MARK TAKAHASHI:
For three decades
the Land Rover Discovery
has been the go-to choice
for adventurers
around the world,
for it's off-road capabilities.
This time around, it's got a
lot more comfort, a lot more
refinement, and a
lot more luxury.
The question is, has
it lost its edge?
So with this gasoline
V-6, which is actually
my preferred engine,
it's got plenty of punch.
And it gets up to
speed just fine.
Now the diesel, even though
it has a lot of torque,
it doesn't have that much punch.
There's a little bit of
a delay off the line.
And while the diesel
is good for towing
and for off road crawling,
for the on road stuff, which
is where most people are going
to be driving this, maybe not
the best choice.
So with this three
leader supercharge V-6,
has 340 horsepower, 332
pound feet of torque.
It's planning to move this
SUV, which is pretty heavy,
tipping the scales
just over 4,700 pounds.
The tow rating is pretty
generous at 8,200 pounds.
Now it's, meh, you're
not getting close
to pickup truck territory.
But if you're towing a
trailer, that is plenty.
Handling-wise, yes,
it's a tall SUV.
Lots of ground
clearance, so it almost
feels like, you know, you're
at the top of a whip or so.
You know, you're getting
a lot of jostling.
That said, it's
not as bad as you'd
expect considering how
good this is off road.
It's smoothing over a
lot of the undulations
and a lot of the
imperfections in the road.
In that sense, it's
actually really comfortable.
One area where I'm a little
comfort challenged though
is actually the seats.
They're well-shaped, they
have plenty of support,
and the lateral support is
actually really, really good.
It holds you in place
to a reasonable degree.
The thing I have the
issue with is the padding.
It's a little thin, especially
in the seat cushions.
After about three hours
or so of driving around,
my butt starts
getting a little sore.
Unfortunately there's
no seat option for this.
This is just
something you're just
going to have to deal with.
Even still, it's not so bad.
Visibility is excellent
in the Discovery.
It's very upright.
These front roof
pillars, these A pillars,
they're a little thick, but
they're actually placed pretty
well outside of your periphery.
And the left curve,
you don't really
have to bob back and
forth to see through it.
You have a really big
window in the back.
I have a very clear view of
what's going on behind us.
The mirrors are well sized.
Not too big.
Overall I have really good
situational awareness.
I know if a car is
coming up, and not
being surprised by anything.
One thing I'm not
a fan of, though.
The optional heating elements
built into the windshield.
To me, I get that
they serve a purpose
in really cold climates, but
this is Southern California.
I would have done without
it, because at the moment
it feels like I'm looking
through a really light gauze.
Land Rover's current
infotainment system
is a huge improvement
over its predecessor,
but unfortunately
that's a very low bar.
This is prettier.
It's a wide screen format.
It's sectioned into
four distinct areas
for media, phone, navigation,
as well as climate control.
The problem is it's
not very responsive,
and it's prone to some
glitches here and there.
Sometimes it will actually just
shut down and stop working,
and that means if I want to get
back to using my iPhone or--
I pretty much have to pull over,
turn the car off, restart it,
and hopefully it resets
the infotainment.
And not the best
system out there.
Not the most intuitive
system out there.
But still it gets the job
done when it does work.
The base price for the Discovery
starts right around $51,000.
This however, is the
first edition top
trim for the first year,
essentially fully loaded.
As tested this is
right around $77,000
dollars, which might
seem a little expensive.
But when you consider it slots
in right below the Range Rover,
it actually starts making sense.
This is the entry
level but slightly
more brawny version of that.
As far as the brakes
are concerned,
it drives pretty
much like any SUV.
So we're slowing down right here
and getting off the freeway.
I'll get on them
moderately hard.
The pedal is moderately firm.
It's what you'd
expect from any SUV.
But when you're on
them hard, you really
feel that weight shift
forward, and simply there's
no way to mask all of
that mass shifting around.
But it's very controllable,
and there's really
no extra effort you have to put
into it considering the size
and weight of this car.
Up top we have really
nice premium materials.
But that's pretty much
from elbow height up.
Everything below is much
more hardy and durable.
So that you don't
feel so bad getting
into such a nice interior
with muddy boots.
So we get all of the
refinement, but all the utility
at the same time.
As far as interior storage
goes, it's excellent.
Two big cup holders here.
A little slot for maybe
cards or even a cell phone.
Another rubberized
mat underneath there.
