Thread: Objective Land Rover Discovery 4 Report

The following are the posts of “jb380” a bloke I know from another forum.

He has consistently been negative toward British cars in general and Land Rovers in particular.

He currently drives an Audi Q7 thingy, but is on the look out for a grey nomad caravan towing / long distance driving / comfortable / dynamic car.

He’s pretty fussy.

Given he has no previous LR leaning (quite the opposite) I think it makes for an interesting objective review.

I'll start this by saying that I really don't want to like this vehicle. It's British, and it has bad history...blah, blah, blah.

But, I want a grey nomad vehicle, with some very specific traits, and as I've found, they are pretty hard to fulfill. Basically, the vehicle must not be a latte 4*4, even though I may never test the limits. It must have decent towing capacity. And, most importantly of all, it must be a pleasant device to drive. That last sentence rules out just about everything Japanese...much as I'd like it to be otherwise.

Upshot of all this is that I have a Disco 4 demo for the weekend.

Put about 100 kms on it today in largely suburban areas...although the opportunity came up to try a little 4*4 in the afternoon. Thus far, 10.2 lt/100 kms. Not only keeps up with the traffic, but more than able to set the pace. Cabin is a nice place to be (totally opposite to the Nissan I drove recently). Seating is excellent on the driver's side, but less so on the passenger's, where this car's option package has eliminated most of the adjustments. Huge space in the back. Unused seats fold totally out of the way.

The engine (3.0 ltr TDI) is nicely matched to the 6 speed auto. No noticeable turbo lag (better than our Audi in that regard) and the gearbox is decisive (i.e. it makes it's mind up and sticks to it...the exact opposite to the ML Mercedes). Overall nice drive train package. Oh, and for Fenring, it 'creeps' very nicely in low range. Way better than my Hilux.

Anyway, tomorrow I'm going to take it for a 600 km round trip to a winery I like. If nothing else, the space in the back will carry lots of the red stuff. More to follow....

The Prado is dead to me for a number of reasons. The seating is horrible. I don't know who the Japanese build seats for, but it sure isn't me. The D4D engine is ok, but really quite old technology. Not smooth, nor particularly powerful. Same with the gearbox really. Tow weight limit is lower than I want. The Japanese basically give you the minimum that they think they can get away with. The superb 8 speed auto in the Audi/VW is actually a Japanese unit, but it isn't being used by them.

Prado drive away pricing ranges from about $62k to $97k. I've been quoted $82k for the Discovery SE, with a 3 litre V6 TDI, and equipment level that is close enough Prado Grande (no sat nav though). On that basis the Discovery seems reasonably priced.

My Hilux was made liveable because it had Recaro seats. Now that airbags are pretty much endemic in car seats, the swap option is pretty much gone.

We took the Discovery just on 600 kms today...so I guess that qualifies as a reasonable test drive. We found a few niggles that we didn't like, but overall, we came away very impressed. The car we were driving was made in May 2010, and had 7000 kms on it. Nothing rattling, falling off, or not working. No offroad work was done, as it isn't my car, and I have no doubt it is as off road capable as I need. So, the drive was restricted to a mix of highway, and secondary country roads.

Firstly the suspension was excellent. It handled the secondary roads beautifully, simply dismissing any of the myriad pot holes and bumps...actually way better than our Audi, which is too firmly suspended to be happy there. Handling, steering were fine, with the vehicle easy to place, and very stably holding its line (the exact opposite to the Patrol).

Most of the day was spent at a GPS measured 100-110 kph, and fuel consumption came in a 8.7 lt/100 km. Audi would have given about 7.5 in the same circumstances, but then it is somewhat lighter and more aerodynamic. The fuel tank size means that that translates to a range of just under 1000 kms. Realistically, I'd prefer about 20 litres more fuel capacity, but there are ways around that.

The engine was smooth, quiet, and had tons of punch (600 nm I believe). The gearbox was decisive, picking a gear and then sticking to it...the total opposite to the Mercedes I drove recently. Whilst I prefer the Audi drive train, this was very good, and vastly better than any Japanese 4x4 that I've ever driven.

