AIMS: Price rises for Land Rover Discovery

THE price of entry to a Land Rover Discovery will return to pre-luxury car tax threshold increase levels when the more fuel-efficient 2013 model year models arrive in January – with rises of up to $1200 on some variants.

Land Rover announced pricing on the eve of the refreshed Disco’s Australian debut at the Sydney motor show, where it will be shown alongside the all-new Range Rover, which also receives a price hike, and the facelifted Freelander that will be $2690 less expensive.

In return for the extra cash, Discovery buyers will get improved infotainment technology and, on the volume-selling diesel variants, meaningful improvements to fuel efficiency and performance.

Kicking off the range at $68,900 plus on-road costs – the price charged for the outgoing base model before the luxury car tax threshold rose to $59,133 on June 30 – the entry-level TDV6 is almost 17 per cent more fuel efficient yet reaches 100km/h two seconds quicker.

The efficiency increase is attributed to ditching the old 2.7-litre V6 diesel engine – also used in the locally built Ford Territory – in favour of a more modern and more powerful 3.0-litre unit that is made even more efficient by combining with an eight-speed automatic transmission.

Producing 15kW more power and 80Nm more torque than the previous engine, fuel consumption of the new 155kW/520Nm entry-level drivetrain plummets to 8.5 litres per 100 kilometres, while 0-100km/h comes up in 10.7 seconds.

Higher-spec diesel Discos use a more powerful SDV6 version of the engine, where the eight-speed transmission yields a 5.4 per cent drop in fuel consumption, to 8.8L/100km, and a 0-100km/h time 0.3s quicker than before at 9.3 seconds.

The SDV6 variants cop the biggest price increases at $1200 for the mid-spec SE and $800 for the top-spec HSE, bringing them up to $84,600 and $95,900 respectively.

Customers wanting more road presence for their SDV6 Discovery can specify a new Black Design Pack comprising blacked-out badging, doorhandles, side vents, grille mesh, mirror caps, roof rails and alloy wheels plus rear privacy glass.

The pack costs $3900 for the SE or $3050 on the HSE with 19-inch alloy wheels, while upgrading to 20-inch alloys makes the cost $5600 on the SE and $5170 on the HSE.

Flagship petrol V8 Discos are unchanged under the bonnet, with the 5.0-litre unit still pushing out 276kW and 510Nm through a six-speed auto.

A new extended leather pack – inspired by the hide-lined HSE Luxury limited edition – costs $2335 on the SDV6 HSE and V8, bringing Windsor leather coverings to the dashboard fascia, door armrests, door caps and grab handles, but on the SDV6 HSE the extended leather pack must be ordered in conjunction with the $2965 Windsor leather upholstery upgrade.

All MY13 Discoveries carry over the touchscreen control introduced last year, with the additional option of DAB+ digital radio for $850, while a digital television receiver becomes a $1580 option on SDV6 models and is standard on the V8.

However, the digital TV is only available when combined with the satellite-navigation system that costs $3240 extra on the SDV6 SE, which in turn is only available to customers opting for the $1750 11-speaker 380-Watt Harman Kardon premium audio system.

Models with sat-nav gain an upgraded set-up with off-road guidance and ‘4x4i’ drivetrain monitoring.

Sat-nav also provides the option of further upgrading to a $4100 rear-seat entertainment system with twin eight-inch screens, wireless headphones, a single-slot DVD player and USB input for watching downloaded movies.

Meanwhile, the full-blown 825W 17-speaker ‘LOGIC 7’ audio set-up comes standard on the V8 but costs $2060 on the SDV6 HSE, which rides on new seven-spoke 19-inch alloy wheels.

2013 Land Rover Discovery pricing*

TDV6 (a)	$68,900 (+$500)
SDV6 SE (a)	$84,600 (+$1200)
SDV6 HSE (a)	$95,900 (+$800)
V8 (a)	$129,900 (+$500)

*Plus on-road costs