Land Rover Discovery Sport Hybrid Review and Prices

This is the plug-in hybrid version of Land Rover’s rather excellent Discovery Sport family SUV, which goes up against alternatives such as the BMW X3 hybrid and the Mercedes GLC hybrid.

It’s very comfortable out on the road, has a spacious, well-made interior, and thanks to the addition of a battery and an electric motor it can cruise around for more than 30 miles without burning a drop of fuel.

In a way, then, it’s a bit like making your favourite stir-fry dish with vegan chicken instead of the real thing. It still makes for a tasty dinner, but it’s slightly more environmentally friendly as a result.

And provided you can frequently plug it in and charge its battery at home or at work, the Land Rover should offer considerably lower running costs than the equivalent petrol or diesel model too – but there is a catch.

Those batteries and electric motors all take up space, so the plug-in hybrid version can only seat five people instead of the seven you can fit in the standard car. Still, at least you don’t have to give up any boot space in making the switch to hybrid power: the plug-in Discovery Sport has the same cavernous 963-litre boot as those conventionally-powered models.

It has the same plush, well-made interior too. Our R-Dynamic SE test car – which costs from just under £50,000 – was covered in rich-feeling leather upholstery; while the seats themselves were comfortable and supportive – perfect for those long, arduous schleps up the motorway.

If you like a raised up driving position with plenty of visibility, you’ve come to the right place. The Discovery Sport might be a fairly large car, but its big windows and lofty chairs mean you can easily position it on the road, while its accurate steering and 3D-surround view camera help to make parking a breeze. There’s certainly no need to fear tight multi-storey car parks when you’re driving one of these.

It's a pity this plug-in hybrid version of the Discovery Sport doesn't get a seven-seat layout, but if you keep its battery charged it'll be incredibly economical.

It’s impressively refined, too. Running on electricity there’s enough oomph on offer to help you nip away from the lights quickly, while the ghostly silence that accompanies electric running makes it feel even more luxurious and relaxing when driving around town. A soft, bump-friendly ride helps out here too.

The three-cylinder petrol engine isn’t too rowdy when it wakes up either, even when you accelerate hard. At motorway cruising speeds it’s hushed, and very little road or wind noise makes its way into the cabin either. Adaptive cruise control – which will automatically adjust your car’s speed to match the car in front – is available as part of a £750 option pack, and helps to make this an even more easy-going, comfortable daily driver.

There are some drawbacks, though. First of all is the fact that this is quite a heavy car, so it’s not quite as sporty-feeling as the likes of a BMW X3 plug-in or an Audi Q5 plug-in when you’re out on a twisty road – but that’s hardly a deal-breaker. Then there’s the fact that when you do run the battery flat, you’ll find that the petrol engine is fairly thirsty. We found that we averaged around 30mpg when driven as such.

But you can of course top the battery back up, which is a job that takes around two hours when you’re plugged into a 7kW wallbox. With a full battery, Land Rover says you should be able to travel 38 miles on electricity alone, but in the real world we saw closer to 30 – which isn’t bad at all.

Being a plug-in hybrid, this version of the Discovery Sport comes with a CO2 rating as low as 36g/km, which means it’ll be cheaper to run as a company car than the equivalent petrol or diesel model too.

If the Land Rover Discovery Sport hybrid sounds like the car for you, then head on over to our deals page to see how much you can save when you buy through carwow.