Land Rover Discovery Sport 2015 Long-term test - 4

Land Rover Discovery Sport SD4 SE
Long-Term Update

Any vehicle from the Land Rover stable should be an accomplished off-roader – that is a given but while the Discovery Sport chews up country roads for breakfast, it is its all-round package that really surprises.

The Discovery Sport has excellent kerb appeal and is clearly a serious SUV rather than fashion statement. While it shares the same underpinnings as its sister the Range Rover Evoque, it’s more conventional styling ensures improved all-round vision, particularly in the rear, and its extra 80mm length delivers larger cabin volume, making this feel very spacious on the inside yet retaining compact exterior dimensions.

The cabin features a combination of trim materials, including Ebony leather, which elevate the Discovery Sport to luxury compact status. The cockpit layout is restrained in its design, with instrument clusters and driver displays easy to read, heating and ventilation controls simple to operate and a large 8.0-inch colour touchscreen housing a quality infotainment system which is intuitive to control.

The driving position is spot on too, benefitting from Land Rover’s Command seating position. As a female driver, once you’ve adjusted seat and steering wheel position, some SUVs can make you feel a little like you’re at the helm of a truck or minibus. With the Discovery Sport, however, the position gives you a car-like driving position, ensuring you can see what’s going on within the cabin – right to third-row with the large door mirrors giving excellent vision all around the vehicle.

Thanks to its compact dimensions, the Discovery Sport doesn't feel unwieldy or awkward to manoeuvre in tight spots. Rear parking sensors and a great reverse camera (standard feature on all Discovery Sport models) combined with fantastic vision from those large door mirrors ensure this is no behemoth in the Coles car park. It’s a shame that front park assist is only offered as an $620 option as it really would enhance nose-in parking, which had me overestimating the length of the bonnet on more than one occasion.

In regular driving conditions on tarmac roads, the Discovery Sport is surprisingly agile. It copes admirably with tight twisty roads, and offers dynamics which are expected from a car but not easy to find in an SUV.

The terrain response function, which adds a simple push button control to switch between driving conditions is perfect for the novice off-roader. Select between Grass/Gravel/Snow, Mud/Ruts or Sand, and the car does the rest. Switch to the 4WD info screen and the touch screen display will feedback to you on how the Disco is handling the current driving conditions.

It’s a good system that offers peace of mind to drivers without much off-road experience. Knowing the car is capable of off-roading is one thing, but having the confidence to take it the beaten track is quite another.

The tyres on the 19-inch optional wheel which is fitted to our long termer are the Continental CrossContact LX Sport. At $415 per tyre, they’ll be an expensive replacement once the time comes, but I’d thoroughly recommend replacing with the same brand as they’re an impressive pairing with the car and seem to meet the needs for a combination of road and light off road driving.

The interior layout of the Discovery Sport is a revelation, offering bags of room for a large family. The second row really is very accommodating, offering good visibility for the 'tweenager' who travels sans booster and our lanky six-footer who had plenty of room behind the his size 27 basketball boots. With so much legroom, it’s refreshing to have the opportunity to not compromise my own driving position by jiggling my seat forward until the teen unit has sufficient accommodation for his footwear.

The third row is really suited to smaller children although the second row does slide forward cleverly to give a little extra leg room. Once the third row seats are engaged, it doesn’t leave a lot of boot space, and the load cover needs to removed from the vehicle entirely as there’s nowhere to stow it once the seats are up.

With the third row seats hidden away, however, there’s plenty of boot space, although practicality is compromised a little as the boot is lined with a thick looped carpet which retains dog hair and dirt and is harder to clean than a more vinyl covering. With the vehicle itself featuring thick rubber mats, it’s a little odd that the boot is not finished in a similarly practical covering. The boot also has a relatively high entry, so smaller dogs and tired medium dogs will need a hand to embark.

Impressively the test vehicle is optioned with a total of seven USB ports – one above the glove box, one in the centre cup holder, another in the centre console, two in the second row and two in the third row. In case that isn’t enough, there are also three 12V sockets.

It is also equipped with DAB+ (digital) radio ($540), Bluetooth audio streaming, an excellent navigation system and offers a range of interactive functions via the colour touch-screen.

Land Rover’s system offers a best-in-class user interface. The system is very easy to navigate through a combination of touchscreen, hard buttons and steering wheel controls

Pairing my iPhone with the car was a very easy process and once paired, the Bluetooth reception was crisp and of very high quality, with contacts easy to access and calls easy to make via the large display.

Satellite navigation is easy to program and pulling data from the installed SD card, offers such quick recalibration I was able to negotiate Melbourne’s pre-Grand Final traffic like a native.

Unfortunately, I cannot recommend the DAB+ radio option as it really showed its shortcomings in a regional setting. While coverage was good in metro Melbourne, availability of stations fell away within around 30km of the city and were sketchy at best in our test area – around 70km from Melbourne.

FM radio reception was also disappointing, I suspect the sharkfin aerial preferred by most European manufacturers just isn’t as good a performer as the conventional aerial style here in rural Australia.

Thank goodness then, for the Bluetooth audio streaming option – 3G data definitely trumps DAB+ for quality and consistency of broadcast in a range of settings. I’d be keen to see a system such as Apple’s Car Play introduced to the Discovery Sport to round out what is an impressive infotainment offering.

As with all luxury cars, the Discovery Sport adds a wide range of surprise and delight features that enhance the ownership experience. It’s those features that set a luxury car apart from a run of the mill vehicle. One such utter delight is the automatic high-beam assist feature which is included within the xenon headlamp pack ($1530) or is a standalone $200 option on the SE models and standard fitment on all HSE models.

When activated, the car will automatically apply the high-beam in night driving conditions, turning the lights off when it senses oncoming traffic. On country roads, this is a welcome function and a great detail that steps the vehicle up a notch within the segment.

Clever storage solutions such as trays under both front seats, a hidey hole under the front cup holder and a curry/handbag hook in the passenger footwell all point to a user-friendly vehicle that understands a driver’s needs. Such features are often missed in the race to the bottom of cost-conscious vehicles but it’s great to see these included in the Discovery Sport as they all add up to create one hell of a package.

2015 Land Rover Discovery Sport SD4 SE pricing and specifications:
Price: $59,000 ($68,206 as-tested, plus on-road costs)
Engine: 2.2-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel
Output: 140kW/420Nm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Fuel: 6.3L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 161g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety Rating: Five-star ANCAP

What we liked:
>> User friendly technology
>> Design and finish
>> Engaging drive

Not so much:
>> Poor DAB & FM radio reception
>> No front park assist
>> Obtrusive transmission