It's refresh time for Land Rover's compact Discovery Sport, which for 2018 gets two new engines and a number of new standard and optional features.
What Land Rovers calls a pair of new engines is actually one 2.0L turbocharged four-cylinder tuned two ways: In base form, it makes 237 hp and 251 lb-ft of torque, while the uprated variant is good for 286 hp and 295 lb-ft. The new motor is part of Land Rover's family of Ingenium powerplants, developed in-house and, in this case, replacing a 2.0L turbo sourced from Ford.
Other Disco Sport updates include front seats with four-way lumbar with a new 12-way power driver's seat available as an option. Auto-dimming side mirrors are standard in HSE and HSE Luxury trims, adaptive cruise control and blind spot monitoring join lane keeping assist as stand-alone active safety options, while the people strapped into the Disco Sport's seats can take advantage of an upgrade Wi-Fi hotspot.
Speaking of people, the Discovery Sport is the smallest Land Rover to offer three rows of seating, and while the third row is quite snug, it still gives this compact utility something none of its competitors (BMW X3, Audi Q5, Acura RDX and Cadillac XT5, for a few examples) can boast.
The new 286-hp engine gives this little Landie the power to better keep up with top-trim versions of those competitive vehicles, all of which can be optioned with close to 300 hp, if not more. It also effectively creates two new trim levels: the 237-hp motor is standard in SE, HSE and HSE Luxury trims, while the top two can be optioned with the more potent motor.
Fuel consumption estimates drop incrementally thanks to the new engine: City driving ratings are 11.2 and 11.7 L/100 km for the 237- and 286-hp engines, respectively, while highway performance is 9.4 L/100 km for both. The old motor was rated 12.0/9.2 city/highway.
This is one of the few Land Rover models that lacks a 4x4 transfer case and locking differentials, but it makes up for that with an ultra-low first gear, more than eight inches of ground clearance and cruise control that works at off-road speeds.
Some of the Disco Sport's more advanced features include a driver monitor that can detect a drowsy driver, and a speed limiter that, when activated, reads speed signs and will automatically slow the car down if the driver is exceeding the limit.
