Text and photos by A Jing
Looking around the luxury off-road vehicle market, there is a wide variety of products, but only the Land Rover golden brand stands out. In the first half of this year, although the Land Rover brand made adjustments and was reshaped into three brands, Defender, Range Rover, and Discovery, they have always maintained their original personality and strong brand charm. In other words, these three brands have always been imitated, but never surpassed. The history of Discovery can be traced back to 1989. No matter how it develops and is inherited, the creation of a lifestyle of travel, family, off-roading, and light luxury has always been carried through to the end.
The waistline on the side of the body is integrated with the fender vents, highlighting the vehicle's smoothness and beautiful lines.
The rear design of the Land Rover Discovery Sport is very outstanding. Because the rear adopts compact personality and exquisite design elements, the body lines at the rear are very pleasing to the eye. The Land Rover Discovery Sport adopts a relatively hidden dual-side exhaust design, paired with a very prominent silver rear skid plate, highlighting the sense of power of the entire rear. In addition, the "laser-etched" LED taillights that echo the headlights adopt an inward-radiating honeycomb texture design, making the lit effect more three-dimensional and profound.
In terms of color, the new car also adds Dazhongshan copper metallic paint, creating a more modern exterior look. In addition, Charente Gray, Silicon Valley Silver, Fuji White, Byron Bay Blue, and Santorini Black are available in multiple colors to meet diverse owner needs.
The tailgate of the new car can open at an angle close to 90 degrees, making it convenient to retrieve items. The 780L trunk volume can also provide good space performance for family travel. After folding down the rear seats, the volume can reach 1574L.
The interior is light-luxury, practical, and exquisite
The interior of the new car adopts a minimalist aesthetic design concept and cancels physical buttons, making it simple and exquisite while further enhancing the luxurious texture of the cabin; the amber brown interior is paired with a large area of solid wood trim in the center console area, creating a natural, comfortable, and relaxing luxury cabin atmosphere. It is equipped with a three-spoke multi-function steering wheel + 12.3-inch LCD screen + 11.4-inch floating curved screen. The surface of the central control screen has been specially treated and will not produce reflections. On both sides of the screen are some commonly used function buttons that are easy to operate, and it supports the three major connectivity functions of CarPlay, CarLife, and Hicar.
It should be pointed out that the floating curved screen concentrates vehicle information and entertainment information, and all operation functions of the particularly important Terrain Response system are also controlled and realized on it.
What is particularly eye-catching is that the gear shifter adopts the family-designed new aircraft-style shift lever, making the center console area cleaner and more beautiful. In terms of comfort configurations, the 10-color ambient lighting and Meridian surround sound system will bring passengers in the car who love listening to music a durable, concert-like auditory experience.
The light-luxury feeling upon entering the cockpit is triggered by the front commander-style seat design. This imposing seat not only brings the driver a broader driving view, but also improves leg comfort. What is especially impressive is that the Windsor perforated leather seats are not only soft and delicate to the touch and have a very good visual appeal, but also, together with the innovative dual-hardness foam process adopted by the entire vehicle's seats and the newly added 2 cm comfort cushions on both the seat cushion and backrest, bring occupants even better wrapping and riding comfort. The entire series is standard-equipped with 12-way power seats with heating and driver's seat memory, while the luxury customized version offers optional 14-way power adjustment.
In addition, the new car is also equipped with a nano-level in-car negative ion air purifier including PM2.5 filtration and CO2 monitoring, which can automatically monitor the cabin environment. When it detects that the carbon dioxide concentration is too high, it will automatically open the recirculation damper to ensure that the air in the car always remains clean and fresh; the Meridian™ luxury audio system adopts Trifield stereo technology to restore realistic sound effects, allowing you to enjoy a theater-level auditory feast anytime and anywhere.
It is also worth mentioning that the entire series is standard-equipped with 4 45W fast charging ports, and the front center console has wireless charging, which can meet the travel charging needs of devices. The chrome trim on both sides can be used as grab handles when driving on unpaved roads, and the inner side is made of anti-slip material.
