Best all terrain 4WD

Land Rover Discovery 4 is victorious again in the All-Terrain 4WD category in 2011, taking the number of wins for Discovery models to a phenomenal seven in a row.

This was despite a robust challenge from Jeep’s impressive new Grand Cherokee Laredo 3.0-litre turbo-diesel, which outpointed Discovery 4 in the critical objective value-for-money stakes.

But the champion that it is, the Land Rover came back all guns blazing in design and function, and on and off road.

Judges gave the ‘Disco’ 10 out of 10 for off-road engine gearing and traction, and near-perfect nines for safety, comfort, space, ergonomics, performance, ride, smoothness and quietness, and off-road clearance and articulation.

Indeed, so smooth and comfortable is the Discovery 4 that judges had, at times, to remind themselves that they were driving an all-terrain, not luxury, category 4WD.

The SDV6 SE is ‘motor-vated’ by a 3.0-litre, sequential twin-turbo diesel engine pumping out a brutish 600 Nm of torque, some 36 percent better than Discovery 3. Power, at 180 kW, is also up nearly 30 percent.

But these significant boosts have not been to the detriment of fuel economy, which shows an improvement over the previous model and is competitive for class.