Jaguar Land Rover Malaysia previews the Discovery Sport

Jaguar Land Rover Malaysia has finally previewed the 2015 Land  Rover Discovery Sport here in Malaysia. The preview was part of a four day customer and media experience event held at the Sepang F1 Circuit 4x4 track area. The Discovery Sport represents the third generation of compact SUV produced by Land Rover and effectively replaces the Freelander as Land Rover's entry level SUV.

We Malaysians will most probably be getting the 240hp 2.0liter turbocharged engine based on the Ford Ecoboost and the 2.2liter DuraTorq TDCI engine with about 190ps and a whole lot more torque than the petrol powered engine. Both will be sold with ZF's nine speed automatic transmission on a haldex type all-wheel drive setup (although there is a more efficient Active Driveline system on option but I doubt will be offered here). There is no low range transfer box with either all wheel drive system, to counter this limitation, the ZF 9-HP features a special very low ratio first gear which is only used when the vehicle is off-road or otherwise needed, for on-road use, the vehicle will normally start in second gear.

The good thing about the Disco Sport is that it will be available as a 5+2 seating arrangement. This means that families can put the seats and the space to good use with the two rear seats for occasional usage, comfortable for kids and small adults.

The design of the exterior has all the usual Land Rover and Range Rover cues and has that distinctive forward angled C pillar. It is very recognisable as what it is supposed to be, which is a Land Rover. The interior is filled with plastics, fabric and leather that is close to the same standard as something in Range Rover's entry level Evoque.

Yes, there is some overlap in terms of purpose between this car and the Range Rover Evoque but it can be said that in the Evoque, its main criteria is luxury over practicality and all-road capability. In the Disco Sport, it is the opposite - practicality over luxury and all-roadcapability. The iconic Defender is basically all-road capability over practicality and luxury. This technically explains the difference between buying a Land Rover and a Range Rover. They may intertwine, but are actually quite separate in nature.

Expect it to be launched very very soon as if you remember I posted spy shots of the Disco Sport over in Ara Damansara recently. I asked one of the presenters at the event and he mentioned that the SUVs were being put through their paces for dealer and sales personnel training.