VEHICLE REVIEW
A worthwhile
discovery?
The new Land Rover Discovery follows in the footsteps
of its Range Rover siblings, being constructed from
aluminium. Eamonn Wall samples the £64,000 top-of-the-range version to see if it is a worthy replacement for the
ever-popular Discovery 4.56 MAY 20 18 FORESTRYJOURNAL.CO.UKT
HE Discovery and Range Rover have
had an interesting relationship ever
since the first Discovery was launched
almost 30 years ago back in 1989. That
first Discovery Tdi was basically a
re-skinned Range Rover with an aluminium
body sitting on a steel ladder-frame chassis.
It was powered by a four-cylinder 2.5-litre
diesel engine (a petrol V8 was also available),
providing 111 bhp and 200 lb foot of torque,
and was known as the 200 Tdi. It was first
available as a three-door model (with two
additional pop-out, side-facing seats in the
boot), and had a Conran-inspired sonar blue
interior, with a list price of £15,750. At the time,
a Subaru Legacy cost about £13,000.
The fresh new Discovery Tdi was an instant
success story. Five-door and automatic
gearbox models soon followed, as well as
the upgraded 300 Tdi version. The Mk 1
was eventually superseded with the Td5
Mk 2 model, boasting an extended boot to
allow for forward-facing seats in the boot. Its
2.5-litre five-cylinder engine had 140 bhp and
continued to allow the Discovery to tow 3.5
tonnes for a braked trailer. The new engine
sounded great at tick over, but got noisy when
revved hard, but most of the time it was a
good engine and worked best with a manual
gearbox. The two-seater commercial versions
are still very popular.
Time moved on and the new Discovery 3
was launched in 2006. The first Range Rover
Sport was based on the Discovery 3. This
all-new design featured a steel monocoque
body with a separate steel chassis stuck on.
It made the vehicle heavy (2,550 kg – about
the same as a Mercedes G Class), but a
great all-rounder. Its new 2.7-litre V6 diesel
engine (built by Ford and used in the
original Jaguar XF and Citroën
C6), was very smooth and
had an output of 180 bhp
(not enough), and it cost
upwards of £27,000.
The Discovery 3
introduced the split
tailgate, which is
an excellent perch
for lunch when out
surveying but does
make it more difficult
to reach into the back
of the boot. It also
heralded the introduction
of Terrain Response and full
air suspension. Even though the
Discovery 3 was an excellent vehicle,
it was the revised version, known as the
Discovery 4, that really saw sales take off.
The bold looks of the Discovery 3, with
its not always popular slab-like dashboard,
were refreshed with a front grille, copying
that of the Freelander 2. Black wheel arch
mouldings were now body-coloured, a new
interior dashboard was introduced, along
with the more powerful 3-litre twin turbo V6diesel engine producing 245 bhp
and massive torque, combined
with the smooth-changing
ZF six-speed automatic
gearbox. A manual
gearbox was available
on the Discovery 3, but
only automatics were
on offer on the 4. The
Discovery 4 became
just Discovery for the
last few years of its life.
Power was increased to 25 4
bhp and combined with an
eight-speed gearbox with rotary
controller and fresh grille design.
The Discovery 4 is often referred to as
the ‘Swiss army knife’ of cars for its breadth
of capabilities, with its excellent off-roading
ability combined with a very quiet interior,
lovely dashboard, 3.5-tonne towing capacity,
seven seats, a lovely-sounding, smooth-revving
V6 diesel combined with the great ZF eight-
speed gearbox, but most importantly, a large
boot and a huge space when the back seats
are folded flat. It is a very quiet and refinedcar, great for long journeys but perhaps
slightly unwieldy if driving too hard on twisty
country roads. The asymmetric tailgate is very
useful and when parked on slopes you do not
have side-hinged rear doors slamming shut.
As with estate cars’ top-hinged rear doors, the
top door of the tailgate provides protection
from the rain when sitting on the lower door.
The Discovery 4 has also proven to be a very
reliable vehicle; I have run two up to 100k
miles with no issues.
If I was going to improve the Discovery
4, I would suggest replacing the rotary gear
selector with a normal gear stick (as used
in the Range Rover Sport) which is much
easier to use, removing the auto-stop on the
engine, which can cut the engine when you
are doing a three-point turn (you can turn it off
but a large warning light comes on the dash
in front of you), reduce wind noise (which on
the motorway is a feature) and improve the
handling and fuel economy. I would keep
most of it as it is, including the tailgate and
analogue clock on the dashboard (useful when
you do not have your reading glasses on).
Having worked my way through all theFront-seat room more spacious
than before – dashboard echoes
Range Rover.Electric folding rear-seat ledge.