I'm a total noob to the brand, with a P400 on the boat, but never owned a JLR product before. I could probably find some website that answers these questions as I want to understand them, but a quick search didn't get me there. And since conversation among enthusiasts is its own reward , I'll ask here.

I see that there are 7 models of Land/Range Rover, and wonder exactly their differentiation. My stab at a few is this:

RR Evoque: small, good handling, economical high-style entry point to the brand, focused on road manners. Macan/SQ5 equivalent

RR Velar: No idea

RR Sport: Maximum focus on speed and handling on road, with as much off-road chops (mainly electronic) that can be added without compromising on-road performance or manners

RR: Longerr version of Sport, with max luxury and speed, best off-road they can give it without compromising lux and speed.

LR Disco Sport: No idea

LR Disco: No idea

Defender: Maximum off-road capability JLR is willing to sell you now, combined with as much on-road lux and manners as they can give without compromising off-road behavior or making it too expensive.

Correct me if I'm wrong on any of those.

Questions:

Why do the ones I have no idea about exist?

Why would a person choose Evoque over Disco Sport?

Why is RR Sport so much more than Discovery?

What were the various LRX (3, 4, 5) vehicles I still see a lot of? Were they replacements for the old Disco and have since been replaced with a new Disco? Many LR4s I see look very new still.

To my eye, among the non-Defenders, the Discovery Sport is the best looking; interesting that it's the cheapest. Disco Sport's proportions (at least in profile) are much better than Discovery, which looks sort of ungainly by comparison. Velar looks worst of all, again to my unbiased eye.

 

I think the Velar was supposed to be the equivalent to the Jaguar F Pace. Just based on my own observations it seems like the automobile market has really stretched into alot of segments to appeal to a very wide range of potential buyers. This is how you end up with "SUV's" offering very little actual utility and seemingly functioning space wise more like standard size cars but higher off the ground. My buddy bought a Macan and we had trouble fitting in a couple sets of golf clubs and luggage without some adjustment of the rear seat going down. It works for him as he is single so I guess thats the niche.

The discovery was a well branded off road vehicle. The newest version makes it look less off road capable, at least visually to my eyes. The LR line started after the Discovery 2 ended. In Europe, and I think other parts of the world, the LRs were still known as Discovery's. Many people believe that the new defender should have been the discovery rebranded, as the defender was always the more affordable utilitarian land rover.

 

This might help in terms of understanding the three family concept. As to the models within each family, it originally seemed to be an “entry level” vs “full blown” idea, but not sure how the Velar fits into that...

https://carbuzz.com/news/land-rovers...ars-completion

 

LR2 - used to be the equivalent of the Ford Escape

LR3, LR4, LR5/Discovery - iterations of the Discovery over the years

Evoque and Velar - I have no idea, but they sell quite well. I think they evolved from the LRX concept

Range Rover Sport - more expensive than Discovery because it's a RR

FFRR - will never become three-row model or designed as a family hauler, according to His Highness Gerry McGovern

 

JLR trying to keep the boat afloat and instill confidence after decades of reliability issues with the brand..oh wait.

 

I remember seeing something called Freelander that was small. Was that some form of LR2?

So the original Discovery got renamed LR4 and then LR5 and now is Discovery again?

Wait, you can’t use that line — that’s my line.

 

The Discovery has always been the Discovery except in the US.

The Discovery 2 had many reliability issues and tarnished the Discovery name so much in the US, that when the Discovery 3 came out they renamed it LR3 in the US and maintained that for the fourth generation of the Disco.

 

Okay, back to the early years:
Land Rover 110/90 ~ Went from leaf sprung Series to coil sprung
Defender 110/90 ~ renamed after confusion when Range Rover was introduced
Range Rover Classic ~ used coil sprung chassis on car like body
Discovery 1 ~ rebody of Range Rover Classic done in record time (Range Rover Classic replaced by uni-body Range Rover P38)
LR2 ~ small version 1st LR unibody
Discovery 2 ~ BMW's idea of a Land Rover
LR3 ~ Fords influence into the LR range, called Discovery 3 rest of the world
LR2 ~ renamed Freelander updated
LR4 ~ updated LR3 Discovery 4 ROW
Evoque ~ I believe an evolution of the LR2 by Range Rover
Defender 5 ~ latest of the Discovery line

This is what I believe has been the evolution and there are many variations I haven't included and don't know about, don't take as complete fact.
Please correct me where I'm incorrect.

 

So if I’m understanding correctly, the evolution of each line goes:

Series I, II, III, Defender 90/110, end of the line in 2018 or so

Discovery 1, Discovery 2, LR3, LR4, LR5, Discovery (US Names)

LR2, Freelander, Evoque

Range Rover

So would the current Velar, Disco Sport, RR Sport, and Defender fit on the ends of any of those evolution lines, or do they get their own stand-alone lines? And is there more to the Range Rover line? Like you mentioned P38 — is there a line of RRs that gets us from the first one till now, like P38, P43, P48, P100 (I just made that up.)

Sorry for all the questions but I know all this **** for Porsches from 1948-present backwards and forwards, series codes, dates of release, engine updates, etc. and I’d just like to be better versed in LR history if I’m going to own one.

Thanks!

 

Couple corrections: no such thing as LR5. After the LR4 (Discovery 4) the Discovery name came back to the US (2017) with the 5th generation of the Discovery (also referred to as Discovery 5) which is the L462 internal code.

The new Defender is supposed to be the continuation of the series I, II, III and Defender line, but some purists consider that it does not follow the spirit of the original (“not for farmers and soldiers” they claim) and therefore not worthy of the name (for purists the Defender name is sacred).

I consider the Discovery Sport the continuation of the Freelander/LR2 (they are the same, LR2 was a US specific name to align with the LR3 name),but now aligned to the three family concept and having an entry level at each family (there is speculation about an upcoming new defender sport). The Evoque, Sport and Velar in the RR line I consider additions to expand the target audience and monetize on the brand name.

The original Range Rover (meaning not the Sport, the Evoque or the Velar) is interesting as over its 52 year life there have only been 4 generations: classic (1969 to 1994), P38 (1994-2002), L322 (2001-2012) and the current L405 which has been around for nine years (next generation is currently in testing).

All Land Rovers have internal codes. The new Defender’s is L663. Have not found a good source of an internal code inventory. Land Rover history has many interesting chapters: The Santana story is one of them related to the Defender’s predecessor ( ). Also interesting have been the many changes in ownership and how it has impacted the brand and product line (e.g. British Leyland, BMW, Ford). In other words plenty of interesting things to learn for a car enthusiast.