Discover Sport Preview (while LR4 was in for service)

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toddjb122

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Have had a loaded 2016 Discovery Sport for the past week while my LR4 is in for service.

Was fun to drive the new Sport so here are my takeaways if anyone is considering getting one. (I'm comparing to my old 2005 LR3, my "new" 2013 LR4 and my wife's 2013 Q5.)

PROs
  • The electronics are great. That is the best preview I can have for what is going into the full size Discovery that's out now.
  • This one had the surround camera system and it was pretty neat that you could run any of the views you wanted, including a top down 360, while driving the car. No lock-up of the cameras at speed. I can't actually think of much of a purpose for this other than making sure you are lined up in your parking spot correctly, and also if you want to make sure nobody is waiting outside your car to jump you. :eek:
  • The cameras also recognize speed limit signs. I saw that on the full size Discovery options and thought that was neat. It works well. If you pass a street sigh, an image of the sign pops up on the display and you can figure out if you are speeding or not. I'm sure that's not 100%, but I go on a lot of drives where I go through speed traps and it's nice to have a second set of eyes looking out for sign changes.
  • The full roof moonroof is great! The one I had didn't open, but you have a full dark cover that slides back to reveal a really nice view. I wish they did that with the rear glass on the LR3/LR4s. Odd they didn't since it is a single piece of glass.
  • Media system works very well.
  • Rear seats recline (a little)
  • USB ports all over the car. More than you could realistically use. Nice to see.
  • Doors are solid, like other LR vehicles. Not the tin light doors you feel in most small SUVs.
  • Seats recline a bit to let you in easy, and the snug you up to position.
  • LED trim on headlights is much nicer than on my 2013 LR4. On par with my wife's 2013 Q5, though.

CONs
  • The engine shuts off when you come to a stop. I assume this is for MPG. I don't know if you can turn off this feature, but I certainly would if I owned the car. It is very apparent every time this turns on and off, and there is a slight lag when you have to hit the gas if it shuts off. I think (not sure) if your blinker is on the engine stays on as you are anticipating a turn that may require you to hit the gas.
  • The shift knob is really annoying. When you are parking and need to go between drive and reverse, it's inconvenient. Sometimes the knob turns smoothly, sometimes there is resistance and it won't turn unless you have your foot on the brake for a fixed period of time. It's not intuitive even after a week of driving it. It's a pain in the ass.
  • Sometimes when I come in to parking spot and put the car in Park it just shuts off for good (turns off A/C and everything). I haven't figured out the pattern to cause this, but it's stupid. If I want to sit in the car with the A/C on, phone charging, doing some work... I have to re-start the car. I'm sure once you learn the rules that the car is following, this is a non-issue. But it wasn't obvious.
  • The car looks the same size as my wife's Q5 on the outside, but feels smaller inside. Just feels more crowded.
  • It is almost impossible to adjust the driver seat controls with the driver door closed. There isn't enough space between the door and the controls to get in there.
  • Doesn't seem like the seats fold flat. Fold far from flat.
  • My kids managed to lock the key fob in the car. I didn't think that was possible. They didn't even work at it that long, but sure enough all the doors were locked and the only fob I had was sitting in the center console. Luckily there was a window open so I could reach in and grab it.
  • Steering at highway speeds is jittery...best way to describe it. Small inputs yield large changes. They seem to slow down the steering ratio or at least do so at highway speeds. It is less relaxing to drive at highway speeds due to this. Could have always been the tires on my loaner. I noticed that one rear tire reported 43 lbs. and the other 3 tires were at 33 (shown in display)
  • Visibility out rear window is pretty bad. Looking back to a small back window, through headrests. You really need the camera.
I don't know how the costs compare, but if you are looking for a small SUV, I'd look to the Q5 over this. I don't see many advantages and the Audi feels bigger and drives nicer. DS seats are comfortable. Rides low, though. I can't see being able to do much offroad with this. I scrape bottom going over speed bumps. I'd think soft sand would quickly bury it. So, it may have better 4WD electronics than the Audi, but if you can't use them due to clearance, what's the point?

All in all, I'm enjoying driving the car. Mainly for the electronics, though.

$.02 :hello:
 
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JackMac

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Just picked up a new 2017 Discovery Sport HSE Lux for my wife over the weekend. The tech really separates this car from our previous LR3 and RRS. I'm impressed so far. With this HSE trim level and optional 19" wheels it looks great too, inside an out.
 

to8nbeyond

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Someone told me the auto-shutoff nonsense is a requirement on all European autos now. I'm selling my BMW and one of the reasons (lots of little ones that add up) is the same auto-shutoff. There is a switch above the ignition button to disable it. But no matter how hard I tried, I wouldn't remember it until I needed to pull out into traffic and it shut down just as I released my foot from the brake. There is that slight pause that causes hesitation that I feel is unsafe. It has taken me a couple of months of driving my LR4 without it to get past the weird expectation it causes.
 

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