The Land Rover Discovery is a series of sport utility vehicles produced by the British manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover—previously Land Rover—and marketed under the marque Land Rover. The series has been in its fifth generation since 2017. The first was introduced in 1989 and was the manufacturer's first model series to launch since the 1970 Range Rover—on which it was based—and the third new product line since the brand's conception by Rover in 1948. An influential vehicle within the automotive industry, the Discovery is one of the first true off-road capable family cars.
Although the Range Rover had originally been designed as an everyday four wheel drive car that could be used as both a utility vehicle and a family car, it had progressively moved upmarket through its life to evolve into a luxury vehicle sold at a much higher price point. The Discovery was intended to fulfill the role the Range Rover originally was intended for; a segment which was now dominated by Japanese rivals such as the Nissan Patrol, Mitsubishi Pajero and Toyota Land Cruiser. Although positioned below the Range Rover in the company's line-up, the vehicle was both longer and higher, offered more room in the back, and optionally also more seats. Space utilization became more sophisticated in later generations, but the series keeps offering seats for seven occupants. Despite originally being sold as an affordable alternative to the Range Rover, the Discovery has also progressively moved upmarket through its successive generations to become a bonafide luxury SUV.
The second generation Discovery, introduced in 1998, was called the Series II. Although it featured an extended rear overhang, it was otherwise an extensive facelift, which carried over the wheelbase frame and rigid, live front and rear axles derived from the original Range Rover. The third generation – succeeding the Series II in 2004 - was either called the Discovery 3 or simply LR3 (in North America and the Middle East). This was a new ground up design, the first all-original design for the Discovery. Although it followed the 2002 third generation Range Rover, also switching to fully independent suspension, it still received a separate, but integrated body and chassis structure. The fourth generation, as of 2009 – like the series II, was again mainly an update of the new generation – marketed as the Discovery 4, or Land Rover LR4 for North American and Middle Eastern markets. The fifth generation of the Discovery, introduced in 2017, no longer sports a numeric suffix. Unlike the previous two generations, it incorporates a unitary body structure and a crossover body style and is lighter than its predecessor.
First and second generation Discovery
Discovery Series I (1989–1998)
The Discovery Series I was unveiled at the 1989 Frankfurt Motor Show, going on sale in the United Kingdom in October that year, after the vehicle had been developed under the internal code-name "Project Jay". The new model was based on the more upmarket Range Rover, using the same chassis, suspension and 4WD-system, and a derivative body design – with the four-door using much of the more expensive Range Rover's body structure. However, with smaller engines available, just two short side doorsIdentical to the front doors on a subsequent four-door Discovery – instead of re-skinned doors of the original length of a two-door Range Rover Classic, and thus practically limiting rear-seat ingress / egress to school children. at introduction, and other cost-reductions, the new Discovery was priced more affordably, for a larger, more middle-class market segment, intended to counter the Japanese competition at the time.
The Discovery was Land Rover's first model that was positioned as a family car, designed to be both fully off-road capable and suitable as a daily driver for any family, even offering more luggage space and optionally more seats than the Range Rover. The Mark I Discovery remains the only model offered as a three-door, and was the only one available with a four-cylinder petrol engine until 2017.
At launch, the Discovery was only available as a three-door model; the original 64 press demonstrator examples (carrying Gxxx WAC Vehicle Registration numbers - hence being nicknamed "G-WAC"s by Land Rover enthusiasts) are increasingly prized. The five-door version followed in 1990. Both were fitted with five seats, with the option to have two jump seats fitted in the boot. Compared to the Range Rover, the Discovery was given a slightly longer rear which was further extended on the series II. In order to make room for optional third row jump seats, the spare wheel had to move to the outside of the car, fitted to a side-swinging rear door, instead of the Range Rover's split tailgate. The roof of the rear section of the car was raised, to create sufficient headroom in the third row. Combined with a safari side window cluster, this gave the Discovery its own distinct look and profile.
Land Rover employed an external consultancy, Conran Design Group, to design the interior. They were instructed to ignore current car interior design and position the vehicle as a 'lifestyle accessory'. Their interior incorporated a number of original features, although some ideas shown on the original interior mock-ups (constructed inside a Range Rover bodyshell at Conran's workshops) were left on the shelf, such as a custom sunglasses holder built into the centre of the steering wheel. The design was unveiled to critical acclaim and won a British Design Award in 1989.
The original transmission was a dual-ratio five-speed manual with drive via a transfer case with a lockable centre differential.
