Land Rover’s Discovery Sport has taken out the ‘Best All-Wheel Drive SUV $50,000 – $65,000’ class in the prestigious 2016 Australia’s Best Cars awards.
Discovery Sport, tested in TD4 150 SE guise by the Australia’s Best Cars judges, shrugged-off challenges from its two main rivals, Hyundai’s Santa Fe and Kia’s Sorento, impressing with its nine-speed automatic transmission and innovative Ingenium four-cylinder, turbocharged diesel engine.
The Australian Best Cars award is one of the world’s most exhaustive independent vehicle test programs, its judges approaching the process with a strong consumer focus which makes the comprehensive test procedure practical and objective, as well as thorough.
Praising the Land Rover Discovery Sport’s modern, functional and luxurious interior, awards judge Darren Moody from the Royal Automobile Club of Tasmania said the popular SUV fares well in the value-for-money stakes.
The judges were also taken with the Discovery Sport’s impressive and unstoppable off-road ability.
“As you would expect of any car wearing the iconic Land Rover badge, the Discovery Sport is just as good off the road as it is on the road,” Darren Moody said.
The abilities of the famous ‘Disco’ Sport, along with its modern functionality, helped tip the scales in its favour in this year’s awards, as did the pricing, which equalled that of its Korean rivals.
Its superior resale value and the Ingenium diesel engine’s impressive fuel economy and low carbon dioxide output also came in for special mention.
“Its equipment levels and ability,” Darren Moody said, “allow it to hold its own in most circumstances.”
Both the Kia Sorento and Hyundai Santa Fe were finalists in the Australia’s Best Cars ‘Best All-Wheel Drive $50,000 — $65,000’ category.
Land Rover’s new all-aluminium Ingenium four-cylinder, turbo-diesel engine was introduced to the Discovery Sport range late last year for the 2017 model year (17MY) and is now used extensively throughout the model mix.
The new engine, with its all-alloy construction, is an impressive 24 kilograms lighter than the cast iron, 2.2-litre, DW12 engine it replaces and more powerful as well with power and torque outputs of 110 kW/380 Nm for the Td4 150 variant and 132 kW/430 Nm for the Td4 180.
Combined fuel consumption is a miserly 5.3 litres/100km and carbon dioxide output is 139g/km.
Commenting on the Land Rover Discovery Sport’s success in the Australia’s Best Cars competition, Land Rover Australia Managing Director, Matthew Wiesner said “The Discovery Sport has been an outstanding sales success for Land Rover since it’s launch in 2015. We believe the Discovery Sport is the world’s most versatile premium compact SUV and the perfect vehicle for Australia”
This year’s Australia’s Best Car award winners were decided by nine judges representing the country’s major automobile clubs – the NRMA, RACV, RACQ, RACT, RAA, RAC and AANT – with testing carried-out at the Australian Automotive Research Centre’s proving grounds at Anglesea, Victoria.
This latest win adds to Land Rover Discovery Sport’s already-bulging trophy cabinet.