Discovery Sport [Official] 2015 Land Rover Discovery Sport

[KiwiRob]

@KiwiRob

Why do you disagree? What do you think is the main reason to buy the new Freelander?

Because it's not a Freelander anymore.

I agree with Marley

Better looking
More flexible seating
More capable offroad
Land Rover badge

No question, it's a good looking vehicle but one can't help but view this model as mutton dressed up as lamb.

If you call this mutton dressed as lamb whats your take on the Porsche Macan, it's just a jacked up A4 in fancy duds?

 

[Giannis]

Because it's not a Freelander anymore.

Seriously? And what is it? Is it an all new product? Is it a Sportier Discovery? Is JLR's marketing crap working?

Note to self: the phrase "all new product" seems to have a totally different meaning with JLR. They call their V6 a totally new product, but removing two pistons from the V8. Maybe "all new product" simply means:

for i=1:n
name(i)=name(i+1)+"sport"
end

 

[KiwiRob]

Seriously? And what is it? Is it an all new product? Is it a Sportier Discovery? Is JLR's marketing crap working?

It must be working because Evoques are running out the door faster than they can build them. I suspect this will be more of the same, it's a good looking vehicle which will appeal to many families, it looks to be more spacious than X3, Q5, GLK, XC60, it has 7 seats which none of the competition offers, it will also get you out of a muddy parking lot better than the Germans.

 

[martinbo]

If you call this mutton dressed as lamb whats your take on the Porsche Macan, it's just a jacked up A4 in fancy duds?

Naturally, the Audi's longitudinal platform is superior to begin with. But ja - if you must know: on top of that the Porsche brings a level of German engineering that can't be compared: state of the art Porsche-engineered and built turbo'd V6 engines, Porsche-developed suspension kinematics, sublime Porsche-developed PDK, full-time AWD to mention some...

By comparison the Disco Sport upon launch is a hotch-potch of everyone else's old tech (barring the only redeemer - German ZF) with very much less to tangibly differentiate it from an engineering perspective from the Freelander 2. Sure, both cars have got fancy new skins over established platforms but clearly, the Germans put in more of their own effort.

But no worries, one could buy a new Disco Sport now and bank on proven though antiquated 4 cylinder legacy engines from other manufacturers. Or, wait a few months and take a gamble on Ingenium engines. That'll be interesting.

 

[martinbo]

... it will also get you out of a muddy parking lot no better than the Germans.

Corrected. There is no technical evidence to support this. Mate of mine has a late-model Freelander 2. Got stuck in minor mud. At least the Germans all have the advantage of a permanent and more evenly torque-distributed AWD system.

 

[Giannis]

@martinbo

Martin, do you remember what type of an AWD system does this new Freelander come with?

 

[martinbo]

@martinbo

Martin, do you remember what type of an AWD system does this new Freelander come with?

Transverse Haldex V.

 

[Giannis]

Transverse Haldex V.

Therefore, given the tyres are the same, the Q5's TorSen symmetrical AWD system, is superior to what is found in the Discovery Sport.

So, other than the subjective looks, 3rd row sitting and the LR badge, the new Freelander doesn't have the advantage of superior off-road capabilities over a Q5, as @KiwiRob suggests.

 

[martinbo]

Therefore, given the tyres are the same, the Q5's TorSen symmetrical AWD system, is superior to what is found in the Discovery Sport.

So, other than the subjective looks, 3rd row sitting and the LR badge, the new Freelander doesn't have the advantage of superior off-road capabilities over a Q5, as @KiwiRob suggests.

Yes, but it also appears that Disco Sport gets GKN-supplied Active Driveline as per the Evoque. So in this instance Disco Sport will be better off road than Q5.

So Disco Sport gets two AWD configurations - Haldex and GKN.

http://www.gkn.com/media/News/Pages...eater-agility-with-superior-fuel-economy.aspx

 

[Giannis]

Ok, I'll have to do some reading today.

Thanks

 

[KiwiRob]

Naturally, the Audi's longitudinal platform is superior to begin with. But ja - if you must know: on top of that the Porsche brings a level of German engineering that can't be compared: state of the art Porsche-engineered and built turbo'd V6 engines, Porsche-developed suspension kinematics, sublime Porsche-developed PDK, full-time AWD to mention some...

By comparison the Disco Sport upon launch is a hotch-potch of everyone else's old tech (barring the only redeemer - German ZF) with very much less to tangibly differentiate it from an engineering perspective from the Freelander 2. Sure, both cars have got fancy new skins over established platforms but clearly, the Germans put in more of their own effort.

But no worries, one could buy a new Disco Sport now and bank on proven though antiquated 4 cylinder legacy engines from other manufacturers. Or, wait a few months and take a gamble on Ingenium engines. That'll be interesting.

