1 Apr 2015
The Land Rover Discovery Sport – built in Land Rover’s Halewood factory in the United Kingdom – was released in April 2015, and was available in three grades SE, HSE, and HSE Luxury.
Based on the same platform as the Evoque, but with a longer body, the first-generation Discovery Sport was offered in both diesel and petrol guise, and could be ordered as a seven-seater.
A 2.2-litre turbocharged diesel came in two tunes in SD spec it made 110kW, while in HD spec it put out 140kW. Both engines had the same torque figure of 420Nm, and both engines returned a fuel economy number of 6.1 litres/100 kilometres. The diesel was due to be replaced in 2016 by a new JLR Ingenium engine.
Both diesel powerplants could be optioned with a six-speed manual or a new ZF nine-speed auto gearbox that was shared with the Evoque.
The single petrol engine, known as the Si4 SE, was based on the same 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine that Ford used for the Falcon EcoBoost and Focus ST, among others. It was tuned to make 177kW and 340Nm of torque, and was only available with a nine-speed automatic gearbox. Its fuel economy figure was listed as 8.1L/100km.
All Discovery Sports operated as full-time 4WDs and were fitted with centre differentials. A $1620 option known as Active Driveline allowed the rear axle to be decoupled to improve fuel economy.
Both drivetrains were controlled via Land Rover’s Terrain Response System New to the Discovery Sport was a completely reworked multi-link rear end that allowed Land Rover to equip the SUV with a third-row pair of seats.
