News : Land Rover Discovery XXV edition

Land Rover Discovery XXV (1)

Land Rover has unveiled a new Discovery XXV Special Edition as a celebration of the 25th Anniversary of the original model’s launch. First introduced in 1989, the Discovery’s combination of contemporary design, spacious and user-friendly interiors made it an instant hit – and expanded sales by out-Shoguning the best-selling Mitsubishi Shogun.

The XXV is a world away from the 1989 original. It features bundles of off-road technologies, such as Terrain Response to Hill Descent Control. During its 25 years, the Discovery has been chosen as the explorer’s choice to take on challenges and adventures; Sir Ranulph Fiennes used an original Discovery in his exhibition to discover the Lost City of Ubar, while the Discovery 3 was used on the London-Cape Town drive in 2013. Discovery models have also been used in Land Rover’s own famous G4 Challenge and Camel Trophy.

The anniversary edition is based on the existing HSE Luxury specification and has been built to commemorate 25 years of Land Rover’s iconic family SUV. The special edition vehicle has a unique interior, new external badging and a sophisticated interior lined with Windsor leather.
Land Rover Discovery XXV (2)

Keith Adams

15 Comments

  1. I reckon that the Discovery in the top photo is parked at Mt Edgcombe, in South East Cornwall, overlooking Plymouth Sound.

  2. Sorry to put down this special edition model, but what a wasted opportunity!

    I love the Discovery and cannot help but feel rather disappointed that it is yet another premium priced model (likely to cost £63,000 if Auto Express’s predictions are correct) and, more importantly, has no obvious link to 25 years of Discovery heritage. Even more so when you realise that Land Rover employs some of the best Colour and Trim design engineers in the business. Design Engineers who, in the past, have delivered the very appealing Defender SVX 60th Anniversary, Heritage, Tomb Raider, Range Rover Classic 25th Anniversary Final Edition, P38 generation Vogue 50, Holland & Holland and Bordeaux. There was even the Discovery Safari, Adventurer and Pursuit to show how diverse the Discovery’s appeal could be through some subtle colour and trim enhancements. Where’s the inspiration in the XXV?

    Take the Defender SVX 60th Anniversary Edition, for example, which had some discrete side graphics (takes me back to the pre-Td5 era Defender), quality badging, a distinct seat design with leather covers and some nice detailing for the dashboard. With this level of creativity and confidence, why not give us a bit of a history lesson with the Discovery XXV in the form of some discrete side graphics, an ‘XXV’ emblem which incorporates the original ‘Alpine’ graphics logo, a more honest GS-based trim level than flagship HSE Luxury, and perhaps even a contrasting interior colourway with some subtle light blue or beige highlights?

    Instead we have the same approach as you would find in a Range Rover special edition – even more lashings of leather and haute cuisine sounding names for colours and trim – which can command a premium price. It really is a shame that Land Rover’s design engineers seem to have spent too much time with the ongoing policy to further ‘poncify’ the Range Rover Evoque and have let this amazing milestone in the history of one of their most successful models go by with this half-hearted ‘dullard’.

    I love Land Rovers, especially the Discovery, but this shows no link to its illustrious achievements. Too right I am disappointed.

  3. I have to agree with David above.

    My crib is that the Disco has gone further and further upmarket and has left behind what it was originally created as – a cheap Range Rover that was reasonably affordable to mortal man. Nowadays, vis a viz it is roughly where the Range Rover was 25 years ago in terms of price range and prestige, since the RR itself has now gone stratospheric.

    Will the Defender replacement effectively move into the segment that the Discovery has vacated?

  4. To Roger in post 1

    That would be an appropriate location. I was lucky enough to attend the dealer launch which was held in Plymouth. Stand out events were the drive on a long on and off road route in a long line of these eye catching vehicles and the reaction to the end of that original TV commercial.

    In those early days I’d often come back to my parked vehicle to find a small crowd of people looking at it. Wonderful.

  5. I followed one of these coming off Dartmoor towards Plymouth a couple of weeks ago. Wondered what the XXV badge was about! It had a weird foreign looking number plate taped on the back.

  6. @ Chris – comment 5:

    Sounds like you have answered the obvious question I would have raised about the location in the second photograph. The Discovery in the first photo is left-hand drive so you probably saw/followed the actual photo-shoot example, going by the ‘foreign looking’ number plate you saw it displaying.

