Brans-Dicke gravity with a cosmological constant smoothes out
  $\Lambda$CDM tensions
  We analyze Brans-Dicke gravity with a cosmological constant, $\Lambda$, and
cold dark matter (BD-$\Lambda$CDM for short) in the light of the latest
cosmological observations on distant supernovae, Hubble rate measurements at
different redshifts, baryonic acoustic oscillations, large scale structure
formation data, gravitational weak-lensing and the cosmic microwave background
under full Planck 2015 CMB likelihood. Our analysis includes both the
background and perturbations equations. We find that BD-$\Lambda$CDM is
observationally favored as compared to the concordance $\Lambda$CDM model,
which is traditionally defined within General Relativity (GR). In particular,
some well-known persisting tensions of the $\Lambda$CDM with the data, such as
the excess in the mass fluctuation amplitude $\sigma_8$ and specially the acute
$H_0$-tension with the local measurements, essentially disappear in this
context. Furthermore, viewed from the GR standpoint, BD-$\Lambda$CDM cosmology
mimics quintessence at $\gtrsim3\sigma$ c.l. near our time.
