Land Rover Discovery Sport 2.0 SD4 2017 first drive

To the surprise of nobody, the Discovery Sport is Land Rover’s fastest-selling model. Just how popular is it? Well, consider that more than 200,000 have rolled out of the firm’s Halewood plant since it replaced the ageing Freelander in 2014.

That popularity is likely to now get a further boost with the introduction of Jaguar Land Rover’s latest four-cylinder Ingenium engines to the range, including two Si4 petrol options – of 237bhp and 286bhp – and the solitary SD4 diesel offering driven here.

Equipped with a pair of sequential turbochargers, the SD4 promises pretty robust performance, developing 237bhp and – more appreciably – a 367lb ft slug of torque from 1500rpm. The lesser TD4 makes 177bhp and 317lb ft by comparison, though both models share a nine-speed automatic gearbox supplied by German firm ZF. This feeds power to all four wheels, with Land Rover’s now-familiar Terrain Response programme optimising the chassis for everything from motorway runs to sand dunes.

As an aside, Land Rover will from now offer a front-wheel-drive version of the Discovery Sport – a base-spec model badged Pure – but only in 147bhp eD4 diesel guise.

The addition of these new Ingenium engines to the range also heralds an enlarged colour palette, some new interior trim options and alterations to the seat foam, though the interior, with its lofty driving position, remains handsome in a workaday fashion.

The SD4 is decently potent but not as refined as you might expect, with its rather gruff idle literally setting the tone for an engine note that’s never what you’d call intrusive but is always present. Certainly, those hopping from the polished confines of an Audi Q5 2.0 TDI might raise an eyebrow, although anybody acclimatised to the corresponding powerplant in the Nissan X-Trail would be pleasantly surprised. You could say, then, that this engine mirrors the Discovery Sport’s status as a premium product guided by utilitarian principles.

It is thirsty, though. Its combined fuel economy of 44.1mpg is bettered even by the considerably more powerful 3.0-litre TDI diesel of the Q5, which goes to show how far Land Rover has to go before its oil-burning engines match the best in the class. Given the Discovery Sport’s otherwise strong capabilities as a long-distance family tourer, it’s a little disappointing. Much the same can be said for the new Si4 petrol engines, which, as you’d expect, are markedly more refined but fall down on fuel consumption.