Between 1989 and 1998, the Land Rover Discovery 1 was the British Rover Group's answer to the emerging and later heated SUV competition that has become a phenomenon of sorts in the automobile history as the 20th century ended. Starting with the Jeep Cherokee introduced in 1984, the market for all-terrain 4X4 utility vehicles never saw any let-up. The Land Rover didn't fail to notice the signs as the name was synonymous to what an all-weather all-terrain 4X4 utility vehicle is about, eversince it started the business in 1948.
But it was more than that. It wasn't enough to have rugged manly attributes of a utility off-roader, but it must have the luxurious creature comforts that the daily commuter cannot live without on a daily city commute. That was what SUVs are about.
The Land Rover SUV Answer
The familiar Land Rover we see on post war pop culture media ended with the Land Rover Series III in 1985. That was about the time when the SUV started making inroads. The Rover Group took note and had embarked on enhancing its Series III with the pre-Defender line of all-terrain 4X4 utility vehicles that still harked back to its dated image with a cursory node to the luxury aspect of SUVs with optional accessories to make their products achieve SUV appeal. But that wasn't enough. Hence you have the new Discovery and later the Defender line to take care of the wider budget-conscious markets where its Range Rover had a more upscale high end market to target.
A Cheaper Range Rover by Design
The Discovery 1 was first unveiled in the UK markets in 1989 with a 3-door model. The larger 5-door variant appeared the following year. At the same time, the Japanese counterpart was marketed by its partner Honda as the Honda Crossroad in the Japanese markets for a good 10 years ending in 1999, 5 years after losing the partnership when BMW bought the Rover Group in 1994. As a cheaper shadow of the Range Rover, the Discovery was in fact a Range Rover in sheep clothing, though not necessarily shabby clothing. It had the interior structure of Range Rover with all the interior appointments left out from a Range Rover mock-up that eventually gave the Discovery its SUV standing in the eyes of the markets.
It even had some design element like a unique sunglass holder right at the center of the steering wheel that won a British Design Award in 1999. Some functional designs like its instrumentation and switchgear were borrowed from the Montego and Maestro Rover series, including headlamps from the Freight Rover and the taillights from its Maestro van. Under the hood, the Discovery 1 took off with two engine options - a 2.5 liter Tdi diesel or the 3.5 liter V8 petrol engine. In 1994 it was introduced in the US modified to comply with the strict US motor vehicle requirements. Improvements meant to comply with newer and stricter EU road safety standards were added like a Bosch electronic emissions control, a stronger R380 gearbox, larger headlights, a second set of taillights on the rear bumper and a more comfortable and safer ride.
Other improvements were done to comply with newer European road safety standards. A more powerful 4.0L V8 from the Range Rover SE model was used for 1996 models and onwards with a few enhancements like a larger, cross-bolted main bearings, revised intake, improved pistons and the GEMS distributorless engine management system. The Land Rover Discovery 1 gave way to the second Discovery 2 lines in 1998.
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