16 Things to Know About the New Land Rover Discovery

An interesting article written by Robert Pepper and Practical Motoring describes 16 ways the new Discovery is better AND worse than the model before it. However, we will only focus on the 9 positives in this article. Though the article is purely the opinion of Pepper, he makes the comparison between both models which can be very useful to those looking to lease or buy either of the two.

The following material is provided by Robert Pepper and Practical Motoring and is not representative of Ray Catena Land Rover Edison:

The Good Stuff:

• Lighter – we cannot emphasise how important light weight is, something rarely appreciated by people in the 4×4 industry. Lower weight means better performance all-round, on and offroad, lower fuel consumption, easier and safer recoveries…it’s amazing that the offroad industry really doesn’t care about weight. Land Rover are to be commended for making the Discovery appreciably lighter – 200 to 480kg depending on how you look at it – and all the other  carmakers should follow suit.
• More effective off-road – the L319 was, and is superb, quite arguably the most offroad-capable wagon on the market. The L462 is an improvement with quite incredible traction control capabilities, and naturally that lighter weight helps too.
• Better designed air suspension – finally, we can drive with raised suspension over 50km/h. There’s now two offroad heights, one for 75mm over stock for speeds up to 50km/h, and another for 40mm over stock for speeds up to 80km/h. The other modes such as Access, Extended and Super Extended remain the same. And the vulnerable air compressor has been relocated out of harm’s way.

• Easier access to the spare tyre – no need to raise the third-row seats to release the spare. We don’t know if the spare winch has been fixed.
• Taller tyres – the tyres are now 255/60/19, not 255/55/19. Every little bit of extra sidewall and overall diameter helps.
• Tailgate – no more split tailgate, just one single-piece lift up with a fold-down inner tailgate. The single tailgate is easier to open, and as before once opened the inner tailgate helps stop things rolling out, and becomes a mini-table or seat. Pretty much all the advantages of the previous split tailgate with easier opening. However, while the L462’s one-piece tailgate is longer than the L319’s it extends out only 50mm further as the L462’s curved back means the hinge point isn’t as close to the back of the car, so you aren’t getting much extra shelter under the tailgate. To some extent the tailgate design is opinion, but our panel of Discovery owners thought it was an improvement and I concur.
• Fuel consumption and range – dropped from about 9.3L/100km in the Discovery L319 to around 6.25-7.2L/100km. While the 2.0L Discoverys have a 77L fuel tank they should be able to get further than a Discovery 4 between fills, and even further than the L462 V6 with its 85L tank. Overall, range for the new Discovery should be around 30% more than the Discovery L319. But you’ll still need a long-range tank for remote touring work.
• Towbar- the Discovery L319 had one of the most poorly designed towbars seen on a 4×4. It hung very low and was nicknamed  the Plough. The L462 has a much better design – short overhang, tucked up high and no need for the aftermarket to step in and do what Land Rover should have got right first time.
• Safety – the Discovery L319 was 4-star ANCAP, the new one gets a 5-star rating.

https://www.landroveredison.com/wp/wp-admin/post-new.php