Thread: Which Model - Long Term Purchase

Laurie,

As said before, once you settle on a list you will need to be prepared to move quite fast as the good ones don't seem to hang around long. I flew to Sydney to test drive mine and was less than 36 hours between first spotting it and owning it.

I think the larger screen and reversing camera is high on the list (Something I wouldn't have said before buying mine.)

The eDiff is a very nice option - if it was available, I'd grab it.... but I would not let it stop you buying an otherwise good car. I don't tow often, but the vehicle is regularly drive off road and so far the lack of eDiff has certainly not stopped me ever.

Personally one of the must haves if I was buying again tomorrow is the Xenon headlights so much better than the halogens in my opinion.

Mine does not have navigation either - but frankly you can get far better navigation for less than $20 on your phone so no great loss.

As well as the features - I'd be focusing very strongly on service history - has everything been done? - who by? Has the Transmission been serviced and pan changed?.... if not - plan to do it.

Good luck finding the right one for you.

Originally Posted by Melbourne Park

. You can put 70 litres easily (or maybe its 50 odd) on the roof too ... not sure how legal that is, but people do do that ...

I'd strongly advise against that....I think you will find the manual rates the roof load at 75Kg...... that includes the weight of the roof rack.... so you can't legally carry 50 Litres of fuel on your roof..

Besides that - most 4WD's that lay over for a sleep - do so because the centre of gravity moved outside the wheelbase - best way I know to achieve that is put heavy things up high.. like on your roof rack.




Yes people do it...... but people do a lot of stupid things and some even get away with it too.

Originally Posted by Bytemrk

Laurie,
I think the larger screen and reversing camera is high on the list (Something I wouldn't have said before buying mine.)

My wife thought I was such a nerd/geek for demanding this - but she can't imagine life without it now!

Hey Port Melbourne, seats. Wow. I am 186cm (6 2.5). Wife is much shorter. I was just thinking that with reach and tilt adjustments, together with seat adjustments all would be fine. Didn't think enough about the wife 5' 2.5". I did see one review from the USA that said it was hard to see the instrumentation if you were tall. Something I will have to check during a test drive. Thanks for fuel perspective.

Byrtmrk, yes camera very high on list. I had adaptive headlights on my nice to have list. Got them on my current car.

I have identified a few places to get a vehicle inspected on purchase.

All the best

Laurie

I see others have agreed with me re the wide screen as an essential for the future. I've a friend bought an SE without it and the dash looks odd after seeing mine. But he did get an E.diff .... something many consider not essential.
Talking to my younger bro he reckons I should have travelled to Sidney () for our new D4....... he reckons stealers away from your home town are always better to deal with,
But then he's a very very high spec. buyer who loves sleeping under the stars.... as long as there's 6 of them!
Good luck with your purchase.
AlanH.

Hi Laurie, hope this helps.

We sold our much-loved and very low kilometre 2012 L322 Vogue in February for a variety of reasons, none of which involved reliability, comfort - superb - or touring ability. We just wanted something that was a bit more versatile (seating options, after-market accessories etc). I spent three months searching Australia for my 'ideal' D4.

It had to be white. They look awesome in white. We preferred a light interior too. I wanted a reversing camera that could see the tow bar, and the bigger screen that goes with it. (The L322's reversing camera couldn't see the tow bar, so I had to add an after-market wireless jobbie from Jaycar.) With the bride and I occasionally swapping cars, memory seats would be nice, but not a deal breaker. I certainly didn't want 20 inch wheels and low profile tyres (as had the L322 until I put higher profile LT Pirelli Scorpions on it last year.)

It had to be the 8 speed ZF gearbox (same as in the L322, a tour de force). I also wanted the higher rated 3.0 litre, having enjoyed that motor in our previous car, a 2010 RRS. After advice on this forum, I was happy to pass on the E-diff, considering that 90% of our touring is either on bitumen or made dirt, like the Gibb, Mitchell Falls etc. We don't make a habit of rock hopping, and in WA, there isn't much muddy high country.

I wanted a reasonably new one, with at least a couple of years of warranty. But I didn't want to pay silly money for a new HSE.

So the search began. With the new model on the horizon, there were very few fitting my specs, and certainly not in WA. Those that were available here - e.g. a white 2016 D4 SE at Barbagallos with 14,000km on the clock and dark interior, asking $114,000 drive away? Give me a break.

Then Alto Land Rover in Sydney advertised three white demo D4 SEs, all with about 7,000km and all for about $82K plus on roads. No, they didn't have the light interior, or memory seats, but they did have reversing cameras, air con in the second row, and a couple of other minor things. I offered them $80K and they threw in transport to Perth. Happy days.

Don't care about LR's expensive sat nav option. It's a pretty clunky system anyway, and I've bought the latest Hema navigator which is far better, for both on and off road.

I'm adding a long range rank, rear wheel carrier and snorkel tomorrow, and LT tyres, plus I've spent a couple of thousand having various electric stuff fitted for towing our camper trailer, a UHF radio and uprated 12v outlets in the cargo area. So all in all, we're happy with the result. And the D4 is by far the best all-round, comfortable, most versatile tourer and family hauler you can buy.

So that's our story. Good luck in your search Laurie.

Originally Posted by Strop

Hey Port Melbourne, seats. Wow. I am 186cm (6 2.5). Wife is much shorter. I was just thinking that with reach and tilt adjustments, together with seat adjustments all would be fine. Didn't think enough about the wife 5' 2.5". I did see one review from the USA that said it was hard to see the instrumentation if you were tall. Something I will have to check during a test drive. Thanks for fuel perspective.

I'm the same height as you and have no problems. I have a 2013 HSE. Agree with the comments about the satnav, not worth worrying about other than it's nice to have it in the dash. It does the job well enough but after market ones like Tomtom, Navman etc or even Google maps on you phone are better and updates do not cost a fortune like they do for the LR one.

Martin

3 months looking. Wow.

I am hoping there is a rush of cars onto the secondhand market with the release of the new discovery. Yes I know - pigs might fly but you can be hopeful.

I think the 8 speed would be fantastic but think I will have to settle for a 6 speed box.