Thread: Convince me to buy a 2013-14 D4 ... or not

Originally Posted by BrianElloy

Tail lights
Front and rear badging
Improved wing mirror design
8 speed ZF (though this may have been a 13 spec too)

Thanks Brian.
Yes the 2013 had the 3.0 and 8 speed. Seems weird to me that they added the new engine and gearbox but didn't facelift until a year later?

MY12 was the last of the six speed ZF,and the last of the 2.7L engine.

MY13 was 8 speed all models,and 2.7l replaced with lower output 3.0l,high output 3.0l was retained.

Originally Posted by scarry

MY12 was the last of the six speed ZF,and the last of the 2.7L engine.

MY13 was 8 speed all models,and 2.7l replaced with lower output 3.0l,high output 3.0l was retained.

Hi Paul,
Do you know if there were any other changes to spec or equipment between 2013 and 2014? I haven't been able to find anything out besides the Harmon Kardon stereo becoming Meridian.

Originally Posted by Birdboy

Hi Paul,
Do you know if there were any other changes to spec or equipment between 2013 and 2014? I haven't been able to find anything out besides the Harmon Kardon stereo becoming Meridian.

No sorry,i don't.

Sometimes this may give you what you are looking for. Go to Redbook and select ‘compare’ in the red toolbar and you can go through both cars side by side to see any differences. Worth a shot.

Car Prices - Car Research - Search Car Prices & Values Online - RedBook.com.au

What great thread, and the forum response deserves applause - well done everyone. It's been such a great read, I felt I might add a post.

I can empathise with the OP as I was in a similar situation last year when I was looking for "one vehicle that could do it all" to replace a daily commuter and a Land Cruiser V8, said LC which was used exclusively for family holidays, towing stuff (like a pallet of pre mix concrete in the box trailer during our DIY renovations) - that sort of thing, and needed to be able to tow the dirt bikes to our favourite spots where occasionally recovery means some serious off road capability. Commuter spends its life around Brissy, so comfort and being a nice place to sit was top priority for that, followed by some modicum of fuel economy. Ruled out a supercharged RRS sadly...

Anyway, my last LR experience had been a Disco V8 petrol bought new in 1997, back in the days when copious fuel consumption was good for you, and the sound of eight cylinders doing their thing was the dominating requirement. I had that disco for two years, went everywhere in it (carrying extra fuel as needed to get me closer to "everywhere" - not the petrol Disco's strong point...). Then about a week after the two year warranty (yep only two years back then) expired, the gearbox failed, dropping first gear. As fate would have it, that was at the start of a Christmas-New Year trip away, so with everywhere (we made it..) closed to eat, drink and be merry, we persisted in second gear starts and limping about until we could get it back to the dealer after everyone returned to work in January. Turns out the teeth on first gear had all sheared off somehow, depositing the remnants across all the others in the gearbox, completely destroying it.

To Landrover's credit, they repaired the vehicle under warranty (eventually - a story in itself), but the repair involved a completely new gearbox that was very stiff and truly dreadful to drive. I ended up trading that Disco on a Land Cruiser, and spent the next couple of decades largely ignoring the LR brand in favour of the Big T (lots of them) and even a Jeep Grand Cherokee - which was an awesome mile muncher, with just a few off road jaunts in my car to its credit.

A few years intervened with plain road-based cars, and then the old LC for off road duties re-ignited the off road spark.

Why say all this? Well, I think I pretty much wasted much of the intervening two decades influenced by past history, because when I started looking for the one vehicle that does it all, I quickly disregarded the Toyota offerings - waaaaay too expensive for what you get, and not a patch on the Land Rover brand for driving pleasure. My needs replicated those of many who have responded here I suspect with a large majority of the time the vehicle is a daily driver, where on road form and comfort (read luxury) are desired, but when it ventures off road, it needs to be more than just pretty. Reliability was a factor, but not an obsession, as my research (a lot on this forum - which is what the OP is doing with this thread) gave me the confidence that newer offerings from the brand have most of the bugs ironed out, and that good servicing (also something I am happy to do for all my vehicles) provides a good chance of hassle-free motoring regardless of the destination.

That just left the decision of which one to buy. With family friends having owned a D4 from new for quite a few years and not having issues, I went searching for one of them, looking at many over a couple of months. I had convinced myself that I really "needed" the 8 speed ZF, because as others have said, that it is used in many (including the Jeep I had), so I knew and liked it.

For me, the driving feel (and the look - personal taste only) of the Range Rover Sport gave the edge over the Disco although a D4 HSE which essentially has the RRS seats etc is pretty bloody nice!!! Ultimately, I found the RRS that was right for me (no 8 speed sadly - that was my compromise) before I could find a D4 HSE with the right specs and price bracket for me. As they are both brothers of a different mother (so to speak), I figure the RRS or the Disco were both going to provide a similar ownership experience for me, and the Rangie just ticked a few more boxes for my specific requirements.

When looking at Discos, however, I was drawn towards the later variants with the 8 speed, and research suggests the D4 has attempted to rectify some of the D3 issues, although they, too, are much less than days gone by, and the tweaks added just make it a little nicer to my eye, but a trainspotter really is needed to tell them apart from a distance.

To the OP, good luck with your search, it seems that D3 or D4, you can't really go wrong, and you will have your vehicle to "do it all" that is really enjoyable to drive every time you get in. If you don't need all that space, seats and practicality, the RRS is a pretty good deal too at the vintage you are considering, and a superb drive in every environment. Might be able to find one cheaper than a Disco, because of the demand for D4s due to the D5 being a big direction change in the design and capability. Just saying...

Originally Posted by Bewtiched

What great thread, and the forum response deserves applause - well done everyone. It's been such a great read, I felt I might add a post.
...
To the OP, good luck with your search, it seems that D3 or D4, you can't really go wrong, and you will have your vehicle to "do it all" that is really enjoyable to drive every time you get in. If you don't need all that space, seats and practicality, the RRS is a pretty good deal too at the vintage you are considering, and a superb drive in every environment. Might be able to find one cheaper than a Disco, because of the demand for D4s due to the D5 being a big direction change in the design and capability. Just saying...

Thanks so much for your thorough and thoughtful reply Bewtiched!
Yes I have very much enjoyed all the helpful comments on my thread!
Unfortunately a RRS is way too small for my cargo needs. I'm a photographer and have a lot of gear - plus all the normal camping stuff - so I can't go backwards in terms of cargo space which is why the only options for me really are a D4 or a 200series LC.

I was able to go for a quick spin on and off road in a mates 2015 D4 on the weekend and it really was wonderful how quiet smooth and powerful it was compared to my old Prado. I did notice a fair hesitation on launch which I have seen some threads on here. Not sure how common this is?

Thanks again!
Cheers
Dave

The hesitation on launch is very common Dave, all have it. Some people swear by throttle controllers and some say they don’t work. A remap can also fix the hesitation but it requires ECU removal on the later models. I have simply learnt to live with it and don’t expect to take off into traffic gaps.

Cheers,
Scott