Land Rover Discovery Sport Gets Stuck in Iceland

Nowadays, all SUVs are more about being luxurious, spacious and technologically advanced. The X3 is as large as the first X5 was and Land Rover now has a rival for it that is supposed to be as good on the school run as it is in Antarctica.

Land Rover, who once made SUVs with low range gearboxes and mechanical diffs, are now cutting unnecessary weight for the sake of fuel economy and using electronics to take care of splitting traction between all four wheels.

During an event the automaker organized in Iceland, Nick Rufford from The Sunday Times found that a series of limitations existed with the new Discovery Sport. The official press release states the SUV can climb 45 degree slopes, but add ice and mud to the mix and it's suddenly not as capable.

After failing to go up a hill, Rufford then proceeds to "play" with the Discovery Sport on a snowy beach where he eventually gets stuck. Luckily, it's granddaddy Defender to the rescue!

In all fairness, the Land Rover's rivals would probably have gotten stuck as well. These conditions are much more severe than what you'd encounter on a winter holiday and the reason why the company gave on-road performance more priority is because that's what customers demanded.

This reminds us of the embarrassing incident where a Porsche Macan got stuck during its launch event in Morocco and had to be pulled away by a Dacia Duster. Maybe these press events need to be organized less ambitiously.