Land Rover Discovery Sport 2020 review: S D150

Interior design

If you choose the entry grade of many car brands it normally means you’re not going to be given much in the way of a luxurious cabin, but that’s not the case with the S D150. Nearly everything you can see in the image below is either standard or a no-cost option.

Those seats with their Light Oyster grained leather upholstery are a no-cost option, but you can also choose from four other colours and textures.

The Fuji White trim on the dashboard and the doors won’t cost you a cent more, either, and if you’re not a fan of it there’s Narvick Black, too.

That leather upholstery extends all the way back into the third row. Actually, did you know that in most countries you need to pay more to have the Discovery Sport equipped with seven seats? In Australia the third row is standard with the list price of the car.

For an SUV which is at the more affordable end of the range the Discovery Sport S D150’s cabin is well appointed, modern and stylishly minimalistic in its design.

How practical is it?

The only thing I found impractical about the Discovery Sport was the colour of those leather seats.

Sure it looks like a beautiful layer of snow has softly fallen on your interior but if you have children, partake in travel snackery, or are wearing new blue jeans... then a darker colour is a safer bet.

Now let's talk space and storage inside because it's outstanding.

Up front there's a giant covered centre console bin, big enough for handbags or small backpacks, all doors have enormous pockets, there are six cup holders – two in the front, two in the second row and another pair in the third.

For charging and media there's just one USB port up front, and two 12V sockets on board.

Ours had an optional wireless charger. It's good to see directional vents for all three rows, while the third row has a fan speed controller.

It's a Land Rover thing I know, but those window switches are too high. You feel like you're reaching up to a high shelf to get a coffee cup, just to put the window down.

There's not much boot space with the third row up, but the back two seats fold flat to give you an impressive 754 litres of cargo space.

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Fuel economy

Land Rover says that after driving the Discovery Sport on a mix of open and urban roads the D150 four-cylinder turbo-diesel should have used 5.7L/100km. My own testing didn’t quite match that mileage from the manufacturer.

I started with a full tank of diesel and drove 314.6km using the Discovery Sport most likely how you will: there were school drop offs, dashes to the supermarket, and a trip a couple of hundred kilometres up the coast to stay with the grandparents. After this I filled the tank back to full - it needed 33.9 litres.

So, the fuel economy I achieved, if you could call it an achievement, was 10.8L/100km. Yup, almost double what Land Rover said I should get. Of course, fuel economy is affected by many things - how you drive, how heavy the vehicle is laden up, but it may also indicate that the vehicle is not performing properly.

What about ownership costs?

We're friends aren't we? Of course we are. So, I wouldn't be doing the right thing if I didn't tell you about what went wrong.

First the tailgate rattled when it shut.

Then after 435km the dashboard told me it had detected a gearbox fault.

Then I lost reverse gear... in the supermarket car park.

When I took it back to Land Rover the engine light came on.

And then when I asked to borrow another Discovery Sport to see if it too had noisy front suspension... the door handle trim of that car came off in my hand.

Maybe it's just me?

If it makes you feel any better the Discovery Sport comes with 24-hour roadside assistance, although the three-year/100,000km warranty could be longer.