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Land Rover

Land Rover Discovery

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 100 in (2,540 mm) 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.

Text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

UK certified builds122012–2026
Power (UK)160–190 hp
CO₂ (UK, WLTP/NEDC)123–141 g/km
On UK roads324,8092025 Q4
US EPA MPG18–23
US recalls17

UK fuel mix: —. Records from the VCA fuel & emissions archive.

Model years

20262025202420232022202120202019201820172012

UK vehicles on the road

261,861 licensed and 62,948 SORN (324,809 total) at 2025 Q4.

Year (latest quarter)Vehicles
2014187,469
2015206,679
2016235,378
2017264,429
2018284,147
2019302,696
2020312,910
2021319,043
2022320,293
2023321,745
2024322,361
2025324,809

DfT/DVLA VEH0120 vehicle licensing statistics, source ↗, Open Government Licence v3.0. Small counts are rounded or suppressed at source.

US safety recalls

NHTSA recalls database (US government, public domain). Recalls apply to US-market vehicles; check the manufacturer for your country.

US EPA fuel-economy records

YearEngineDriveTransmissionFuelMPG (US) comb.CO₂ g/miEV range miSource
20262.0 L 4-cyl 4-Wheel DriveAutomatic (S8)Premium21 425—EPA ↗
20263.0 L 6-cyl 4-Wheel DriveAutomatic (S8)Premium19 457—EPA ↗
20252.0 L 4-cyl 4-Wheel DriveAutomatic (S8)Premium21 421—EPA ↗
20253.0 L 6-cyl 4-Wheel DriveAutomatic (S8)Premium19 457—EPA ↗
20242.0 L 4-cyl 4-Wheel DriveAutomatic (S8)Premium21 421—EPA ↗
20243.0 L 6-cyl 4-Wheel DriveAutomatic (S8)Premium19 457—EPA ↗
20232.0 L 4-cyl 4-Wheel DriveAutomatic (S8)Premium21 436—EPA ↗
20233.0 L 6-cyl 4-Wheel DriveAutomatic (S8)Premium22 415—EPA ↗
20222.0 L 4-cyl 4-Wheel DriveAutomatic (S8)Premium21 436—EPA ↗
20223.0 L 6-cyl 4-Wheel DriveAutomatic (S8)Premium21 435—EPA ↗
20212.0 L 4-cyl 4-Wheel DriveAutomatic (S8)Premium21 436—EPA ↗
20213.0 L 6-cyl 4-Wheel DriveAutomatic (S8)Premium21 435—EPA ↗
20203.0 L 6-cyl 4-Wheel DriveAutomatic (S8)Diesel23 448—EPA ↗
20203.0 L 6-cyl 4-Wheel DriveAutomatic (S8)Premium18 500—EPA ↗
20193.0 L 6-cyl 4-Wheel DriveAutomatic (S8)Diesel23 448—EPA ↗
20193.0 L 6-cyl 4-Wheel DriveAutomatic (S8)Premium18 500—EPA ↗
20183.0 L 6-cyl 4-Wheel DriveAutomatic (S8)Diesel23 448—EPA ↗
20183.0 L 6-cyl 4-Wheel DriveAutomatic (S8)Premium18 500—EPA ↗
20173.0 L 6-cyl 4-Wheel DriveAutomatic (S8)Diesel23 448—EPA ↗
20173.0 L 6-cyl 4-Wheel DriveAutomatic (S8)Premium18 500—EPA ↗

US EPA test figures (US MPG, US test cycle), fueleconomy.gov ↗, US government public domain.

Sources

More from Land Rover

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