• All current motors feature mild-hybrid tech
• Plug-in hybrid a useful addition
• No mild-hybrid petrol offered

Diesel engines

Despite an industry-wide pushback against diesel cars, it’s likely that a majority of Discovery Sport owners will opt for the black pump.

Like all Discovery Sport engines, the entry-level D165 gets an automatic gearbox and four-wheel drive. It manages 0-60mph is 9.5 seconds as a five seater or 9.8 with seven seats. A front-wheel drive model with a manual gearbox was previously offered, with much improved economy and emissions figures.

The D200 adds 41hp (204hp versus 163hp for the D165) to the mix, improving the 0-60mph time by over a second. The five seater does 0-60mph in 8.1 seconds, the seven seater 8.3. If you want to go with diesel, this is our preferred engine. The extra power makes it much more relaxing to drive because the engine never has to work that hard.

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Plug-in hybrid

The plug-in hybrid combines a 1.5-litre, three-cylinder petrol engine driving the front wheels with an electric motor propelling the rears. Offering low tax and impressive fuel economy, this one could work for a lot of buyers who are looking to move away from diesel, or mainly cover shorter journeys. For the P300e we ran for several months, combined power adds up to 309hp, propelling the car to 62mph in an impressive 6.5secs.

Since we ran that car early in 2024, the plug-in hybrid offering has changed slightly. A P270e model has replaced the P300e, offering 269hp and a 0-60 time of seven seconds flat. We’re yet to sample this updated model, but it uses the same basic engine and motor configuration. We’d hope that means it’ll just feel a little slower than before.

How you want to use both motors in either depends on three drive modes available: Hybrid, EV and Save. In Hybrid mode, the electric motor works together with the petrol engine seamlessly. It relies on the electric motor to nudge the Discovery Sport quickly off the line, with the petrol engine only kicking in to help out when more power is needed.

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Flat out it’s pleasingly brisk, with enough punch to overtake confidently once you’ve got past some initial hesitation. You can stick to electric-only EV mode, too, which is perfectly fine for driving around town speeds, if a little lethargic on faster roads.

The P300e starts to struggle when the battery has depleted and you have to solely run on the small petrol engine. With 200hp available, this struggles to haul this two-tonne SUV – and that’s with just a driver on board. Downshifts take an age to happen, too, with a long pause between pulling the steering wheel paddle and the gearbox responding.

Thankfully the engine remains smooth and quiet, but it’s slow to rev and feels like hard work getting up to motorway speeds. If you can, limit the use of the petrol engine to cruising on the motorway/dual carriageway, and keep the battery topped up.

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What’s it like to drive?

• Safe handling and well-weighted steering
• Quite a lot of body movement in the corners
• Ride is good even on large wheels

The Land Rover Discovery Sport is one of the more comfortable cars in its class thanks to soft suspension. We were particularly impressed by how well the car deals with pockmarked tarmac, even on the largest, 21-inch alloy wheels. Adaptive dampers are available, but we wouldn’t bother.

Head into the corners and while the car’s steering is a bit vague, it’s well-weighted and responds in a natural way, making this SUV very easy to pilot. This gives you a lot of confidence that the car’s going to go in the direction you point it. The brakes feel strong too, with even the plug-in getting decent pedal feel.

Grip levels are high enough, although the all-season tyres Land Rover favours aren’t as good on pavement as the road-biased rubber you’ll find in most rivals. Spirited driving displays a lot of body lean and movement, with the nose running wide a little earlier than you might expect. We’d recommend you adopt a more relaxed style of driving. If you do so, it’s just as well, as the Discovery Sport’s luxurious traits shine through.

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The Discovery Sport outperforms its competition when you head off the road and onto rough terrain. Land Rover’s Terrain Response 2 system is fitted to every model, and allows you to select the kind of terrain you’re on whether it be sand, mud and ruts, gravel or rocks – or, for even more peace of mind you can simply select ‘auto’ and let the car do the work itself.

This is where Land Rover’s heritage shines through, and it’s no stretch to say that the Discovery Sport is easily the best vehicle in this class at tackling off-road terrain, as its carefully honed four-wheel drive system is far more capable than that in the Skoda Kodiaq or Hyundai Santa Fe.

The ponderous nine-speed gearbox is a bit of a gripe however, as it takes a brief pause before responding to throttle inputs. There are steering wheel-mounted paddles for you to change gear manually on higher-spec models, but even then, the response time is far too inconsistent.