2015 Land Rover Discovery Sport: Entry-Level Luxury Progress

Land Rover will be bringing a new family of small engines online in the near future.

The 2015 Land Rover Discovery Sport has been tapped to replace the aging LR2.

In place of the LR2's six-speed automatic, however, Land Rover has installed the same nine-speed autobox found in the Evoque.

The 2015 Land Rover Discovery Sport carries over the previous year's engine, a 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder unit good for 240 horsepower and 250 lb-ft of torque.

Greater strides have been made inside the Discovery Sport.

The new face of the Discovery Sport is more fluid.

Materials are nicer across the board for the Discovery Sport.

A notable exception is the gauge cluster, which still feels less special than it really should in an era where even the Jeep Cherokee gets a TFT display option.

If you're looking for sizzle, you'll have to opt for the previously-mentioned Evoque.

The Discovery Sport's suspension system does a good job of prioritizing comfort over outright handling prowess.

It's remarkably quiet inside the Disco.

Visually, it's an improvement over past Land Rover interfaces, but somewhere along the way the touchscreen's logic has picked up more than a few bugs.

The 2015 Land Rover Discovery Sport brings traditional class, luxury, and practicality to the table alongside a startling degree of all-terrain capability.

Throttle response in the Discovery Sport feels significantly slower than in its sister SUV.

An issue of programming, perhaps, or an attempt to further 'civilize' the non-Range Rover for a more sedate crowd?

With the bench folded out of the way the Discovery Sport makes good on its 10 inches of additional length compared to the Evoque.

Even when riding in the second row, most passengers will be content with their lot inside the Land Rover.

Should you wish to punish the SUV's chassis, the Land Rover's Terrain Response system offers multiple settings to tackle grass, sand, snow, mud, and other inhospitable enemies of forward progress.

The Discovery Sport is far from a hardcore off-road weapon, but it's definitely in possession of skills that would shame 90 percent of the compact luxury spot-utility vehicles in its class once the pavement disappears.