Land Rover Discovery - Interior, design and technology

The latest Land Rover Discovery has grown compared with its predecessor, meaning there’s even more space inside the Discovery – and there's more space than in most of its rivals, too.

Starting with the third row of seats, the Land Rover offers more legroom than either the Audi Q7 or Volvo XC90, allowing fully grown adults to sit in relative ease without the middle row of seats needing to be slid forward all that much. This means there’s plenty of room for passengers in all rows of the Discovery.

Alternatively, if you’re only carrying five, you can maximise passenger space by sliding the middle seats back. There’ll still be more than enough luggage room on offer if you do so.

Elsewhere, quality is high, with plenty of plush materials. It’s not quite to the levels of the Q7 or BMW X5 because there are a few too many cheaper plastics used on the lower sections.

The infotainment and climate controls are all pretty logical, with the physical dials used for the latter allowing easy adjustment of the temperature and heat front seat controls whilst on the move – something that can’t be said of the X5. That climate control panel does, in fact, flip down to reveal a neat hidden storage compartment for mobile phones and sunglasses. 

There are plenty of other areas to stow items, including a huge bin beneath the twin cupholders, a large central storage area under the centre armrest (that can be refrigerated with the Comfort pack) and big door bins in the front and rear.

There’s also a twin-glovebox arrangement for even more practicality on all but the most basic S models, while even passengers in the third row get storage areas for trinkets.

As with the exterior design, Land Rover has evolved the Discovery’s cabin design so it feels much more modern and upmarket. Yet, it mixes this with a robust nature in a way that Land Rover has become famous for.

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Sat-nav, stereo and infotainment 

The Discovery now features the latest Pivi Pro infotainment system, which includes a new 11.4-inch infotainment screen in the centre of the dash. In addition, there are smart new heating and ventilation controls.

Land Rover says the latest infotainment system is 48 per cent larger and three times brighter than the old Touch Pro Duo unit its predecessor had, and it has been designed for ease of use. Given that our experience with the old system lead us to knock half a star from the car’s overall score due to its constant niggles, such as glacially slow loading times, frequently giving us a blank screen, and its poor phone connectivity, the Discovery badly needed a new infotainment system.

Fortunately, Pivi Pro is a world away from the old system and, we find, delivers on the promise of being much easier to use. Frequently used applications can now be accessed directly from the home screen which means that, overall, 50 per cent fewer inputs are required to operate it. We’d still prefer to have physical buttons, or a dial, like the iDrive system used BMW, but at least the screen in the Discovery is easier to operate than most rivals' infotainment systems – particularly the fiddly screen the XC90 uses.

All versions feature Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity as standard, along with wireless phone charging.

You might want to consider the £895, 12-speaker, 400-watt Meridian sound system that’s an option on S models (standard from Dynamic SE and above) upgrade if you like your music. Above that is a 14-speaker, 700-watt surround sound Meridian system (available for £220 on Dynamic SE and above) that delivers a richer sound experience.