Strong power and excellent off-road performance
Power, off-road capability, and handling are the main highlights of this new car, and they are also the three most effective weapons for this car in fighting competitors in the same class. Whether driving on urban roads or off-roading on rugged mountain roads, frankly speaking, what this car gives us is not only confidence, but also the real fun of off-road driving and the substantive connotation of pursuing an outdoor life by car.
In terms of power, the new Discovery Sport still offers two options: mild hybrid and plug-in hybrid. The new Land Rover Discovery Sport we test drove is equipped with a 2.0T Ingenium engine and a 48-volt mild hybrid system, with a maximum torque of 365 N·m and a maximum output of 249 horsepower. Its characteristics are that turbocharging intervenes early and responds quickly, and a light press on the accelerator allows you to feel a continuous stream of power; for the transmission system, it uses ZF's 9AT gearbox. Together with the class-leading and standard all-wheel drive system across the entire series, it provides excellent power distribution among the four wheels, giving you full confidence whether facing winding mountain roads or conquering steep off-road slopes.
The support of the 48V electric motor is a particularly good setup. It makes the new Discovery Sport no longer affected by the slow start of a gasoline engine when starting off, but instead leave lightly like a pure electric car, without any sluggishness. The key point is that when changing lanes to accelerate and climbing steep slopes, it is also full of power, so there is no need to worry about insufficient torque.
The most brilliant and enjoyable part of driving this car is the off-road test drive segment, which allows us to fully experience the true meaning of off-roading and the new automotive technologies brought to us by the new Discovery Sport.
The route we test drove was actually very challenging, with many winding mountain roads and primitive off-road sections, and the road conditions were complex and changeable. In particular, the rainy season in Mile, Yunnan, combined with the crisscrossing terrain, allowed the new Land Rover Discovery Sport, full of exploration in its bones, to feel right at home and fully display its explorer nature.
The all-new Land Rover Discovery Sport is standard-equipped across the entire series with the Terrain Response® second-generation intelligent all-terrain feedback adaptation system, providing modes including Grass/Gravel/Snow, Mud/Ruts, Sand, Dynamic, Eco, Comfort, and Auto, which can be selected for both road and off-road conditions, bringing outstanding passability and ability to get out of trouble. And ATPC All-Terrain Progress Control can precisely control the power system and braking system, allowing the driver to maintain a stable speed even on complex road conditions such as muddy, slippery, and rugged mountain roads.
In various ever-changing off-road conditions, it provides the driver with excellent handling response and ride comfort, achieving a state of doing as one pleases and riding as if on flat ground.
On rugged and rocky mountain roads, this car's all-wheel drive system lets you feel the power of technology. This car is equipped with a class-leading and standard all-wheel drive system across the entire series, which can automatically switch between two-wheel drive and four-wheel drive on demand. When driving on urban roads, the two-wheel drive mode can effectively improve fuel economy. When encountering slippery roads, standing water, and other conditions, the system will automatically switch to four-wheel drive mode within 300 milliseconds to ensure stable driving; when driving in mud, snow, or off-road conditions, the system can balance torque distribution between the front and rear wheels, reduce slipping, and thereby give the vehicle more ideal traction, fearing no challenges from various road conditions.
In addition, the all-terrain "transparent" technology, combined with the 3D-effect 360° all-around body imaging system, collects data through cameras around the body and displays the actual road conditions under the vehicle in high definition, making potholes and fine gravel clearly visible at a glance, eliminating blind spots in the field of view without dead angles, making driving effortless.
Now let's talk about safety. This car's core body structure, high-rigidity chassis design, and off-road-designed rear suspension (class-leading) started from components and structural materials at the beginning of the design, using materials such as aluminum and high-strength steel to bring better chassis rigidity and durability, ensuring that it can simultaneously withstand greater longitudinal and lateral forces, easily adapt to various harsh rain and snow weather, and bring excellent handling and safety performance, allowing you to drive with confidence and to your heart's content.
It can truly be said that with one car in hand, you can go exploring without taking risks, and discover calm, wild fun, and high energy!
