Pretoria - Land Rover, facing an imminent identity crisis with the demise of the iconic Defender, has been at pains to assure punters that its new-millennium SUVs are just as capable of bashing serious bundu as their monolithic forebears - but without sacrificing the creature comforts without which the wired generation refuse to go beyond the street lights.
And that applies particularly to the newest member of the family, the Discovery Sport, which has been put forward as a more compact, crossover-style premium SUV, with the emphasis on impressive road manners, thanks to razor-sharp electronic power steering and integral multi-link rear suspension, which Land Rover says is a first in an SUV of this size.
THIS TOUGH ENOUGH FOR YOU?
So, to refute the suggestion that the Disco Sport is a bit of a 'girly' SUV, we are reminded that it comes with the latest version of Terrain Response, allowing the aforementioned girls to customise settings for various driving conditions, hill descent control and optional progress control - an electronic 'crawl' setting (anywhere from 1.6-30km/h) that lets them concentrate on steering while the Disco does the rest, up (or down) slopes of as much as 45 degrees.
Add to that a shortish wheelbase and (very) short overhangs to give it enviable approach, departure and breakover angles without resorting to nose bleed-inducing ride height, and you have a surprisingly capable off-roader, as the video shows - although we doubt we'll ever see anybody doing this in a Discovery Sport they actually paid for.