Discovery test schedule in detail - car and motoring news by CompleteCar.ie

Full set of virtual tests carried out on 2017 Land Rover Discovery.

What's the news?

Land Rover continues to tease the 2017 Discovery SUV ahead of its world debut at the Paris Motor Show later this month. Today we're told all about the rigorous test programme the big seven-seater had to endure to prove its durability. That's nothing unusual for a new car, in fairness, not even just off-roaders, but the Discovery, apparently, is the first Land Rover ever to go through a full programme of virtual tests before a single real car turned a wheel.

Despite that, Land Rover still managed to carry out over 35,000 individual real-world tests on prototype versions of the Discovery over an intensive 28-month period, using a considerable 294 development vehicles and covering over 1.6 million kilometres. The more extreme highlights include ice driving in the sub-zero temperatures of Arjeplog, Sweden, sand driving in over 40-degree heat in the dunes of Dubai and high altitude tests in the Colorado Mountains in the US. This video gives a taster of all that:

Anything else?

Apparently the new Intelligent Seat Fold system (as revealed by Bear Grylls last week) underwent 24-hour test cycles in each of the extreme environments too. Obviously all that will be a walk in the park next to living with a family that has a few small kids in it... Though Land Rover is certainly embracing the family buyer with its new Discovery. The video below shows children of Land Rover management helping to draw camouflage for a test vehicle and then getting to see it in action. It's very cute, but we also get to see a bit more of the Discovery's interior, revealing that it's easy to mount three child seats in the middle row, for example.