RE: Land Rover Discovery vs. mud

[ivantate]

Derek Chevalier said:

If you opened the boot on the D4 when it was cross axled it wasn't possible to close it - surprising lack of rigidity

Which by the pictures would be been surprising easy to do.

[ivantate]

DonkeyApple said:

MorganP104 said:

I'm not saying the cars aren't good - by all accounts, they are excellent. But I wonder why they all need to look the same.

Profit margin and volume increase. Standard automotive practice to make the higher volume, cheaper units resemble to top end ones. It's bad business to have bottom of the range units heavily differentiated from the premium as modern people can't cope with strangers thinking they might not be hugely wealthy and massively important.

Although the new Defender, arguably the cheaper product line is likely to look different to the others. The Discovery has to leave space for the Defender and push the RangeRover further upmarket to compete with the Bentley etc.... . Easiest way appears to be to adopt the RR identity.

[Walter Sobchak]

Another great car for people to drive around in fear waiting for air suspension inactive/transmission fault etc to appear.

[andysgriff]

Perhaps 1% of these will go off road, so whats the point of people buying them?

[DonkeyApple]

andysgriff said:

Perhaps 1% of these will go off road, so whats the point of people buying them?

They aren't an off-road car. They are a road car that can do some off-road stuff along with towing and moving family and kit.

[Cold]

Generic PH whinger said:

Mumble mumble, leaf springs, mumble mumble, red+yellow knob, mumble mumble, won'tevergetusedproperly, mumble mumble, tyres, mumble mumble, Defender, mumble mumble, orangetan, mumble mumble, badlyparked, mumble mumble, PTO, mumble mumble, JDPower, mumble mumble, Idon'tunderstandthem, mumble mumble...

[ChemicalChaos]

Suprise surprise, Disco performs well at Eastnor Castle. Like all LR experience places, this is specifically and very carefully engineered to flatter their vehicles and make them seem impossibly capable.
Get on on a proper off road course with claggy mud, and the potential to get stuck or slither into something, and then see what happens

[skyrover]

All I see are massive bills waiting to happen

[popeyewhite]

andysgriff said:

Perhaps 1% of these will go off road, so whats the point of people buying them?

The people who buy these cars buy them for the badge, not any off road capability.

[numtumfutunch]

andysgriff said:

Perhaps 1% of these will go off road, so whats the point of people buying them?

I took my brand new but now dear departed RR Sport down a green lane on its way back from the dealer, to be honest it wasnt remotely challenged, and then ran it for almost 8y during which time it guaranteed me mobility no matter what the weather and conditions. And it comfortably towed a horsebox for good measure.

Walter Sobchak said:

Another great car for people to drive around in fear waiting for air suspension inactive/transmission fault etc to appear.

skyrover said:

All I see are massive bills waiting to happen

And then after many more years of trouble free motoring than I ever expected it stranded me with a suspension fault whilst on holiday
Happily this was a ride height sensor and cheaply fixed however I decided my luck was running out and so got rid

Beautiful car, I really miss it
The Disco 5??? Hmmmm, not sure I have 65k down the back of the sofa at the moment

Cheers

[Hackney]

Personally I liked the last model Discovery for the looks and the seating flexibility.
I was on the. Edge of buying one 6 months ago it a new job meant I would've fallen foul of car allowance rules. "Car must be under 4 years old", the budget I had got me a three year old one.

I'm not such a fan on the looks of the latest model but the performance, reduced weight are very attractive

[Limpet]

numtumfutunch said:

And then after many more years of trouble free motoring than I ever expected it stranded me with a suspension fault whilst on holiday
Happily this was a ride height sensor and cheaply fixed however I decided my luck was running out and so got rid

Beautiful car, I really miss it
The Disco 5??? Hmmmm, not sure I have 65k down the back of the sofa at the moment

Cheers

I colleague has put 200k on a RRS TDV8 with near perfect reliability. There was a minor issue with the autobox which a flush and new fluid solved ('sealed for shortened life') and that's been pretty much it. Drives it all over Europe still with no bother at all, and it drives well too.

[anonymous-user]

andysgriff said:

Perhaps 1% of these will go off road, so whats the point of people buying them?

They are very comfortable, extremely practical with a massive load space and with a comfortable cruising speed of about 85 mph, good for the license.

Contrary to popular belief, they are reliable too. In 10 years of D3 and D4 ownership I've had one failed height sensor and a failed compressor. Neither left me stranded.

[anonymous-user]

popeyewhite said:

The people who buy these cars buy them for the badge, not any off road capability.

Yes dear that's absolutely right.

[Vocht]

I saw my first one on the road this weekend. It's an absolute monster and I love it for it.

[Cotic]

ChemicalChaos said:

Suprise surprise, Disco performs well at Eastnor Castle. Like all LR experience places, this is specifically and very carefully engineered to flatter their vehicles and make them seem impossibly capable.
Get on on a proper off road course with claggy mud, and the potential to get stuck or slither into something, and then see what happens

You know of a more capable production alternative to a Disco? Please tell! If you're really keen on mud-plugging, then a set of Malatestas and the optional locking diff are generally all you need. I've run many old Discos, two Disco 4's from new, and have a 5 on order - I make a point of taking each one on a proper off-road run during ownership, and I think the 5 will be the most capable yet.

[anonymous-user]

Cotic said:

You know of a more capable production alternative to a Disco? Please tell! If you're really keen on mud-plugging, then a set of Malatestas and the optional locking diff are generally all you need. I've run many old Discos, two Disco 4's from new, and have a 5 on order - I make a point of taking each one on a proper off-road run during ownership, and I think the 5 will be the most capable yet.

It's pointless trying to reason with your average PH know it all on threads like this.

There's a cut and paste "not a real LR, driven by women on school run, my £3k Defender with an axle lift, massive tyres and "one life live it" sticker would make mincemeat of it etc etc" response at the ready for every time JLR launch a new product. It's usually accompanied by the same contingent proclaiming the death knell of the brand despite record profits and "they'll never get anotherr penny from me" despite the fact they never have had a penny given that said £3k defender was bought on Ebay and is self serviced between anecdotes about how nostalgia isn't what it used to be and wking furiously over last night's episode of Robit Wars.

Edited by anonymous-user on Tuesday 28th March 09:32

Edited by anonymous-user on Tuesday 28th March 10:07

[anonymous-user]

Not sure I could buy one unless the plate was in the middle...photo of the rear drives me mad.

[Cotic]

RSK21 said:

It's pointless trying to reason with your average PH know it all on threads like this.

Yep. Here's one of my orange-skinned wife dropping my kids off at the school.

[alex_rsa]

I saw one on Saturday. The front and side treatment (looks like a RR) are good but did the person designing the back have a fight with the other designers?

Offset numberplate, small tailights and a tiny gap of flat metal where they have stuck "DISCOVERY" below the rear window.

Maybe some markets will get an exterior spare tye which will mask the ugliness and "explain" the positioning of the number plate...