The Business Exchange Swindon & Wiltshire Edition 21: Oct/Nov 2015 | Page 20

REVVED UP

LAND ROVER DISCOVERY SPORTTHE BENCHMARK SUV
Like an ageing spinster at a mixed doubles tennis party the Land Rover Freelander has
retired to the pavilion to be replaced by the bright young thing that is the Discovery Sport.
Slotting nicely in between the mighty,
all terrain conquering Discovery and the
trendy urban Evoque, the Discovery Sport
is something of a tour de force from the
Land Rover stable. For a start, bearing in
mind what you get for the money, it is very
well priced. It can attend to many of the
tasks usually handled by the full big brother
whilst remaining very car-like in its comforts
and driving dynamics. There are four trim
levels to choose from and your Sport can
be customised to suit.

At the time of testing the Sport was
still powered by the tried and tested,
but elderly, 2.2L 187bhp (310lb/ft) diesel
coupled this time with the recently
introduced and totally brilliant ninespeed auto ‘box, available as an option.
A six-speed manual is standard. By the
time of publication, Land Rover will have
introduced their new ‘Ingenium’ engine to
this car which will make a major difference
to economy and emissions. Even so, we
saw fuel consumption of around 40mpg in
some very mixed driving and emissions of
166g/km aren’t so bad.
The interior fit and finish is as you would
expect from Land Rover. Passengers were
as one to say how comfortable the Sport
was and we got a huge amount of stuff

into the well-shaped boot. The lofty driving
position gives a good command of the road
and the technology is spot on.

The big 8-inch touch-screen is clear and
easy to use with navigation, DAB, climate
and Bluetooth all simple to set up and
use. Select the automatic, as in our test
car, and you get a rotary gear selector that
rises from the centre console. The Sport
gets th