Much of the interior was constructed from 'Sonar Blue' plastic (with blue cloth trim), with magazine holders above the windscreen, hand-holds for rear passengers incorporated into the head restraints of the front seats, remote radio controls on the instrument cluster, twin removable sunroof panels (including a special zip-up storage bag behind the rear seats) and a Land Rover-branded cloth fabric holdall in the front centre console for oddments storage that could be removed from the vehicle and worn as a handbag using a supplied shoulder strap (relatively few of these bags have survived, making them collectable items). Despite such features, the interior's basic structure was the same as the Range Rover and virtually all the switchgear and instruments came from other Rover Group cars such as the Maestro and Montego. Similarly, the Discovery utilised several Range Rover body panels, as well as headlights from the Freight Rover van and taillights from the Maestro van. The latter would continue to bear the Austin Rover 'chevron' logo on their lenses until production of the first generation Discovery ended in 1998, ten years after Austin Rover ceased to exist.
The designers of the original model had been forced to economise and use the "parts bin" of the
-then parent company, Rover. The 200 series used the basic body shell structure from the Range Rover, door handles from the Morris Marina, tail lights from the Austin Maestro van, and interior switchgear and instrumentation from Rover's surplus parts.
In 1992, the Discovery received several additions and improvements. The interior was offered in a more traditional beige as well as the distinctive (but controversial) light blue, an automatic gearbox was made available on 200Tdi models, new colours were added to the range (and the large 'compass and mountain' side decals worn by early Discoveries to disguise wavy panel fit around the rear three quarter windows were no longer fitted) and the 'SE' pack (incorporating alloy wheels, front driving lights, roof bars and a special range of metallic paints) was introduced as an option. A two-seater, three-door Discovery Commercial version, lacking rear-side windows, was later offered by Land Rover Special Vehicles also known as SVO (Special Vehicles Operations).
Before 1994, the Discovery was available with either the 2.5-litre 200 Tdi engine or the 3.5-litre Rover V8. Early V8 engines used a twin SU carburettor system, switching to Lucas 14CUX fuel injection in 1990. A 2.0-litre petrol engine from the Rover stable was briefly available in a model known as the 2.0-litre Mpi I4. This was intended to attract fleet managers, since UK (and Italian) tax laws benefitted vehicles under 2.0 litres. A combination of changes in taxation and lack of power for such a heavy vehicle led to the demise of this engine, despite its fitting to several Discoveries supplied to the British Royal family. One of these was notably driven by Prince Philip around Windsor Great Park, in his position as Park Ranger.
The transmission was a permanent four-wheel drive system, with a high and low range transfer box, locking centre differential at the transfer box. Similarly to the rest of the Land Rover range, the handbrake acts on the transmission at the back of the transfer box, therefore locking the rear prop shaft or both front and rear prop shafts if the central differential lock is engaged.
In Australia, the Series I launched in April 1991, available only as a three-door estate in 3.5-litre V8i guise with 115 kW (154 hp) and 260 N⋅m (190 lb⋅ft) and coupled with a five-speed manual gearbox. In October 1991, Land Rover launched the five-door body variant in base V8i and luxury HL versions. Both featured central locking, electric windows, headlight washers and heated door mirrors, with the HL adding alloy wheels, air conditioning, driving lights and an improved audio system. Furthermore, the Tdi engine became available, rated at 83 kW (111 hp) and 265 N⋅m (195 lb⋅ft). In early-1993, a four-speed automatic option was added to the Australian range and the HL was discontinued.
In 1994, many changes were made to the Discovery. It reached some markets as the "Discovery 2"; the 200Tdi and 3.5 L V8 engines were replaced with the 2.5 L 300Tdi 4-cylinder and 3.9-litre Rover V8 engines. The 300Tdi introduced a Bosch electronic emissions control for certain models and markets. At around this time, a stronger R380 gearbox was fitted to all manual models. The newer models featured larger headlamps and a second set of rear lights in the bumper. The new rear lights had their wiring configuration changed several times to meet real or expected European safety legislation. Some vehicles were left with an arrangement where the vulnerable bumper contains the only working direction-indicator lights; other examples have these lights duplicated in the traditional rear pillar location.
