With the Discovery Sport, don’t think Holgate; think new, improved Freelander. By Thomas Falkiner The Land Rover Discovery has always been a rolling monument to masculinity. Partly because of its hard, square-jewed lines, and partly because it was once the headline act in the gruelling but now defunct Camel Trophy 4x4 challenge.Sure it was happy to trawl around Sandton all day - unlike its prehistoric Defender sibling - but when the going got rough the Discovery wouldn't hesitate to rip off its khaki adventure shirt and show a full chest of hair. Despite being a bit more everyday livable, it remained a stubbly faced, Texan-puffing adventurer which would deliver you through practically any bundu.This is probably why a lot of people appear to be confused by the recently released Discovery Sport. For although it shares the name of the Kingsley Holgate-approved mudslinger, the Sport seems strangely removed from the machismo. Indeed, viewed from a distance this sleek SUV is pretty much the spitting image of the revered Range Rover Evoque. So what gives?story_article_left1The answer can be found in the complex science of marketing. Since the BMWs of this world started concocting millions of sub-brands, many rival car companies have followed suit because, obviously, more is always more. So the Discovery nameplate has become a sub-brand under which a portfolio of different models can grow.Where does the Sport fit in? Well it was not designed to attract the hardcore 4x4 faithful but simply to succeed the least-coveted Land Rover model - the Freelander. Viewed in this light, the Sport makes a great deal more sense.The cabin, although not quite Evoque plush, is more luxurious and better put together than the Freelander's ever was. It feels like a proper 21st-century Land Rover inside - not a facelifted refugee from the 1990s. It's extra spacious too, with tons of leg and shoulder room. You even score a third row of seats that fold up from the floor of the boot. Like all Land Rovers, the Sport is available in numerous specification levels. I had the one-up-from-poverty-grade SE and it was equipped with everything you could ever need in an SUV of this ilk. Leather. Electric seats. Satellite navigation. Bluetooth audio streaming. A cracking sound system. Nice.The drive is similarly pleasing. There's a lovely polish to the way the Sport handles that makes it stand out from its Japanese and Korean rivals. It carves through corners just like the Evoque - it feels more like a hatchback on stilts than some lardy land ship. Refinement isn't quite on the same level as the Evoque but, again, compared to the Freelander it's a case of schoolboard chalk versus fine Stilton cheese.story_article_right2One criticism I do have is the 2.2-litre turbo diesel engine. It is loud. It rattles. It sounds disappointingly agricultural. Thanks to pronounced turbo lag it also feels lackadaisical low down in the rev range (despite the presence of a nine-speed gearbox), which means that you tend to drive with a heavy right foot - especially when stop-starting through town traffic. Out in the country? All-wheel drive, Terrain Response and 600mm of wading depth mean that this Landy is more than game for some light-to-medium off-road action.As a Discovery, the new Sport breaks from tradition, trading some manliness for metrosexuality. It will reach for a wheatgrass smoothie and sushi platter before it reaches for a rare sirloin and a six-pack. But that's OK. It does this transformation well and more convincingly than the Freelander ever did. It also gives you 80% of the Evoque experience for less - up to R134,000 less. I don't know about you but I'll drink a virgin Cosmopolitan to that.sub_head_start FAST FACTS: LAND ROVER DISCOVERY SPORT SE sub_head_endEngine: 2179cc four-cylinder turbodieselPower: 140kW at 3500rpmTorque: 420Nm at 1750rpmTransmission: nine-speed automatic0-100km/h: 8.9 seconds (claimed)Top speed: 188km/h (claimed)Fuel: 12.2l/100km (achieved combined)CO2: 166g/km (claimed)Price: From R635,600Follow the author of this article, Thomas Falkiner, on Twitter: @tomfalkiner111..