ROADTEST LAND ROVER DISCOVERY:WHAT A wonderful age of motoring awaits, as we charge towards a new electric dawn, passing the problems of carbon emissions to the energy providers and authorities. Let them sort out the environmental impact of sourcing the energy – we'll just plug in and motor ahead, writes MICHAEL McALEERMotoring Editor
After a century shackled to the spewing black stuff drawn from the earth’s crust we are, apparently, breaking free. In this new age of motoring, owners will pay as much tax as cyclists and pedestrians.
No more will we face the punitive charge of Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT) on our purchases. No longer will we contribute millions to the Government coffers through punitive fuel taxes. Motorists will stand wheel-to-wheel with cyclists as fellow road users, contributing equally to the upkeep of the road network and leaving the politicians to work out a solution to fill the massive void in tax income.
If you believe this, then I suspect you can’t wait to splash out on a new electric car, purchasing it with some of the profits from those bank shares you bought back in 2006. Or perhaps you’ll use some of the returns you’re set to reap from selling off your luxury rental apartment in Manorhamilton.
If death and taxes are the only certainties in life, then we can confidently predict that the tax system will change just as the masses embrace electric motors. Motorists have proved themselves to be docile cash cows for too long to be left to roam free.
Yet for all the cynicism about the magical new era of clean motoring we might harbour, you have to admire the social puppetry at play through motor tax policy in the last two years. The recession played a major part, but the impact of the move to emissions taxes in July 2008 cannot be underestimated. Overnight the motoring landscape of Ireland changed. Family hatchbacks were swapped for small superminis, anything over three litres was anathema, and the SUV was dead.
Was the growth of the SUV the beginning of the end for combustion engines? Perhaps when the historians come to document the age of fossil-powered transport, they will regard the SUV as the last hurrah for oil-burners.
For many the format has come to epitomise excess. But while many of this breed of vehicle were nothing more than status symbols, and are today worthy of nothing more than the scrapheap, in the rush to judgement we should not forget the original purpose of such vehicles: to offer car-like comfort in working vehicles. In that light, there are some that deserve to be spared from the scrapheap of motoring history and the Land Rover Discovery is one.
There is no doubting that Land Rover benefited greatly from the SUV boom. In 2007 it recorded sales of 2,077 new passenger vehicles and a further 794 commercial versions. The change to emissions tax heralded the seismic shift in Irish buyer behaviour decimated the brand. When the new tax regime was introduced in July 2008, the brand finished the year with 1,402 passenger and 617 commercial sales. By last year, those sales had plummeted to 89 passenger sales and 149 commercials. The rout was complete: a brand that depends entirely on SUV sales felt the full force of the sea change in suburban attitudes, combined with the downturn.
This year sales are recovering slightly, with 122 new passenger registrations in the first three months. Is this some indication of recovery? Hardly. What it does show, however, is that away from the hedonistic days of Celtic Tiger excess, there remains a market for rough-and-tumble off-roaders that retain a little bit of style and comfort. That’s where Land Rover can find its niche and, if it cuts its cloth to suit this new, much smaller, market, then it can survive.
The reality is that for all the hype, electric powertrains for vehicles that have to undertake proper hardcore off-roading remains some way of. Electric power is fantastic for short, sharp bursts or city commutes, but towing a horsebox across a wet muddy field is likely to have a woeful effect on any battery charge. For that we still must depend on a grunting diesel oil-burner. The difference these days is that it need not be dirty and polluting as well.
This is the latest incarnation of the Land Rover Discovery. With a new 3-litre V6 diesel that puts out 244bhp and a very impressive 600Nm of torque, it is one of the strongest pulling diesels on the market.
To put it properly through its paces we recently pitted it against several hundred miles of muddy escarps on the Duke of Roxburghe’s estate in Scotland. In something reminiscent of an army recruitment video, we were comfortably mile-munching along a country lane when we came upon a large khaki-dressed instructor in the middle of the road briskly ordering us to turn sharp left.
That took us right down the embankment, between a set of trees and sliding, falling and generally out of control, we landed in a river. No one told us this was supposed to be the plan so the initial thought was, of course, that we had just destroyed a €60,000-plus car on the instructions of some mischievous local.
