My fifth Land Rover and its a Discovery 5
Discussion
Bit of background
This is car number seventeen and the fifth Land Rover. Previous green ovals include:
1983 Series 3 SWB diesel
2004 Discovery 3 HSE 2.7TDV6
2007 Range Rover Vogue 3.6TDV8
2011 Range Rover 5.0 Supercharged Autobiography
In Jan of the year the 5.0SC overheated which resulted in an engine rebuild. To get it through the MOT was another £1k. To be fair, at the time of writing it was 14 years old, and they are complicated cars so they will never be Ford Focus running costs.
The recovery for the Supercharged was not plain sailing and after five hours we were eventually recovered by the national highways agency and it only made it back to the garage three days later whilst we drove home in an enterprise rental Qashqai.
I don't like Qashqais at all, but at that moment in time it was the best car in the world.
Of course, it wasn't just me in the car, we were on the way back from the Lake District with my wife and my two boys (10 and 7). They were pretty good, but it was an extreme reminder of the gamble I was constantly taking with buying much older cars.
The hunt was then on for a suitable replacement. I looked at many flavors of Cayennes, Range Rover Sport P400E and the new BMW X5 hybrid. However, none of those seemed to match the L322 in comfort and load carrying ability. I did contemplate an 09 3.6TDV8, but they aren't ULEZ compliant and still quite old. We live in home counties so whilst we aren't in the ULEZ zone, we are close enough for it to depreciate like a stone if it's not ULEZ compliant.
I discounted any LR with the 3.0V6 diesels as their reputation precedes them and given most of my journeys are very very short, petrol is best.
This left me with the 3.0 Supercharged V6 equipped Range Rover Sport and D5. I test drove a P400E hybrid RRS. Amazing bit of kit, but they feel quite claustrophobic if you are used to a FFRR and a D3. I didn't like the rear leg room or reduced boot too and I felt the 3.0SC in a D5 was going to be late teens in mpg and I'd had enough of that in the FFRR (Your doing really well if you get above 15mpg in a 5.0SC)
I had previously discounted the D5 due to the seats, but really it was the car I wanted from the start. Loads of space and all the tech.
This led me to this 2018 HSE Lux P300 with what I think is the optional black pack and 22in wheels and white leather.
The engine
It's 300bhp so a lot more than 190bhp in my early D3, but the P300 produces 295lbs ft at 1500 vs 329lbs ft at 1900rpm. The D3 was slow and had pretty poor pick up. The P300 is actually fine, but it's the gearbox is shuffling up the box as quick as it can and the net result means at 50mph, can be as low as 1300rpm, which is pretty close to idle speed.
At four up with luggage, the car was absolutely fine cruising along, but it's not the best engine for the car, but it's best one out there for what I needed.
Gearbox
You didn't get the low range as standard on the P300 and I'm ok with that. Less weight and one less thing to break. I’m fairly confident, the various terrain response settings could get me out of trouble and I don’t plan to tow with it so I’m all good.
Practicality
This is where the D5 shines above the rest. Good door bins all round and great cubby boxes everywhere. I really like the one behind the HVAC controls along with one under the cup holders. The L322 is really poor for storage. Also, no late 90s tech CD Changer in the top glove box, so you can actually store stuff in there.
The Boot
It's not as big as the L322 or the D3/4, the tailgate flap is daft and feels a bit fragile. However, after years of manual only boot kids, I really like having an electric boot lid. Not tried the gesture opening feature. This car came with a Land Rover official boot mat and they are much better than the aftermarket ones.
Electric folding rear seats is another stupid idea and I think it's wasting valuable litres of boot space. The system in the D3/4 was brilliant, so why wasn't that transferred to the D5??
Seat comfort
Not as good as an L322. Plain and simple and I'd challenge someone at Land Rover on this topic. I recon the D4/3 seats are better. I'm baffled by how Land Rover can get this so wrong. Go round a bend and my body type has the seats digging in a bit.
Ride Comfort
I regularly do roads with speed bumps and the L322 can glide over them with ease. This, you have to genuinely slow down and I'm gonna say it verges on being a bit crashy. Of course I do understand the idea behind a speed bump!
I know the market has demanded that Land Rover up their game in terms of handling and brakes, but I can't help but feel they have gone too far. Cars of the D5’s nature should not be crashy.
Brakes & Handling
Brilliant. It stops and steers like a modern car should. My L322 has some pretty big brakes but the body movement was comically bad and changing direction quickly was just scary.
Why didn't you buy an L405 then?
