Despite weighing the best part of three tonnes, the Discovery’s suspension manages the car’s mass – and height – with unerring precision and control, but the almost sports-saloon levels of roadholding and agility found in the X5 remain beyond the capabilities of the Land Rover.
Ride comfort is everything in this car. Both large and medium-sized intrusions are dismissed with silent disdain.
Only very sharp, small irregularities catch the car off-guard and send a shimmy through the bodyshell, and you will of course have the characteristic wallow of big, heavy SUVs – but for most this will be an expected trait rather than any negative observation.
More difficult to pin down is the way the Discovery seems to always be at a saunter, regardless of where the speedo needle is pointing: this is a chassis that never allows itself to be flustered on-road and whose limiting factor is grip.
There’s a margin of stabilising understeer and on wet asphalt it doesn’t take too much effort to have the DSC stability system chiming in. But overall, the car’s imperturbability is mightily impressive.
