LR Discovery Sport towing at max weight

Hi Martin,

We've been towing a Coachman Laser 575 (MTPLM 1800kg) with a Land Rover Discovery Sport D200 for 2 years in UK, France and Spain. 

The Disco Sport tows very well.  No issues on the hills in the Dordogne (or indeed driving up the hill out of Bath) and the car is stable when towing on undulating road surfaces of in cross winds. Hill hold assist is extremely effective and allows easy hill starts. If you have a factory fitted deployable towbar the navigation software will route for towing and the reversing camera has a single line guide for hitching up. One attribute we especially like is the ability to slide the second row seats forward which gives us an immense boot space in which we carry our awning and a folding electric bike.

Crossing Spain from Valencia to Bilbao we averaged 26mpg towing which was good considering the hills. Light running we regularly achieve 42-44mpg.  Our car was excellent in the recent snow and ice.

Hope that helps,

Roger

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I want to know what people did before 'hill hold assist' was a thing .... Did we have so many vehicles rolling back at every hill that someone needed to invent something for it? Isn't that what your left foot or hand/parking brake is for?

I have vivid memories of my Dad trying to do a hill start towing on a steep hill in the 1970s.

The car was a Volvo 145 estate and the caravan a 4 berth (converted to 6 berth) Europa. Volvos handbrake wouldn't hold the combined weight of the car, caravan and family of 6 + dog (plus 2 canoes on the roof of the car). Solution (after lots of stress) was to send me out to chock the caravan wheels so 1st gear could be engaged. Ironically, we got into this position because we missed the turning to a CL at the bottom of the hill....

Personally I'm delighted to have four wheel drive, a torquey diesel, auto gearbox and hill hold assist; not forgetting a good navigation system!!

Roger,

Your response is exactly what I was after!

Thank You. 

Martin

I towed a Hymer Nova single axle caravan with a max laden weight of 2000 kgs. The dealer had stated it was 1650 kg but on the weigh bridge it was 1800 kg largely due to mine having its weight limit uprated for UK specification (motor mover, solar panel etc) .It ended up at 2000 kg when loaded for long continental trips and was loaded to that when towing to Southern Portugal. This meant I was towing at 98% caravan to car ratio but still less than Landrovers max figure. My D Sport was the 2 litre diesel. I found it very stable and the caravan ATC never once needed to activate. The caravan is 8 metres long so quite lengthy for a single axle but perhaps is helped by Hymers having a long A frame. I was very impressed with the D. Sport. On one site there was a lengthy and very steep exit road from which I had to start round a tight corner meaning a standing start. I used the hill start assist which provides a lot of pulling power. The site normally offered a tractor and driver to take caravans uphill on leaving but was not available for our departure. I only sold the Sport for a Discovery 5 to get more boot room when we got a dog. Otherwise the Sport was a superb tow car and I would not hesitate to have another.

 

I’ve just changed to a discovery sport 2l diesel 180. I’ve been impressed with what a good tow car it is. As reviews and others have stated. It’s sure footed, caravan sits neatly behind and behaves impeccably. There is plenty of power when pulling my Valencia. Hills are not a problem, unless you are using cruise control. Even on slight inclines,it will drop 2mph before it changes gear and slowly increases speed. It then allows the speed to increase above the set speed by 1-2 mph at the brow before it settles itself back. It’s not due to lack of power as without  cruise set, it pulls like a train and will easily run away if you aren’t paying attention to the speed. Very unlike my Navara outlaw 3l that it has replaced, set a speed and it never faulted.

Unhitched, its fuel consumption is nearly double of the Nissan, but with the caravan on the back, it’s slightly more thirsty.

Another little quirk, I’ve discovered, is that with the tow bar closer to the rear wheels than I’m used to, I have to be more mindful that without the longer overhang, turning right angled corners will result in the caravan will cutting the corner a little.

I need to correct my comment on fuel consumption. Please accept my apologies.

I meant to say that my Discovery Sport is so much more fuel efficient when solo and driving in town, but when towing,  the bigger and more powerful Navara did return more miles per gallon. Possibly due to the Nissan cruising in top gear of the seven speed auto and the Land Rover only reaching six/seventh of the nine in its auto box, when towing the caravan. 

 

Thanks very much, really helpful!

 

Thank you for taking there time to reply, its great to get a balance of views form different owners.

 

Martin