seats via the front touchscreen or an
app. I’m sold on the standard heated
steering wheel, though, which did
not feel like a bourgeois affectation
at -4ºC this morning.
Another £5660 of options brings
the total cost up to £76,065, which
nudges up towards the entry price
of the Range Rover that my Disco,
with its many screens and fancy
tan interior, now resembles. Asking
for another £850 for metallic paint
(Corris Grey in this case) seems a
bit cheeky. The optional (£2120)
22-inch rims aren’t shown: Land
Rover offers a ‘tyre hotel’ scheme for
owners who want to swap between
summers and winters, so I hadthe car delivered on proper Pirelli
Scorpion 3PMSF winter tyres on
21-inch rims.
The summer 22s may not be a
good idea. This car lives on a farm,
not a Fulham side street, and having
destroyed two of the Mercedes’
wheels in potholes on West Sussex
roads I was looking forward to the
protection afforded by the higher
aspect ratio of typical SUV tyres.
The 20s on the Td6 I borrowed
offered deep sidewalls and produced
a fine ride, but the standard
Pirelli mud-and-snow rubber
understeered and got the ABS firing
early. In cold but not icy conditions
the Scorpions seem to generatemore grip but less feel: I’ll give them
a proper test in the Alps soon.
The promised versatility is
already apparent, though. On
day two the Disco swallowed a
fridge and a large sack truck with
its middle-row seats still upright.
And while powered folding seats
might seem less than macho, it’s
incredibly convenient to drop them
all at once with a switch in the boot,
and open up that vast 2406-litre
loadbay. The spec may be fancy, but
I already suspect that this Discovery
won’t need the distant or perilous
locations where I used its forebears
to prove its worth.
@thebenoliver126 CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK | APRIL 2019
While powered
folding seats
might seem less
than macho, it’s
very convenient
to drop them all
with a switchOPTIONAL
OMNISCIENCE ▼
The Driver Assistance
package is a £950 option
even on the top spec,
but can spot risks before
they’ve even exited the
McDonald’s car park. Rear
Traffic Monitor has already
proved useful.▼ GLASS CEILING
Panoramic roof on HSE
trim is a very good thing:
adding opening function
with Luxury trim seems
unnecessary, unless you’re
planning to use Disco to
bag big game. Privacy glass
a £400 option and now
mandatory in London.▲ TOW CURLING
The Disco’s a long car, so
the retractable tow-hook
that unfurls electrically from
under the rear valance may
be £1005 well spent – only
£290 more than the fixed
version that extends this car
to Queen Mary length.TAN MY HIDE ▲
Tan leather is a no-cost
option, and charcoal oak
veneer is £370. They look
good but feel more Range
Rover than Discovery. Pale
leather interior versus
farm life, dirty bicycles and
nauseous children seems
an unfair fight.INNERVISIONS ▲
HSE Lux gets rear screens
as standard. Worried about
their eventual obsolescence:
wouldn’t tablet holders
make more sense? Kids
totally sold on them already
though, and I’m sold on
ability to listen to 6 Music
undisturbed in the front.Sam Chick