APRIL 2019 | CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK 125Everything,
and then some
Our new top-spec Discovery promises the moon
on an electronically-controlled stick. By Ben Oliver
I’ve been lucky enough to have used
various versions of the Land Rover
Discovery in some remote and
difficult parts of the world, from
southern Africa to the Arctic. But I
haven’t spent much time in a Dis-
covery in the UK, and it wasn’t until
I got this one that I noticed how
many there are on British roads. I
mean, they’re EVERYWHERE, and
particularly outside Waitrose.
This is the Discovery’s 30th
anniversary, and it hit one million
sales as long ago as 2012. The
Discovery is the Land Rover that
makes most sense for most buyers:
it has more off-road ability than
the Defender but infinitely better
road manners, and 80 per cent of
the image and luxury of the RangeRover at 60 per cent of the entry
price. In an increasingly crowded
range, Land Rover defines the Disco
and Disco Sport as the ‘versatile’
ones, and for once it’s not marketing
bullshit. With seven proper seats
and a hangar of a boot it replaces
both my Mercedes E-Class All
Terrain and a Renault Grand Scenic
that performed van/bus duties.
Mine is the new 302bhp 3.0-litre
Sd6 diesel; four-pot petrol and
diesels are also available. While
it was being readied, Land Rover
loaned me a Disco with the 254bhp
Td6 engine that mine replaces.
A bunch of detailed revisions
give the twin-turbo V6 the extra
power, another 74lb ft of torque
and palpably greater refinement
and urge. Fuel efficiency stands
at an official 36.2mpg, with CO2
emissions of 206g/km.
The loaner Td6 was in HSE
trim, which brings the desirable
panoramic roof, powered third-row
seats (all grades get three rows) and
adaptive cruise. This might well be
the specification sweet spot. With
the second-smallest rims, mur-
dered-out black finishing kit, plain
black cabin, fixed tow-hook and a
permanent layer of filth I thought it
looked great, and the very opposite
of school-run specification.
But my Sd6 has arrived in top
HSE Luxury trim, costing an
extra £5200 over an HSE with the
same engine. I don’t think I’d have
ordered my own this way. The
Luxury adds the Terrain Response
2 system, which is worth having,
but I’ll be examining the value of
the other Luxury additions: chiefly
the opening sunroof, rear-seat
entertainment and Intelligent Seat
Fold, which lets you configure the ⊲APRIL 2019 | CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK 125Hello
Land Rover Discovery
Sd6 HSE Luxury
Month 1The story so far
30th anniversary year for the
Discovery; we’ll be testing the
diesel V6 in town and country,
up Alps and down Dales
+Seven seats and a big boot- This one is almost the price of
a Range Rover
Price £70,405 (£76,065 as
tested) Performance 2993cc
turbodiesel V6, 302bhp, 7.5sec
0-62mph, 130mph Efficiency
36.2 mpg (official), 26.5mpg
(tested), 206g/km CO2 Energy
cost 22.4p per mile Miles this
month 396 Total miles 1964Logbook