Land Rover has updated the Discovery Sport for the 2021 model year. It’s not a mid-life update, rather a series of tweaks designed to make the car that little bit more appealing. Having said that, the addition of a pair of mild hybrid diesels is fairly significant.
Mild hybrid technology basically replaces the standard starter motor and battery with beefier versions capable of helping out the engine as and when required. It can provide a temporary power boost but it’s mainly to reduce load on the engine particularly when cruising at speed, reducing fuel consumption. The system incorporates regenerative braking to power the bigger battery.
Two new versions come to the range featuring the tech, labelled D165 and D200, the numbers denoting their metric horsepower to the nearest neat number. They actually have 161bhp and 201bhp, and 380Nm and 430Nm torque, respectively.
The D165 replaces the D150 as the entry level Freelander Discovery Sport, and is available with front- or four-wheel drive as well as an eight-speed automatic gearbox option. CO2 emissions are “as low as 163g/km” according to Land Rover, although the manufacturer’s website quotes a 175-188g/km range for an all-wheel drive automatic version of the car, with a WLTP average consumption range of 39.4-42.4mpg.
No figures for the D200 yet, but in general Land Rover does say that the engines both offer “smoother stop-start operation…giving customers a taste of the benefits of an electric vehicle without needing to plug in and charge.” We’re not sure that’s really a thing, but.
Other changes, then. Well, the infotainment has been updated because Land Rover has added its latest ‘Pivi’ and ‘Pivi Pro’ setups to the car for the first time. Not only does it have menus designed so that “popular functions are only two screen taps away at most” but it has a dedicated battery and CPU to make sure that it starts up the moment the car is turned on. It can be updated over the air at no cost to the driver.
And finally, buyers can now have a range topping 286bhp version of the Discovery sport by way of a new Black edition. Powered by a four-cylinder turbo petrol engine and based on the outgoing R-Dynamic S trim level, it gets to 62mph in just 7.4 seconds and comes with a nine-speed automatic as standard.
The updated Discovery Sport is available to order now priced from £31,914.
Keyword: Land Rover tweaks Discovery Sport for 2020