Should you buy one?

If you occasionally need seven seats with off-road ability, but don’t need a full-sized luxury SUV, the Land Rover Discovery Sport does a fairly convincing job of filling this niche. However, it’s far from a perfect car and potential owners should think hard before opting for this over cheaper and more practical models such as the Skoda Kodiaq and Kia Sorento.

We’d struggle to recommend a Discovery Sport with a petrol engine unless your mileage is exceptionally low. The diesels fare a lot better, but there are many more efficient choices out there. The plug-in hybrid version will suit plenty of low mileage users and those who can cover shorter journeys on the 34 mile battery range, but makes little sense for motorway cruisers.

What we like

There’s plenty that the Discovery Sport does well. From its tidy on-road manners to its unrivalled (in this class) prowess off it. It also works really well as a comfortable long-distance cruiser.

What we don’t like

The car’s unenviable reliability record is a worry. And it’s just not that practical when compared with cheaper machinery.