“Can I afford a second-hand one in ten years time? And how does it perform off road?"
The Discovery has been a part of Land Rover’s family for over a quarter of a century and in that time they have sold an incredible 1.2 million of the much-loved, family-friendly vehicles. In March 2017 the Land Rover Discovery landscape will dramatically change with the UK launch of the fifth generation Discovery. I use the word ‘dramatically’ because if you put a Discovery 1 next to the all-new Discovery you will need a paternity test to prove that they are from the same Land Rover model lineage.
The writing was already on the wall in 2014 when we first got a glimpse of what the future held for the popular Discovery family, with the showcasing of the Discovery Vision Concept at the New York Auto Show in 2014. It was clearly a new era in Discovery design.
In the run-up to the big launch, the Land Rover marketing team has fed us morsels of info on what it will be like. They got Land Rover Ambassador Bear Grylls to jump out of a plane and, while in the sky, he used the Incontrol Remote app on his smartphone to set the seat position of an all-new Discovery. Land Rover calls this Intelligent Seat Fold Technology and brings all-new Discovery owners the option of adjusting their seats from anywhere in the world. Many might call that overkill.
Then, the night before the 2016 Paris Motor Show great reveal of the all-new Discovery, there was a local live reveal at the Packington Hall, Warwickshire. Just to make sure it was a not-to-be-forgotten event, the reveal was done on and around a new world record 13-metre high LEGO version of London’s Tower Bridge.
This is a big deal for Land Rover and on paper the new Disco sounds almost too good to be true. For a start, it’s almost half a tonne lighter thanks to its tough, aluminium monocoque construction. Despite this, it can still tow anything up to 3500 kg, so caravanners are going to love it. Last issue, Steve Fowler put the all-new Discovery’s Advanced Tow Assist (available at an extra cost) to the test while at the LA Auto Show, and gave it the system the thumbs up.
The impressive specification list just goes on and on. The all-new Discovery has an astonishing 2,406 litres of storage, while the front two passengers can enjoy an increase of 65% in storage space from the outgoing Discovery 4 model. Then, if you do happen to venture far away from home in your all-new Discovery, you’ll always be connected; it has four 12V sockets and up to nine USB charging points. The hidden storage area below the cup
holders can hold four ipads (wasted on me; I have only one ipad and my son is always using it). I could entertain you with several paragraphs of impressive press release data about the all-new Discovery but that is not what this story is about. We already know what it is going to cost and which engines will be under the bonnet. But as a Land Rover enthusiast, there are only two things that I worry about whenever a new model is launched: will I be able to fix it myself when eventually I can afford a second-hand one in, say, ten years time?; and how does it perform off road?
The chaps down at my local Land Rover garage told me the other day that if you are thinking of owning a Discovery 3, make sure you have at least £1000 set aside for the next service. That might be a financial bridge too far for the average enthusiast like myself. I suppose in a decade from now that amount might have risen to about £3000 when you take a fifth generation Discovery for a service with all its new technologies and intricate systems.
We know that 99.99 per cent of owners of a brand-new Discovery will never take it off-road. In their second life, though, a much larger percentage of those same cars, in the hands of enthusiasts, ply the greenlanes. And that is really what this article is about; will it cut it in the mud, ruts and rocks? To find out, I headed up to the Atholl Estate, about 90 minutes north of Edinburgh, for an exclusive (if short) off-road-only drive of Prototype number 000138.
In the few weeks before this off-road test drive, I was driving an auto Discovery 1. The one thing I absolutely adore about driving any Discovery is the truck-driver view from that lofty driving position; apparently termed the ‘Command’ driving position.
I don’t want to get involved in a slanging match about the design and look of the all-new Discovery but it definitely looks more car-like than the preceding models. Not only that, it also looks like some of the other current Land Rover models. Maybe this is why I did not feel the Command driving position I so love when I climbed into it. It almost felt as if it belongs on a test track and not on the trails. Remember, it is longer (4970mm), wider (2073mm) and lower (36mm) than a Discovery 4. In his attempt to make the Discovery more universally appealing, Chief Designer Gerry Mcgovern may have forced a few Discovery enthusiasts to jump ship.
Statistically speaking, the all-new Discovery has to be the most capable Discovery ever produced by Land Rover. The roof may be 36mm lower but it has 43mm more ground clearance than the outgoing Discovery 4. It also has 500mm of wheel articulation, which is right up there with the current Range Rover’s 597mm. As this was Scotland in the rainy season, there would be water crossings, so the 200mm increase in the wading depth to 900mm was definitely going to come in very handy.
