Frankfurt 2013 : Facelifted Discovery unveiled

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Land Rover has launched the facelifted Discovery at the Frankfurt Motor Show. The updated 4×4 gets improved fuel economy, subtle styling changes and improved audio systems. The order books are now open and deliveries will start in the UK from November.

At the front the Discovery gets a new grille and bumper plus redesigned headlights with daytime running lights with a distinctive swoop. The badging has changed too with Discovery now written on the bonnet rather than Land Rover. There are also two new alloy wheel designs while the optional Black Design Pack – which includes 20-inch black alloys – is still available.

The engine badging no longer features on the tailgate, instead it’s moved to the front doors, giving the back a cleaner appearance. Just one engine is available – the 3.0 SDV6 with 256PS and an eight-speed automatic gearbox. It’s been improved though with economy up to 35.3mpg and CO2 down from 230g/km to 213g/km meaning a big drop in annual VED.

New features for the 2014 Discovery include Wade Sensing, Blind Spot Monitoring, Closing Vehicle Sensing, Reverse Traffic Detection and T-junction Cameras. It will also be available with a Meridian audio system. The standard system has eight speakers and 380 Watts of power, while the Meridian Surround system produces an impressive 825 Watts output and features 17 speakers.

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Keith Adams

7 Comments

  1. Some export markets, such as North America, Canada and the Middle East, will continue to get the normally aspirated 5-litre Jaguar V8 petrol unit, which has been offered since 2009. When the Discovery 3 was in production (2004 – 2009), there was also a smaller 4-litre straight-six engine from the Ford Explorer, to complement the then 4.4-litre Jaguar V8 petrol engine.

    However, I have no idea whether this straight-six engine option continued to be offered in the updated version of the Discovery 3 (the Discovery 4) from 2009 onwards. I am guessing that it wasn’t.

  2. Can understand why they’ve written the name on the bonnet – probably a result of L-R’s strange habit of inheriting Range Rover design cues, something has to distinguish L-R FROM R-R.

    Will US cars just have “L R 2” across the nose?

  3. @2
    There’s never been a straight 6 in the L319 Discovery, the 4.0 Cologne V6 was used for a time and although originally intended for the US, it only sold there in limited numbers. I believe its best market was China. It continued until Ford stopped making the engine.
    In the interests of better economy, the 5.0 V8 NA will no longer be available anywhere in the Disco or LR4 from the 14MY. The supercharged V6 is a direct replacement.
    Having seen the 14MY Disco at Frankfurt, the worst thing is that there’s now only a single USB connector and it’s moved from the cubby box lid to the upper glove box. The component looks like a carryover Jag part. So space is lost from the glove box, there’s less functionality and it’s more difficult to reach from the driver’s seat. I’m sure it all makes sense to some Ford trained bean counter who only aspires to driving an S-Max.

  4. nice car but Im not convinced smaller engines are the way to go. I cant help feeling they are highly strung problematic engines with hard to change cambelts and good at blowing headgaskets – but I could be wrong. Great to see JLR making good gains none the less I look forward to seeing the Jaguar cub. alex

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