The 1994 model year marked the first year that the Land Rover Discovery was sold in the United States. Airbags were incorporated into the design of the 1994 model to meet the requirements of US motor vehicle safety regulations, though they were not fitted as standard in all markets. All North American specification (NAS) models were fitted with the 3.9-litre V8 from the Range Rover SE models, and later models saw a change to the 4.0-litre version of the engine.
Technically speaking, the 1996-98 US models with 4.0-litre engines had the same displacement as the 3.9-litre engines fitted to the earlier 1994-95 US models; the differences between the engines involved improvements to the block rigidity and pistons, and a change from the Lucas 14CUX engine management to the distributor-less Generic Engine Management System ("GEMS"). In earlier 3.9-litre US engines, the fuel injection computer (14CUX) did not control the ignition, which was instead controlled by a traditional system with an ignition coil and distributor made by Lucas. The GEMS system was developed jointly by Lucas and SAGEM; it controlled both spark timing and fuel injection. Unlike the earlier systems fitted to Rover V8 engines, GEMS was made OBD-II compliant. This change was largely driven by the federal requirement (starting in 1996) for vehicles sold in the United States to meet the OBD-II specification.
In Japan, a badge-engineered version of the Discovery I was offered, called the Honda Crossroad. The Rover companies had a cross-holding relationship with Honda UK since the early-1980s. The relationship ended after Rover was taken over by German carmaker BMW in 1994. (Honda revived the nameplate 'Crossroad' in another small sport utility vehicle in 2007.)
In the Republic of Ireland, local tax laws meant that the first ever example of a Discovery Commercial (van) was launched there in 1991. A revised version was launched in 1993, shortly after the UK market example of late-1992. The Irish examples have formed the basis of the Discovery's success and high sales there, as commercials are on a much lower tax band.
The Series II Discovery debuted in autumn 1998. Land Rover promoted that the Discovery Series II had been modified with 720 'differences'. The interior and exterior was re-worked to be less utilitarian, but it was still similar to the Series I. Every body panel was new except the rear door outer skin. The rear body was extended to improve load space but at the expense of added rear overhang, which adversely impacted off-road ability.
Changes to the diesel-engined models saw the 2,495 cc Td5 (in-line direct-injected straight-five engine) introduced, in line with the updated Defender models. This electronically managed engine was smoother, producing more usable torque at lower revs than it's 300Tdi predecessor. The Td5 engine is often mistakenly attributed to BMW; it was derived from the Rover L-series passenger car engine and further developed by Land Rover. The 3,948 cc V8 petrol version from the Discovery 1 was replaced with the Range Rover P38 Thor 4.0-litre Rover-derived V8. There was no actual increase in capacity over the previous 3.9-litre engine. Although the basic design of the engine was similar, it was actually quite different internally: it used a different crankshaft, had larger bearing journals with cross bolted caps, different connecting rods, and different pistons. The blocks were machined differently, to accept extra sensors for the Gems and Bosch (Thor) injection system and to allow the extra stroke of the 4.6 crankshaft. For the 2003 and 2004 model year, Discovery II they changed to the 4.6-litre V8 (though the 4.0 continued as the only V8 option offered in the UK). ACE (Active Cornering Enhancement, an electronically controlled hydraulic anti-roll bar system) was fitted to some versions, which reduced cornering roll. Self-levelling air springs were fitted to some models and European type-approval for seven-seat vehicles was only given to air-sprung examples.
The locking centre differential was still fitted until early-2001, although the linkage to operate it was not attached, as Land Rover believed that the traction control and newly developed Hill Descent Control would render it redundant. The actual locking mechanism was removed in early-2001, before being fully reinstated (with linkage) with the facelifted 2003 model. Whilst the traction control system worked very effectively, it did not offer the same level of control and smooth operation as the vehicles fitted with the differential lock. Customer demand saw the diff lock controls fully reinstated as a cost option only (standard on top of range HSE/SE vehicles) on UK and Irish models, and aftermarket kits are offered by several vendors for those vehicles which were produced with the lock, but not the linkage.
The US version was available in three trim levels: S, SE, LT and HSE, the SE, LT and HSE having a seven-seat option, SE7, LT7 and HSE7.
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