Thread: Moving from MY12 D4 to MY23.5 D5 - initial thoughts

Hi – just posting some of my thoughts about going from a 2012 D4 to a 2023 D5 after 3 months.


I really liked my D4 and, whilst I had heard all the horror stories, it had never let me down and was an excellent car. Based on my good experiance with the D4 and given that the car was approaching 160,000 km and was over 10 years old, I decided stick with Land Rover and upgrade to a D5. Ordered the D5 in October 2022 and was delivered in December 2023.

Car specs - Discovery 23.5MY D300 R-Dynamic SE.

LR options - Towing Pack , Adv Off-Road Capability Pack, 20in S5122 Satin Dark Grey Wheels, Roof Rails, Powered Inner Tailgate.
Non LR options - Red Arc tow controller and a 50 amp Anderson plug at rear of car – all fitted by dealer.
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Unfortunately, while I was awaiting delivery of the D5 the engine in my D4 SDV6 failed (at 178,000 km) which took a fair bit of the gloss off buying another Land Rover. Still painful to talk about so I will leave it at that for time being.

General summary of my impressions of the D5 after around 3 months of ownership.

Engine -. Very impressed with how the D300 performance and fuel economy. Less turbo lag and better get up and go. Fuel tank is bigger (great improvement on D4) so with the improved fuel economy the range is significantly better. Cruise control works well, unlike the D4 which very average.

Interior – the Pivi Pro screen and software is a big improvement, suppose it should be after ten years. The new driving safety features take a bit of getting used to and aren’t too bad once you become familiar with the settings and learn how to customise them – bit annoying that the driver assist setting resets to High mode when engine restarted.
Seats are more combatable then the D4 however the 2^nd row electric seat movement continually needing the ignition to be turned on is a pain.

The 2^nd row not laying completely flat is my biggest issue, I can’t understand how, for a car that costs so much, the engineers couldn’t get this right!!! We do a fair bit of travelling around country WA and usually have the second row folded down to store our gear, this bug’s me that it’s not a flat surface.
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Also, while having a winge, I think that some of the interior trimming is fairly “cheap’ e.g. the rear trim that covers the battery and jack, the material seems flimsy and the fittings to secure them pretty cheap and nasty.
Sun roof lets a lot of heat in – would have liked to be able to exclude them but was told by dealer that could not. On a hot deg day the heat coming in through them, even with the roof blind closed is excessive. The Air con doesn’t seem to work as good as the D4, but not sure if this is related to the sun roof letting heat in.

Exterior – I rather liked the “boxy” look of the D4, don’t dislike the look of the D5 but it seems as if they went for a more conventional european look.

All in all, I am happy with the move to a D5 and in most areas it is an improvement on the D4. Hopping to get a few miles on it in the upcoming months.

Cheers
Barry

Bummer about your engine going. I had this happen 2 weeks ago in my 2009 Disco 4 but mine had 377,000 on it. Picking up a fully loaded 2018 HSE D5 today. I was into the boxy look as well but not anymore. Jumping in this thing is like drinking a $15 bottle of red then a $300 bottle (if your in to the red analogy). Interesting about the seats folding cause I did not pickup on that when looking at mine initially. Also I miss the middle seat being interdependent from the others. I almost bought a Q7 because I wanted that but decided against Audi’s parts and cost. But like you said 15 years is quite a jump for a vehicle and the HSE helps that a bunch. Enjoy the vehicle.

EDIT: well got it home and the middle seat can go down independently. The gap is smaller but I’m happy.