2021 Land Rover Discovery Unveiled: Gets New Tech And Mild-Hybrid Engines

The lifestyle SUV looks sportier, features more screens and gets more efficient engines

• New Discovery gets minor cosmetic updates to look more like the latest Discovery Sport.

• Its dashboard features a simpler, modern look with a new 11.4-inch touchscreen infotainment system, 12.3-inch digital driver’s display, and haptic touch controls on the steering wheel.

• Global model gets three new six-cylinder engines, all options feature 48V mild-hybrid tech.

• Discovery gets a new R-Dynamic variant for sportier aesthetics.

• Expected to launch in India by March 2021 at a premium over the current model.

The latest version of the Land Rover Discovery has debuted with updated looks, new tech and mild-hybrid powertrains. It continues to be positioned as the lifestyle SUV for the family with up to seven seats, a premium interior as well as decent off-road capabilities.

The new Discovery gets updated bumpers and new LED light signatures in the headlamps and tail lamps that make it look similar to the latest Discovery Sport. The new front fascia looks sportier with the new grille and the strakes added to the vents on the bumper. Its tail lamps are now connected by a gloss black panel above the offset-positioned rear number plate. The side profile of the third-gen Discovery remains unchanged but it gets a choice of new alloy wheel designs. It looks sportier overall in the new R-Dynamic variant that has been showcased.

Land Rover’s updates to the cabin of the Discovery are more significant than the exterior tweaks. The dashboard layout remains the same but the central console looks a lot less cluttered than before. It now features a larger 11.4-inch touchscreen display for the Pivi Pro infotainment system with connected car technology. Underneath the larger screen, it has a new climate control unit with only two dials separated by a neat array of controls for the front passengers as well as the heated/ventilated seats. The air-con system now gets PM 2.5 air filtration tech as part of the cabin air ionisation feature. This air-con panel also folds open to reveal a hidden compartment for storing valuables out of view.

Moving down to the central console, the new Discovery gets a more conventional gear knob in place of the rotary gear select dial. It still has the second rotary dial for switching between off-road modes which pops up from the central tunnel when needed. 

Even the driver’s view feels less cluttered. The new Discovery gets a new steering wheel with haptic touch controls that are spread out horizontally on the spokes. It also features a new 12.3-inch digital driver’s display with an optional TFT head-up display. Other modern practicalities include wireless smartphone connectivity, wireless charging, and plenty of charging sockets for everyone: four 12V sockets and nine USB ports in total. All these updates make the Discovery feel like an up-to-date premium lifestyle SUV. 

The practicality feature set is enhanced by the fact that all seats can be power folded from the central console, allowing the driver to have full control of the seating layout instead of rushing around to do it manually. With all seven seats in use, the Discovery has 257 litres of luggage space which goes up to 1,231 litres in the 5-seat layout. With only the front seats in use and the rear rows folded down, it has a massive storage space of 2,485 litres.

The Discovery also features Land Rover’s latest off-road tech with updated Terrain Response 2. The invisible bonnet tech uses camera feeds to give you an uninterrupted view of the terrain underneath your line of sight. It gets AWD and air suspension as standard making it quite adept at dealing with different driving scenarios, on both tarmac and dirt. 

Land Rover has updated the engine lineup of the new Discovery with 48V mild-hybrid tech and three new six-cylinder Ingenium engines. It will now be offered with two petrol engines and two diesel engines. Let’s take a look:

All the engines are mated to an 8-speed automatic transmission to send power to the updated all-wheel-drive system. In its least powerful variant, it claims a 0-100kph time of 8.1 seconds while the most powerful 3.0-litre straight-six petrol variant can do the same in 6.5 seconds.

The latest version of the Land Rover Discovery is expected to arrive in India by March 2021. It is currently offered in India with a single 2.0-litre turbo-petrol engine in four trims priced from Rs 75.79 lakh to Rs 87.99 lakh (ex-showroom pan-India).

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