Thread: D4 Reliability

You are right to be concerned. Being stuck on the side of the road is a pain but is not exclusive to LR's. Maybe you will get a better "feeling" of reliability with Toyota, and if that makes you happier, then maybe that's the way to go.

A good mate of mine has a 200 series that he bought specifically for towing. He told me that he felt a pang of regret the moment he drove out of the dealer, having come from other more refined "SUV" style Euro's. What he loves is the feeling of reliability. He feels confident that it can and will take him anywhere.

I'm happy for him- however- he rarely drives the car except on trips. He just doesn't enjoy driving it. It's big and feels like a truck. It's a chore to drive. The upside is its holding its value well. Low K's single owner etc etc. The downside is HE HATES DRIVING IT.

Irrespective, if you are going to do overland travel in Australia- no matter what car you drive, you will need to be prepared.

A) get a fault reading tool
learn as much as you can about the car- this forum being excellent for that.
C) many "faults" are not really faults. Low battery can cause issue as you have described. As can a dodgy brake switch or incorrect bulbs.
D) take spares of parts that are likely to let you down

LPJ

Originally Posted by CraigA

It would seem that Discoverys have perhaps got more reliable with each successive model but started from a pretty low base. It also seems something that owners are loathe to discuss despite this being the ideal forum to collect data and feed it back to LR to assist in rectification work.

So they say.

I'm on my 4th Discovery, having owned them for 18 years. In that time I've travelled about half a million kms over a fair chunk of the country. In that time I've had a few problems, but I have only been left standing by the side of the road twice. Once in the D3 was my fault - I broke it. The other time was a fuel pump packing up in my D1.

Just lucky I guess.

Cheers,
Jon

Hi Craig,

If you get a chance, have a look at Green Oval Experience Land Rover training, Range Rover modifcation. It is Gordon from this forum (gghaggis) and he runs classroom and offroad based training courses for late model (post 2005) Land Rovers.

If you can attend a course (highly recommended) you will get a better insight into the newer Landy's (T5 platform) and their quirks and capabilities. It will also give you peace of mind as you will get good info on most of the common problems and how to fix them. Also, on which spares and fault reading tools are applicable to you. Good luck with it, and enjoy your car.

Safe motoring,

Cripesamighty

PS, if you can't attend a course, buy his GOE information booklet as it covers most of the classroom based stuff and is very handy to have with you offroad too.

I agree that the GOE Information Booklet is the best source of knowledge on how to prepare a D3/D4 for remote travel and keep it reliable. Also the FAQ section on the forum is an excellent source of knowledge about everything to do with the car. Before I even bought my D4, which I use extensively for very remote travels on and off road, I carefully read and understood everything in the FAQ to make sure that the car was for me.


Bob

Working in the mining industry and living in a mining town where every car is either hilux prado or 200 series i do get sick of the oh you should have bought a toyota and all the other crap people carry on about oh i had a mate who's a mechanic and reckons LRs are **** always breaking down. But in the end you just go whatever and know you have the best car and i always tell them "everyone loves the discovery just not everyone knows yet"

Originally Posted by jon3950

So they say.

I'm on my 4th Discovery, having owned them for 18 years. In that time I've travelled about half a million kms over a fair chunk of the country. In that time I've had a few problems, but I have only been left standing by the side of the road twice. Once in the D3 was my fault - I broke it. The other time was a fuel pump packing up in my D1.

Just lucky I guess.

Cheers,
Jon

Exactly,i have had Discos over the last 15 yrs,and never been left stranded on the side of the road,ever.
The only show stoppers were flat tyres(easy fix),once i changed over to LT's,never changed a tyre again.
In fact the D2a was one of the best vehicles i have ever had.

The D4 has been good as well,had a couple of little issues,but nothing near a show stopper.

We recently had to replace a diff in one of our Tojo work vans.It was just out of warranty,the dealer was not interested,and their comment was those vans never do diffs.Well i happened to come across a few reviews on them on the internet, and diffs were one of the most common issues.

Must admit that I do love my D4.

Had a concerning issue the other day though.

Jumped in after SWMBO had driven it, and as soon as I started it, a big warning came up on the dash.

Wondering what she had done to my car, I had a closer look.

"Washer Fluid Low"

I mean, with the amount of rain that we have since I bought it 12 months ago, you would have thought that it would have filled itself up.

I was so stressed by this apparent failure of my beloved D4, that I went back inside, and grabbed the keys to the Prius.







Disclaimer: I have never owned, nor driven a Prius, and have no intentions of doing either. No Land Rovers were harmed in the writing of this story.

Interesting stuff. Thanks again.

Personally, I have no desire to drive a LC nor a Prado coz I just don't like them. The D4 seems to me a much better drive and I don't have to put up with the LCs fuel consumption nor the Prados gutlessness among there other "failings". However, if we are going to be non-anecdotal about this, Land Rovers remain the least reliable car on the road (US figures 2012) and for a luxury brand, that's appalling. To put it in perspective, LRs are less reliable than a Great Wall that costs about 1/4 as much.

Given everything that's been said here, maybe I really do have a Monday morning build car and I should sell it and try again. Who knows?