As is becoming the trend, Land Rover has revealed the Discovery Sport a day early thanks to a website posting leaked photos prior to the car’s launch.
Earlier today Autoblog.it published photos of the new Land Rover Discovery Sport a day ahead of the car’s launch. In response, Land Rover has revealed the look, both inside and out, of the important new model.
The Discovery Sport will eventually replace the Freelander (LR2 in North America) in Land Rover’s lineup. The new car will be available in both 5- and 7-seat models; the latter is termed a 5+2 configuration by Land Rover, due to the tight seating in the third row.
Engines, transmissions, fuel economy, performance
At launch the Discovery Sport will feature a 4-cylinder only engine range consisting of the Si4 petrol, and the SD4 and TD4 diesels. A ED4 diesel variant will join the lineup later in 2015.
A 9-speed auto is available with all engines, while a 6-speed manual will be available diesel powered models. All diesel-engined variants feature automatic engine start/stop as standard.
| Model | Si4 | TD4 | SD4 | ED4 |
| Type | 2L turbo DI | 2.2L turbo | 2.2L turbo | ? |
| Fuel | Petrol | Diesel | Diesel | Diesel |
| Power | 177kW | 110kW | 140kW | ? |
| Torque | ? | 420Nm | 420Nm | ? |
| Auto | 9-speed | 9-speed | 9-speed | 9-speed |
| Manual | N/A | 6-speed | 6-speed | 6-speed |
| Fuel economy | 8.2L/100km | 4.7L/100km | 6L/100km | 4.5L/100km |
| CO2 | 191g/km | 125g/km | 159g/km | 119g/km |
| 0-60mph | ? | ? | 8.4s | ? |
| Top speed | ? | ? | 188km/h | ? |
Brakes: 325mm (front), 300mm (rear)
Maximum towing weight: 2.5 tonnes
Off-road ability
Land Rover being Land Rover, the company is talking up the off-road abilities of the new Discovery Sport. At launch the car will be available only with full time four-wheel drive with a central Haldex clutch, although a two-wheel drive version will made available not too long after launch.
In regular on-road driving, 5-seat versions of the TD4 and SD4 can completely disengage the propshaft, rear driveshaft, rear diff and clutches to improve fuel economy. According to Land Rover, Active Driveline can re-engage the rear wheels within 350 milliseconds.
Again Terrain Response is available with four driver selectable modes (general, grass/gravel/snow, mud/ruts, and sand). Other off-road tech includes hill descent control, gradient release control which progressively release the brakes from a stand-still, roll stability control, stability control, traction control, and engine drag torque control which applies more torque to the required wheels during heavy braking.
The new Disco Sport can wade in water up to 60cm deep, and to help the driver out there’s wade sensor, which displays the current fording depth on the high resolution touchscreen.
Ground clearance: 212mm
Approach angle: 25 degrees
Departure angle: 31 degrees
Breakover angle: 21 degrees
Wade depth: 600mm
Other tech
Available tech on the new Land Rover Discovery Sport includes magnetic ride control, variable rate electric power steering, automated emergency braking, pedestrian airbag in the windscreen, automatic parking, automated high beam control, trailer assistance, traffic sign recognition, blind spot monitoring, head-up display, and lane departure warning.
At the centre of the new car’s entertainment setup is an 8-inch touchscreen with SD card sat nav, Bluetooth, smartphone app connectivity including Spotify, USB ports and an auxiliary jack. Wi-Fi hotspot is available, and top-spec models feature a 17-speaker Meridian hi-fi system with a subwoofer and 825W amp.