It all depends on what you want, I want a family sized SUV without having to jump up to the next size level, it looks to me that the Disco Sport has a lot more interior space than the competition, the Macan is an even tighter squeaze than the Q5 it's based on. I'm not overly concerned with ultimate high speed, so long is it stops well and keeps the wife and kids safe I'm pretty happy. I think there are probably far more people in my situation than those who want a Macan or the like. Nor am I concerned about the engine situation, an engine is an engine, unless it's sitting in a high performance vehicle, so so long as it starts, doesn't drink excessively and doesn't cause me any maintenance issues I don't care if the tech is old or new, I believe the average punter would follow my line of thinking.

We're talking about a family friendly SUV here not a supercar, and in this segement I believe the Disco Sport will be force to be reckoned with, I think the Germans should be concerned. It will sell in large number despite what knockers like you think.

 

[Gianclaudio]

It all depends on what you want, I want a family sized SUV without having to jump up to the next size level, it looks to me that the Disco Sport has a lot more interior space than the competition, the Macan is an even tighter squeaze than the Q5 it's based on. I'm not overly concerned with ultimate high speed, so long is it stops well and keeps the wife and kids safe I'm pretty happy. I think there are probably far more people in my situation than those who want a Macan or the like. Nor am I concerned about the engine situation, an engine is an engine, unless it's sitting in a high performance vehicle, so so long as it starts, doesn't drink excessively and doesn't cause me any maintenance issues I don't care if the tech is old or new, I believe the average punter would follow my line of thinking.

We're talking about a family friendly SUV here not a supercar, and in this segement I believe the Disco Sport will be force to be reckoned with, I think the Germans should be concerned. It will sell in large number despite what knockers like you think.

Buy a Hyundai Santa Fe or a Kia Sorento

 

[KiwiRob]

Buy a Hyundai Santa Fe or a Kia Sorento

Why buy one of those when I could buy a Discovery Sport? It's a better badge, it would look more impressive in my driveway, the neighbours would take more notice

 

[martinbo]

YOU brought up the Macan, KiwiRob, not me...

As much as I'd adore driving the utterly-brilliant-to-drive Macan, I'd never spend that kind of money on an SUV crossover. But, again, you chose to single out the Macan.

 

[KiwiRob]

You forced me to do it, saying the Disco Sport was old tech, if it's old then so is the Macan. It's also small, unless you kids are dwarfs not much chop for a family.

 

[martinbo]

Aw KiwiRob, resorting to this level of retort?

I only have one daughter - she's almost eleven and tall for her age. She would be given that I'm 1.86m tall and neither she nor her mother is a dwarf.

Both a Macan and a Freelander would hence suit our - any many others' - needs equally from a practicality standpoint. So, I certainly considered the new Disco Sport and thought about waiting to replace our previous family SUV.
In the end, I stuck with my tried and trusted... a new Forester XT to go on a nice African adventure down to the Wild Coast with. Good value for money - excellent new technology engineered in-house by a brand known more for their engineering prowess than their ability to re-skin somebody else's technology.

The thing you insist on disregarding is that - as it stands on the showroom floor right now - the Disco Sport is closer in terms of engineering tech to the old Freelander 2 it replaces than an "all new" model ought to be. I say another cynical JLR marketing exercise in which pretty much the same old product has been re-skinned and punted as a quantum leap. Old Ford and PSA engines included. But oh wait - it's got seven seats how could I miss that one?!?

I'll say this - I bet my bottom dollar - go drive:
A Disco Sport and it will drive like a Freelander 2.
A Macan and it will drive nothing like a Q5.

I stand by my assertion - JLR is not a company to be lauded for their effort in the engineering department. But, let's wait for Ingenium.

All I can say is that I hope Ingenium doesn't let Land Rover customers down to the same extent that the brand had done so previously over the course of many years of ups and downs.

 

[Gianclaudio]

Why buy one of those when I could buy a Discovery Sport? It's a better badge, it would look more impressive in my driveway, the neighbours would take more notice

A better badge? Now you value the "weight" of the badge, after you were insulting @Betty Swollocks of a badge whore for having an Audi?
By your logic, why getting the Disco, when the cheaper, MUCH more reliable and better built Kia/Hyundai/etc cost much less?

Also, now you value the seven seats? Weren't you the guy trying to knock down Tesla's 5+2 configuration because of safety reasons?

I wouldn't put kids back there. It's a stupid idea and should be banned.

I wouldn't want to put any kids on those seats, imagine the result of a rear end accident? I was rear ended in my 6 month old W203 touring, the car ended up about 2 feet shorter, I was pretty thankful our son wasn't in the back seat at that time.

