HomeFirst drive: Land Rover Discovery Sport 2.2 SD4 car review
First drive: Land Rover Discovery Sport 2.2 SD4 car review
First drive: Land Rover Discovery Sport 2.2 SD4 car review
The
Discovery Sport is arguably the most important vehicle Land Rover has
launched since the original Freelander revived an ailing business in the
late 1990s. Land Rover itself describes the car as “a pivotal moment”
in the company’s 66-year history.
Unofficially the replacement for the Freelander, the new Discovery
Sport is available in January with a fleet ‘unfriendly’ 162g/km
2.2-litre 190hp SD4 diesel (46mpg); the key engine, a 119g/km eD4 diesel
(62mpg) front-wheel drive model is not due until the second half of
2015.
Details will be revealed early next year, but the engine is likely to
be a version of the Euro 6-compliant Ingenium unit that goes into the
Jaguar XE in April. A 2.0-litre four-cylinder diesel, it will make the
Discovery Sport one of the lowest emitting premium compact SUVs on the
market.
Despite being compact, the Discovery Sport has a 5+2 seating
configuration; the ‘two’ are fold-flat seats which sit higher than the
middle row to improve passengers’ visibility and to give the perception
of greater space.
According to Land Rover, 120 fleets have already placed orders for
the 2.2-litre version; it expects the more efficient model to account
for the majority of corporate sales with user-choosers and conquests key
targets. It will be its biggest seller in the UK, alongside the Range
Rover Evoque.
“Eighty per cent of those that have requested information are new to the brand,” said a spokesman.
Running costs are 45p per mile over four years/80,000 miles for the
entry-level £32,160 Discovery Sport, according to KeeResources, slightly
higher than the sector-leading BMW X3’s 41p per mile due to fuel costs.
However, they will be much lower for the 119g/km model, which will be priced below £30,000.
The pricing guides are forecasting four-year/80,000-mile residual
values at 35%, which puts the car in the middle of the pack compared to
the BMW X3 (41%) , Audi Q5 (37%) and Volvo XC60 (30%).
http://www.fleetnews.co.uk/cars/reviews/land-rover/discovery-sport/suv-2015/22-sd4/54382/
