The New Land Rover Discovery Is Here

If you want to trudge through any terrain possible with seven passengers and remain in complete comfort - or at least like the thought of it - a Land Rover Discovery is probably what you should be buying.

The drawback? It’s getting on a bit, and it’s a bit of a fatty. But don’t worry, the new one is now here, and it’s had a massive drop in weight. A whole 480kg, in fact.

The new 2115kg unladen weight figure is all thanks to Land Rover ditching the sturdy but weighty steel ladder frame that’s been at the centre of the Discovery since the beginning, replacing it with an 85 per cent aluminium monocoque. And yes, as seen from an early leak, it looks very much like the Discovery Sport but on a larger scale.

In the suspension department meanwhile, we’re looking at a double wishbone setup at the front and integral link at the rear. Just like the Discovery 3 and 4, the new Disco gets air suspension, able to vary the ride hight anything from 40 to 75mm. Drive a little faster, and you get a 13mm drop through the ‘Speed Lowering’ function, intended to cut drag.

As you’d expect, the new Discovery comes with a whole bunch of gizmos to help you tackle the rough stuff. There are the usual suspects like hill descent and traction control, but you also get ‘Roll Stability Control’ which brakes the outer wheels to stop you lopping your shiny new Land Rover on its roof, and Wade Sensing which uses actual radar and other clever sensors to make sure you don’t drive where you shouldn’t and sink.

Sounds all fine and dandy, but given what most of these cars are going to be used for - ferrying many people and lots of things around - practicality is agruably more important than off-piste ability. Happily, the Discovery is pretty well sorted in that regard.

There are seven seats as before, nine USB sockets plus an extra four 12-volt outlets, and up to 2406 litres of luggage space. Best not tell your mates that, unless you want to get roped into their next house move.

There are also some autonomous-ish features, including emergency braking, a system that takes control at crawling speeds off road, and even ‘Advanced Tow Assist’ which helps you out with tricky manoeuvres when you’re burdened with a trailer.

The range kicks off with the 236bhp, 369lb ft ‘SD4’ 2.0-litre diesel (one of those fancy new Ingenium engines, no less), but if you want something more pokey, there’s the 254bhp, 423lb ft ‘TD6’ V6 oil-burner. Or if you’re weird and think a petrol Discovery is a good idea, there’s a 335bhp supercharged V6.

The 2.0-litre manages 43.5mpg and 171g/km of CO2, with the 3.0-litre V6 diesel dropping to 39.2mpg and 189g/km. And the V6? A predictably low 26mpg, plus 256g/km.

Want one? Prices start at £43,495 for the base-spec S, rising to £68,295 on the road for the ‘First Edition’. It’s on sale from Spring 2017, and has made its public debut at the Paris Motor Show.