I must be a statistical anomaly, I've been rear ended three times. The last time in the Mercedes the car that hit us was travelling at approx 80 kph, we were stationary at the time. The Mercedes was written off, my wife and I got out without a scratch, the fool who hit us ended up in ICU.

BTW I have always though the Model S styling owed a lot to the Jaguar XF.

What a sad troll you are, your cynicism and hypocrisy know no boundaries, badmouthing manufacturing you don't like with your repetitive and derivative arguments, but using the same arguments as virtues and flair for the ones you like.
Your ever changing logic (the one that suits the discussion better) and the lack of foundation behind your arguments is what takes off your credibility on this very forum.

You don't want to have a discussion, you just want to have the right, -at whatever cost- and even if it goes against what you have stated before. Again, how sad.

 

[KiwiRob]

A better badge? Now you value the "weight" of the badge, after you were insulting @Betty Swollocks of a badge whore for having an Audi?

Sure was, then I bought one for the wife

By your logic, why getting the Disco, when the cheaper, MUCH more reliable and better built Kia/Hyundai/etc cost much less?

Because I don't want to drive a Kia or Hyundai, I don't like the styling of any of their vehicles, I also don't want to buy something which would be difficult to sell when I swap it in a couple of years.

Also, now you value the seven seats? Weren't you the guy trying to knock down Tesla's 5+2 configuration because of safety reasons?

There a large difference between rear facing like the Tesla where the kids feet are right in the crash zone than forward facing seats like in the vast majority of +2 seats. If you actually read my criticism of the Tesla ou should have understood that.

What a sad troll you are, your cynicism and hypocrisy know no boundaries, badmouthing manufacturing you don't like with your repetitive and derivative arguments, but using the same arguments as virtues and flair for the ones you like.
Your ever changing logic (the one that suits the discussion better) and the lack of foundation behind your arguments is what takes off your credibility on this very forum.

You don't want to have a discussion, you just want to have the right, -at whatever cost- and even if it goes against what you have stated before. Again, how sad.

I think your problem is you don't like arguments which are contrary to your point of view, you have an enormous bias.

 

[KiwiRob]

Aw KiwiRob, resorting to this level of retort?

I only have one daughter - she's almost eleven and tall for her age. She would be given that I'm 1.86m tall and neither she nor her mother is a dwarf.

Both a Macan and a Freelander would hence suit our - any many others' - needs equally from a practicality standpoint. So, I certainly considered the new Disco Sport and thought about waiting to replace our previous family SUV.
In the end, I stuck with my tried and trusted... a new Forester XT to go on a nice African adventure down to the Wild Coast with. Good value for money - excellent new technology engineered in-house by a brand known more for their engineering prowess than their ability to re-skin somebody else's technology.

The thing you insist on disregarding is that - as it stands on the showroom floor right now - the Disco Sport is closer in terms of engineering tech to the old Freelander 2 it replaces than an "all new" model ought to be. I say another cynical JLR marketing exercise in which pretty much the same old product has been re-skinned and punted as a quantum leap. Old Ford and PSA engines included. But oh wait - it's got seven seats how could I miss that one?!?

I'll say this - I bet my bottom dollar - go drive:
A Disco Sport and it will drive like a Freelander 2.
A Macan and it will drive nothing like a Q5.

I stand by my assertion - JLR is not a company to be lauded for their effort in the engineering department. But, let's wait for Ingenium.

All I can say is that I hope Ingenium doesn't let Land Rover customers down to the same extent that the brand had done so previously over the course of many years of ups and downs.

1.86 isn't that tall, it's tall for a South African but in Norway is only a CM or so above average height, I'm the shortest guy in my office at 181 cm.

From eveything I've read all it shares with the Evoque and Freelander 2 are the front suspension and engine, from the floor pan back it's all new including an all new rear suspension. So I feel pretty confident it will be pretty different from the Freelander. As for engines how old are most of BMW's they can trace back there lineage a long way, it's not often you get 100% all new.

 

[Giannis]

A better badge? Now you value the "weight" of the badge, after you were insulting @Betty Swollocks of a badge whore for having an Audi?
By your logic, why getting the Disco, when the cheaper, MUCH more reliable and better built Kia/Hyundai/etc cost much less?

@Gianclaudio

I normally wouldn't go so yellow press, but if you recall, it was our friend, KiwiRob, that was shouting everywhere that the A1 is a rebadged VW Polo that sells for a stupid premium. And you won't believe who forgot this, changed his mind completely and did exactly what he denounced.

All in all, I understand the need for a valued badge - I feel it in my working environment and it's one reason I still drive a Volvo. I can understand the need for 7 seats, but then again, there are cars that were designed with one specific target, which is for 7 people to travel comfortably. The Renault Espace or the cheaper Grand Scenic are two such examples.

The only thing I don't understand is how can one fall for JLR's crap so easily.