Land Rover Discovery

The overall interior cabin layout of the Land Rover Discovery is shared with that of its smaller counterpart, the Land Rover Discovery Sport. And while it doesn’t look dated by any standards, there are a few cutting-edge bits missing which have made the cabin of all the recent generation Land Rovers such cool places to be in.

The four-spoke multi-functional steering wheel gets a very unique looking U-shaped center boss, behind which sits the conventional-looking instrument console and not a full 10-inch TFT LCD screen as seen in the latest of other Land Rovers. The center console here looks subtle and clean with a tapered design for the layers placed one above the other.

The uppermost layer of the dashboard gets soft-touch dark leather finish, while the middle one gets a premium combination of beige leather and wood trim, with a 12.3-inch touchscreen infotainment system in the middle positioned in an angular manner below the rectangular AC vents.

There is a simple-looking rectangular panel for all the buttons for automatic climate control, finished in a glossy black theme, and this same theme has been executed for the panel between the seats, which houses the transmission knob, drive mode selector and cubby holes.

The big Land Rover Discovery has a seating capacity of seven passengers, though the limited legroom in the third row might not be liked by taller passengers.

The Land Rover Discovery, in this latest generation, looks nowhere close to the model it has replaced, for the properly boxy looks of the previous model has been replaced here by a much sleeker looking one with a number of distinctive styling bits.

The sleekness of the new Land Rover Discovery is quite evident when you view the SUV from the front, for the Discovery gets a familiar trapezoidal front grille with rounded lower edges and two broad chrome linings with honeycomb mesh. The wide sweptback T-shaped headlamps get all new fragmented U-shaped daytime running LEDs along with full LED main lamps inside them. Adding a lot of macho appeal to the front design of the Land Rover Discovery are the beefy looking lower part of the grille on the bumper and silver-finished skid plate below it. 

The side profile of the Land Rover Discovery looks like a scaled-up version of the Discovery Sport, with the exact silhouette getting larger dimensions for the windows, doors and wheels. The sweptback design for the rear windscreen as well as sleek body cladding sideways, along with sharp crease running through the door handles completes the look of the SUV from the sideways.

At the back, the Land Rover Discovery retains the asymmetric layout for the bits on the rear door, although in a much more modern looking fashion. The offset placement for the license plate housing as well as the back door handle gives the Land Rover Discovery a unique personality. 

The Land Rover Discovery has been fitted with a hugely capable fully independent electronically controlled suspension at both front and rear, which has been tuned to make both short and long drives a supple and smooth experience. The presence of multiple drive modes as well as an all-wheel-drive system with locking center differential and active rear locking differential gives it the perfect setup for taking it off the road when one wishes.

The Land Rover Discovery, in its sole variant available in the Philippines, gets a 3.0-litre V6 diesel engine under its hood, which gets the transmission option of an 8-speed automatic gearbox as standard. This engine pumps out a maximum power output of 254 PS and a peak torque output of 600 Nm.

The long list of safety features in the Land Rover Discovery consists of front, side, curtain and knee airbags, ABS with EBD and brake assist, blind-spot monitoring system, autonomous emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, park assist, lane keep assist and 360-degree parking aid with sensors and camera all around.

While the cabin of this Land Rover Discovery is not as cutting-edge in terms of feel and equipment like that in the current crop of other Land Rovers, it still has got all the dough in right amount when it comes to pamper someone with its comfortable seats and ride quality.