The Land Rover Discovery 4 and the Range Rover Sport both now benefit from an improved 3.0-litre V6 turbodiesel engine. Power goes up to 256bhp from the old version's 245bhp.

Emissions drop by 14g/km to 230g/km in the Discovery 4, while the Sport's are lowered to by 13g/km to an identical 230g/km. Economy for the Disco and Sport increases to 32.1mpg for both models.

As well as the revised engine, both cars gain an eight-speed automatic gearbox as standard, replacing the previous six-speed unit. This is the same gearbox found in the Range Rover and uses a Drive Select rotary controller to choose gears. Land Rover also says the new gearbox improves ratio shift times to just 200 milliseconds.

Mild styling changes to the Discovery are limited to 19-inch alloy wheels, which are now standard on the HSE model, while a new climate control system allows the cabin and engine to be pre-heated in cold weather.

The Range Rover Sport has a more major revision at the back where its tailgate is now a one-piece item in place of the traditional horizontally split system on previous models.

The revised Discovery 4 3.0 SDVG starts at £37,995, while the new Range Rover Sport 3.0 SDV6 costs from £48,795.

Alisdair Suttie - 7 Jul 2011