Land Rover Discovery 4s
Discussion
We're in the market for a second-hand one, 3-5 years old (brick shape), but keep hearing nightmare stories of engines blowing, crankshafts splitting, electrics etc and the prices seem to be quite varied.
Does anyone know which years have the problems? 2014 seems to be cropping up as a major factor year, so did they fix something substantial then? Is a late 2014 Disco a safer bet than an early 2014 because of this? How could we tell - what should we be looking for?
What do you reckon on LR warranties - are they worth it? Is it worth dealing with.. ahem.. rather uninterested and unresponsive LR dealerships and paying quite a lot extra than buying one privately?
Does anyone know which years have the problems? 2014 seems to be cropping up as a major factor year, so did they fix something substantial then? Is a late 2014 Disco a safer bet than an early 2014 because of this? How could we tell - what should we be looking for?
What do you reckon on LR warranties - are they worth it? Is it worth dealing with.. ahem.. rather uninterested and unresponsive LR dealerships and paying quite a lot extra than buying one privately?
I don’t know enough about different years to say what is a good or bad year. Three years ago I bought a March 2010 hse with 48k miles on. Now at 77k miles and nothing gone wrong other than tyres and now a wheel bearing needed.
I bought with a 2-year LR warranty - I would want to do that again and cannot see me buying from other than LR dealer (unless nearly New with say two years warranty from new left). It seems to me that individual land rovers are either good or bad - and I figure that a two year warranty should be enough to find out which! I bought a bad D3 in 2010 which I got rid of after about four months (the most unpleasant buying experience ever - I still refuse to go to the nearest dealer)
I bought with a 2-year LR warranty - I would want to do that again and cannot see me buying from other than LR dealer (unless nearly New with say two years warranty from new left). It seems to me that individual land rovers are either good or bad - and I figure that a two year warranty should be enough to find out which! I bought a bad D3 in 2010 which I got rid of after about four months (the most unpleasant buying experience ever - I still refuse to go to the nearest dealer)
An ex work colleague had a 2013 3.0D, bought at 4 years old/65k. The only two issues he has had were the infotainment system sometimes resets itself and his spare wheel was pinched from under the vehicle.
He has modified the release cable, so it shouldn't happen again.
30MPG if he was lucky, and he loves it.
He has modified the release cable, so it shouldn't happen again.
30MPG if he was lucky, and he loves it.
Come close to buying a LR sooooo many times but tales of woe keep me from following through. It doesn't seem to matter what year you buy as they seemingly always fall into two groups - ones that never need so much as a bulb in eleventy million miles and ones that that refuse to work because it's a Tuesday.
Trouble is, you generally won't know until you've spunked your hard-earned on one and that for me is the clincher.
Trouble is, you generally won't know until you've spunked your hard-earned on one and that for me is the clincher.
Look for one thats been cared for. Preventative maintenance on these goes a long way.
Belts need doing at 7 years/105k, so if your buying a 2012 Model then budget 1k-1.5k for this next year.
They eat front arm bushes for breakfast, look out for a knocking noise from the front when braking suddenly.
Wear on the outer shoulders of the tyres normally means you'll be looking at some new wheel bearings shortly
If I was buying again I'd pay the extra and buy a 2014 onwards from a LR main dealer. Big price differences are normally due to the spec, GS is poverty compared to HSE. Don't rule out XS over HSE though as some owners spec'd them nicely so they were close to HSE (centre armrest's on the HSE were an option on the XS, a bloody good option too!).
Milage doesn't really seem to effect these if its been looked after. Normal gig, would rather have a motorway mile muncher than a yummy mummy school bus.
Make sure the previous owner hasn't kept the removal tow bar (wouldn't trust them, but they are £200), or the rear parcel shelf (£150).
2009 onwards had the 3.0L 6 speed, 2012 onwards had the 3.0L 8 speed (knob style gear changer) and 2014 is the latest facelift.
Buy the BT IID tool, costs £400, but is land rover specific and will read and clear all the fault codes (you'll get a lot of random ones which aren't anything) along with you being able to adjust settings and read live data, all on your phone/ipad. Instead of one ECU these have 30-40 odd for each different section of the car, so its a must really, normal code readers struggle. Resale of the bt iid is around £300 so for £100 its well worth it!
D4 was what the D3 should of been, all the issues ironed out but like any land rover........you'll still get caught out sometimes.
I owned a 2010. Drank fuel but for the comfort it was worth it. Loads of room inside, can seat 7 adults with ease. With the rear seats folded down its like a panel van. Could tow a house, make sure if you are towing to ditch the removal bar (Kept in the boot side pocket for emergencies) and fit a fixed tow bar, less likely to loose your load.
Have fun shopping!
Belts need doing at 7 years/105k, so if your buying a 2012 Model then budget 1k-1.5k for this next year.
They eat front arm bushes for breakfast, look out for a knocking noise from the front when braking suddenly.
Wear on the outer shoulders of the tyres normally means you'll be looking at some new wheel bearings shortly
If I was buying again I'd pay the extra and buy a 2014 onwards from a LR main dealer. Big price differences are normally due to the spec, GS is poverty compared to HSE. Don't rule out XS over HSE though as some owners spec'd them nicely so they were close to HSE (centre armrest's on the HSE were an option on the XS, a bloody good option too!).
Milage doesn't really seem to effect these if its been looked after. Normal gig, would rather have a motorway mile muncher than a yummy mummy school bus.
Make sure the previous owner hasn't kept the removal tow bar (wouldn't trust them, but they are £200), or the rear parcel shelf (£150).
2009 onwards had the 3.0L 6 speed, 2012 onwards had the 3.0L 8 speed (knob style gear changer) and 2014 is the latest facelift.
Buy the BT IID tool, costs £400, but is land rover specific and will read and clear all the fault codes (you'll get a lot of random ones which aren't anything) along with you being able to adjust settings and read live data, all on your phone/ipad. Instead of one ECU these have 30-40 odd for each different section of the car, so its a must really, normal code readers struggle. Resale of the bt iid is around £300 so for £100 its well worth it!
D4 was what the D3 should of been, all the issues ironed out but like any land rover........you'll still get caught out sometimes.
I owned a 2010. Drank fuel but for the comfort it was worth it. Loads of room inside, can seat 7 adults with ease. With the rear seats folded down its like a panel van. Could tow a house, make sure if you are towing to ditch the removal bar (Kept in the boot side pocket for emergencies) and fit a fixed tow bar, less likely to loose your load.
Have fun shopping!
We considered Land Cruisers to start with, we love the reliability of Toyotas we really do, but they sounded like tractors, were not smooth, took ages to accelerate, and lacked the internal finesse. If we could buy a vehicle with the sophistation of the Land Cruiser and the technical construction of the Toyota, we would!
Meerkat1234 said:
Would like to spend on vehicles at the 2013 price... scared off by the engine and other problems are now hiking our budget to spend at the 2014/2015/2016 prices.
Im going through the same thing. Wanting to replace the wifes Evoque and started off looking at cars at £25k - this is now starting to look more like £35 when trying to get a Facelift! However looking last night, if you start getting towards the £40k mark it brings in the newer shape FFRR and RRS. Then hanging around in the background are Disco Sports which look like bloody good value in comparison and probably big enough for ferrying the kids around.
Gassing Station | Car Buying | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff