think of the Discovery sport as a scaled-down version of the full-fat Land
Rover Discovery it has many of the same highlights and off-road prowess of its
big brother but costs a lot less to buy in fact it’s currently the cheapest way
to get a brand-new Land Rover on your driveway although the Discovery sport is based on
the Range Rover Evoque it has more of a family-friendly interior and the option
of 7 seats and those are two of the reasons why it’s one of our favorite
Premium SUVs even in the face of stiff competition from the Audi q5 and BMW x3
it’s the Discovery sport just a scaled-down Discovery though or is it a
worthy alternative in this video review will reveal the answer engine choice is
limited to a 2-liter diesel with either 148 brake horsepower or 178 brake
horsepower the less powerful one does feel a little bit sluggish so we’d go
for the beefier one coupled with the 9 speed automatic gearbox for the right
blend of performance and economy the ride is smooth at high speeds and only
jostles you about a bit over broken road surfaces around town mind you that only
applies to the standard 18-inch rims because if you go for the more expensive
20-inch rims right teary eights considerably there’s a fair amount of
roll in the corners making the Discovery sport a less sporty choice than an Audi
q5 or Jaguar F pace that said the Discovery sport holds the road well and
has reassuringly precise steering so you always feel confident and in control
it’s refined too and emits far less clutter than a bmw x3 you will notice a
little bit of road noise on the motorway but it’s only really the Audi q5 that
has a more hushed interior if you plan on venturing away from the tarmac then
rest assured that the Discovery sport is better off-road than just about anything
else in this price bracket people of all shapes and sizes should be able to get
comfortable in the Discovery Sports wide seats and you can use the lid of the
central cubby as an armrest although not if you’re my height because by the time
you’ve put the seat forwards unfortunately the armrest is a little
too far away and if you’re going for a lower spec model make sure you go for
the optional adjustable lumbar support because without it there’s not really
enough lower back support the dashboard has logically placed well marked
switches and the rotary dials are simple and easy to use front visibility is
excellent unfortunately though the large rear pillars do create quite a large
blind spot and this is something to watch out for if you haven’t gone for
the optional extra blind spot monitoring system it’s easy to use the home menu
and jump between functions but the eight-inch touchscreen is a little slow
to respond and some functions such as
programming the sat-nav or changing radio stations a little convoluted if
you go for the in-control touch pro that gets you a 10 inch touchscreen which is
this one here some extra apps and
improved functionality sat-nav is very good but I still find the radio station
a bit of an issue because yes you can click on find and scroll through all of
the list of radio stations but that is a little bit tricky if you’re driving so
you want to do it on the steering wheel and then you can only flick between your
favourites and there’s no rotary dial
like in the BMW x3 so that’s its only downfall though because other than that
I would say it is much better than the 8-inch so if you want to splash out that
the one to go for now the next task is to pair my mobile phone tap to connect
phone okay I’m teasing I have already done it but my phone has forgotten Land
Rover so we’ll start again add new
device and then switch the Bluetooth on and I can see it Land Rover Discovery
sport pair with Rebecca’s phone yes brilliant let’s see how easy it is to
set a destination into the sat-nav ok let’s see if we can put in the home
postcode let’s go somewhere in reading our gt1 I have no idea where that is I
completely just made it up and by the looks of things go start excellent up
front there’s plenty of head and leg room and there’s a deep central cubby
box with USB port making it an ideal place to store your mobile phone and healthy snacks
providing you slide the second round seats as far back as they go there’s
plenty of room for adults in here and
the rear most pair of seats is slightlytricky to get to and when here there’s not an awful lot
of room so you want to be a small child because an adult traveling in the seats
will be quite uncomfortable and when
they’re not in use you simply fold them into the floor like so virtually with
one hand and same to pick them up but I’m going to fold them down and show you
how much space there is because the
Discovery sport in five seater guys has one of the biggest boots in its class
and it comes with a power tailgate a standard on all but the cheapest SE trim
compared to its German rivals the Discovery sport is competitively priced
especially when you consider it’s difficult to get a car this size with
seven seats if you’re less bad conscious you can go for a larger seven seater
such as a Kia Sorento or Hyundai Santa Fe and against these mainstream rivals
it does look quite pricey in the Land Rover’s defense though it will hold on
to its residual values a lot better than these you don’t have to splash out to
get a decent level of equipment either because standard kit across all Discovery sport includes part leather upholstery heated seats and reversing camera that said we reckon HSC trim is
the best value because it gives you electric leather seats a reversing
camera and xenon headlights you shouldn’t think of the Discovery sport as an entry level Land Rover it’s a cleverly packaged.