Home News Reviews Land Rover Discovery Sport SE Tech Review and Test Drive

Land Rover Discovery Sport SE Tech Review and Test Drive

When talking to people before the delivery of the Discovery Sport, half of them thought it was a full sized Discovery and the other half thought it was a fast version in the same vein as the Range Rover Sport. When you correct them and say that it’s a replacement for the old Freelander there was usually a note of disappointment. Well this disappointment soon faded once the car arrived and they got a view of what looks like an Evoque on steroids.

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It’s clear to see why Land Rover chose the new name as the Discovery is such an icon in its own right and the Discovery Sport has 90% of the off-roading credentials of its big brother. I had every intention of getting the car in a field, and was even offered a place at a local off-roading venue by TT’s most rigorous Discovery tester, but life managed to get in the way of all that.

I had really wanted to test the off-roading abilities because I was convinced that this was the only reason for getting a Discovery Sport. Why else would you pay a premium for this over the plethora of soft-roaders that are available from other manufacturers? I was wrong….

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Standing next to the Discovery Sport you realise that it has a much classier look than most of its rivals as well as looking more purposeful. The looks are very important as most people will never take the Disco near a field and are instead buying into the lifestyle of owning a Land Rover.

The class leading looks are continued inside where the cabin has a premium air about it with enough little design touches to lift it above the more bland offerings from rivals such as BMW. It’s not a design masterpiece but it’s a nice place to sit and you feel like you are in a premium vehicle.

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The model we were testing was a SE Tech with eight way adjustable seats, panoramic roof, Santorini black contrast roof and rear privacy glass adding £2,220 to the £35,695 base price of the car. This was on top of a decent list of standard items including heated seats and screen, 10 speaker DAB and Bluetooth stereo, eight inch nav screen and powered tailgate.

So, rather than using this comfortable mud plugger off-road and testing the extremes of its abilities, what did we do with it? It was used the way that 99% of buyers will use it – for getting the family from A to B. This initially seemed like a waste of its abilities but after a few days of using it my wife was looking through the classifieds as she had decided this is the car she wants to use every day. She was joined in this opinion by friends, neighbours and family who were all won over by the sweet spot of looks and price of the Disco Sport.

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Family life, not mud plugging. How to really test a Discovery Sport

The Discovery Sport has many of the features and style touches of much more expensive models such as the Range Rover, X5 and XC90 but is also a class above of the offerings from Ford, Mazda, Kia etc. The only problem it might cause for Land Rover is that it steals sales from its big brother, the Discovery, from those that don’t really need its huge bulk. The Discovery Sport even managed to squeeze in seven seats (although don’t try to take any shopping home at the same time as the boot is totally used).

Out on the road the Discovery Sport is a comfortable motorway cruiser and makes light work of the pothole ridden streets found in most of our town centres, thanks in part to its sensible sized 18 inch wheels with chunky tyres. Although the 2.2l diesel engine in this model has now been replaced by JLR’s new 2.0l Ingenium engine, the 420Nm of torque it produces make it effortless to use.

The use of the word “Sport” in the name is a bit misleading as you would normally associate this with a car that’s enjoyable to drive at pace across country roads. This isn’t the case with the Discovery Sport however I’m sure if greenlaning is your sport of choice then it would work wonders.

The only changes that I would make to this car would be to remove the four wheel drive system and knock a few thousand pounds off the price. I know this goes against Land Rover’s whole ethos but it would open the ownership experience up to more people who want the look but don’t need the abilities. Perhaps with the unveiling of the Jaguar F-PACE we will have a car that fits nicely into this gap, even if it’s RWD rather than FWD.

CAR: Land Rover Discovery Sport SE Tech

PRICE: £35,695 (£37,920 as tested) (Lease a Land Rover Discovery Sport)

ENGINE: 2.2L SD4 Diesel, 9 speed auto

POWER: 190PS

TORQUE: 420 Nm

PERFORMANCE: Top speed 117 mph   0-60 mph 8.4 secs

CONSUMPTION: 44.8mpg

CO2: 166 g/km

TT Rating: TT Rating 5

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