Category: Large 4x4s 
Price Range: No data available
Astounding ability off-road, and vastly improved for onroad duty. Unique character has also been successfully updated.
This is a heavy car, which begins to show when you're really pressing on. And that weight will mean higher fuel consumption, especially with the petrol V8.
No question about it, Land Rover has created one of the most desirable off-roaders on sale with the new Discovery. Nothing will beat it off-road, and with vastly improved space and on-road manners, the Disco really rocks.
If you are currently driving a Discovery, this new one will prove a revelation. In short, you won't recognise the driving experience. Where the old car lurched from corner to corner with woolly steering and big angles of lean, the new Discovery corners with fine body control and much less roll. The new assisted rack-and-pinion steering is vastly better, too, proving precise and linear through the corners. It's an easy car to drive rapidly, although it isn't the tool for a B-road blast, not in the spirit of BMW's X5, for example. Part of the problem is weight - the new Disco weighs a huge 2700kgs in V8 guise, and that's always going to compromise handling.
The Discovery's air suspension, standard on all but the entry-level model, gives the car its exceptional ability off-road, while providing for good composure and high-speed stability onroad.
The Disco's ride quality is good at higher speeds, but gets noticeably firm and fidgety at lower speeds, especially when traversing urban roads of the usual poor quality we have in the UK.
Off-road, though, the Disco is still an excellent contender. Terrific ground clearance and a low-range gearbox give it the ability to climb rocky hills and ford streams that you really need to experience to believe. And its real party trick is the Terrain Response system. The idea was to simplify the complex traction and throttle setting selections for prevailing conditions. There are five terrain settings that you select using a substantial knob on the centre console, depending on whether the ground underfoot is muddy, gravel covered, sandy, rocky, slippery or rutted. The system then selects the appropriate setting for ride height, gear selection and so forth. And it works very well indeed - the Discovery feels just about unstoppable regardless.
A high driving position and excellent outward vision inspire confidence through country lanes, and a comfortable driving position is easy to find with multi-adjustable seats and a steering wheel that adjusts for reach and rake.
Having been armed beforehand with the statistics, we worried that the V6 turbodiesel, which will be the most popular engine choice in the UK, wouldn't prove up to the task of shifting the Discovery's considerable weight. This engine, which is a version of the unit recently added to the Jaguar S-Type range, develops 190bhp at 4000rpm. But the more important figure here is torque (twisting power), and the TDV6 develops a whopping 325lb ft of the stuff at a low 1900rpm. The result is strong performance in the lower ranges, and perfectly acceptable urge up to about 85mph, at which point the Disco begins to run out of steam. In practical terms, this is all the performance you'll need in the UK, although we can't say how the Disco would fare pulling a horsebox, for example.
The most remarkable achievement of this engine is its refinement. Under load, it sounds smooth and feels vibration free, and at idle, you will need to cock an ear to confirm that it really is a diesel. That's partly due to excellent sound sealing of the bonnet, as well as the engine's inherent smoothness.
No such worries on the performance front with that Jaguar derived V8, not with 295bhp underfoot. It's the most powerful engine ever fitted to a production Land Rover, and unsurprisingly, the figures impress. Try 0-60mph in 8.0secs and a top speed of 121mph. Mated to an ultra-smooth six-speed automatic gearbox, the V8 Discovery feels very swift indeed, with a muted roar accompanying rapid progress.
