I have Athelstan, it looks very smart and 'honest'.

And it's very clever, there's a lot of hype about VW's new MQB architecture, but Volvo have quietly been creating something that is equally as impressive.  Mine: 2012 Golf GTI Edition 35
Family's: 2009 Freelander 2 HSE TD4 Auto, Stornoway

Yorkshire - God's County

I do hope they bring out a lower spec model at a more affordable price. £35k plus is just too much for me, having to fund it from my own resources. No business write off available in this household .For sure £400 or so monthly lease is way to much for a 6-7,000 mile per annum driver. MY 09 GS manual in Lago Grey, Wood Co arm rest and side bumper strips - now sold.

MY 15 SD4 SE Auto Orkney Grey with colour coded Bumper Door Mouldings

Having spent time reading through all the information and looking at the pictures I think that the discovery sport is a quite good looking vehicle with good engineering behind it and will certainly sell well for land rover, which is what they want after all.
However,
As a freelander replacement ( for the time being at least maybe) there are some good improvements, better overall loadspace length,wading depth and less suspension intrusion. But there are the downsides, it has grown again, lost some off road angles that most won't be bothered by, but most off putting as the entry level family vehicle of the brand is the price.
Looking at the model range on land rover website, the fl2 could quite easily be badged as a disco sport and as such would sit along side the current discovery quite happily as they share visual similarities. The look of the sport is more in line with the range rover family than discovery, maybe they should have renamed it the rr amateur sport or evoque lance Armstrong.
Then comes the question that if this is setting the trend for the new discovery family, as the evoque did for range rover, I don't think it bodes well for the new full size disco.
Lets hope when land rover come to release the new defender family they allow function to lead the design and please let the designer have a ruler and not think 'ooh the evoques a been a good seller so lets make it look like that'. Also they need to get the pricing at the right level.
Right rant over.

Quote:

I do hope they bring out a lower spec model at a more affordable price.

As I've read from this thread I think that this new car isn't a part of Land Rover family, but it's a part of Range Rover.
It's beetween Evoque and Range Sport and it isn't an offroader like the Disco 4 (no low gear, no air suspension, ramp and departure angle worse than FL2).
The price is a step high compared to Freelander2 and I hope that we will see a true Freelander replacement.
In the meantime I'm happy to drive my Freelander2.

I expect that there is scope for lower price variants in future. It must be cheaper to make the upcoming 2.0l engine in a new state of the art in house facility than buying the current engine from PSA? 2WD and removing the +2 seats should also lower costs significantly and give scope for a much lower priced entry level model?

I agree that the DS looks more Range Rover than LR/Discovery. And I don't like that heavy handed Discovery branding on the tailgate and bonnet.

For now I prefer the current Freelander which is more of a true Land Rover design, but will wait to see the DS in the metal and drive it before finally deciding on a replacement. Sometimes new designs take some getting used to but a little while later look much more appropriate. (e.g. The original Bangle BMW 5 series)?

But as others have said, Freelander2 owners are not necessarily the target group so maybe we have to wait for the new Defender models to show up, but that's looking like a very very long wait?

Just a thought on how long we'll have to wait before seeing the new Defender which may or may not be the true Freelander replacement? .....

I can't see LR scrapping all the tooling for the current Defender when in a year or so the latest safety regs stop production of it.

Surely they'll ship the tooling overseas and then import a low volume of cars to keep the UK ticking over until the new Defender comes on stream. I think that under a certain quantity the latest safety regs can be set aside and the vehicle can continue to be sold? Staying under this limit is probably how Morgan continues to manufacture a vehicle that I assume would not meet the latest safety regs. And the Morgan is even older than the Defender!

So if the UK made Defender finishes at the end of next year and then imports cover another year or so we are going to have a very long wait indeed to see the new Defender and compare it with the DS?

If that wait is going to stretch into 2017 then I think Land Rover should do as Steve Cropley at Autocar advocates and at least let us see a concept early before any of us consider jumping brands?

From Autocar:

"Land Rover has ‘frozen’ the final shape of its next, all-new Defender – and the company says that it will look very different from the DC100 and DC100 Sport concepts unveiled three years ago by design boss Gerry McGovern".

