Land Rover Discovery Sport 2015

The Discovery Sport’s flood-fording ability is advertised at 600 millimeters.

Since the Tata Group acquired the Jaguar and Land Rover brands from Ford back in 2008 and merged the two hallowed British brands together, Tata has infused massive capital into the two ailing companies, which finally allowed these two brands to step foot firmly into the 21st century.

Better late than never, as they say, and with much pomp and glamor did the new Jaguar-Land Rover Group announce its presence.

The year 2014 was the group’s best yet, with 483,000 cars sold. A surprising 389,000 of them were Land Rovers, a sign of growing demand for lifestyle-oriented sports utility vehicles, with the vast majority being the Range Rover Evoque.

On a high, Jaguar Land Rover invited media from all over the world to sample its latest offering, the Discovery Sport, in cold but beautiful Iceland.

Land Rover itself has rationalized its three primary models into subbrands to help identify and define its user base: Land Rovers for basic and hardcore offroad enthusiasts, and military or commercial use; Discovery for the lifestyle-oriented families that put a premium on versatility of use; and Range Rover for the high-end upscale market.

Driving through the frozen tundra

Under these subbrands are specific models: The Land Rover will unveil its replacement for the much-vaunted and legendary Defender very soon, while Range Rover has its full-size Range, the Range Rover Sport and the Evoque.

The Discovery subbrand has, of course, the full-size Discovery, and this, the Discovery Sport.

Aimed at the Mercedes-Benz GLK, Audi Q5, BMW X3 and Lexus RX350, the Discovery Sport, penned by Gerry McGovern, is still considered to be a compact SUV based on its dimensions.

It is based on the existing Evoque platform, yet it offers the only seven-seat capability in its segment. Power comes from a range of four-cylinder CRDi diesel (150 horsepower/400 Newton-meters of torque and 190 HP/420 Nm of torque) and petrol (240 HP/340 Nm of torque) engines, both turbocharged and currently supplied by Ford while meeting Euro V emissions standards.

Sometime later this year, the Discovery Sport as well as the Evoque (which also utilizes four-cylinder engines) will get the new Jaguar Land Rover developed family of engines called the Ingenium lineup, replacing the Ford-sourced powerplants.

The Discovery Sport drives all four wheels via an industry-first nine-speed automatic transmission made by ZF, which negates the need for a traditional low-range transfer case as the first and second gears are ultralow gears, perfect for slow and steady offroad progress.

A Haldex four-wheel-drive system apportions torque front to back. There’s also a six-speed manual offered by Getrag, and later in 2015, front-wheel-drive variants.

The ingenius integral link utilized in the rear multilink suspension’s rear hub improves packaging, freeing up space at the rear for the third row of seats but giving no noticeable trade-off for onroad/highway stability as well as offroad performance, something all Land Rovers are known for.

Aluminum is used extensively for the hood, front fenders, rear tailgate and roof to lower the center of gravity and reduce overall weight, while high boron steel is used in key areas of the unibody crossover chassis that are most affected by accidents to increase cabin rigidity.

First impressions when stepping into the Discovery Sport: Everything feels very premium, very well built and very modern.

While older Land Rover cars oozed class, the all-new Discovery sport shouts quality. This is an area where Jaguar Land Rover has focused on improving: overall build quality to be comparable to the Germans.

The interior is covered in perforated rich supple leather, and the gear selector is a large knob similar to current Jaguars, further establishing the relationship of the two with the general public.

At the start of our very long drive, there’s very good visibility inside and out. The seats adjust 14 ways, and the steering wheel has reach and rake adjustment as well, along with paddle shifters and buttons for the multimedia system and cruise control.

Running on 19-inch M/S studded tires, the conditions are very tricky, but the revised terrain response management software really transforms the driving feel: On the highway covered in snow and ice, the Discovery Sport feels normal, with none of the scary, slippery, unstable and uneasy feeling one would expect given the road conditions.

Since most of Iceland’s 340,000 inhabitants live near the coastal areas, our drive takes us through the coastline of Iceland, then back via the heart of the winter frost.

From our hotel in Nesjavellir, beside one of the largest geothermal powerplants in Iceland, we head out on deeply snow-covered tracks resembling a rally-style stage.

We start cautiously but slowly pile on the speed as the Discovery Sport exhibits minimal slipping and sliding despite the very cold and slippery surface.

There’s ABS-EBD brakes, traction and stability control, as well as the aforementioned terrain response management system with hill ascent/descent control and hill-hold functions.

Despite showing 10 a.m. on our watches, Iceland is still pitch black, yet we move out to cover over 200 kilometers through varying and harsh terrain.

Snow is kicked up by strong winds, which deliver a sensation akin to flying through clouds: very beautiful but also terrifying as you lose visibility altogether.

Thankfully, the Discovery Sport keeps us cozy and confident. The steering feel is light but offers decent feel, something the market expects from modern electronically-assisted power steering.

The brakes are also decently firm with excellent modulation and feel. You can easily gauge when the brakes will trigger the ABS system, and we tried to experiment on just how good the basic tire/suspension setup is in terms of feedback and progressiveness.

In many respects, the Discovery Sport feels like a well-engineered German vehicle, which according to the people from Jaguar Land Rover, is high praise indeed.

There’s also a multimedia system which Jaguar Land Rover developed, allowing easy syncing to your mobile phone or media device.

We also get to test the Discovery Sport’s flood-fording ability, which is advertised at 600 millimeters.

However, our river crossing was quite a fright, as we entered the river well past the recommended speed. Water gushed past the hoodline and the strong icy current was pushing us past the intended line.

While the river crossing was no more than 15 meters across, it was the most exciting, memorable and scariest moment of our Icelandic drive! The water had gone well past the 600-mm mark and was touching our Discovery Sport’s A-pillars already, which by our estimate was well over 1 meter!

Yet the Discovery Sport nonchalantly climbed out of the river to a steep embankment and drove away as if it were the most normal thing. This will be handy during monsoon season in Manila.

A revitalized brand, sharp and handsome designs, much-improved build quality, impressive off- and onroad performance, and the growing demand for SUVs worldwide will ensure the further growth of the Jaguar Land Rover Group.

The Germans better watch out!