2017 Land Rover Discovery: Bigger, bolder, more capable than ever

[BLANK_AUDIO] If you're American and think of a rugged off road vehicle, one capable of tearing up the outdoors and making you feel like a hero, you'll probably think of a Jeep. If you're British, you'll think of a Land Rover. The one that's inspired by the Willys jeeps of World War II. What started with the Defender has grown into a global mega brand offering utmost luxury with the Range Rover and off-road cred with the now defunct Defender. But what if you want a mix with the two? You want comfort and luxury, but you also want a little bit of that old school rough and tumble. Well then, you might want to take a look at this, The new Land Rover Discovery. The Discovery's been around for more than 25 years. It's been all over the world, up mountains, through rivers and to countless private schools in Cheshire. It's the Land Rover for the person who likes the idea of going anywhere, but who also wants refinement, decent seats, air conditioning that works, but they don't want to plumb for a full fat Range Rover. Think of the Discovery then as the Range Rover farming brother. It can do pretty much everything its flashy brother can do, but it doesn't wear diamond encrusted The [UNKNOWN] while it does so. It's also pretty lean, Land Rover has managed to trim up to 480 kilos off of it depending on your trim compared to the car it replaces. That said the old Discovery weighed about the same as the moon. Interestingly, the new Discovery appears to be aimed at families who don't like talking to one another. So you can have up to nine USB sockets and four 12 volts plugs for charging devices. You can even have WiFi for up to eight devices on the go. Considering there's seven seats. Now there's a lot of opportunity to no talk to one another. [INAUDIBLE] the problems you didn't know You can adjust the seats in this thing from pretty much anywhere, it's kind of ridiculous. So, there are buttons in the booths to raise and lower the back to rows or you can do it on the central touchscreen or you can do it via an app. So, say you're in a hardware store, buying bricks, right? So, you got your bricks, and you realize just before you get to the car, just as your checking out Man! My car's setup for my family, my loving family that I adore. But that's useful for me and my bricks. Well, flip your phone out or walk in to the car and press buttons and boom! You have all of that load space ready for you and your bricky pals to take home. [MUSIC] In fact, trick tech is the name of the game here. You can set the cars air con from an app, you can lock it and unlock it from one as well. There's an activity key, which means you can leave your real keys behind and unlock it with a water, wind, dust, and everything proof wristband. You can even have the code drop it's height by 40 mill, to 8 and egras. Now this is a Land Rover product which means it has to be able tackle, mad and off roads Stuff, now the Discovery Sport and the Range Rover Evoke can do that really quite well. But this is the Discovery, the latest in a long line of cars that have been all over the planet. In all kinds of terrain, now the new one has 283 [INAUDIBLE] clearance and it can wade through 900. The water, [UNKNOWN] both class leading. So is it any good off-road? Well? I had a little bit of a play in some sand the other day which was most entertaining. And you know what? It's brilliant, it's so good. The terrain response system's been fiddled with, and it's as up to date as it can be for this car. And you leave it in auto or slide it around to match whatever condition you're in, and the car just does it, it's so easy Easy and so good. [MUSIC] Be assured, Land Rover's made the new Discovery really good off road. [MUSIC] Well, isn't that a surprise. The Land Rover did well off road. Now before we get to the on road bits of the driving, it's worth mentioning the autonomous stuff that Land Rover's puts in place. If like some you have horses or trailers that need transporting but you're not too keen on reversing them, the car can do it for you. How cool is that? But that's kind if a discovery staple, doing things that are a little bit unexpected but super handy. Let's be honest though, the most challenging thing of Discovery 5 is probably Really gonna face. The vast majority of them anyway is some damp grass or a slightly muddy track on the way to the school [UNKNOWN] or a football match, or something like that. I mean, there's gonna be harder experiences inside the car with arguments between someone and a mother-in-law, or children going, when Nearly there yet? And stuff like that. So it's all about on road comfort. Is it comfy? Does it ride well? Does it handle well? Is this a really good family wagon? Well, I'm in the three-liter V6 diesel. I've got about 256 horsepower and 443 pound foot to play with. Naught to 62, sub eight seconds. So it should be rather taste. We're gonna start off by talking about the engine, in the UK it will do apparently more than 40 mpg which is quite impressive. However, it's