Makes / Land Rover / Discovery
Discovery
Land Rover · on record 2014 to 2025
The Land Rover Discovery arrived in 1989 to bridge the gap between the utilitarian Defender and the more expensive Range Rover, combining genuine off road ability with a cabin designed around family use. Across successive generations it became larger, more refined and increasingly sophisticated while retaining towing, seven seat and all terrain credentials. Older Discoverys often survived through continued usefulness and enthusiast maintenance, while later examples occupy a more complex position as capable family SUVs with higher repair costs.
DECLINING
Red List classification, from population, five year trajectory and survival against peak. Reviewed each census.
147,321
licensed vehicles
2025 census
2025 census
75.8% of the peak fleet remains licensed
64,384
declared SORN
total surviving
peak 194,313 in 2007 · −5,413 vehicles a year, five year trend
Population history
Licensed and SORN vehicles at each census. The filters below apply to the family population, MOT and registration figures. They do not alter the generation history above.
Licensed
SORN
Latest census observation
At the average decline recorded over the latest five years, the licensed fleet would reach zero around 2052.
Illustrative projection only; vehicle populations rarely decline linearly. Late fleets typically flatten as surviving examples enter preservation.
Inside the surviving fleet
AutoCensus parses every DVLA variant description, so the fleet can be read by fuel and specification rather than as one number.
First registrations by year
When surviving examples first joined the British fleet.
New registrations
Vehicles first registered each year. A fleet still being sold shows here; a finished one shows only imports.
MOT reliability
DVSA test results for this family, 2005 to 2025.
Pass rate by year
| Failure reason | Failures | Share of all tests |
|---|---|---|
| A rigid brake pipe excessively chafed, corroded or damaged | 152,304 | 3.9% |
| Deliberate modification which significantly reduces the original strength, excessive corrosion, severe distortion, a fracture or an inadequate repair of a load bearing member or its supporting structure or panelling within 30 cms of a seat belt ancho | 140,747 | 3.6% |
| Any deliberate modification, excessive corrosion, damage, cracks or inadequate repair of a load bearing body or chassis member which seriously affects its strength within 30cm of the body mountings | 136,560 | 3.5% |
| An excessively worn shock absorber linkage, pivot or bush | 82,692 | 2.1% |
| Excessive play in a ball joint | 78,727 | 2.0% |
| The grooves of the tread pattern are not at least 1.6mm throughout a continuous band comprising the central three-quarters of the breadth of tread, and round the entire outer circumference of the tyre | 75,201 | 1.9% |
| A stop lamp inoperative or less than 50% of the light sources illuminating | 72,519 | 1.8% |
| Any deliberate modification, excessive corrosion, damage, cracks or inadequate repair of a load bearing body or chassis member which seriously affects its strength within 30cm of the body mountings | 71,888 | 1.8% |
Counted across every recorded test, 2005 to 2025. Advisories are excluded.
Where the Discovery remains
Based on MOT test locations, 2025. Test location is a proxy: a vehicle is counted where it was last tested, not where it is kept.
