The 5 Things You Need to Know about the 2018 Land Rover Discovery

The 2018 Land Rover Discovery launches here on 1 August and we’ve driven it… Here are the 5 things you need to know about the new Land Rover Discovery. LOCALLY, THE Land Rover Discovery is the brand's best-selling product with, since 1991, 65,000 Land Rover Discoverys sold here (140,000 Land Rover vehicles in total). Indeed, Land Rover Australia's marketing boss, Tim Krieger, speaking at the local launch said, "Disco is the centre of gravity for Land Rover Australia". New Discovery is priced from $65,960+ORC for a five-seat 132kW Td4 variant; $87,990+ORC for the 177kW Sd4 SE variant (the listed price includes the cost of adding seven seats, a $3400 cost option) and $103,760+ORC for the 190kW SdV6 HSE variant (seven seats). While the third-row of seats are optional, Land Rover at the recent local launch at Uluru said it is basically an automatic spec for the vehicles and an owner not wanting the third-row would have to specifically order it without the extra seats. The Discovery Td4 variant will be a five-seater with the extra cost-option of adding a third-row; that vehicle will also not get airbag suspension and will only have a single-speed transfer case, so, no low-range. And you won’t be able to add it, either. Similarly, Terrain Response 2 isn’t available with the Td4 engine. Room to move With all seven seats in use, there’s 258 litres of storage space in the boot which won’t be enough for the luggage of all seven people, but it’ll be more than enough room for the weekly shop. Dropping just one of the two seats in the third row liberates 698 litres of space, growing to a huge 1137 litres with the third-row folded flat into the floor. There’ll be those moaning about the loss of the split tailgate of the previous model Discovery, but to keep them happy there’s a luggage holder which can be folded down electrically to form a bench which will hold 300kg. Folding the third-row seats down can be done from the rear of the vehicle via buttons on the left-hand side or, if you plump for the top-spec infotainment and connectivity package, via an app from your phone. The third-row seats fold flat into the floor with four sturdy eyelets in each corner of the boot. You can also add heated seats for all three rows for $2490 and you can get intelligent folding seats which means you only have to press a button and they’ll fold or raise automatically, for $1140.00. This is standard on the First Edition variant. In the third-row my six-foot frame was accommodated comfortably even with the second-row seats pushed back towards the rear. The second-row seats slide forwards and backwards. Headroom is okay and there’s decent elbowroom even with two people in the third-row, but it doesn’t feel as airy in the back as the third-row did in Discovery 4. And I didn’t think there was as much foot room in the second row as before. There are 21 different storage areas containing a total 45 litres of space, two metres of load length and 1.4 metres of load width. The true 40:20:40 split fold system has been lost, which was a strong point of the old Discovery’s interior. Storage areas for front-seat passengers: Upper (1.4 litres) and lower (1.1 litres) instrument panel stowage; Upper (4.8 litres) and lower (6.9 litres) glove boxes; Front (6.2 litres), mid (5.6 litres) and rear (1.2 litres) centre console stowage; Row 3 cubby boxes – 2.6 litres in total; and Door stowage areas (front and rear, upper and lower) – 14.6 litres in total. What about grunt? The range consists of three engine derivatives: JLR’s two new two-litre four-cylinder turbodiesel producing 132kW and 430Nm for the TD4 and 177kW and 500Nm for the SD4, the long-serving Lion 3.0-litre V6 turbo-diesel producing 190kW and 600Nm and a 3.0-litre V6 petrol producing 250kW and 450Nm of torque. The ZF eight-speed automatic is common across the range with a two-speed transfer box giving a set of low-ratio crawler gears on all but the Td4 variant. The new Discovery continues to offer adjustable air suspension and, with its two-stage off-road mode the system is able to vary between two ride heights of +40mm and +75mm. At speeds below 50km/h the +75mm setting is available and for faster speeds on rutted dirt roads, between 50-80km/h the vehicle will operate at +40mm. There’s also a speed lowering setting that cuts drag and improves fuel consumption at speeds above 105km/h. What’s it like to drive? We can’t fully recommend is the 2.0-litre diesel (TD4). Fine if all you do is traverse the Nullarbor Plain, where the ZF stays in top gear, but not-so fine if you need more urge to overtake, go up a hill, or worse case, tow something. Push it and this engine gets raucous, vibrates through the pedals and is too peaky for this application. Besides, all the economy benefits of the engine’s small swept volume soon disappear if you push the throttle to the floor. The pick of the bunch is the 3.0-litre V6 turbo diesel. That old Lion engine has the power and torque to waft the Discovery along, tug it up the worst inclines and suits the smooth eight-speed auto well. It’s heavy, pushing the Discovery’s kerb weight to almost 2.3 tonnes and combined fuel economy is 7.2litres/100km, which is good given its size and capability. The Disco’s V6 turbo-diesel isn’t as smooth as the 3.0-litre V6 in the Audi Q7 or as economical as BMW’s straight-six diesel, but it’s gruff and fit for purpose and suits the new Discovery’s mien if not the way it looks. What about safety? The Land Rover Discovery rights a wrong of its predecessor by getting an ANCAP safety rating; and a five-star one, no less. This follows on from Euro NCAP testing which also saw the new Discovery awarded a five-star rating. Beyond its five-star rating, the new Discovery offers airbags which will extend to the third-row if it’s fitted, rear seatbelt pre-tensioners on the outboard seats only (so, not the middle seat), an alarm, rollover deployment of restraints, traction and cstability controls, hill descent control, cornering brake control, keyless entry (HSE and HSE Luxury) and start, autonomous emergency braking and lane departure warning, reversing camera with front and rear parking aids, a surround camera system is standard on HSE Luxury and cost optional on other variants, other active safety systems are part of cost-optional packs. The cost of capability Those buyers wanting Land Rover’s clever Terrain Response 2 system which tweaks various aspects of the vehicle, from the throttle to gear and traction control and suspension height and action, and now includes an Automatic function to, er, automatically detect the correct Terrain Response setting, will have to spend an extra $2060.00. But you can’t get Terrain Response 2 without dual-range, and while low-range is a $920.00 cost option on most variants, it’s automatic on HSE and up. To get air suspension you’ll need to spend an extra $2060.00 (if you’re opting for the S variant, it’s standard from SE up) and All Terrain Progress Control is part of a package only. Or you can pay $3200.00 for the Capability Pack and get Terrain Response 2, Active Rear Locking Differential and All Terrain Progress Control. Active rear locking differential is a cost option on all variants ($1080.00).