Land Rover Discovery V

After so many years, the new Land Rover Discovery is now in the open and with prices start at 43,495 Pounds, the new model is more affordable to own than the Range Rover. It's more practical as well because it's got seven seats fit for the family and surprisingly, better looking than the old Disco. So, what's it all about this new Disco?

2017 Land Rover Discovery

This should not to be mistaken with the smaller Discovery Sport, in case you got lost in British directions, because THAT is the new Discovery and by the looks of it, it's starting to gain some improvement compared to the previous, lackluster, Disco. Gone are the squarish looks and now looks more Range Rover-ish because from every angle, it looks very promising and very rewarding.

2017 Land Rover Discovery interior

While the exterior looks very masculine and very brave for a luxury off-roader, the interior is so much more than working nine to five. Although the Discovery is basically a family hauler for the weekends, this is basically fit for "Right, Honourable Gentlemen" from the Parliament and can be well fit to be part of a convoy made possible by those "Right, Honourable Gentlemen" while going through let's say the MI6, the MI5, Buckingham Palace, Downing Street, and so on. Think about this, when there's a rear-seat entertainment system on it, anyone sitting on the second row can feel as occupied as being inside of a Mercedes S-Class and eventually, it is as luxurious as a Range Rover with a price so reasonable enough to be called a cut-priced Range Rover. But unlike the Range Rover, save it for the RR Sport, the new Disco can seat up to seven people, be it family, friends, or those "Right, Honourable Gentlemen" from British politics, and when folded, there's more room for some stuff on the great outdoors, especially a trip to grandma's house, or stuff you bought from your recent thrift shop trip.

Need to say that since this is a seven-seater and when one of your family has kids, expect the sweet spots you want to sit at to be ruined by those dreadful child seats and pop goes the third row, unless if someone is generous enough to let you seat in the front, which beats struggling to accommodate the third-row seat if you may.

Having learned something from the Jaguar F-PACE, the new Discovery provides owners the Activity Key that can wear it on their wrist and can open without needing the key fob. It even comes with a special feature that can open the tailgate with the lift of your foot. That's science to you.

2017 Land Rover Discovery

The new Land Rover Discovery can be powered with a wide variety of petrol and diesel engines. It can either be the 2.0 Sd4 Ingenium diesel engine, 3.0L TD6 diesel, or the more powerful 3.0L Si6 petrol engine. All of these engines are mated to an 8-speed automatic gearbox and it's not just the choice of engines is what I like about most, it's the all-aluminum platform that impresses the most because it's surprisingly 480kg lighter than the old Disco. Tough as well. And because this is lighter than the old Disco, the way it drives is pretty much like a Jaguar XF by a longshot.

Of course, being a luxury offroader, the Discovery is never complete without the very clever Terrain Response II which can adapt through any road condition no matter how good and bad it is with the utmost of its capabilities. Once more, it even comes with Wade Sensing technology which uses sensors that can notify drivers when water levels are near the 900mm maximum wading depth.

2017 Land Rover Discovery

So, thoughts about the new Discovery? While this is basically cheaper than the Range Rover, it's surprisingly luxurious on the inside, more versatile, more rugged, more technologically advanced, and above all, it's a proper Land Rover that you can take it anywhere and it's not afraid to be playing rough under the weather. I am very glad that this is a step forward from the previous, yet disappointing Disco from the past, and this is going to be a game-changer for Land Rover as this offroader will definitely set the new standards for daily drivers and offroaders alike so job well done, Land Rover.

Photo: Jaguar Land Rover