Driving the 2015 Land Rover Discovery Sport, the ice land conqueror

In Iceland, tradition tells of elves living in the rocks — huldufolk — and a trial they conduct on the longest night of the year. Sit at a crossroads and wait, and the elves emerge to lure you with good food and gifts. Resist until dawn, which doesn’t arrive until 11 am, and the elfin treasures are yours. Accept anything, and you lose your mind to their control, forever.

It's the kind of legend that illustrates what happens when you live in Iceland, a land of 330,000 people surviving around volcanoes that occasionally awake in rage. The landscape looks like the end of the earth — which it is, since it marks the spot where two continental plates are tearing themselves apart — and there may be no better place to test the wherewithal of a vehicle like the 2015 Land Rover Discovery Sport.

After centuries of fishing for survival — you don’t develop delicacies like rotted fermented shark without a true appreciation of hunger — modern Iceland thrives in large part due to tourism, the transmogrification of lava rocks and geothermic hot water into hard currency. Between its coffee shops, hot-dog stands and friendly people speaking English with a Nordic accent, downtown Reykjavik would make a great Minnesota college town. Never have I seen a place where “love” pops up in so many Wifi passwords.

Here, Land Rovers are fairly common, perhaps even more so than in the United States. The Discovery Sport replaces the LR2 in the United Stats — a new Discovery to usurp the LR4 is a couple of years away — and with it, Land Rover reaches again from the high-dollar Range Rover crowd toward those light-duty SUVers who only go off-roading to park at the pick-your-own orchard. In America, the LR pair have been less Hagar the Horrible and more Lucky Eddie in the face of the Germanic tribes; the combined sales of the Audi Q5 and BMW X3 total roughly 10 times greater than the LR pair.

Under the Discovery Sport's aluminum-and-steel skin sits a modified version of the chassis from the Range Rover Evoque, remixed for maximum passenger space in a smaller package. The exterior design brings some of the drama and modernity of the Range Rover without falling into cute-ute gimmickry. At 180 inches, the Discovery Sport is a wee bit shorter than an Audi Q5 or BMW X3, yet boasts more interior space than either. A new, more compact rear suspension not only allows for rear seats that can slide 6 inches, but an optional third-row for the lítil börn.

The interior comes off as direct and businesslike as a detective in an Arnaldur Indriðason saga; Buyers could get different shades of leather, but most will come in a charcoal tone. The 8-inch touchscreen for audio/navigation/phone fiddling rests high on the dash, surrounded by a proper assortment of buttons. The space may not be as posh as a Range Rover, but the materials and build look properly upscale. (I did suggest to the interior designer that Land Rover could offer seatside LEDs that change color and pulse to music, and call it the disco Disco. He didn't ride with me again.)

Power comes from a sole engine choice — a version of Ford’s EcoBoost 2-liter turbo four-cylinder making 240 hp and 250 lb-ft of torque — run through a ZF 9-speed automatic, the same unit built into the Jeep Cherokee, controlled by a rotary knob that rises from the console when the car turns on. The Haldex all-wheel-drive is standard, and the first gear of the 9-speed serves as a low gear. Land Rover also outfit the latest version of tis Terrain Response system, which handles the work of adapting the wheels to snow, sand, grass or the mud at the end of the subdivision.

In the snowy mountains east of Reykjavik, as the dormant volcanoes and glaciers of the Kaldidalur valley were hidden by blowing snow, the Land Rover Discover Sport handled the trails with aplomb. On highways, the Discovery Sport moves politely; unlike the Cherokee, its ninth gear actually comes into use. On a rutted snow track around a mountain,  the four-wheel-drive system — which can route torque to slipping wheels under braking — minimized wheel spin to a point where it was a question of if we wanted to find its limits rather than having Iceland test them for us on its own. And hill descent control did the heavy work of goat-stepping down a steep gravel-and-ice incline; the Discovery Sport can ascend grades up to 45 degrees.

Land Rover even provided a river crossing demonstration, where we managed to hang one rear tire of our Discovery Sport in the air before fording about a foot of glacier runoff. Overall, the ride was firm but not punishing, and the interior was soundproofed enough such that at one point I opened the door and was  suprised to find a 50-mph wind pushing back. The benefits of the Evoque chassis include near-off-road quality ground clearance (8.3 inches) and 24 inches of water fording depth; there’s even an optional sensor for the dash touch screen that will display the depth of the water the Discovery Sport is treading and attempt to play lifeguard.

But I have to add a disclaimer: all of the Discos came to our party dressed with studded tires. Other automakers that have conducted similar drives forswore such moves as cheating, and while plain winter tires might have been more manly, those trips featured far more recovery missions. Iceland is cold enough in winter that the ground can form a layer of permafrost; even roads that look clear can have a skim of ice a few millimeters into their surface.

As for actual demerits? The 2-liter Ford mill as installed here has been in use for several years, and its turbo lag is a bit more noticeable than others (new, Land Rover-designed engines are expected further down the line.) At 7.8 seconds to 60 mph, the Discovery Sport will be fast enough for daily use but no speed demon. At 23 mpg combined (20 city/28 highway) the Discovery Sport matches but does not best the fuel economy of its competitors, all of whom recommended premium gasoline.

And like Icelanders, many Land Rover owners also believe in evil elves, who demand tribute in the form of unexpected, expensive mechanical flaws. Land Rover execs can point to proof of quality improvement from the recent past; in last year’s version of the J.D. Power study of three-year-old vehicles, those British-built Land Rovers had fewer problems than Dodges or Minis. Sure, those were the bottom three brands in the survey, but that doesn't seem to bother Hellcat owners.

The truth is that for its competitive price — $37,995 for the base version, ranging to $46,495 for the fully-loaded HSE Luxury trim — and assuming Land Rover dealers can write leases as well as Audi ones, many SUV shoppers will be willing to give the Discovery Sport a chance. Like a tourist in a strange land, Land Rover buyers want an authentic experience, and the Discovery Sport offers all the modern amenties without losing touch with the skills that make a Land Rover unique. Go to the crossroads, and worry about the huldufólk some other time.

Disclosure: For this article, the writer’s transportation, meals and lodging costs were paid for by one or more subjects of the article. Yahoo does not promise to publish any stories or provide coverage to any individual or entity that paid for some or all of the costs of any of our writers to attend an event.