1 / 6

HyperFocal: 0

2 / 6

HyperFocal: 0

3 / 6

HyperFocal: 0

4 / 6

HyperFocal: 0

5 / 6

HyperFocal: 0

6 / 6

HyperFocal: 0

❮ ❯

Our ride this week ended up being one of the best 4 wheel drive SUV’s that we have had the opportunity to experience since we started this automotive journey over 10 years ago. We had our first week ever with a Land Rover in Utah in early spring. On top of that it turned out to be the perfect week for a more than capable luxury 4X4.

The events of the week presented us with the opportunity to head down Interstate 15 to Fillmore on a Monday afternoon along with our son JaCoby, his wife Haley and their 10-month-old son Maden. JaCoby needed to pick up their family vehicle, as it had been stranded there for a week getting a fix done to the transmission that had happened on their way home from Las Vegas the previous weekend.

We imagined this would be a unique opportunity for a short road trip in the Discovery and would take up most of the space inside with people and car seats giving us the chance to really check out the larger of the two Discovery SUV’s.

Getting the car seat situated for Maden turned out to be a pretty easy operation, as we have found it can be difficult at times to get all the connections made correctly in new vehicles, especially if the anchors are not easily accessible.

With the addition of the extra third row of seating ($2,195) that also came with a two-speed transfer case and electronic air suspension, it was quite comfortable for Haley to get in the rear-most seat. For the most part she was happy back there but would not want to spend much more than the hour and a half of the first leg of our journey in the position.

There was also plenty of space in the rear for a baby bag and other items needed with a youngster on board. We could have even made a longer trip work with half of the rear seat folded down for extra space.

The British brand prides itself in the refinement of the ride and we would have expected nothing less, of course, with the Discovery handling the Utah freeways with ease. Even with quite a downpour as we started our short adventure, there was never a question if we would make it or not. If only we could have had some snow to really give the 4X4 an extra test!

The ride was extremely luxurious as we hardly felt any of the imperfections in the road down I-15! We loved the lane keep assist, ($2,900) along with the adaptive cruise control, which worked to perfection keeping us centered in the lane and the proper distance behind the vehicle in front of us. It made it easy to keep the Discovery at a steady 82 mph on the freeway and not have to worry about what the guy in front of us had planned.

This system also preformed perfectly in the rain between Springville and Nephi. The standard panoramic sun roof that encompassed almost the entire roof was like a movie for small Maden as he continued to stare through it from his car seat enjoying the clouds and other objects that went by. Usually he wants to watch a movie on an iPad to keep quiet, but not with this huge open space to check out!

Of course, having a vehicle with British roots meant we had to change the voice to a British accent, which was pleasing to hear and kept us captivated on the drive when the navigation would instruct us to make turns and exit!

This year the Discovery HSE comes with a 3.0 liter supercharged V6 engine that will make 340 horsepower and 332 lb.-ft. of torque, coupled with an 8-speed automatic transmission that would propel the large SUV to 60 mph in a mere 6.1 seconds. Not bad for a vehicle that weighs in at 4735 pounds. We also managed 18.8 mpg for our near 400 miles of driving in the week.

A new addition this year to the technology side is Apple CarPlay and Android Auto which are now standard features along with smartphone hookup. This function does take a cable to work with smartphones; however, they connected seamlessly through Bluetooth for other functions easily and quickly.

One thing we really liked was the addition of what Land Rover calls an inner tailgate, which turned out to be a small 6- to 7-inch high tailgate that would block things from falling out if the rear hatch was opened. This was awesome for grocery trips as there have been times on our inclined driveway that we have opened the hatch and things had shifted and something fell out and broke.

What a great addition for off-roading adventures when things can shift, and possibly fall out, as folks like us forget to check the rear before opening the outer hatch. Now there’s no worries as everything should remain in place until the inner tailgate is put down. Oh, and by the way, this inner tailgate turned out to be powered up and down!

The exterior of the Land Rover will definitely stand alone in a crowd as the looks are much different than what some would think of a normal SUV design. We liked that a lot as the designers have chosen to continue on a path that has really worked for the company over the years. Rugged yet still with soft curves around the exterior, and still large enough for a long outdoor, off-road journey!

The Discovery would be a great luxury addition for any family, and with all its capabilities, it would make a great Utah SUV as it would definitely get you anywhere in the state you wanted to go on any kind of road!

Base Price: $59,700

Price as Driven: $76,255