One thing that is surely missing from it is the Land Rover DNA. We took the Sport to a muddy riverbank to take a nice photo. I was astounded to see it get stuck. It took me some time to free the Sport from the mushy mud but I did not expect to put in so much effort to free it. Anyway, the dynamics of the Sport are good if not the best but the stiff setup is definitely a minus point. Given the fact that the company is aiming for a sporty SUV that handles well on tarmac, I wouldn’t take away much from the Disco Sport as it does that just fine. The four-wheel-drive configuration lends it superb traction and the taut chassis and firm suspension make it quite stable on most surfaces. The brakes are also good although a little more feedback from the pedal would be appreciated.
I know talking about fuel efficiency in this test is not really going to influence anybody’s buying decision, but with an overall figure of 9.75 km/l, it seems to be a guzzler.
In the end, I wouldn’t call the Disco Sport ‘sporty’ mainly because the variant we tested comes with less power. There is a higher output variant, SD4 HSE with 190 PS and 420 Nm torque, on sale in India as well but we would have to drive that to deliver a verdict. From what we observed, the Disco Sport is very much like an everyday SUV; that is, if you are ready to live with not-so-good ride quality on a day-to-day basis. At Rs 54.83 lakh (ex-Mumbai) it surely seems like a lot of money for an SUV that gives you just the basics of luxury. If you are ready to wait for some time, then there is a new Disco Sport which will be launched in this year with J-LR’s brand-new Ingenium engine. This new engine promises to be much better, efficient and more powerful than the current lot and we think this big change will make a huge difference to the Disco Sport. Meanwhile, if you are restless, then you know the pluses and minuses of this Disco Sport, so choose wisely.