still quite a heavy car despite the fact it's lost loads of weight over the old one Which means that north to 62 times sub 8, 7.78 sounds quite impressive, doesn't it? But when you really lean on it, it does take its time to build. For example, we're just gonna slow down slightly and we'll go from 50 to the speed limit. Okay, we'll go Go down to 50 and go. Come on car. That's 60, and we are at the limit. So there is some sub it but it doesnt feel very argent and its transmission, glorious glorious transmission, very very smooth, its an eight speed automatic It's staler but it just needs a little bit more agency say when you're overtaking something, or you're in a bit of a hurry it's not that first but, it's not a performance car. It never pretended to be a performance car, yeah off road performance it's very good at but on the road, Is not a land speed record motor. You're not gonna be taking on [UNKNOWN] or anything of the like. So I guess you shouldn't be worried. What about the handling? What's it like going through bendy bits? Well, the steering works, which is good. It's not the most feedbacktacular of steering setups. I can't lie to you. But you turn the wheel, the car turns as well. Always a good thing, right? You do feel the car's weight. Under acceleration, it does pitch back and under braking, it certainly pitches on it's nose. But this has the air suspension which is all Amergin allows for different right heights and it adjust the car, so if you wanna load something in the trunk, you can press a button and it will lower it a little bit or you can raise it a little bit so for hitching things and it will Lowly set to let people in and out, more easily., mainly small people like children. [BLANK_AUDIO] But, when you do pick into a corner, there is lots of body lean, and lots of lows, which makes feel a little bit lowly pulling. And not speeding at super high speed, that's it more sensible speed. So, when you are tackling a country lane. You can be assured that if the road is slippery and muddy, the car will handle it. But the moment you go around a bend you'll find yourself tensing one way or the other, if you're, well, committed. But the overwhelming thing about is is that it's quite and it's comfortable. The ride is phenomenal. It's not bumpy, it's not lumpy. I've been going over some pretty nasty stuff. And it's only when the going gets super rough. Do you start to think that you're not having a good time. They have thought of everything for a family. But the kind of family that buys one of these, will they use it to its fullest? Probably not. [INAUDIBLE] they think they are by taking it on a muddy field, or by taking it on a big old road trip and realizing that it's super quiet. Well, yeah because in one sense of the word they will be. The materials are fantastic, the ride is good it looks good it needs to be solidly put together. There's space, there's connectivity, there's loads of USB ports and things to charge other things in. What more could you want from something, for hauling families around? [MUSIC]. But no matter how talented it is on road, there are still some things not quite right It's rear end for one, is not pretty. Yes, it echoes the Discos of old, but, they looked like that because of how the boot opened. The new one has a traditional vertically opening hatch that ease in on space and stuff. So, it doesn't actually need to look like it does. And you know what? Let me assure. [MUSIC] I wanna talk a little bit about the Discovery's looks. You see, the Discovery arm of the Land Rover family has a very distinct look about it. This looks remarkable similar to the smaller Cheaper Discovery Sport, which mean if I bought the Discovery Sport, well I'd be rather pleased with myself cuz my motor looks like the bigger, more expensive one. That said, the looks of this do translate rather nicely to its size. It doesn't look that big even though it is enormous. The front end is handsome. Its got the state roof that Discovery's have had since day one. The back end is a little bit iffy, but it's a pretty handsome car. [MUSIC] The [UNKNOWN] Land Rover entertainment system is here and for all the new and improved, it's still not as easy to use as the likes of iDrive and MMI. Now the last time I used one in a Jaguar F Pace, it crashed a few times. And in the discovery it did make a habit of forgetting that my phone was attached to the car. Minorly irksome but something to be ironed out in the future, I'm sure. On the upshot, there's over 2,400 liters of boot space and there's room for a stack of iPads in the center console, which means you can ignore Land Rover's efforts. If you want to just play with your own kit. The new Discovery is a hugely capable car. And it will take pretty much everything you throw at it. It's not perfect, of course, but it's pretty, pretty, good. Now, this is the kind of motor that you and your family can climb a mountain in. And remember, The family that drives up a mountain together is pretty weird, actually. But, they can do it in this. [MUSIC] [BLANK_AUDIO]