Thread: 2016 D4 Landmark - worthy of long term ownership

In general they’re good but there are some frustrating faults. Mine is 250,000km+ so they will go on.

Tendancy for the plastic intake manifolds to crack around 7 years / 150,000km. Does vary but they do fail. Mines had the drivers side changed at 160,000km. Around $2000 at an independent repairer, $3000 at main dealer.

Gearboxes suffer if used for towing and serviced to LR schedule. Get your gearbox serviced somewhere between 50k-100k km. This is great insurance. LR say it doesn’t need a service until 230k km which is for road warrior that never tows (fair to say that’s even too long though we’ll leave that argument alone). Rebuild about $8000. Service is about $500 with genuine Lifeguard fluid, so service frequently.

Alternators fail. Somewhere around 7-10 year average.

The rear bush on the lower front arm will wear out around 100k km. This though is highly dependent on the roads you travel. On road they last a lot longer. Off road corrugated will chew it up faster. About $1000 at a main dealer to replace.

Door locks. Motors in the modules wear out. $350 approx main dealer.
This covers the majority of the common issues. Yes there is a known crank failure issue as well, but I’d suggest we’re talking a tiny part percent of the vehicle population.

As you can see, you’ll have quite a lot of trouble free driving before you start hitting issues. If you’re handy then you can save a fortune fixing the smaller issues yourself too.

Whatever you do, don’t presume other brands are less troublesome. And done assume you’ll have all the same problems. All in all, despite the above, there is no better cruiser. So sublime, so effortless. It’s worth it.

We've got a MY15 TDV6 with 90,000 km on it in 3.5 years. Almost all of that towing an Ultimate or our AOR Q+. We don't hang around and the car spend 3-5 months of any year touring Oz.

We agree they are an excellent vehicle. As a result of this great forum we have over serviced the car in order to reduce the risk of failures given our duty cycle. So far so good. As well our eye has always been on keeping this car for in excess of five years and beyond as we are waiting with great interest for the Defender and have no real desire to go to an LC200. Nor do we consider the D5 as there is so little chance of it getting simple protection stuff like a bull bar. As well we travel remotely by ourselves so things like a winch are vital for self recovery. Possibly this may change over time.

The car is under extended warranty for the next 3 years which is in line with our long term ownership strategy. Some stuff gets done by one of our local independents, between service and post trip stuff mostly. With the formal servicing done by our local dealer to ensure the service records are up to date and accurate. Just in case something goes wrong.

These cars cost more to service compared to anything else apart from a Mercedes G wagon and I understood that from before the purchase. But they are also so much better than anything else on the market I feel it is worth it.

Australia is a quite different market and environment for D4's compared to OS in so many ways. From fuel types and quality all the way to accessories available and the sort of off bitumen driving they have compared to here. So unless it's on this forum it remains pure conjecture for me, albeit still of interest.

Hope that helps with your deliberations. We've been through it and are staying put until it gets far to expensive to keep it

Rob

Thanks!

Sounds like preventative maintenance is the way to go on transmission.

What about diff and other fluids. Does that need more maintenance than the regular interval?

We are considering LR extended warranty that would kick in June 2019 for extra 2 years, but this is $3,500 investment which seems excessive to us. Car will be at 45,000 kms next year and probably 70-80K kms by the time warranty expires. Is it worth the risk? Sounds like majority of problems start in the later years and higher kms anyway.

Can you guys suggest a good Independent LR shop in Melbourne that people trust for a good reason? I haven’t had to look for one yet, but typically like to go on by recommendation.

Thanks you the inputs

Yes to early changes to fluids. Give our duty cycle and the Q+ weighs 2500kg we had the trans done at 80,000km and the F&R diffs at 85,000. Transfer case will get done at next service (100,000km) as it gets far less work than the rest of the moving parts. A reminder that the brakes, discs, pads & callipers are sacrificial so are a service item which is no different from most European vehicles.

I am sure the Melbourne owners will be able to provide plenty of suggestions for a decent indy

Rob

We also have a 2016 Landmark, with a similar build date, which currently has around 56k kms, about half of which was accumulated towing a car trailer or caravan. We use the 20" wheels around the city and for bitumen only trips and have Tuffants with D697s for mixed-road touring. I also added an ARB bullbar.

We have had no issues other than an electrical fault fairly early, which I traced to a sub-standard install of an electric brake controller with a bad earth, by a LR dealer. Go figure!

Our plan is to over-service to assist with long term reliability, so for example we get an engine oil and filter change every 12k kms, half the recommended service interval, and will soon get the gearbox serviced.

I believe the 2 key weaknesses of D4s for reliability during mixed-road or remote area trips is the tyre limitations imposed by the std 19 or 20" wheels, and the susceptibility of the air suspension system to shutdown due to sensor or valve faults. The first is solved by using 18" wheels with suitable LT tyres and the second can be mitigated by installing an air suspension emergency inflation kit such as that from GOE.

Another suggestion is to obtain a diagnostic tool, such as an IID Tool, and learn how to use it to do a first pass diagnosis of issues when remote.

We got a LR extended warranty with ours and intend to keep the car well beyond that warranty unless we have significant issues.

This is all sounding very positive. I mean it sounds doable if some measures are taken. No vehicle is perfect. And thank you all for your feedback and keep it going.

I’ve been making a Wish list as you do .
Sounds to me like I need to spend about $3,500 to 5,000K just to go 18” to begin with (depending if I go TuffAnt or want to stretch the budget to Compomotive).

What would be an advantage of going Alloy for such a premium price? I mean with steel you can beat the rim back into place for off-road use, but rotational mass would be higher. Cost is obviously a factor as is availability.

Wish-List:

Rhino Pioneer Platform 2128 x 1426 $1,500
Lazer Lights Disco 4 Grille kit with R750 - $1,150
Tuffant 18” steel wheels x 5 for Disxo 4 - $1,300
Compomotive 18” PD1881 Alloy x 5 - $3,000
BFGoodrich Ko2s - 265/60/18 $425 x 5 = $2,100
Llams - height adjustment module - $550 or
GOE Rods - $440
GOE EAS Emergency Inflation kit - $330
GOE Compressor Protection Plate - $310
IID Scan Tool - $700
Traxide- auxiliary battery wiring - $700
Optima Battery - $400

Total aprox: $9,000

The bad gearbox reports are for the 6-speed, not your 8-speed.

The front suspension bushes referred to are easily replaced in-situ using a suitable threaded bolt type bush replacement tool. The bushes themselves are quite low cost items.

My main advice is to halve the recommended engine oil change interval, down to the 10-15K range.

I have been servicing my 2016 D4 every 12000km or so. At 60k I changed all of the transmission fluids here: Changed the Transmission oils, colour compare pics.

Mine is a keeper unless the new Defender is something special.