Land Rover Discovery boot space, practicality and safety

• Few cars come as accomodating as this
• But you pay for it in terms of length and width
• Lots of storage space for family nick-nacks

How much space is there?

The Discovery is a large car, and as expected, it’s usefully-sized for up to seven adults. If you want to make full use of the huge boot, you’ll have to drop at least the third row of seats.

There’s plenty of space up front, row two offers three seats suitable for adults, and the final two seats are also suitable for adults – only the BMW X7 beats it in this class in terms of third-row space. Head and legroom is comfortable for those up to six feet in height at least.

Boot space and storage

The Intelligent Seat Fold, which is standard on high-spec models, allows the five rear seats to be individually folded or raised from the central touch screen, buttons on the seats themselves or in the boot and also via a dedicated mobile phone app.

The system can fold all the seats in 14 seconds when operated correctly, but it takes a little practice to navigate the menus and ensure the safety measures aren’t triggered which halts the electric mechanisms.

The automatic seat droppers are undeniably cool though – have a look for yourself:

Is it easy to park?

Without parking aids, this would be a tough car to tuck into a typical UK-sized bay. Visibility isn’t great, and your view of the corners is pretty much non-existent. There’s also no disguising its sheer size – at at least there are large door mirrors to aid rearward visibility when manoeuvring.

There are some interesting things to help you, not least the ClearSight rear-view mirror – you can see what’s behind regardless of whether the back seats are occupied or not, while a profusion of cameras and all-round parking sensors help create a 3D view displayed in the centre screen when reversing.

How big is it?

View full specs

Safety

• Plenty of safety kit included as standard
• A full five-star rating in the Euro NCAP test
• Cutting-edge driver-assistance tech available

The Land Rover Discovery has a full suite of safety kit fitted as standard, and scored a Euro NCAP crash-test rating of five stars when tested in 2017. Bear in mind that the test has become tougher since then.

Standard equipment includes:

• Audible seat belt warning (including third row) 
• Front side impact airbagsHazard lights under heavy braking
• Perimetric alarm
• Rollover deployment of restraints
• Side curtain airbags
• Front passenger seat Isofix
• Third row Isofix
• Adaptive Cruise Control with Queue Assist
• Lane Departure Warning
• Driver Condition Monitor
• Lane Keep Assist
• Rear Parking Aid
• Front Parking Aid
• 360° Parking Aid
• Park Assist
• Rear View Camera
• Surround Camera System
• Traffic Sign Recognition and Intelligent Speed Limiter
• Blind Spot Monitor and Reverse Traffic Detection
• Blind Spot Assist

Watch: Land Rover Discovery crash test video