The cabin, whilst not as flash as some, was comfortable, quiet, and pleasant. Switches makes sense, and their location is also logical. Vision to the front and sides is superb, but less to to the rear. Seats were fine, though I'd option the lumbar support into the passenger's seat.

Cargo capacity is simply huge. The second and third row seats fold totally flat, and the remaining cavity would hold a vast amount. In today's case, a vast amount of red wine.

Niggles. Well, if you sit in the back seat, the seat belt position is not adjustable, and the buckle tends to jab one's bum. The bi-xenon headlights are a funny mix of xenon and incandesent. Low beam is excellent, and hi is ok, but not on a par with either of my other xenon equipped cars. Probably good enough to mean that you don't need spots though.

Overall though, good enough to have me seriously considering things.

I had hoped the dealer might care to do a deal on the demo that he gave us, but even though a year old, and with 7000 kms on the clock, he actually wanted about $4000 more for it than for the new one he quoted last week. I'll let it ride for a while, and he can stew; that will give me time to look at alternative dealers. I'm not in any hurry, so something in the next year will do just fine.

I'm not going to option in the fancy electronics. I think that the expensive sat navs have just about reached their end, with the advent of items like the ipad. Realistically, it gives very little away to any of the factory systems that we own. Blutooth is standard anyway.

Warranty is 3 years, but can be extended by another 3. No different to any of the others there.

The just o the folloing quote makes sense, someone else saud
The only thing that worries me is the problems that may come up later and the need for it to get trucked 800km to get fixed.

I doubt that it is greatly different to any other modern car there. And, I wonder about those comments anyway. Whilst I'm sure they had some level of truth for the older models, I've not been able to find much that was negative on the net about the D4 (although plenty about some of the earlier models), and increasingly, some of the old faithfuls seem to be having their own issues. I guess that if you repeat a myth enough it becomes fact.....

Very funny boys.

Well, firstly the budget has put an end to any idea that I had of leasing the car. It got me on two points...lease cost is up appreciably, plus I get to pay more tax. Glad I hadn't ordered. So, as any car will be paid for out of my pocket in one hit, and probably kept for longer, it will slightly change just what I intended to order. We'll see about the timing.

Interior space is huge. My wife has made up a big speadsheet listing pretty well all of the vehicles we're considering (even if only vaguely), and the Disco is from memory the biggest, or very close to it, with regard to internal space. It's all about packaging, and the Japanese have chosen to do this element quite badly. Way bigger than Prado anyway. Externally, it's not that big. Basically shorter than most of the alternatives, though quite wide. I expect the slab side affect things too.

As for rating it #1, that's an interesting comment. I really don't like the alternatives, so the LR has drifted close to the top as others have been ruled out. Distance to service centres is not a huge concern....basically because I may visit the remote parts of the country, but I don't live there. Anyway, having seen the quality (or lack thereof) of some of the work done by a couple of northern Toyota dealers (one error was very lucky not to have destroyed an engine in the middle of nowhere), I'd probably be glad not to have too much to do with them. My preferred option was actually the new (not here yet) Touareg 4.2 V8 TDI, but VW have inexplicably placed such a low ball weight limit on this vehicle that is won't be of any use to tow anything.

The 3 litre motor gets some of the latte bits, but not all. Like all of the Europeans, they know how to gouge for options.

And as for having just bought a flash 4x4...well, the answer to that is yes, but the Audi was never bought with the intention of it being the grey nomad car. Whilst it did replace my Hilux in the garage, in use it actually replaced my R32. LR is too big for the wife to be comfortable in most suburban situations, and is way too thirsty used that way. Basically the Audi is our touring car...way sportier, and a lot smaller.

If only LR could get more such people to do an extended test drive of their vehicles I reckon they would sell a lot more of them!

Had a little tit for tat with the mechanic that works with my cousin the other day as it is usually where I take the Defender.

"Are you still driving that POS Landrover"
"Of course I am, wouldnt be seen dead in a Toyota"
"You should get a hilux like mine, more reliable"
"Not gonna do me any good off road is it"
"Well no, yours is better off road but mine is more reliable"
"Check your mailbox when you get home, there might be another Toyota recall notice waiting for you"

And I then walked away with a cheeky little grin on my face.