Why I am desperate for my new d4 to arrive

[gtp owner]

Hi all,
this is my first thread, so I hope the pics turn out ok.

I have been a caretaker for a cantankerous series 2 disco for the past 2 years and i have finally had enough. The pics should explain why. This is the third failure on a trip now. The poor falcon had to tow the lardy truck 300km from St Helens on Tassies east coast to Kingston in the south. Went far quicker than the disco usually does too. So the mongrel is going, and I am waiting until the end of January for my new 3.0 disco 4 to arrive.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2011/01/1460.jpg

[ozscott]

Hi all,
this is my first thread, so I hope the pics turn out ok.

I have been a caretaker for a cantankerous series 2 disco for the past 2 years and i have finally had enough. The pics should explain why. This is the third failure on a trip now. The poor falcon had to tow the lardy truck 300km from St Helens on Tassies east coast to Kingston in the south. Went far quicker than the disco usually does too. So the mongrel is going, and I am waiting until the end of January for my new 3.0 disco 4 to arrive.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2011/01/1460.jpg

Thats pretty funny - although I can imagine you are sick of it. I have only towed other cars with my 02 D2 (mostly on the beach) so I dont know what you mean, but good to see you are sticking with LR.

Cheers

[kenl]

Hi GTP, and welcome to the forum, I did the same this time last year so I need to warn you!!!


You face is gonna hurt, smiling too much does that:D:D:D:D:D

[gtp owner]

I hope i end with a great big grin. The lr2 is such a great vehicle off road, but unfortunately most of the off road experience this one has had is the workshop. Intercooler hose collapsing and stalling it, harmonic balancer busted at the metal and ripped a hole in the new radiator, driveshaft letting go, exhaust manifold bolts breaking time and time again, starter motor failing, etc etc.
The new disco 4 appeals due to the 200,000km warranty and the fuel economy. I considered the prado, but the tow limit is too low, and the landcruiser, but the fuel consumption was horrendous. So I have go the new disco. The test vehicle was impressive for the day we had it, so i signed up for one.

As for the xr6 turbo as a tow car - it is unbelievably powerful. 277rwkw will pull anything, but wheelspin at 80km/h in the dry when the boost comes on can be a bit unnerving. And the tow rating is only 1500kg.....but not one of the 6 marked police cars doing duty on new-years eve pulled me over to question me. Maybe they thought it was a lightweight 4x4 with an alloy trailer!!

[Graeme]

The new disco 4 appeals due to the 200,000km warranty...
Did LR double the warranty?

[gtp owner]

Did LR double the warranty?
Current LR warranty has been extended for a promotion from 150,000 to 200,000km. This is for 5 years too, which will work perfectly for us.

[Celtoid]

Current LR warranty has been extended for a promotion from 150,000 to 200,000km. This is for 5 years too, which will work perfectly for us.

Damn......LOL!!! Mine doesn't have that...just three years.

Says something about their confidence though.....hopefully! :)

[Graeme]

Damn......LOL!!! Mine doesn't have that...just three years.
and only 100,000 kms..

[gtp owner]

It is the extended warranty offer that was available through december. I figured that they must be confident of the product if they are willing to offer that kind of warranty.

I also optioned the e-diff and underbody protection plates, as i like to go fairly rough off road.

Another plus for the 3.0 is the fuel economy is better than the 2.7 (9.3L/100km combined compared to 10.2 for the tiddler motor)

The only downside is that because Australia has been allocated 100 black and white editions, they have curbed the available colours, so i went for zermatt silver

[sniegy]

It is the extended warranty offer that was available through december.

Graeme, I would say that they offered the vehicle with the extended warranty as part of the deal & sold it to gtp as a package.

The LR Assured Extended Warranty is still available across the board as per since August.

Cheers

[ozscott]

It is the extended warranty offer that was available through december. I figured that they must be confident of the product if they are willing to offer that kind of warranty.



To a point - it was a limited offer. If they did 200k and 5 years full time I would be jumping with joy. Glad you got the extended warranty though and factor too, so much better than a dealer aftermarket one!

Cheers

[gtp owner]

Well I have cancelled the order on the D4. After stuffing me around for the past coupe of months and being constantly shafted I took my business elsewhere. So I bought an NT Pajero GLS. $55,000 drive away with all the options I wanted was a lot less than the disco, but it really is not half the car the disco is. Unfortunately the dealership might sell Land Rovers, but it is not Land Rover quality service. I doubt I will approach that dealership again if I decide to upgrade the Pajero.
So a tip for the dealerships - return phone calls from your customers. Confirm the options, including the warranty in writing. Don't say the car will be available at a certain date, then miss that date. Then set a new one and miss that one, and again...I would have preferred to say the car would be 4 months, and if it arrived in 3 1/2 then great. But don't promise a date and continually fail to achieve it.
Anyhow, off rant now. I put a steel bull bar, front and rear lockers, bash plates, lift kit and uhf on the pajero now, and have a great family car.

