New Land Rover Discovery vs Audi Q7 vs BMW X7: costs
The Audi Q7 and BMW X7 are among the elite of sumptuous seven-seat SUVs. Can the revamped Land Rover Discovery usurp their authority?...
Buying and owning
Costs, equipment, reliability, safety and security
The Discovery is the bargain of the group, costing the least to buy outright and having the lowest monthly PCP finance and leasing rates. It’s also predicted to hold onto its value the best.
Add up all the costs faced by a private cash buyer over three years and the Discovery will be at least £7500 cheaper to run than its rivals. This is despite the fact that it's the thirstiest, managing 30.5mpg in our real-world test to the Q7’s 31.3mpg and X7’s 33.3mpg.
The Discovery also has the advantage as a company car, although it will still cost you a small fortune in BiK tax: £814 per month. The X7 costs £972 and the Q7 £1081.
All three are well equipped, coming with keyless entry, heated and cooled seats, a gesture-controlled electric tailgate and adaptive cruise control, although a leather-covered dash (to match the others) is £1020 extra in the Discovery. The Q7 is the best equipped, adding luxuries such as massage seats and a heated steering wheel. As for the X7, it misses out on adaptive cruise and cooled massage seats, but you can add these and many more luxuries that aren’t available on the others.
The Q7 was rated one of the most dependable luxury SUVs in the most recent What Car? Reliability Survey, while the X7 also scored well, but the Discovery was bottom of the class. BMW was 13th out of 30 brands, whereas Audi ranked 18th and Land Rover second to last.
As for safety, all three cars have automatic emergency braking and lane-keeping assistance to help prevent an accident. The X7 hasn’t been tested by the experts at Euro NCAP, while the Q7 and Discovery were awarded the full five stars each but were tested under two different sets of criteria.
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