It must be midnight at the oasis, because Land Rover has hauled a trio of brand new heavies to the New York Auto Show. The new Discovery SUV, which although fundamentally the same, has undergone a comprehensive enough overhaul to merit a 'Discovery 4' nametag. The headline stat is its 30.4mpg fuel economy figure, achieved courtesy of a new 3.0-litre V6 diesel engine (shared with the updated Jaguar XF), which is based on - and will be available alongside - the 2.7-litre diesel currently found under the Disco's bonnet. Its 242bhp output represents a power hike of almost a third over the 2.7-litre and as such its 0-60mph time goes down to a warm hatch troubling 9.0 seconds.

The new Disco also gets a new version of Land Rover's 'terrain response system' with a couple of new settings - sand and rock crawl, for all your beach driving and, erm, rock crawling needs. More importantly, it gets more refined on-road characteristics thanks to overhauled suspension and a re-calibrated steering rack, both of which should take the Disco even closer to Range Rover territory - something the visual overhaul also does very nicely.

As you can see, there's a new grille that now incorporates redesigned headlamps, featuring a new Land Rover trademark: circular LEDs. The taillights get the same thing, and the incongruous black plastic wing mirrors finally get the chop in favour of body coloured items. Of course, the cabin gets refreshed too, with useful tech like a 360-degree camera for easier parking, keyless entry and better quality materials all round.

Mark Nichol - 9 Apr 2009