[sniegy]

That's a damn shame, i am hearing this way too often:mad:

All the best with the new vehicle & hope it brings you years of pleasure.;)

[clubagreenie]

This thouroughly sucks ass. Your next move is to drive it into the dealer and demonstrate what customer service can achieve. I do this regularly, go in, ask for the management. Explain and show, point out who's to blame and walk out. Call in a week or two and ask for the salesman. Chances are you'll get "he's moved on".

Did this at a nissan dealer in both blacktiown and Parramatta. Wanted a test drive. Was told they don't do them. So went to another who fell over each other to help.

[gtp owner]

Yes I agree with the customer service lacking. I had the feeling that they were struggling to meet demand, and that there are heaps more people out there to buy the product, so my purchase was not a high priority. That may be fine while there is a large demand and restricted supply, but the day will come when he has a car sitting the showroom that he can't move, and customers like me will not be interested in making the purchase. I will probably buy one from the dealer at the other end of the state

[clubagreenie]

if there's that much demand thewn someone need to pick uo their act. If I was in a position to buy a new LR product, in fact if I go to buy any product if it's not availablke there and then I don't want it. If I wanted it in a month I'd be here next month.

Yes theres a delivery time involved but months is a joke. Increase production and delivery. Then maybe they'd sell some product and then they'd have some money to iron out the bugs.

[gtp owner]

It was not so much the wait that was the problem. If I was told at the end of October when I started the process that I would have it in the driveway on the 1st of March, then I can make a decision if i would wait or not. I had to return to study my medical degree on the 31st of January, which is a huge workload. I specifically asked whether it could all be done and dusted by then as i did not want to be mucking around with the stuff involved with new cars. The answer was an emphatic yes. But when you are told it will be here before xmas, then early Jan, then mid Jan, then by the 31st, then it's getting off the boat next week...sorry but you have lost my trust.
I would probably have waited until it arrived if I had a set date that was adhered to.

The other thought i had was what happens if I have to wait for a water pump or some other odd bit? If it takes 4 months for the car to arrive, how long does it take to get it back on the road with a minor repair? This may not be true, but once that trust is lost and I got cranky, I walked away.

Contrast this with the mitsubishi dealership - within the week I had tested 3 pajeros, selected the colour, model and options, and had it parked in my garage. Easy. Was I stuffed around? No. Was he keen for my business? Absolutely. Would I be repeat customer? For sure!

[rmp]

As for the xr6 turbo as a tow car - it is unbelievably powerful. 277rwkw will pull anything, but wheelspin at 80km/h in the dry when the boost comes on can be a bit unnerving. And the tow rating is only 1500kg.....but not one of the 6 marked police cars doing duty on new-years eve pulled me over to question me. Maybe they thought it was a lightweight 4x4 with an alloy trailer!!

Police attitude eh. It's obvious the XR is in no way suitable to tow probably 2200kg of Disco + 700kg of trailer. Even just looking at the nose-up attitude is enough. This is why WDHs were invented, with reference to the other thread.

[gtp owner]

Police attitude eh. It's obvious the XR is in no way suitable to tow probably 2200kg of Disco + 700kg of trailer. Even just looking at the nose-up attitude is enough. This is why WDHs were invented, with reference to the other thread.
My point was about how police are so strict on speed limits and how exceeding them makes you akin to a kiddly fiddler, but a clear case of something that is potentially dangerous is clearly ignored. I have towed plenty of very heavy loads over many km, and I am very aware of the dangers. The xr was the only option I had at the time, unless you think I should have paid for a huge fee to have a tow truck haul it home.
The nose up attitude is more an effect of the photo - I had a very neutral position on the car, with around 200kg downforce on the towball (equivalent to the weight of my wife and I) Yes I check these things.

[rmp]

My point was about how police are so strict on speed limits and how exceeding them makes you akin to a kiddly fiddler, but a clear case of something that is potentially dangerous is clearly ignored. I have towed plenty of very heavy loads over many km, and I am very aware of the dangers. The xr was the only option I had at the time, unless you think I should have paid for a huge fee to have a tow truck haul it home.
The nose up attitude is more an effect of the photo - I had a very neutral position on the car, with around 200kg downforce on the towball (equivalent to the weight of my wife and I) Yes I check these things.

Sorry, I meant the police's attitude and I entirely agree re speeds.

