Exploring Ontario: 2021 Land Rover Discovery to Bayfield

With the all-new tough-guy Land Rover Defender snagging all the press of late, the Land Rover Discovery must be feeling, well… a little left out. Not to be confused with the smaller Discovery Sport, the Discovery is about the same size as the Defender 110, has an additional third row, is available with the Defender’s new 3.0L turbo straight-six, offers more features per dollar, and will take you as deep into the boonies as you dare. But it will never be as cool as the Defender.

So we’re here to give the Discovery a little love. And put it to work.

My wife and I have a very green composite Adirondack chair to pick up from a furniture store near Bayfield — a charming little town on “Ontario’s West Coast” about midway between Grand Bend and Goderich. We’re always looking for an excuse to head out to this part of Ontario that brags lush farmland, long sandy beaches, a bit of history, and a bit of shopping.

The Land Rover Discovery received some visual upgrades for 2021 that include a revised grill, new LED headlights, and in this R-Dynamic S trim, gloss black body accents. Inside we see the new Pivi Pro infotainment system with 11.4-inch display. But the big changes are under the hood. Last year’s V6 engines are gone, replaced by JLR’s new-gen 295-hp turbo 2.0L inline-four and 355-hp turbo inline-six.

Our steed today is the six-cylinder Discovery P360 R-Dynamic S that carries an MSRP of $76,100. Ah, but don’t think you’re going to get away with that price. This tester is packing $14,655 in options, with the most visible being the fab $1,900 Namib Orange paint. Other upgrades include 21-inch alloys, Meridian sound, head-up display, wireless charger, 20-way front seats, powered third-row seats, premium LED headlights with signature DRLs, gesture tailgate, and so on.

After a couple of hours of wafting through the bucolic countryside, we roll into the hamlet of St. Joseph where our furniture store is located. As I suspected, squeezing this large chair into the back of the Discovery proves to be a challenge. The Land Rover is a big vehicle, but hatch space is not really in tune with the car’s exterior, due mainly to its high load floor. Nonetheless, after removing the thick rubber floor mat we just get it in.

We then waft north along the Bluewater Highway (#21) to Bayfield where lunch at the Black Dog Village Pub and Bistro awaits. About fifteen years ago Ted McIntosh and his wife Kathleen scraped the paint off this historic grocery-store-cum-beer-hall and turned it into a going concern. The food is fabulous, and with 50 beers and 150 whiskies on the menu, it’s a destination for aficionados of said elixirs. In better times, there was plenty of good live music too.

Bayfield’s quaint main street is lined with galleries, clothing stores, bistros, and craft shops. On this warm summer weekday, the joint is jumping — the “tourists” obviously as happy to be wandering about as the local economy is to embrace them.

Named after Henry Wolsley Bayfield, a British cartographer who was first to accurately map Lake Huron and Georgian Bay, the town was established in 1832 as a logging settlement. By 1851 Bayfield had a school, a church, a distillery, two blacksmith shops, a tannery, a brickyard, wagon and plough-making works, and about 125 residents.

Harking back to this era, Bayfield’s Little Inn on Main Street is a beautifully preserved historic property that opened its doors to travelers in the mid-1800s, and now brags world-class cuisine.

With a bit of shopping damage done we take the Disco down to the harbour for some shots. A century and half ago, Bayfield was a busy shipping port — mostly local grains — but when the newly-built railroad bypassed the town, Bayfield’s harbour activity declined. By the 1880s, Bayfield’s reputation was cemented as a summer resort and vacation spot, and so it remains to this day.

While positioning the Disco for some photos by the beach, an elderly woman approached me, all smiles and enthusiasm. “I just love this colour!” she blurted and went on to thank me for choosing it. Well, that was a first. Apparently she, like me, is tired of black, white, and fifty shades of grey. I explained to her the source of this joy was a $1,900 upcharge, but that fazed her not one bit.

Despite the 2021 Discovery’s decidedly upscale and not-so-rugged countenance, this Land Rover is indeed a bonified boonie-basher. The P360 gets standard two-speed transfer case and locking centre differential, with available locking rear diff. Jacked up on its air springs, the Disco brags an approach angle of 34.0 degrees, a departure angle of 30.0 degrees, and a breakover angle of 27.5 degrees, and it can wade into water up to 35.4 inches deep. None of which we will be doing, nor will 90 per cent of the folks who buy this posh Brit. Just knowing you can is a big part of the Land Rover experience.

But the Discovery does acquit itself well on pavement. The 355-hp turbo straight-six is smooth and delivers enough punch to give this 2490 kg beast a decent turn of speed. The eight-speed ZF auto is stellar, and as noted earlier, the Disco’s softly sprung underpinnings bestow imperious wafting. Granted, its handling is not even remotely sporty, but I’ll take the waft, thanks.

After our Bayfield excursion, the Discovery has one more duty to perform. And that would be hauling some band gear to a gig at an outdoor Corvette club meet. Guitarist Dave Johannesson and I revel in the Disco’s 380-watt Meridian sound system ($450) while enjoying the finely contoured and ventilated front seats. While this Land Rover had trouble swallowing an awkward Adirondack chair, it appears a couple of guitars, amps, and various other bits of musoid detritus were no issue.

There seems to be no end of poshly appointed three-row crossovers on the market, and while some are cheaper, roomier, inherently better value, and quite possibly more reliable, a Land Rover will always be a Land Rover. This wonderful melding of oh-so-British luxury and true off-road capability is what sets this historic marque apart and gives it its undeniable appeal. Sure, the Defender might be the coolest LR right now, but Discovery, you’re pretty dang cool too.