The reality was even more bizarre: we were to follow the meandering river – which was at some stages sweeping up over the bonnet – until we came upon another steep embankment, whereupon we were to scale it and return to the road. All in a day’s work for a tank, but hardly for a Land Rover with leather trim. The embankment was an incline of squelching mud. We only realised just how ridiculously unstable it was when we alighted to take a snapshot for a colleague and promptly sunk up to our shins in the stuff. Yet the Disco dug and ground its way up the slithering mass, all thanks to the Terrain response.
The system requires no element of engineering prowess. The simple dial lets you choose between mud, gravel, snow and rocks – all illustrated with cartoon-style graphics. The car does all the complex stuff: you just have to tell the difference between grass and rocks.
The air suspension can lift the already high-set vehicle up to 125mm further for extreme climbing and wading, while there’s also an access mode that lowers the Discovery by 50mm for easy entry. It’s all incredibly simple and idiot-proof, as we can attest.
On the road, however, the Discovery nestles down nicely and this 3-litre diesel engine has impressive reserves of torque. Throw the gearbox from full manual to semi-automatic and its real agility comes to the fore.
The Land Rover may not be everyone’s cup of tea and the €2,100 motor tax will turn most owners off in terms of family car runaround. Seven seats may be useful for a growing family but if you have that many children then you can certainly come up with more sensible ways of spending €2,100 every year.
But for the few who want – and can afford it – the new Discovery 4 makes the most practical sense and is at present one of the best buys on the market. The really sensible approach would be to opt for a commercial version if you really need one. The commercial sector doesn’t fall foul of the new emissions tax system, while the reduced purchase tax means you can pick one up for just €38,185 in manual mode or €41,250 with automatic transmission.
The Discovery deserves better than to be cast in the same jaundiced light as the Celtic Tiger status symbols of the last decade. Its roots are more agrarian and honest. This is a fancy workhorse and, for all the comfort features, it can hold its own with some of the toughest terrains out there. Our other favourite in this category is the Toyota LandCruiser, another honest off-roader that’s admirable for its road-going ability but capable of amazing off-road feats.
If there is to be a cull of such vehicles in some sort of environmental pogrom against the SUV set, then the Discovery and the LandCruiser should be left out. It might look out of place in the modern city but out in the country, where a vehicle must earn its keep, the Discovery has its place in whatever grand plans for the future of motoring are being hatched. The engineers at Land Rover need to do their bit to clean up its environmental reputation.
Owners using the vehicle for its proper purpose are not going to be able to justify the exorbitant motor tax bill, particularly as the vehicle ages. Who will want to pay €2,100 a year when the vehicle is six years old and probably only worth €15,000 on the used market?
The impact of the tax regime means that commercial versions are the sensible buys for now. Owners of these will get a proper workhorse with technical prowess that deserves to be used and not left idling on a suburban drive. If you have tough terrain to conquer, you will not go far wrong behind the wheel of the Discovery. Sales will be lower than in the past, but it’s not one of the SUVs that should be assigned to the scrapheap of motoring history. A new dawn may have arrived but a handful of SUVS like the Disco deserve to stay in the sun.
Factfile
Engine:2993cc V6 turbodiesel engine with six-speed auto transmission with low/high ratios, putting out 244bhp @4,000rpm and 600Nm @ 2,000rpm 0-100km/h: 9.6 seconds
L/100km (mpg):urban 11.2 (25.2); extra-urban 8.3 (34.0); combined 9.3 (30.4)
CO2 emissions:244 g/km
Tax:band G – €2,100
Specifications:17" to 20'' alloys (depending on spec), tyre pressure monitoring system; electric windows; Hill Descent control; Gradient release control; four-wheel electronic traction control; front/rear split with diff lock; two-speed electronic transfer box; brake assist; alarm; ABS, leather steering wheel with audio controls.
Higher level models include air suspension and Terrain Response. Options include cruise control and electric sunroof; Harmon/Kardon 9-speaker stereo. Entry-level has five-seats – all others have seven-seat format
Price:€59,350 (starts at €51,765 for five-seat manual S version; commercials start at €36,185)