[gtp owner]

Sorry, I meant the police's attitude and I entirely agree re speeds.
Ok sorry I misunderstood you. I agree that the xr is not the best option for towing - hence the reason why I bought a disco in the first place. The picture is just the irony of that decision:D

[TerryO]

GTP sorry to hear you got stuffed around, in an earlier post you said you wouldn't buy a Prado (I think) because of its limited legal towing limit.

Unfortunately the Pajero isn't much better than a Prado when it comes to towing.

cheers,
Terry

[ozscott]

If you are sticking to around 2 tonn the Pajero is a great tow vehicle once you sort out (which can be done) the tail gate versus draw bar height interference...go and check out the Vic Pajero Forum to see how it tows. It is not in the D3/D4 class but it does very well.

Cheers

[gtp owner]

The pajero is rated to 3,000kg, which is only 500kg down on the disco. It tows my race car very easily, but lacks the ultimate grunt of the d4. The 3ton capacity fits the bill for most of the towing requirements I have - race car, tractor, hay carting, twin axle trailer with wood etc. The prado was just not as good - less powerful and 2,500 tow capacity.
As for the tailgate interference - yes I have already found out what a pain that is!

[ozscott]

Good to hear mate. The Pajero wins the value for money category of serious large 4wd very day of the week. I will be interesting to see what the new one is like when they eventually come out. In the meantime a VRX with rear locker aftermarket is one of the most attractive new vehicles out there when you factor into account the price, warranty and what they will do.

Good luck mate

[TerryO]

The pajero is rated to 3,000kg, which is only 500kg down on the disco. It tows my race car very easily, but lacks the ultimate grunt of the d4. The 3ton capacity fits the bill for most of the towing requirements I have - race car, tractor, hay carting, twin axle trailer with wood etc. The prado was just not as good - less powerful and 2,500 tow capacity.
As for the tailgate interference - yes I have already found out what a pain that is!


Correct me if I'm wrong but the new Pajero once you load on the back of it a loaded trailer over 2500 kg in weight then the maximim legal ball weight for that vehicle lowers from 250 kg down to 150 kg. Towing a 3000 kg trailer with only a 150 kg ball weight means that the maximum legal ball weight on the Pajero is down around 5% which is way below the recommended industry norm of 10% ball weight.

Where as the D3/4 has a maximum ball weight of 350 kg with a 3500 kg towing limit, big difference.

As I said please correct me if I'm wrong.

cheers,
Terry

[gtp owner]

Correct me if I'm wrong but the new Pajero once you load on the back of it a loaded trailer over 2500 kg in weight then the maximim legal ball weight for that vehicle lowers from 250 kg down to 150 kg. Towing a 3000 kg trailer with only a 150 kg ball weight means that the maximum legal ball weight on the Pajero is down around 5% which is way below the recommended industry norm of 10% ball weight.

Where as the D3/4 has a maximum ball weight of 350 kg with a 3500 kg towing limit, big difference.

As I said please correct me if I'm wrong.

cheers,
Terry
No you are correct Terry. This is one of the fuzzy areas that most owners do not understand. The problem for the pajero is that it is a monocoque construction, and if you overload the towball it starts to bwend the body!

[clubagreenie]

And theres nothing worse than a bwent bwody,

[gtp owner]

And theres nothing worse than a bwent bwody,
hahha spelling mistake due to fat fingers - I am a well hung lesbian:D

Just been speaking to another disco buyer who was not enchanted with the service here. They buy a new vehicle every year or two like we do. Took their business to the mainland and came back with a toerag. So that's $200,000 worth of vehicles they have missed out on, as well as ongoing purchases.

[ozscott]

Hehehe...like that one...well hung lesbian..hehehehe:D

Yep LR really needs to get its act together on a number of fronts - supply and SERVICE.

Cheers

[rmp]

No you are correct Terry. This is one of the fuzzy areas that most owners do not understand. The problem for the pajero is that it is a monocoque construction, and if you overload the towball it starts to bwend the body!

no it doesn't

[gtp owner]

no it doesn't

I know of one pajero (NS model) used for towing an abalone fishing boat which ended up with the rear doors not closing properly as a result of the body bending. Was fixed under warranty, but the owner dumped it pretty quick after that. He surmised that it was due to overloading the tow ball rating, as the whole rig weighed in at around 3,000kg, but the towball weight was fairly high

[TerryO]

Only having a 150 kg maximum legal ball weight once you go over 2500 kg on a vehicle that can tow up to 3000 kg seems pretty useless to me. So in reality it is still only a 2500 kg tow vehicle just like a Prado if you want to tow something safely and without fear of bending the thing.

A real shame your local LR dealer dicked you around it would seem.

cheers,
Terry