Reviewing the Land Rover Discovery ~ Smarter Car Reviews
The Land Rover Discovery is one of the most powerful SUVs on the market with a towing power of up to 3,500kg. With its 3.0-litre V6 diesel, it goes from 0 to 100 in about 9.3 seconds and while not as fast as sports models, is extremely for this heavy cruiser which can carry up to seven people.
The Car
There are of course some compromises with its weight and capacity and the efficiency of the vehicle is not something to shout about. But with its weight and 4 wheel drive capability, you can’t expect anything less than an amazing off-road experience if you choose to take this vehicle off the main driveways.
The standard model is very well equipped too, with air suspension, 19-inch alloy rims, rear parking sensors, cruise control and a premium stereo system. The SE model comes with all this, as well as an eight-speed automatic gearbox, a heated front windscreen and Bluetooth phone connectivity too.
The Drive
The Discovery runs on diesel and automatic gearbox makes driving the Discovery simple and easy and it is surprisingly quiet in the cabin as you drive on open road. It’s an extremely comfortable ride because of the stability that its weight affords you, not to mention the fact that the car remains solidly grounded no matter what kind of terrain you area on. 3 tonnes will kind of do that for you.
However, all that weight gives rise to a number of drawbacks. Unfortunately the Discovery can’t stabilise well at higher speeds because all that weight throws the vehicle out of sorts. The suspension that’s meant to help cushion uneven ground causes the car to teetor when you speed through corners and turns. But the Discovery maintains superb handling and steering, and as long as you don’t try and gun red lights and the like, you should be fine.
In addition, we found the cabin quiet for an off-roading hulk and at the same time giving the 4-wheel drive a dry run in the open totally made us forget about any instability on-road. In particular we like the terrain response option that allows you to tell the car what kind of environment you’re in so that it can adjust itself to help you navigate the terrain.
The Interior
The Discovery gives you an excellent seat for the view of the road and you can most definitely get comfortable there too as you get a lot of flexibilty with you seat adjustment. There are lots of storage spaces inside the cabin too in case you want to look at the Discovery as a family vehicle too. That said, the 7 seats available in the car gives you plenty of space for storage or passengers and with the option of folding down cars too, you can an unrivalled amount of cargo space. Coupled with the Land Rover trademark split-fold tailgate and low loading lip, it’s a breeze to move things in and out of the car.
You can also get some pretty nice upgrades with the more premium models such as leather seats and satellite navigation as well as a better steror system and xenon headlights as well as carpets and parking sensors so we find that it might be nice to splash out a little for those extras if you can.
Overall
The Discovery is a very all-rounded car even as a family car so if you’re looking for a vehicle that can bring you off-road with the family every once in a while though then we don’t think that any other car will perform as well. There may be a bit of an issue with its size if you are in town a lot but besides that, you may want to explore car financing for the Discovery as it can be quite expensive to fuel.
Reviewing the Land Rover Discovery