With the exponential growth seen within the mountain biking segment, Land Rover South Africa has introduced its first Gear Package called the Cycling Pack for the new Discovery. I was invited to sample not only the Cycling Pack, but also reacquaint myself with the latest Discovery.

I met my colleagues at the Centurion Land Rover dealership on a Friday afternoon recently, and brought along my mountain bike and kit in preparation for a road trip down to the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands, an area which is renowned for its incredible mountain bike trails.

The Gear

The Discovery that we were handed the keys to was fitted with the full cycling package, which included a roof-mounted bike carrier and a tow bar-based bike rack, allowing for a total of four bicycles to be carried at any given time. We loaded the four bicycles on to the Discovery, with the experience soon turning mixed despite the relative fuss-free nature of the tow-bar carrier. It was when it came to the roof-mounted rack that we hit a few snags.

Admittedly, this will likely be the same with all roof-mounted racks, but the difficulties remain nevertheless. If you’re short, like me, getting your mountain bike up onto the roof of a Discovery and ensuring that it’s securely fastened is quite a difficult task. We had to ask one of the taller guys to hoist the bikes up onto the roof and secure them for us.

Upon arrival in KwaZulu-Natal, we stayed over at the Brahman Hills Hotel before getting off to an early start on Saturday morning with a wet and chilly ride. Our guide through the tough, climb-laden 60km route was Kevin Benkenstein, an ultra-endurance cyclist and operator of Benky Rides, a cycling-based touring agency.

KwaZulu-Natal really is a picturesque destination for mountain biking and despite the thick mist, muddy roads, slippery single track route and freezing temperatures, it was a deeply satisfying experience.

Mountain biking is an inherently dirty sport and if you’re like me, the idea of trekking mud and dust into a R1-million-plus car fills you with anxiety. The Gear Package goes some way to remedying this with rubber mats for the boot lining and second row seating. I have to admit though, our Discovery still looked rather filthy after we off-loaded our soaking wet, mud covered riding gear into it.

The exterior of the car was also muddy, but Land Rovers look better dirty and as part of the package, Land Rover will also add rear mud-flaps and the customer’s choice of either silver or black wheel centre caps

What’s the damage?

Being a cyclist, I know the often eye-watering price of anything associated with the mountain bike lifestyle and the Cycling Pack is no different with a retail price of R22 500 (excluding fitment), which admittedly is cheaper than buying each item individually which Land Rover claims will cost R28 791.

The package can be retro-fitted to current generation Discovery models or be specified with your new Discovery, and added to the list price while allowing the customer to keep their factory warranty.

The Discovery

I haven’t had much time behind the wheel of the latest generation Discovery, so it was good to be able to get some mileage under my belt both to and from the Midlands over the weekend.

The snag however was that the model we piloted was far from ideal, mostly due to the rather thirsty lump up front. You see, our steed was the Si6 version which comes powered by a 250kW/450Nm 3.0-litre supercharged V6 petrol engine that managed to empty its 89-litre tank rather quickly with a combined consumption figure of 14.3-litres/100km over the course of the weekend.

Aside from this, there’s a more sensible 3.0-litre V6 diesel and even a 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol which will both be better options for this application. The thirsty motor aside, the latest Discovery is a rather impressive piece of kit.

It’s comfortable out on the open road, has seating for seven occupants, is incredibly capable off-road thanks to 283mm of ground clearance and respectable approach and departure angles, which helps when trying to access some of our country’s more inaccessible mountain bike trails.