Tucked away in a quiet corner of Land Rover’s production plant in Solihull,
West Midlands, is the renowned Jungle Track, a car-breaking maze of 2ft-deep
rivers, one-in-three gradients, collapsed bridges, mud-streaked concrete
steps and bouldered terrain. But for the new Land Rover Discovery — with
four million miles of testing in deserts, frozen Arctic wastes and jungle —
it is a breeze.
This is a car that can climb muddy hills so steep that all you can see is sky
and the end of the bonnet. It will walk its way down the steepest hills,
including the slippery concrete staircase, and wade through rivers, much to
the consternation of the herons that live nearby. In fact, cross your
favourite living-room chair with a mountain goat and you are getting close
to the comfort and go-anywhere abilities of the new Discovery — in a
showroom near you this month.
The car has taken more than four years to design and engineer, starting life
as a doodled sketch in the margin of a notebook belonging to Andy Wheel, the
lead designer.
What he and his team have come up with is a wonderful mix of the high-tech and
the brutally effective: the car is a mass of computer wizardry and
electronics, but the rear, fold-down tailgate had to pass the 2BBT (Two Big
Blokes Test), proving it is able to withstand the weight of two largish Land
Rover chaps standing on it without collapsing. The car also had to undergo
“doggie” tests, with a variety of dogs leaping in and out, proving that the
car could also be home to pets.
The top-of-the-range Discovery is not cheap, yet despite a price tag
approaching £50,000, all-purpose hose-down rubber mats feature on the
floors. The message is simple: this is a car to do a job but to do it in
style. If your family is thirsty, there are cubby holes to hold 14 litres of
bottled drinks. There are seven seats in three rows, each row slightly
higher than the one in front, giving everyone a view rather than a sight of
the headrest in front. The rear five seats all fold flat in an instant to
give a huge loading area.
The new Discovery is not quite as tall as the previous model, making it easier
to get into underground car parks, but it is longer: only 4in outside, but
clever packaging means that there is more than a foot of extra legroom
inside.
Even the most ardent Discovery fans have said that the car could be better on
the road, where most spend the majority of their lives. Now it is. The new
Discovery is quieter, more refined and more civilised. The commanding
position of the driver’s seat, huge rear mirrors and gigantic windows mean
that you have near 360-degree vision. The 4.4-litre, Jaguar- derived V8
petrol engine is thirsty (motorway fuel consumption averaged 17mpg) but
wonderfully smooth and the accelerator needs to be used judiciously because
the car’s stability and quietness means that it is all too easy to pass the
motorway speed limit. Body roll, a problem with early Discoverys, has
disappeared.
But it is off-road that the Discovery remains unbeatable. The suspension
lowers to cope with high-speed tarmac driving and to make it easy to get in
and out, and rises to cope with rocks or off-road motoring. The ingenious
Terrain Response allows the driver to swivel a chunky switch in the central
console and tailor the car’s driving response to whether you are driving on
the road, slippery grass, gravel or snow, over mud and ruts, through sand or
over rocks and boulders. There is also a yellow Hill Descent Control button
that ensures that the car’s engine and brakes automatically keep everything
smooth, controlled and unflustered when descending slippery, muddy or
gravel-strewn hills.
About one in three Discovery customers will have a go on the Jungle Track for
an eye-widening experience that proves that they have not just bought the
latest designer accessory for impressing the neighbours or muscling into the
school run. When you buy a Land Rover Discovery, you buy half a century of
experience over every kind of rut and ravine. I know. I tried it.
AT A GLANCE THE NEW MODEL
PRICE: From about £27,000 to £50,000. HSE version tested: £46,995
POWER: 4.4-litre, V8 petrol, 295 brake horsepower driving all four
wheels through six-speed automatic gearbox
PERFORMANCE: Top speed 121mph, 0 to 60mph in 8sec
IMPORTANT MILESTONE OR ANOTHER GAS GUZZLER?
Phil Popham, Land Rover's managing director, answers the
questions
Not another Chelsea Tractor. Is there room for a new 4 x 4 on our
roads?
PP: The footprint of the car on the road is no bigger than
that of a large saloon and far from being “gas guzzlers”, the engines are
far more fuel-efficient and cleaner than the outgoing model.
A car for the Urban Warrior or mud-plugging farmer?
PP: It is true that most customers will never use the vehicle
to its fullest off-road potential, although a third will take one of our
off-road tuition courses.
So how important is the new Discovery?
PP: New Discovery is hugely important, replacing a car that
has been crucial to Land Rover since it was launched in 1988, was the
best-selling vehicle of its type before Freelander and which, with 100,000
Discoverys sold in the UK, has a huge following.
Important then. But is it any good?
PP: This is the first all-new car we have produced from
scratch since we came under Ford ownership in 2000. It is hugely practical
as a seven-seat family car. My four and six-year-olds and all their friends
love the seating arrangements.
Kiddy-proof is fine, but what about off-road?
PP: The chunkiness of the switches, the usability and
durability of the interior, the functionality, plus the huge load space,
mean it is highly versatile.
Isn't £27,000 to almost £50,000 a lot for a Discovery?
PP: The range is priced from £26,995, which is incredible
value for money given that servicing costs are down 40 per cent against the
old model and fuel economy is better.
Hmm, so who will buy it?
PP: The trick now is not just to target existing Discovery
owners but to woo back those “lapsed” owners. We plan to sell between 12,000
and 13,000 in 2005 but the car is already sold out until next March and the
new registration plate.
Will it last as long as its predecessor?
PP: It has gone through four million miles of testing and the
quality and build are above anything we have done before.
DRIVEN TO DISTRACTION: TEN THINGS YOU DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT LAND ROVER
- Doors were optional extras on the first Land Rover. The car was born when the
Wilks brothers, Spencer and Maurice, both directors at Rover, came up
with the idea of a lightweight 4 x 4 similar to the American Army Jeep
that had served with distinction in the Second World War. A postwar
shortage of steel forced the brothers to use aluminium body panels.
- The first Land Rover was built in 1948 with a canvas roof. Within three years
it was outselling Rover saloons two to one. Since then, more than 3.25
million Land Rover Defenders, Range Rovers, Discoverys and Freelanders
have been sold around the world.
- One of the first customers was King George VI, who placed an order after being
impressed during tests at Sandringham and Balmoral.
- Land Rover’s early go-anywhere vehicles were loved by farmers and the
military. Then, in 1970, came the original “Chelsea Tractor”, the Range
Rover, a civilised 4 x 4 that stayed in original three-door guise for a decade
before a five-door version was launched.
- Discovery was launched in 1988-89 (the company’s first new vehicle for almost
20 years) with an interior designed by Conran, featuring handy string
hammocks to stow kit and a fetching shoulder bag that sat between
passenger and driver.
- The greatest car ever? Viewers of BBC TV’s Top Gear voted Land
Rover the greatest vehicle of all time, praising its design and
durability.
- Land Rover as art? Yup: the original Land Rover was star of the show when it
featured in a display at the Louvre in Paris in 1970 as a modern
sculpture.
- Car for the stars: Madonna and her newlywed husband, Guy Ritchie, rode from
their wedding to their reception at Skibo Castle in Sutherland in a
Range Rover. Other Land Rover fans have included Sir Richard Branson,
Kate Moss and the Pope.
- The car is the star: a Land Rover Defender starred in the adventure movie, Lara
Croft: Tomb Raider, with Angelina Jolie in the title role, roaming
the world fearlessly tackling the bad guys.
- And finally: you will never go thirsty in the Discovery. There are enough
cubby holes in the new car to hold 14 litres of bottled drinks.