Simple. I don't like how they look and the engine choice for my budget was pretty much the P400E or the 4.4TDV8.
Rear space
The wheelbase is longer on the D5 vs a L322 and rear space is just much better because of it.
OMG, that offset plate is horrible
Actually I think it's a great looking car from all angles. They have impressive road presence and there are some really nice touches including:
The green oval badge on the rear flank
The discovery insignia on the front wings.
Stepped roof
Gerry McGovern could have centralized the plate as per Discovery Sport, but he went out on a limb and I respect that. Also, as we nudge closer to the D6, I think people will grpow tpo appreciate just how good the D5 is.
Naming Convention
In Land Rover circles, it's called the D5 and we all know what that is. I don’t agree with Land Rover dropping that naming convention even though I can understand why given the Discovery Sport and they have had to do similar things in the US to clean up their reputation,
What's the plan?
Not much really.
Chav gel plates because I can’t get ali pressed plates
Side steps
Machine polish
Sourcing a spare wheel as mine is missing 😕
Service next year including all the fluids
Maybe one off road trip.
Jerry Springer FInal Thought
All the sensible people will tell you not to buy a Land Rover because they break a lot. I’ve been on the FB groups pretty much since they started and yep, it's true, its a constant stream of crank failures, timing chains, DPF issues, EGRs, window regulators, leaks. The Porsche Cayenne pages are totally different.
However, I really quite like Land Rovers and that goes right back to when I was 9 years old and saw the Discovery 1 on the roads for the first time. I face all the normal pressures of a man in his mid 40s with two young children and behind the scenes I am a very unhappy man Because of that I point bank refuse to buy the sensible choice of an XC90 or a BMW X5. I looked back at the D5 in the gym carpark this morning and happily smiled to myself as it glimmers in the early morning sun surrounded by Kia Sportages and Ford Pumas. I’ll keep my Land Rover thanks.
Have a good day all and thanks if you have made it this far.
This is car number seventeen and the fifth Land Rover. Previous green ovals include:
1983 Series 3 SWB diesel
2004 Discovery 3 HSE 2.7TDV6
2007 Range Rover Vogue 3.6TDV8
2011 Range Rover 5.0 Supercharged Autobiography
In Jan of the year the 5.0SC overheated which resulted in an engine rebuild. To get it through the MOT was another £1k. To be fair, at the time of writing it was 14 years old, and they are complicated cars so they will never be Ford Focus running costs.
The recovery for the Supercharged was not plain sailing and after five hours we were eventually recovered by the national highways agency and it only made it back to the garage three days later whilst we drove home in an enterprise rental Qashqai.
I don't like Qashqais at all, but at that moment in time it was the best car in the world.
Of course, it wasn't just me in the car, we were on the way back from the Lake District with my wife and my two boys (10 and 7). They were pretty good, but it was an extreme reminder of the gamble I was constantly taking with buying much older cars.
The hunt was then on for a suitable replacement. I looked at many flavors of Cayennes, Range Rover Sport P400E and the new BMW X5 hybrid. However, none of those seemed to match the L322 in comfort and load carrying ability. I did contemplate an 09 3.6TDV8, but they aren't ULEZ compliant and still quite old. We live in home counties so whilst we aren't in the ULEZ zone, we are close enough for it to depreciate like a stone if it's not ULEZ compliant.
I discounted any LR with the 3.0V6 diesels as their reputation precedes them and given most of my journeys are very very short, petrol is best.
This left me with the 3.0 Supercharged V6 equipped Range Rover Sport and D5. I test drove a P400E hybrid RRS. Amazing bit of kit, but they feel quite claustrophobic if you are used to a FFRR and a D3. I didn't like the rear leg room or reduced boot too and I felt the 3.0SC in a D5 was going to be late teens in mpg and I'd had enough of that in the FFRR (Your doing really well if you get above 15mpg in a 5.0SC)
I had previously discounted the D5 due to the seats, but really it was the car I wanted from the start. Loads of space and all the tech.
This led me to this 2018 HSE Lux P300 with what I think is the optional black pack and 22in wheels and white leather.
The engine
It's 300bhp so a lot more than 190bhp in my early D3, but the P300 produces 295lbs ft at 1500 vs 329lbs ft at 1900rpm. The D3 was slow and had pretty poor pick up. The P300 is actually fine, but it's the gearbox is shuffling up the box as quick as it can and the net result means at 50mph, can be as low as 1300rpm, which is pretty close to idle speed.
At four up with luggage, the car was absolutely fine cruising along, but it's not the best engine for the car, but it's best one out there for what I needed.
