Compare the2025 Land Rover Discovery SportVS 2025 Lexus NX

Both the Discovery Sport and NX 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 NX’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.

To provide maximum traction and stability on all roads, All-Wheel Drive is standard on the Discovery Sport. But it costs extra on the NX.

Both the Discovery Sport and the NX 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, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, blind spot warning systems, rearview cameras, rear cross-path warning and driver alert monitors.

The Discovery Sport’s 2.0 turbo 4-cylinder produces 43 more horsepower (246 vs. 203) and 85 lbs.-ft. more torque (269 vs. 184) than the NX 250’s standard 2.5 DOHC 4-cylinder. The Discovery Sport’s 2.0 turbo 4-cylinder produces 6 more horsepower (246 vs. 240) than the NX 350h AWD’s standard 2.5 DOHC 4-cylinder hybrid.

Both the Discovery Sport and the NX have a standard automatic start/stop engine feature to stop unnecessary fuel waste and pollution at stoplights and heavy traffic. All Discovery Sports have a standard disable switch for the system, so a driver can keep the engine from shutting off when the vehicle stops temporarily. The NX 350h/450h+ doesn’t offer a way to disable start/stop.

The Discovery Sport has 3.2 gallons more fuel capacity than the NX (17.7 vs. 14.5 gallons), for longer range between fill-ups.

In its Green Vehicle Guide, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rates the Land Rover Discovery Sport higher (6 out of 10) than the Lexus NX (5 to 6). This means the Discovery Sport produces up to 6.9 pounds less smog-producing pollutants than the NX every 15,000 miles.

A nine-speed automatic is standard on the Land Rover Discovery Sport, for better acceleration and lower engine speed on the highway. Only an eight-speed automatic is available for the NX.

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

For better traction, the Discovery Sport’s optional tires are larger than the largest tires available on the NX (245/45R21 vs. 235/60R18).

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 NX’s optional 50 series tires.

For better ride, handling and brake cooling the Discovery Sport offers optional 21-inch wheels. The NX’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 NX; it requires you to depend on its run-flat tires, which limits mileage and speed before they are repaired. If a run-flat is damaged beyond repair by a road hazard your vehicle will have to be towed.

For a smoother ride and more stable handling, the Discovery Sport’s wheelbase is 2 inches longer than on the NX (107.9 inches vs. 105.9 inches).

The Discovery Sport S handles at .82 G’s, while the NX 450h+ AWD pulls only .79 G’s of cornering force in a Motor Trend skidpad test.

The Discovery Sport S executes Motor Trend’s “Figure Eight” maneuver 1 seconds quicker than the NX 450h+ AWD (27.4 seconds @ .64 average G’s vs. 28.4 seconds @ .57 average G’s).

For greater off-road capability the Discovery Sport has a greater minimum ground clearance than the NX 350 F Sport Handling AWD (8.4 vs. 7.7 inches), allowing the Discovery Sport to travel over rougher terrain without being stopped or damaged. The Discovery Sport’s minimum ground clearance is .3 inch higher than on the NX (8.4 vs. 8.1 inches).

The Discovery Sport offers optional seating for 7 passengers; the NX can only carry 5.

The Discovery Sport has 1.2 inches more front headroom, 1 inch more front shoulder room, .2 inches more rear headroom, 2 inches more rear legroom and 1.9 inches more rear shoulder room than the NX.

The Discovery Sport’s cargo area provides more volume than the NX.

The Discovery Sport’s cargo area is larger than the NX’s in almost every dimension:

The Discovery Sport’s standard towing capacity is much higher than the NX’s (4409 vs. 0 pounds).

The Discovery Sport has a much higher standard payload capacity than the NX (1515 vs. 1125 lbs.).

The Discovery Sport has a much higher maximum payload capacity than the NX (1670 vs. 1205 lbs.).

The power windows standard on both the Discovery Sport and the NX 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 NX prevents the driver from operating the other windows just as it does the other passengers.

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 NX doesn’t offer secondary sun visors.

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 costs extra on the NX.

The Land Rover Discovery Sport has a standard Homelink wireless remote control system for garage door operation and device management, conveniently located on the rear view mirror. Homelink® eliminates the need for separate garage door openers and associated risks of losing, breaking, or having dead batteries. Lexus charges extra for Homelink® on the NX.

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 NX.