do the myriad other luxuries and options fitted to this high-end HSE Luxury model. There are the hugely comfortable seats upholstered in Windsor leather, heated rear seats, automatic dual-zone climate control plus the likes of DAB radio and a 10.2-inch touchscreen with the latest Incontrol system and an integrated TV tuner to keep your passengers entertained.

There’s also the whole cabin ambience. It’s not showy but the panoramic sunroof allows light to flood a classy and spacious interior. In keeping with the solid, tough-looking exterior, the interior is built from heavy, solid materials that look great and feel like they’ll last a lifetime.

The Discovery Sport is unashamedly a car aimed at families and there’s plenty of room for your average brood to spread out in comfort in that well-finished cabin.

Our test car came with the optional third row of seats which fold up at the tug of a strap in the boot. Having those extra seats adds to the flexibility of the Discovery Sport but, like so many seven-seat SUVS of its size, the Land Rover’s are only suitable for the young. It’s not so much legroom, which is average, but about access. Rather than the whole middle row seat tipping forward, here you slide the bench then fold down the seat back, leaving a fairly narrow gap as your only means of entry. It’s fine for agile kids but you won’t be trying to cram granny into the back row, that’s for sure.

At the opposite end and powering the car is a 2.0-litre diesel engine outputting 178bhp and a whopping 317lb/ft. It’s a bit gruff at startup but quiet at cruise and it pulls the Discovery Sport along rapidly for such a large car. It’s mated to a nine-speed automatic gearbox which slightly ruins the overall refined cruiser feel of the car with some clumsy lowspeed shifting.

Despite the Sport badge on the tailgate, this little Discovery isn’t the keenest handling example of the SUV breed. There’s a good weight to the steering but not a huge amount of feedback and there is a touch of lean in fast corners, even with it set in dynamic drive mode. Still, you don’t buy a Land Rover for its sporting abilities but for the more roughty-toughty attributes that lie in the other drive modes.

Previous on-road experience through some minor snowfall wasn’t a tough test for the Terrain Response 4x4 system but nonetheless it did keep me moving along safely and securely on ungritted and uncleared roads. Another, more rigorous off-road experience showed the depth of its 4x4 abilities and, despite its school-run appeal, there’ s no doubting this is a true Land Rover.

So it’s capable, comfortable and well-equipped, where’s the catch? That would be the price. Our test car, which came with every kind of conceivable driver convenience and aid – from adaptive cruise control and a head-up display to park assist and an electrically deployable towbar – was a breathtaking £56,765.

On the plus side, without the tonne of optional extras the still well-equipped HSE Luxury starts at £42,095 and you can get a Discovery Sport for as little as £28,355. On the negative side, once you’ve lived with a heated steering wheel you’ll never want to be without one…