  7. You know the only thing I am wondering? How many of the moneyed mouth-breathers who *will*, whether you like it or not, end up snapping these up will not have any concept of what Roman numerals are and will refer to it forever after as the exs-exs-vee as the poor thing trundles through a life of school runs and Aldi carparks with engine oil so far past the sell-by date its reverted back to something thicker than what came out of the ground in the first place. The nearest it’ll get to ‘off road’ is the rare times when the driver is forced onto their side of the country lane at the risk of losing a front wing (usually occasioned only by meeting a Claas with a 10ft fixed header, or failing that an Artic/Tiger tank coming the other way on a 1/2 track lane).
    Then it’ll end up owned by someone like my neighbour whose idea of how to look after an engine is:- leave it standing for 18 months with a flat battery then rev its poor little nuts off and wonder what the tinkling noise (of self destructing hydraulic lifters) could possibly be… seriously, I’ve seen a cold-soaked Deltic diesel produce less smoke!
    Add to that they’ll whack the insurance levels up by 300 quid a year because its a special edition and the poor thing will die in about ten years looking, inside and out, like its just come off the second day of the Somme – and lost..

  8. @7 Jemma — too true!

    Not only that but I have a suspicion that when they get to 8-10 years old and blow a turbo that the thought of having to remove the body to swap a turbo or even change an exhaust manifold gasket will see them being dispatched to the scrapyard in droves.

    My 14 year old TD5 is still going strong with 100k+ on it and passed the MOT with no advisories (again). If I need to fix it, I can probably do many of the jobs myself including swapping the turbo.

    Upmarket Chelsea Tractor fodder for those people with tattoos and heads that grow straight out of their shoulders.

  9. #2 – “Alpine graphic logos”? “Blue or beige interior highlights”?

    It’s not a bloody Metro Rio!

    Why not go the whole hog and include some tape stripes and a pop-out sunroof!

  10. @ LOL – Comment 9.

    Sorry, but I stick by what I originally said. Look at the Defender SVX 60th Anniversary model, for example, to see how well a link with ‘heritage’, including “side tapes”, could potentially work. More importantly, how tasteful they could look.

    Alpine graphic logos – what is wrong with a link to the origins of the Discovery? Why not incorporate them into a proper moulded badge instead rather than simply limit yourself to vinyl graphs?

    The whole point of my comment was to suggest that the Discovery has a rich and interesting history, although there is no obvious link with it through the XXV edition, just an ‘XXV’ logo or two. We are talking about a short run production model only and Land Rover should be only too proud to draw upon its heritage to create a more meaningful and memorable anniversary edition. What has been proposed just doesn’t work in my eyes, for all the reasons mentioned under Comment 2.

    Land Rover has done some great ‘Anniversary’ themed editions in the past. Think Range Rover CSK, 25th Anniversary Final Edition and 30th Anniversary LE, and the Defender 90 V8 50th Anniversary and aforementioned SVX 60th Anniversary. There were also the Land Rover 50th Anniversary collectors editions which included the Range Rover, Land Rover Discovery and Freelander. Sadly the Discovery XXV, on the surface, is a token effort, probably lead only by the Marketing team rather than Colour and Trim design engineers and is not likely to follow the same illustrious path…

  11. #10 – The Discovery’s “rich and interesting history” includes three changes of parent company, a poor reputation for rust and electrical gremlins on the early models, and door handles shared with the Morris Marina. I think JLR would prefer not to remind its customers of the past, and instead concentrate on giving smart upper-middle class family buyers what they want.

    #3 – I hope you are right. There is no reason why a LWB version of the new DC100 could not fill the market position occupied by the original Discovery in the mid 1990s.

  12. I bought a new RR Vogue Autobiography with every extra including summer colour (Spectral Red) last September. I had it for 3 months, 2.9 of which it spent at the dealer after breaking down or suffering peeling paint or some other fault. I love RRs but hated the generation that followed my beloved P38, until this new shape. So, having handed it back after a miserable experience, I was bitterly disappointed. However, when I was at the showroom in January this year, a Discovery HSE Luxury winked at me. It brought me back to my days pre-P38 ownership, when I owned a much-loved Mk II Discovery 3.9 V8 manual. Within a few days, I took delivery of my lovely new Discovery. Its not missed a heartbeat, gives me all that I need with 5 children in tow, and although admittedly I will never stretch its capability off road (I have a Jeep Wrangler TJ for bush-bashing), this car just hits the mark. Its a great blend of space, capability and dare I mention luxury. I guess that makes me the target audience! Its not cheap, but there is not a single car on the market that competes with it, and nothing I would change it for. I can see me keeping this car for years. So don’t blast LR for targeting people like me, or for distancing itself from the years of poor reputation… this, and the XXV, are brilliant cars and there is a market for them. It doesn’t mean you have to buy one!

  13. PS… you’re welcome, however, to blast LR for bringing out new models like the Vogue and Sport at stratospheric prices riddled with faults that DO hark back to the age of poor reputation!

  14. does the base version come with electric windows and air conditioning…probably all you need 🙂 alex

    • Yes it does, along with a host of other equipment features, including leather seats and alloy wheels. The entry level model, for the 2015 Model Year, now starts at £41,000.

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