We have the center
bin here, which
is also rubberised, and really
well-placed with the USB ports.
And since this is a
fully loaded version,
underneath this is
a refrigerated bin.
Even behind the dash,
even like some GM cars,
you have this hidden
compartment here
for whatever you
want out of sight.
And for glove
boxes, we have two.
A split level top
and bottom glove box.
The door pockets are big.
They can hold a
few water bottles.
Well as other personal effects.
From the second
row of seats there
is plenty of room for adults.
I have a lot of headroom.
I have a lot of
shoulder room as well.
The only drawback though
is the seat cushion.
It's a little short,
it's a little low.
So my thighs aren't really
being supported that well.
These are nit picks though.
For the most part, you're
going to have taller passengers
up front anyway.
You have a ton of
storage options.
You have two map
pockets behind here.
You have another bin
in the center here.
Above that you have some climate
controls and door pockets
as well.
Two USB ports.
So this is really well set up
for road trips with the family.
You can even get an optional
rear entertainment center that
has screens in the head rests.
From the third row.
Well, it's actually not bad.
I have plenty of headroom.
I don't feel too constricted.
And that's considering that
the second row is actually
slid all the way
back and reclined.
I can push it just a little
bit forward like this,
and now I have an adequate
amount of knee space.
Like the second row, the
seat cushion's a little low,
and I'm lacking
some thigh support.
But again, you're going to be
putting smaller kids back here,
most likely.
That also means they're going
to have an easier time getting
to the third row.
It's a bit of a climb, and it's
a narrow passageway as well.
And another plus is, you have
another set of USB ports right
here, and on the other side.
With the Discovery's cargo
area, it's a bit of a mixed bag.
As you can see,
there's not a lot
of space behind the third row.
That's not all that unusual
for three row SUVs like this,
but even this cargo area
is smaller than normal.
You have this, which folds
down as the tailgate.
Holds up the 660 pounds.
Not only is it a
nice place to sit
if you're just kind
of hanging out,
but if you're
loading something big
and bulky, that's one thing
that you get just rest it on,
and then slide the rest in.
You have power folding seats
for the second and third row.
It takes a little bit of
time, but the cool thing
is you can do it remotely
through an app, or even
through the infotainment
screen up front.
Further assisting you
with loading stuff,
you can lower the load
right here with this button,
and it drops a few inches.
In addition to
controlling the seats,
you can do the typical things
you can with modern car apps.
Remote start, start up
the climate control,
lock the doors, find
out where the car is,
and even some of the vehicle
location and telematics
are built into it.
One cool feature that I really
like about the Discovery
is a sport activity wristband.
It debuted with
the Jaguar F Pace,
and it allows you to enjoy
surfing or scuba diving, water
activities, without
destroying your key fob.
All you do is you leave that
key fob in the center console,
and you put on a
special wristband.
To lock it put it up against
the D in the Discovery badge,
and it locks.
Enjoy your surf,
come back, unlock it
again at the same point.
Really smart, and honestly,
feel like everyone else
should be doing that, too.
The one thing I really
love about the Land Rover
is its versatility
and its range.
On the road its
perfectly agreeable.
Off the road is where
I really get impressed.
One thing that's cool
about the Land Rovers
is, this button here.
Think of it as a low
speed cruise control that
will allow you to rock crawl.
And all the throttle
and breaking stuff
is handled by the computer.
All you have to do is steer.
My feet are off the pedals.
I'm letting the car do what
it's gonna to do at the speed
that I set it at, and I can
slow it down as much as I want,
and it just handles it.
And once you hit
the brake, well it
cancels that cruise control much
like any other cruise control.
And now we'll go back
down using hill descent
control which is even easier.
And one thing I really like
about hill descent control
is and you can hear each
individual wheel crunching
with ABS to ensure that
you know it's slowing down,
but it's not hitting all
of them at the same time.
So it's very, very controllable.
Another good thing is, obviously
all these camera systems.
So 360 degree cameras,
so I can spot the rocks.
A forward looking camera.
Back looking cameras.
You're just covered everywhere.
There is some expert off
roaders that, you know,
maybe think this is too posh
or a pretty boy off roader.
This is actually nice inside.
I like spending
time in this car.
After driving the
Discovery all day,
I came away really impressed.
I love it for its refinement and
comfort and luxury, as well as
its incredible off
road capabilities.
Honestly, I want
one for myself now.
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