Land Rover Discovery review

The Land Rover Discovery is the Swiss Army Knife of the car world. It can do pretty much any job you ask – from ferrying around seven people to pulling a caravan out of a muddy field.

Looking for an upmarket chariot to impress the neighbours? The Discovery can do that too. It'll even take you to places a mountain goat would think twice about visiting.

In Land Rover's SUV line-up, the Discovery – which comes with seven seats as standard – sits above the smaller Discovery Sport and the more rugged Land Rover Defender, but below the more luxurious Range Rover and Range Rover Sport.

Land Rover Discovery video review

The "Disco" has plenty going for it then, but so do other premium brand seven-seat SUVs,  ranging from the Audi Q7 and BMW X7 to the Volvo XC90. Read on to find out how we rate the Land Rover Discovery against its key rivals.

If you don’t want a diesel, don’t buy a Land Rover Discovery – the only engine available at present is the 3.0-litre, six-cylinder D350 diesel, which pumps out a hefty 345bhp.

So, even though this is a seriously heavy SUV, it can accelerate from 0-60mph in 5.9 seconds. In other words, its performance is roughly on a par with the Audi Q7 50 TDI and BMW X7 xDrive40d.

The Discovery's engine is paired with a pretty responsive eight-speed automatic gearbox and can pull a braked trailer weighing up to 3500kg, making this a great tow car.

The Discovery's standard air suspension delivers a smooth ride at motorway speeds; it wafts over undulations like a jumbo jet running into very mild turbulence.

It's not as comfortable around town as an Audi Q7 or BMW X7, though. The Discovery has a habit of stumbling over imperfections, with sharp-edged bumps sending subtle but noticeable shudders through the body.

To minimise the intrusions, we recommend sticking with the 20in wheels of S trim. Bigger rims, like the 22in ones that come with Dynamic HSE, make the ride worse.

The Discovery isn't geared towards sporty handling. Yes, you can steer it through corners with confidence at moderate speeds, but it's nowhere near as eager to change direction as an Audi Q7 or Volvo XC90. It leans more dramatically and feels somewhat cumbersome through tighter twists and turns.

The steering is slow, so getting round corners in town requires a lot of arm work. It's not an ideal city car, then, but it is one of the best SUVs for off-roading. It will confidently explore places where rivals fear to tread with the help of an excellent 285mm of ground clearance, a wading depth of 900mm and a multitude of clever electronics.

If you add the optional Advanced Off-road Pack, the Discovery gets All-Terrain Progress Control, which acts as a cruise control for off-roading and works at up to 19mph. There's also a hill-descent control feature, which allows you to adjust the speed of descent to match how brave you feel.

The D350 diesel engine is impressively serene, working away quietly in the background and remaining smooth even when pushed hard. In fact, it’s even more hushed than the diesel engine in an Audi Q7.

Previous incarnations of the Discovery sliced through the air about as efficiently as a double-decker bus. This latest version is hardly a masterclass in streamlining either, so there's more wind and road noise than in a Q7 or a BMW X7 – although it's hardly rowdy inside.

“I found the Discovery’s brake pedal a little grabby at low speeds, so you have to concentrate in order to come to a slow stop.” – Will Nightingale, Reviews Editor

SUV fans will love the Land Rover Discovery's imperious driving position, which feels significantly higher than many of its rivals'.

The driver's seat is super comfy, and on entry-level S trim has 14-way powered adjustment. If you opt for Dynamic SE trim or above, you’ll get 18-way adjustable seats with a memory function, while Dynamic HSE and Metropolitan Edition versions have 20-way adjustment.

Whichever trim you choose, there's a huge range of adjustment for the steering wheel. You have to make those adjustments manually on the Dynamic S, while the posher trims come with electric steering-wheel adjustment.

The dashboard is mostly user-friendly, and the chunky rotary controls for the air-conditioning are designed to be used when you are wearing gloves.

All trims come with a configurable digital driver's display behind the steering wheel (instead of analogue dials). It's clear and shows lots of information, although isn't as customisable as the Virtual Cockpit arrangement in the Audi Q7.

Lots of glass and a lofty driving position combine to give you a great view out in all directions. Forward visibility is particularly good, making it surprisingly easy to thread the Discovery along narrow urban streets or between tight hedgerows.

To help you see where you're going at night, all models have LED headlights with automatic main beams. Self-levelling headlights become standard on Dynamic SE trim and above, and if you upgrade to Dynamic HSE or the Metropolitan Edition you get fully adaptive matrix headlights, which automatically shape their beams to illuminate as much of the road as possible without dazzling other drivers.

The Discovery is a long car, and to help with parking all versions have front and rear parking sensors, and a surround-view camera, which displays a bird’s eye view of the car on the infotainment touchscreen. That’s something you have to add as an optional extra on some rivals.

Every trim level gets an 11.4in infotainment touchscreen with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay smartphone mirroring. If you step up from S to Dynamic SE trim, you gain a more powerful, 400-watt Meridian sound system, while power is upped to 700 watts in Dynamic HSE and Metropolitan Edition versions.

The touchscreen display looks respectably sharp and is responsive when you prod it, and while the operating system doesn't exactly offer Apple levels of intuitiveness, the menus are easy enough to fathom.

Overall, we think it's better than the system in the Volvo XC90, although the BMW X5 and X7 have even better infotainment systems than the Discovery.

