Compare the2024 Land Rover Discovery SportVS 2024 Subaru Ascent

Safety
Warranty
Fuel Economy and Range
Environmental Friendliness
Brakes and Stopping
Tires and Wheels
Suspension and Handling
Chassis
Cargo Capacity
Towing
Servicing Ease
Ergonomics

Safety

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Both the Discovery Sport and Ascent have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The Discovery Sport has power child safety locks, allowing the driver to activate and deactivate them from the driver's seat and to know when they're engaged. The Ascent’s child locks have to be individually engaged at each rear door with a manual switch. The driver can’t know the status of the locks without opening the doors and checking them.

The Discovery Sport has a standard blind spot warning system that uses sensors to alert the driver to objects in the vehicle’s blind spots where the side view mirrors don’t reveal them. Only the Ascent Premium/Onyx/Limited/Touring offers a blind spot warning system.

To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the Discovery Sport has standard Rear Traffic Monitor and Rear Traffic Braking automatically engages the brakes to help avoid a collision. Only the Ascent Premium/Onyx/Limited/Touring offers Rear Cross Traffic Alert and the Ascent’s Rear Cross Traffic Alert does not include automatic braking.

Both the Discovery Sport and the Ascent have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, front seatbelt pretensioners, plastic fuel tanks, four-wheel antilock brakes, all wheel drive, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems and rearview cameras.

Warranty

The Discovery Sport comes with a full 4-year/50,000-mile basic warranty, which covers the entire truck and includes 24-hour roadside assistance. The Ascent’s 3-year/36,000-mile basic warranty expires 1 year or 14,000 miles sooner.

The Discovery Sport’s corrosion warranty is 1 year longer than the Ascent’s (6 vs. 5 years).

Fuel Economy and Range

Regenerative brakes improve the Discovery Sport’s fuel efficiency by converting inertia back into energy instead of wasting it. The Ascent doesn’t offer a regenerative braking system.

In heavy traffic or at stoplights the Discovery Sport’s engine automatically turns off when the vehicle is stopped, saving fuel and reducing pollution. The engine is automatically restarted when the driver gets ready to move again. If the conditions warrant or the driver wishes, the system can be manually disabled at any time for the duration of a trip. The Ascent doesn’t offer an automatic engine start/stop system.

Environmental Friendliness

In its Green Vehicle Guide, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rates the Land Rover Discovery Sport higher (7 out of 10) than the Subaru Ascent (3). This means the Discovery Sport produces up to 24.5 pounds less smog-producing pollutants than the Ascent every 15,000 miles.

Brakes and Stopping

For better stopping power the Discovery Sport’s front brake rotors are larger than those on the Ascent:

	Discovery Sport	Ascent
Front Rotors	13.7 inches	13.1 inches

Tires and Wheels

The Discovery Sport’s optional tires provide better handling because they have a lower 45 series profile (height to width ratio) that provides a stiffer sidewall than the Ascent Onyx/Limited/Touring’s 50 series tires.

For better ride, handling and brake cooling the Discovery Sport offers optional 21-inch wheels. The Ascent’s largest wheels are only 20-inches.

The Discovery Sport has a standard full size spare (not available on 7-Passenger) so a flat doesn’t interrupt your trip. A full size spare isn’t available on the Ascent; it requires you to depend on a temporary spare, which limits mileage and speed before replacement.

Suspension and Handling

The Discovery Sport has standard front and rear gas-charged shocks for better control over choppy roads. The Ascent’s suspension doesn’t offer gas-charged shocks.

The Discovery Sport offers an optional driver-adjustable suspension system. It allows the driver to choose between an extra-supple ride, reducing fatigue on long trips, or a sport setting, which allows maximum control for tricky roads or off-road. The Ascent’s suspension doesn’t offer adjustable shock absorbers.

The Discovery Sport has vehicle speed sensitive variable-assist power steering, for low-effort parking, better control at highway speeds and during hard cornering, and a better feel of the road. The Ascent doesn’t offer variable-assist power steering.

The Discovery Sport S handles at .82 G’s, while the Ascent Limited pulls only .78 G’s of cornering force in a Motor Trend skidpad test.

Chassis

The Land Rover Discovery Sport may be more efficient, handle and accelerate better because it weighs about 300 pounds less than the Subaru Ascent.

The Discovery Sport is 1 foot, 3.8 inches shorter than the Ascent, making the Discovery Sport easier to handle, maneuver and park in tight spaces.

Cargo Capacity

A control in the cargo area automatically lowers the Discovery Sport with 5+2 Seating’s second row seats, to make changing between passengers and cargo easier. The Ascent doesn’t offer automatic folding seats.

Towing

The Discovery Sport’s standard towing capacity is much higher than the Ascent’s (4409 vs. 2000 pounds).

Servicing Ease

The Discovery Sport uses gas struts to support the hood for easier service access. The Ascent uses a prop rod to support its heavy hood. It takes two hands to open the hood and set the prop rod, the prop rod gets in the way during maintenance and service, and the prop rod could be knocked out, causing the heavy hood to fall on the person maintaining or servicing the car.

Ergonomics

The Discovery Sport offers an optional heads-up display that projects speed and navigation instruction readouts in front of the driver’s line of sight, allowing drivers to view information without diverting their eyes from the road. The Ascent doesn’t offer a heads-up display.

The power windows standard on both the Discovery Sport and the Ascent have locks to prevent small children from operating them. When the lock on the Discovery Sport is engaged the driver can still operate all of the windows, for instance to close one opened by a child. The Ascent prevents the driver from operating the other windows just as it does the other passengers.

The Discovery Sport’s front and rear power windows all open or close fully with one touch of the switches, making it more convenient at drive-up windows and toll booths, or when talking with someone outside the car. The Ascent’s rear power window switches have to be held the entire time to open or close them fully.

On a hot day the Discovery Sport’s driver can lower all the windows from a distance using the keyless remote. The driver of the Ascent can only operate the windows from inside the vehicle, with the ignition on.

The Discovery Sport’s rain-sensitive wipers adjust their speed and turn on and off automatically based on the amount of rainfall on the windshield. This allows the driver to concentrate on driving without constantly adjusting the wipers. The Ascent’s standard manually variable intermittent wipers have to be constantly adjusted.

In poor weather, headlights can lose their effectiveness as grime builds up on their lenses. This can reduce visibility without the driver realizing. The Discovery Sport offers available headlight washers to keep headlight output high. The Ascent doesn’t offer headlight washers.

To better shield the driver and front passenger’s vision, the Discovery Sport has standard dual-element sun visors that can block glare from two directions simultaneously. The Ascent doesn’t offer secondary sun visors.

The Discovery Sport’s standard outside mirrors include heating elements to clear off the mirrors for better visibility. Subaru only offers heated mirrors on the Ascent Premium/Onyx/Limited/Touring.

When the Discovery Sport with available tilt-down mirrors is put in reverse, both rearview mirrors tilt from their original position. This gives the driver a better view of the curb during parallel parking maneuvers. Shifting out of reverse puts the mirrors into their original positions. The Ascent’s mirrors don’t automatically adjust for backing.

The Discovery Sport has a standard heated steering wheel to take the chill out of steering on extremely cold winter days before the vehicle heater warms up. A heated steering wheel is only available on the Ascent Onyx/Limited/Touring.

To quickly and conveniently keep personal devices charged without cables tangling and wearing out, the Land Rover Discovery Sport has a standard wireless phone charging system (Qi) in the center console. Wireless charging costs extra on the Ascent.