StuartR wrote:

They are not the same cars, but they are for the same purpose -- tooling around the city with a bunch of kids (discovery sport) or your entourage (Range Rover). Even though they are all capable off road, they are all meant more for the city than for the country.

Robbie wrote:

- UK Armed Forces will need a Defender replacement from somewhere.

RRSTDV8 wrote:

The reality is that LR stuff gets bought and used by town and city types more than country types. Whilst there is a core of people who use their LRs to the full, most are just used as big estate cars to haul kids and their crap around. These buyers want car stuff, not expedition stuff, in their vehicles. The core is small, the rest are the vast majority: if you are trying to sell lots of vehicles, where would you focus your designs?

The irony here is... I think you've hit the nail on the head and perfectly described the problem.

LR's initial success with both the Range Rover and Discovery was surprising exactly because they weren't bought by the target market. They expanded the market by making these vehicles very desirable to those who you wouldn't think needed such designs.

It's the image of a safe luxury vehicle that has capabilities and history way beyond those ever needed by the vast majority of customers that forms part of the attraction. How many times have we heard city types say "this car will tackle anything off road" and yet we all know it'll never leave the tarmac!

No - focussing design on those customers is a massive mistake long term. I call it dumbing down the brand. (...and yes, we're not talking about off-road capability here - it's a design issue).

CFB wrote:

The Disco Sport was provided by my employer so I had no choice. Very nice vehicle don't get me wrong but expensive and not as good in my opinion as it could be for c.£35k

I'm still a fan of the brand but it's dwindling as there are other offerings now that drive better, use less fuel and have better tech. I no longer do much off-road other than sports fields or dirt tracks so it's the other functions of the vehicle that are starting to be more important to me

I've got my test drive tomorrow, so will see if it's worth the change.

Quote:

From first concept to delivery JLR was aiming the Discovery at a different market. I think they have achieved their aim. Is it good enough to compete with the volume market dominated by BMW, Audi and alike, I just don't know but the signs are not promising. Success will be measured by volume of sales and even if it does not measure up to the premium SUV market it should take a larger slice than the D4 managed. Will it compromise the marque, probably but JLR has pitched the Discovery as a sub-brand rather than shouting Land Rover. As such they can easily jettison a sub-brand if and when the time comes.

Where I fear JLR will come unglued with the D5 and the mass-market is their unusually long product design life. JLR has had over 12 years from the previous platform, playing in the more agile volume SUV area does not allow for such generous design life or the slow introduction of enhancements.

As it is the 12 years of design space provided by the L319 has left them with a vehicle where the ratio of interior to exterior space has got worse, visibility has got worse, is still remarkably heavy, has relatively low performance and has no hybrid option available at launch.

Once the new-car wow factor has worn off can I see this being regarded as a good car in just 3 years time - no, I just don't think so.