Discovery Sport is a must see

Test Drive by Graham Breeze

It’s no surprise than Land Rover sales have gone up by 10% in the UK over the last six months judging by the performance of the Discovery Sport 16MY on a recent test.

The Jaguar/Land Rover success story is amazing with the leading manufacturer of premium luxury vehicles, reporting its best ever UK half-year sales, selling 62,314 vehicles in the first six months of 2016 - up 21% on the same period last year.

Discovery Sport’s versatile package saw it sell 1,597 vehicles in June, up 31% on June 2015, which is all part of a great news package for a company that was sitting firmly on its backside not many years ago.

The Discovery Sport really is all things to all men with abilities to suit everyone. It’s got the lot. So if it’s a family MPV, an all-weather SUV or simply a spacious estate car on you shopping list you should be attracted to this model.

And it doesn’t really matter if your heading off-road or down the motorway because the Discovery Sport is equally at home on either surface. You know you’re going to get superb performance in the mud but will be surprisingly impressed by how well this model handles on the tarmac thanks to well weighted and direct steering.

Behind the wheel you can be excused for forgetting this is a Land Rover and not a Range Rover with nowhere near as much body roll as you would expect, but the reminders come around town when the firm ride is always evident.

There’s a neat terrain response package to help support the four-wheel drive system and inside the cabin there’s plenty of evidence that this model is heavily influenced by Range Rover design with more technology than the average man can understand.

There’s seven seats, though I’m going to say you wouldn’t catch me travelling in the back pair for love or money, and that means only a small boot space is left with all the seats in position – not enough for a family weekend away when fully laden.

Powered by a 2.0litre TD4 turbocharged engine with nine-speed automatic gearbox the Discovery Sport claims 53.3mpg on the combined cycle, though on a week’s test I never achieved that level.

CO2 emissions will interest a lot of potential buyers and they will be impressed by the figure of just 139g/km. Add a top speed of 117mph and 0-60mph in just 8.4seconds and you soon realise why the Disco is roving so popular with buyers.

The model on test was a HSE Luxury in white, which meant ebony interior and lots of leather. Add 20inch sparkle silver alloy wheels to the sleek design package and you begin to lose the lines between Land Rover and Range River.

There a standard package of features you would ever expect to get with a Land Rover such as three-row climate control, DAB radio, 11 speakers, Sat Nav, Apps, automatic beam control, heated leather steering wheel, heated and cooled front seats and a stunning panoramic roof.

There’s a tyre pressure monitor, loadspace cover, front fog lights, rain sensing wipers, cruise control, automatic emergency braking, keyless entry, powered tailgate, lane departure warning, front and rear parking aids and a reversing camera.

All that would set you back £43,000 but the test car also included an entertainment pack, InControl Connect, adaptive headlamps and an electric deployable towbar which pushed the selling price up to £47,475.

It’s a lot of money but it’s also a lot of car. You get the feeling that the 1,597 buyers in June knew just what they were doing.