One feature of modern Land Rovers is that their host of off-road technologies make tough off-roading a doddle, making the difficult decisions for you. The all-new Discovery is no different, thanks to the wonderful system they call Terrain Response 2; the old Terrain Response on amphetamines. So, how does it work when set to ‘Auto’? The various sensors decide what type of terrain it is on and it then uses feedback algorithms to decide what setting would be best for that specific terrain. When I set off on our drive, the system was in Auto mode, so all I had to do was point the vehicle in the right direction and apply throttle. Later I would get a chance to manually select more of the five available options on the Terrain Response 2.
According to the Land Rover Experience instructor all I had to do was follow the Defender in front of me – a vehicle with proper mud-bias tyres. All I had were standard road-bias tyres on fancy 21-inch wheels. Hardly ideal when driving off-road on a wet day in Scotland.
Initially the track was no worse than a farmer’s driveway but soon it got a little bumpy. The Defender bobbed about like a buoy in the Irish Sea on a stormy day. Thanks to the Disco’s wonderful four-corner air suspension system, it felt like we were dawdling down the straight at
Silverstone. One of my biggest bugbears with the Discovery 3 and 4 was that, in the raised off-road mode, you could not go over 30mph without the suspension dropping to the standard ride height.
Anyone who does loads of off-roading knows this can be a disadvantage, especially if you have a lot of distance to cover on a rough off-road section where you need the raised ride height but can still safely drive faster than 30mph.
Land Rover has listened to its customers. The all-new Discovery has an off-road mode which varies between two heights, depending on your speed, of course. Keep your speed below 31mph and you will be able to stay +75mm above the regular ride height. If you drive between 31mph and 50mph then it drops to +40mm above the regular ride height, which is definitely much better than before.
After edging our way through the forest in Range Rover-like comfort we arrived at the first real challenge for the Discovery; a wet, boulder-strewn, tough-looking incline. Instructions came over the radio from the Defender: “You might want to raise the ride height. Put it in low range and Rock Crawl mode.” I could not believe that we were going to be driving up that rock wall in the rain with standard tyres. We were certainly going to need every millimetre of ground clearance. Having changed the settings, I cautiously edged the Discovery forward, despite the fact that some of the rocks were bigger than Piers Morgan’s ego. It somehow crawled over them. I could hear the tyres slipping but we continued to climb. It was nothing short of incredible. Once we got to the top I stopped to climb out and inspect the rocky incline we had just come up. I was gobsmacked.
With the light fading fast we headed into some deep ruts which, thanks to the rain, were filled with mud. The Terrain Response 2 knob was turned across to Mud and Ruts. Despite our road bias tyres the obstacle was no challenge for the Discovery. In fact, it made it look and feel ridiculously easy. It was like driving on the M1. So far, so good then.
While driving over a slight side slope I allowed myself a look at the Incontrol Touch Pro infotainment system’s 10inch screen. The screen can now show the pitch and roll angles; such useful info for when you are trying a tricky illegal parking manoeuvre in Chelsea…
Our final big obstacle of the day was a 900mm deep water crossing. Sadly, the infotainment screen had frozen so I could not use the Wade Sensing function to confirm the depth of the water. These things happen when you are in a prototype. The filthy water looked and felt deep, but once again the six-cylinder Td6 barely broke a sweat as we powered through this melted chocolate. Once out of the water, I took it out of low range and once again engaged the Auto option on the Terrain Response 2.
While travelling along the non-technical gravel tracks back to where we started, I reflected on what we had just done. While enthusiasts have not been shy to take to social media and make their feelings known on the all-new Discovery, not one of them has ever driven it off-road.
To me, the true measure of Land Rover greatness is how it performs off-road. That is what makes it a worthy recipient of that little green oval. The all-new Discovery is by far the most capable Discovery I have ever driven. Even in just half an hour, it became plain that Land Rover has not forgotten its heritage. It may have bowed to fashion, but where it counts, the Discovery is still a Discovery.
I’d go further; the fifth generation Disco kicks other Discoverys into the weeds. And when it comes to interior luxury, storage space, size of the third row seating, charging points and infotainment system, it’s a league above. That’s probably why the Land Rover order books are already full.
The only problem I have with it is that it does not look like a Discovery as I know it, but hats off to JLR. It’s not just another SUV pretender.