Initially – and regardless of exterior colour choice – much of the interior in all Discoveries was trimmed in light 'Sonar Blue' upholstery and plastic, with magazine holders above the windscreen, hand-holds for rear passengers incorporated into the head restraints of the front seats, remote radio controls on the instrument cluster, twin removable sunroof panels (including a special zip-up storage bag behind the rear seats) and a Land Rover-branded cloth fabric holdall in the front centre console for oddments storage that could be removed from the vehicle and worn as a handbag using a supplied shoulder strap (relatively few of these bags have survived, making them collectable items). Most of the interior and dashboard components came either from the Range Rover or from other Rover Group cars - for example the switchgear and instrument pod were from the Maestro and Montego; the digital clock from the Metro, the dashboard air vents were from the Rover 800 and the heater/air conditioning control panel was from the Range Rover. Similarly, the Discovery used several Range Rover body panels - most notably the door shells and window frames, but with different aluminium skin panels, retaining the distinctive Morris Marina door handles. Other standard parts used were the headlights from the Freight Rover van and tail lights from the Austin Maestro van. The latter would continue to bear the Austin Rover 'chevron' logo on their lenses until production of the first generation Discovery ended in 1998, ten years after Austin Rover ceased to exist.
In 1992, the Discovery received several additions and improvements. The interior was offered in a more traditional beige as well as the distinctive (but controversial) light blue, an automatic gearbox was made available on 200Tdi models, new colours were added to the range (and the large 'compass and mountain' side decals worn by early Discoveries to disguise wavy panel fit around the rear three quarter windows were no longer fitted) and the 'SE' pack (incorporating alloy wheels, front driving lights, roof bars and a special range of metallic paints) was introduced as an option. A two-seater, three-door Discovery Commercial version, lacking rear-side windows, was later offered by Land Rover Special Vehicles.
Before 1994, the Discovery was available with either the 2.5-litre 200 Tdi engine or the 3.5-litre Rover V8. Early V8 engines used a twin SU carburettor system, switching to Lucas 14CUX fuel injection in 1990. A 2.0-litre petrol engine from the Rover stable was briefly available in a model known as the 2.0-litre Mpi I4. This was intended to attract fleet managers, since UK (and Italian) tax laws benefited vehicles under 2.0 litres. A combination of changes in taxation and lack of power for such a heavy vehicle led to the demise of this engine, despite its fitting to several Discoveries supplied to the British royal family. One of these was notably driven by Prince Philip around Windsor Great Park, in his position as Park Ranger.
The transmission was a permanent four-wheel drive system, with a high and low range transfer box, locking centre differential at the transfer box. Similarly to the rest of the Land Rover range, the handbrake acts on the transmission at the back of the transfer box, therefore locking the rear prop shaft or both front and rear prop shafts if the central differential lock is engaged.
In Australia, the Series I launched in April 1991, available only as a three-door estate in 3.5-litre V8i guise with and and coupled with a five-speed manual gearbox. In October 1991, Land Rover launched the five-door body variant in base V8i and luxury HL versions. Both featured central locking, electric windows, headlight washers and heated door mirrors, with the HL adding alloy wheels, air conditioning, driving lights and an improved audio system. Furthermore, the Tdi engine became available, rated at and . In early 1993, a four-speed automatic option was added to the Australian range and the HL was discontinued.
1994 update
In 1994, many changes were made to the Discovery. It reached some markets as the "Discovery 2"; the 200Tdi and 3.5 L V8 engines were replaced with the 2.5 L 300Tdi 4-cylinder and 3.9-litre Rover V8 engines. The 300Tdi introduced a Bosch electronic emissions control for certain models and markets. At around this time, a stronger R380 gearbox was fitted to all manual models. The newer models featured larger headlamps and a second set of rear lights in the bumper. The new rear lights had their wiring configuration changed several times to meet real or expected European safety legislation. Some vehicles were left with an arrangement where the vulnerable bumper contains the only working direction-indicator lights; other examples have these lights duplicated in the traditional rear pillar location. The interior was completely revised, dispensing with most of the Conran-designed original. An all new "soft feel" dashboard was introduced (a derivative of which was also used in the run-out Range Rover Classic), which replaced most of the components from the Maestro and Montego with the switchgear and instrument pack now coming from the R17-series Rover 800. The new design allowed the fitment of airbags and a proper locking glove box replaced the zip bag of the original interior.
North America The 1994 model year marked the first year that the Land Rover Discovery was sold in the United States. Airbags were incorporated into the design of the 1994 model to meet the requirements of US motor vehicle safety regulations, though they were not fitted as standard in all markets. All North American specification (NAS) models were fitted with the 3.9-litre V8 from the Range Rover SE models, and later models saw a change to the 4.0-litre version of the engine.