This isn't the real Discovery now called the LR4, this is the Discovery Sport, an Evoque with a bigger body. Transverse engine, the usual awful ZF nine-speed (Chrysler 200, Cherokee, Renegade plus Acura TLX V6) and Ford's Mark 1 turbo interpretation of the Mazda MZR engine. The newer 2.0t with new cylinder head has been made in Ohio for a year now, but no doubt the Valencia, Spain plant that made the original Ecoboost 2.0t still churns out a few for JLR. Ford-owned Volvo even used this engine in 2010/11 in some S60/V60 before flogging that business off to Geely of China.
Just as the Range Rover Sport was the cheaper different chassis version of the Range Rover, this Disco Sport is just the cheaper different version of the real thing. In fact it's the least expensive Land Rover as well.
But the nomenclature seems to have fooled the entire crowd into thinking it's the Discovery, so JLR can internally crow about that misdirection as a sales tool.
As for thinking it looks like the Explorer, surely it's the other way around. Ford adopted LR styling for the Explorer and stuck a fake Aston Martin grille on the Fusion. They used to own both brands until they flogged them off six years ago.
So this is a small but heavy, not particularly good family SUV take on the Evoque. Cannot see it selling very well as the review shows it's not competitive and has no real redeeming features. A badge job for the status conscious.