The Discovery’s interior feels reasonably upmarket. True, there are a few more hard plastics and rough edges than you’ll find in an Audi Q7 or BMW X7, but the areas you touch regularly feel solid enough.

There are plenty of ways to personalise the interior: even entry-level S trim gives you a choice of seat and headlining colours, along with various dashboard finisher strips.

“The design of the interior is closer to a Range Rover’s than a Defender. I like that – but not everyone will.” – Doug Revolta, Head of Video

It doesn’t matter what size and shape you are, you’ll have head room to spare in the front of the Land Rover Discovery – although that's the case in most enormous SUVs.

If you're well over six feet tall, you might notice that the seats don't slide back quite as far as those in the Audi Q7 and Volvo XC90. The Discovery does, though, have one of the widest interiors in the class, so you'll have plenty of room between you and your front passenger.

The Discovery soundly thrashes its rivals when it comes to interior storage space. You can fit a one-litre bottle in each front door pocket and up to four iPads in the deep cubby under the armrest. There's also a "secret" compartment in the middle of the dashboard: when you push a button, the climate-control panel folds down to reveal a hiding place for a phone, purse or wallet.

The sheer width of the Discovery makes sitting three abreast in the second row pretty comfortable for all concerned, and there's no central floor tunnel to rob passengers of foot space. There's also loads of head room, although leg room isn’t as generous as it is in a Q7 or XC90.

The opposite is true for passengers in the third row. The two fold-out seats in the boot are roomier than in most of the Discovery's seven-seat rivals – a notable exception being the BMW X7. Even two tall adults will be quite comfortable on the rearmost seats, with soft pads just under the rear side windows to rest their elbows on.

Each door bin in the second row can hold a 500ml bottle of water, and there are small stowage areas for passengers in the third row.

The second-row seat backs in all versions of the Discovery can be folded down electrically. That sounds great but the process isn't exactly snappy – and you still need to haul the seats forward on their runners to allow passengers to access the third row.

It's also a shame that the second row seat backs split 60/40 rather than the more adaptable 40/20/40 arrangement offered in many rival SUVs.

The third-row seats have to be lifted manually on the cheaper trims, although that's actually quicker than doing it electrically – as you can if you go for the range-topping Metropolitan Edition (or pay extra for the electric option).

The size of the Discovery's boot depends on how many seats are folded down, but whichever of the 21 possible configurations you choose there’s room for at least some luggage.

In five-seat mode, there’s space for nine carry-on suitcases below the load cover. That's not bad, but the Audi Q7 managed to swallow 10 cases and the BMW X7 took 11. With all seven seats in use, the Discovery boot has room for a few small shopping bags.

There’s no split tailgate (as there was on previous versions of the Discovery) but a section of boot floor folds out, overhanging the rear bumper and offering a handy perch for taking off your wellies. All versions have a powered tailgate.

“I really wouldn’t bother adding the electric third-row seats. They take an age to raise and lower themselves out of the floor.” – Neil Winn, Deputy Reviews Editor

The Land Rover Discovery is cheaper than many premium seven-seaters including the Audi Q7. Indeed, even the most expensive Discovery undercuts the cheapest BMW X7 by several thousand pounds. It’s also worth noting that, spec-for-spec, the Discovery is a cheaper option than Land Rover's own Defender 110.

That said, depreciation is likely to be heavier than on the more fashionable Defender. If you’re going down the PCP finance route, expect hefty monthly repayments.

Officially, the Discovery can return around 35mpg, but we managed little more than 30mpg in real-world tests, and with CO2 emissions of well over 200g/km, company car users will pay BIK tax at the highest rate of 37%.

No Discovery is badly equipped, and even entry-level S trim gets you leather seats, two-zone climate control, keyless entry, 20in alloy wheels and lots of other goodies. We’d argue that it gives you all you really need and is our pick of the range.

We can see why you might want to fork out for Dynamic SE trim, though. As well as bigger (21in) alloy wheels and a sportier body kit, it adds front seats with more adjustment and two fixed panoramic sunroofs.

Further up the trims is Dynamic HSE, with 22in wheels, fancier ambient LED lighting, ventilated front seats and a punchier sound system. Meanwhile, the range-topping Metropolitan Edition has bespoke styling and electrically folding third-row seats with a heating function.

The Discovery didn't perform particularly strongly in our 2024 What Car? Reliability Survey, finishing in ninth position out of the 12 seven-seat SUVs rated. If you're looking for a dependable seven-seater, it's probably best to avoid Land Rover models altogether – the brand finished 27th out of the 31 manufacturers ranked.

A three-year, unlimited-mileage warranty – which includes UK and European roadside assistance – provides some peace of mind. The three-year term is standard for the class, although the unlimited mileage aspect beats many rivals, including the Audi Q7.

All trim levels come with eight airbags and lane-keeping assistance, as well as an automatic emergency braking system (AEB) that will slow you down automatically if it senses an imminent collision. It can even recognise pedestrians. 

If you upgrade your Discovery to Dynamic SE trim, you’ll also get blind-spot monitoring and a rear traffic monitor, which warns you of approaching vehicles when you’re backing out on to a road. 

The second and third rows of seats have Isofix child-seat mounting points, a feature noted by Euro NCAP when it awarded the Discovery the maximum five stars in its safety appraisal. However, that appraisal was way back in 2017, and has now expired due to the much tougher testing standards new cars are subjected to today.

“The Discovery isn’t the must-have fashion accessory that the Defender has become, but I actually like its more understated image.” – Dan Jones, Senior Review

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