| Postcode area | Vehicles tested | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| PE | 3,292 | 81% |
| TN | 3,113 | 82% |
| S | 2,901 | 85% |
| GL | 2,863 | 77% |
| GU | 2,679 | 80% |
| EX | 2,519 | 72% |
| B | 2,518 | 84% |
| RG | 2,480 | 84% |
| OX | 2,386 | 80% |
| DE | 2,371 | 81% |
| NR | 2,293 | 78% |
| BA | 2,246 | 73% |
| IP | 2,224 | 78% |
| NG | 2,180 | 79% |
| LE | 2,064 | 83% |
| CM | 1,994 | 85% |
| SY | 1,937 | 78% |
| TA | 1,899 | 76% |
| RH | 1,884 | 80% |
| SO | 1,847 | 78% |
| ST | 1,844 | 75% |
| PO | 1,827 | 76% |
| CV | 1,817 | 85% |
| BS | 1,784 | 77% |
| LL | 1,758 | 79% |
| NN | 1,728 | 82% |
| PL | 1,720 | 73% |
| YO | 1,711 | 80% |
| SN | 1,706 | 79% |
| SA | 1,696 | 75% |
| HP | 1,620 | 85% |
| BH | 1,610 | 75% |
| DN | 1,560 | 82% |
| ME | 1,471 | 85% |
| NE | 1,446 | 82% |
| CO | 1,439 | 78% |
| WR | 1,377 | 78% |
| CH | 1,371 | 77% |
| BN | 1,367 | 75% |
| MK | 1,363 | 86% |
| SK | 1,347 | 79% |
| SP | 1,345 | 75% |
| CF | 1,281 | 78% |
| AB | 1,269 | 76% |
| DT | 1,250 | 71% |
| HR | 1,249 | 79% |
| NP | 1,228 | 81% |
| LS | 1,216 | 82% |
| CB | 1,196 | 79% |
| PR | 1,191 | 80% |
| EH | 1,161 | 78% |
| LN | 1,160 | 75% |
| L | 1,138 | 84% |
| SG | 1,127 | 85% |
| BD | 1,094 | 81% |
| TR | 1,088 | 74% |
| CT | 1,073 | 77% |
| CW | 1,044 | 81% |
| DY | 1,034 | 83% |
| SS | 1,019 | 88% |
| BB | 1,018 | 85% |
| TQ | 985 | 71% |
| WF | 979 | 80% |
| CA | 929 | 77% |
| LA | 926 | 81% |
| DL | 923 | 80% |
| KT | 906 | 84% |
| M | 896 | 84% |
| IV | 863 | 78% |
| WA | 853 | 86% |
| TS | 821 | 83% |
| G | 783 | 84% |
| SL | 745 | 87% |
| WS | 742 | 81% |
| HU | 739 | 78% |
| TF | 735 | 80% |
| PH | 657 | 71% |
| DH | 634 | 81% |
| WV | 624 | 85% |
| KY | 596 | 74% |
| AL | 582 | 81% |
| TW | 579 | 86% |
| BL | 576 | 85% |
| HG | 575 | 78% |
| LU | 571 | 87% |
| OL | 559 | 82% |
| DA | 549 | 87% |
| SW | 512 | 87% |
| FY | 504 | 80% |
| HX | 494 | 83% |
| EN | 479 | 89% |
| DD | 472 | 79% |
| WN | 457 | 80% |
| HD | 433 | 78% |
| RM | 426 | 90% |
| ML | 418 | 78% |
| KA | 406 | 82% |
| FK | 378 | 73% |
| PA | 370 | 80% |
| CR | 345 | 87% |
| WD | 342 | 78% |
| UB | 323 | 89% |
| DG | 308 | 82% |
| LD | 299 | 78% |
| SE | 294 | 87% |
| TD | 280 | 74% |
| E | 272 | 90% |
| NW | 263 | 88% |
| N | 243 | 93% |
| W | 232 | 82% |
| HA | 211 | 90% |
| BR | 211 | 83% |
| SR | 208 | 77% |
| IG | 193 | 89% |
| KW | 148 | 78% |
| SM | 108 | 87% |
| ZE | 72 | 76% |
| HS | 59 | 80% |
| XX | 13 | 77% |
How this record was calculated
LATEST CENSUS2025
POPULATION SOURCEDVLA VEH0220 annual
HISTORY SOURCEDVLA VEH0120 GB · to 2013
MOT SOURCEDVSA results · to 2025
FAMILY DEFINITIONLAND ROVER DISCOVERY
PROCESSED20 Sep 2026
Full methodology
Population history combines DVLA VEH0120 Q4 census observations through 2013 with the annual VEH0220 census from 2014 onward. Figures before 2014 cover Great Britain only. Historical VEH0120 is used only when its overlapping UK observations reconcile to the current canonical family definition. Vehicles are grouped into this family using the DVLA GenModel together with durable routing rules for known inconsistencies.
Variant figures are parsed from raw DVLA model descriptions and the original string is always retained. Configuration is only assigned where the model description explicitly identifies it; a blank configuration is not treated as a two door Wrangler. Blank transmission fields are shown as manual because DVLA records the field for automatic vehicles.
MOT figures count tests, not vehicles, and geographic figures count each vehicle at its most recent test location. The decline projection is a straight line fitted to the latest five years and is illustrative only.