Need a car that’s enormously practical, extremely luxurious and amazing off road? Then the Land Rover Discovery has you covered.
Seven seats, a gargantuan boot and endless off-trail capability are among its many talents. Land Rover updated the Discovery last year, with improved driving dynamics, new engines and better technology.
I spent a week with the SE R-Dynamic D250 version of the Discovery. With a price tag of £59,605 it sits at the more affordable end of the range.
The entry point for a Discovery is around £55,000 and you can pay north of £75,000 for one without touching the options list.
It came with Land Rover’s very capable 3.0 litre diesel engine paired with the now-ubiquitous mild hybrid technology.
Comfort and space
With 249hp and 570Nm of torque it’s no slouch. Getting to 60mph takes just 7.6 seconds. Drive carefully and you’ll get around 33mpg, which isn’t bad at all for such a huge car.
The Discovery’s cabin is a very pleasant place to be no matter which seat you’re in. The front and middle rows have all the leg and headroom you could want.
And while very tall people might not want to sit in the third row, seats six and seven can hold average sized adults in comfort. That’s something not many seven seaters can manage.
Generous interior proportions
With all seven seats in use there’s 258 litres of boot space. Most people will only use the rearmost seats occasionally, however.
In five-seat mode there’s an amazing 1,137 litres. Drop the second row and that more than doubles to 2,406 litres. I managed to fit a three-seater Chesterfield sofa in my test car, saving myself a chunk on van hire.
The fifth generation Discovery’s looks have been divisive since it was launched more than half a decade ago. Time has improved my opinion of it, but the rear end is still all wrong.
The Defender and Range Rover have proved Land Rover can design fabulous looking vehicles when it wants to.
Adept and smooth suspension
None of that matters when you’re driving, though. Here the Discovery is excellent. Its mighty suspension is as adept at smoothing out potholes and speedbumps as it as clambering over rocks or along stream beds.
Take it up to 70mph and it’s as quiet and comfortable as a luxury saloon. After a drive to the west coast and back I emerged feeling as fresh as after a morning sitting on my living room sofa.
Despite weighing nearly 2.5 tonnes it handles very well indeed. Grip is excellent and although the tall sided body will lean you need to be cornering very hard indeed to make it do so.
Only BMW’s superbly dynamic X5 is clearly better when it comes to handling – and it can’t do half of what the Discovery can off road.
It will do anything you ask of it off road. And it’s classy enough to look good on any driveway
I didn’t take the Discovery off road this time but I’ve driven it extensively at the Land Rover Experience in Dunkeld. It is monstrously capable, able to wade through water nearly a metre deep.
Even the centre’s notorious rock crawl, in the middle of the Highland Perthshire forests, was taken in its stride.
A luxurious drive
Not everyone will want a car as big as the Discovery. It’s almost five metres long and 1.9 metres tall.
Not everyone will be able to afford one either. But if you do want a car this size and can afford it you’ll be buying one of the most impressive all round cars there is.
It will do anything you ask of it off road. It’s luxurious and comfortable enough to cross continents in. It can swallow a whole family, all their luggage and the dog. And it’s classy enough to look good on any driveway.
The Facts
Model: Land Rover Discovery
Price: £59,605
0-60mph: 7.6 seconds
Top speed: 120mph
Economy: 33.9mpg
CO2 emissions: 218g/km
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