"The company says that its new design won’t be a direct replacement for the 66-year-old original when that ceases production at the end of next year. Bosses are currently busy discussing what interval should elapse between the outgoing model’s demise and the new edition’s debut.

Another important discussion point is believed to be whether Land Rover should reveal parts of its new Defender plan early, via a more focused design concept. Company bigwigs acknowledge that for many of the faithful, the original Land Rover remains at the heart of what the company does, even though it has not contributed significantly to profits for many years".

I got shot down in flames the other day when I said that the DS is about £5k over priced..  Do it now ! Your a long time dead !!

I think that the DS is going to kill evoque sales in an instant. I remember talking to the sales guy when I got my freelander and he said that the evoque was pushing sales of FL2 like nothing else, cause everyone came to see the Evoque, then turned and looked at a high spec FL2 and bought it cause they saw it as being bigger and cheaper.

With the new styling like that, then to me its a no brainer ... ah cannae afford it ... simples .... or maybe

We do appear to have lost the heated windscreen feature. One of the key things that made my mind up about the Freelander in the first place. Only Volvo and Ford to choose from now, then. Once you've ditched the ice scraper you can never go back! Fuji White MY13 SD4 Dynamic
gone: Rimini Red MY10 td4_e XS

heatha05 wrote:

We do appear to have lost the heated windscreen feature. One of the key things that made my mind up about the Freelander in the first place. Only Volvo and Ford to choose from now, then. Once you've ditched the ice scraper you can never go back!

T Terran



'The' Car For The Modern Day UK Roads ( ie all the pot holes )

'A Freelander that leaks oil is just marking its territory' - Wise words

Now a member of the FL2 'Silly Bill' Club

The Disco Sport has not lost the heated windscreen

Badger1970 wrote:

Disappointed that there is no full-size spare wheel option

Yes there is. check the options when you're finished setting up your DS. Cost 490€

Click image to enlarge

What I don't understand why I can't use most of the special features (Offroad gadgets, climate pack, driving assistant …) if I choose the5+2 option? Are these security issues? Don't drive off road with your kids?

Is the engine the same as in the latest FL2/Evoque?

I would have liked the opposite opening doors as on the concept version!

It definitely needs less diesel as my FL2. Freelander 2 SE 4Td Izmir Blue, Dog cage for Alaskan Malamute, iphone Navigon Navigator

DennisV wrote:

I think that under a certain quantity the latest safety regs can be set aside and the vehicle can continue to be sold? Staying under this limit is probably how Morgan continues to manufacture a vehicle that I assume would not meet the latest safety regs. And the Morgan is even older than the Defender!.

Dennis indeed the first Morgan predates the first Defender by over half a century, but unlike LR who continue to build the Defender the Morgan Car Company do not continue to build its first Morgan

On a more serious point though you are correct in stating that there does exist an exception from some of the EU's car manufacturing regulations pertaining to conformity - but they cannot be entirely "set aside" and dismissed. However I am no expert on this subject so cannot comment in detail on the why's and wherefore. But what is certain is that the latest generation of Morgan models do conform to all the standards that apply to road safety.

These vehicles are technically engineered to extremely high standards and the build quality is superb. Land Rover would do well to spend a week in Malvern to see how to design and fit trim that does not rattle or fall off. And make no mistake, the BMW engines and gearboxes in Aero series are superb, plus the Ford engines and Mazda gearboxes fitted to the Classic series are equally a pleasure to use. Go and drive any one of them. Telephone the Morgan factory and hire your choice from their entire model range directly from them, for a day, weekend or week. You'll have a terrific drive

We have all read on this forum (and some have first hand experience) of FL2 driver seats splitting/cracking prematurely. Well all I can say from first hand experience of my Morgan is that the leather grades used by Morgan and the handcrafted seat covers put LR's efforts to shame. And that includes the leathers used in the Evoque and new RRS both of which I have spent some time in.

I wish LR well with the new DS, huge sales volumes means the greater the probability the company survives and remains a key component of UK manufacturing industry, and long may that last. But for me I don't think the DS will be on my final vehicle shopping list. But I am keeping my powder dry in the hope that I can be seduced by the long awaited arrival of the Defender's replacement. Fingers Crossed