No Panic In This Disco

These days, a new Land Rover is the preserve of the rich and not-so-famous. The new Discovery Sport is out to change that perception. It’s the cheapest new Land Rover available and it’s more capable than you think…

- Pierre Steyn

Usually, when you see a “sport” version of something, you know it’s probably going to cost more than the normal version. Ask anyone who has acted on a mid-life crisis and traded in his or her loyal spouse for a sportier model… The result is often financial ruin and a lifetime of debt. Yes, “sport” should always be approached with great care!

Weirdly, it’s the opposite with Land Rover. A normal Range Rover costs more than R2 million, whereas the Range Rover Sport is R900K cheaper. A Land Rover Discovery is far north of R1 million, but the Disco Sport starts at “only” R750 000.

This makes the recently refreshed Discovery Sport the most affordable new Land Rover money can buy. Even the Defender, once the working class mule in the Land Rover stable, now starts at a thoroughbred R950 000.

The Sport has been on the market since 2015, when it replaced the unloved Freelander. It’s an all-round SUV, at home in the suburbs and comfortable on gravel roads. You can even do a bit of off-roading. It’s not as good as the normal Discovery in the veld, but it’s better than you think.

We drove an updated D180 R-Dynamic HSE from Cape Town to Langebaan early in March. From there, we travelled to RiebeekKasteel along a route that included farm roads and a bit of 4x4 track.