Gearbox
You didn't get the low range as standard on the P300 and I'm ok with that. Less weight and one less thing to break. I’m fairly confident, the various terrain response settings could get me out of trouble and I don’t plan to tow with it so I’m all good.
Practicality
This is where the D5 shines above the rest. Good door bins all round and great cubby boxes everywhere. I really like the one behind the HVAC controls along with one under the cup holders. The L322 is really poor for storage. Also, no late 90s tech CD Changer in the top glove box, so you can actually store stuff in there.
The Boot
It's not as big as the L322 or the D3/4, the tailgate flap is daft and feels a bit fragile. However, after years of manual only boot kids, I really like having an electric boot lid. Not tried the gesture opening feature. This car came with a Land Rover official boot mat and they are much better than the aftermarket ones.
Electric folding rear seats is another stupid idea and I think it's wasting valuable litres of boot space. The system in the D3/4 was brilliant, so why wasn't that transferred to the D5??
Seat comfort
Not as good as an L322. Plain and simple and I'd challenge someone at Land Rover on this topic. I recon the D4/3 seats are better. I'm baffled by how Land Rover can get this so wrong. Go round a bend and my body type has the seats digging in a bit.
Ride Comfort
I regularly do roads with speed bumps and the L322 can glide over them with ease. This, you have to genuinely slow down and I'm gonna say it verges on being a bit crashy. Of course I do understand the idea behind a speed bump!
I know the market has demanded that Land Rover up their game in terms of handling and brakes, but I can't help but feel they have gone too far. Cars of the D5’s nature should not be crashy.
Brakes & Handling
Brilliant. It stops and steers like a modern car should. My L322 has some pretty big brakes but the body movement was comically bad and changing direction quickly was just scary.
Why didn't you buy an L405 then?
Simple. I don't like how they look and the engine choice for my budget was pretty much the P400E or the 4.4TDV8.
Rear space
The wheelbase is longer on the D5 vs a L322 and rear space is just much better because of it.
OMG, that offset plate is horrible
Actually I think it's a great looking car from all angles. They have impressive road presence and there are some really nice touches including:
The green oval badge on the rear flank
The discovery insignia on the front wings.
Stepped roof
Gerry McGovern could have centralized the plate as per Discovery Sport, but he went out on a limb and I respect that. Also, as we nudge closer to the D6, I think people will grpow tpo appreciate just how good the D5 is.
Naming Convention
In Land Rover circles, it's called the D5 and we all know what that is. I don’t agree with Land Rover dropping that naming convention even though I can understand why given the Discovery Sport and they have had to do similar things in the US to clean up their reputation,
What's the plan?
Not much really.
Chav gel plates because I can’t get ali pressed plates
Side steps
Machine polish
Sourcing a spare wheel as mine is missing 😕
Service next year including all the fluids
Maybe one off road trip.
Jerry Springer FInal Thought
All the sensible people will tell you not to buy a Land Rover because they break a lot. I’ve been on the FB groups pretty much since they started and yep, it's true, its a constant stream of crank failures, timing chains, DPF issues, EGRs, window regulators, leaks. The Porsche Cayenne pages are totally different.
However, I really quite like Land Rovers and that goes right back to when I was 9 years old and saw the Discovery 1 on the roads for the first time. I face all the normal pressures of a man in his mid 40s with two young children and behind the scenes I am a very unhappy man Because of that I point bank refuse to buy the sensible choice of an XC90 or a BMW X5. I looked back at the D5 in the gym carpark this morning and happily smiled to myself as it glimmers in the early morning sun surrounded by Kia Sportages and Ford Pumas. I’ll keep my Land Rover thanks.
Have a good day all and thanks if you have made it this far.
Hereward said:
Yikes. May I ask what happened there? I have a 2011 5.0SC.
I hope your new machine treats you well.
The temp gauge shot up and at that point I parked it up at the earliest opportunity. Unfortunately, this is the M62, which has no hard shoulder, but laybys every mile or so, so had no choice but to drive that distance to pull in as in reality I did not want to stop in active lane of a motorway. I hope your new machine treats you well.
The car was then recovered to my local garage who I have used for well over 7 years. They diagnosed a failed water pump and I happily paid for the water pump to be replaced. They then started it up and took it out for a test drive and it went into limp home mode and threw up a load of timing errors. Part of me does wonder if the damage was done during that test drive, but the water pumps are belt driven and not chain driven.
I called a few of the local independents and they were very skeptical of it being just chains and guides needing replacement and they said if they did that and discovered it need a new engine, they would ship it off to an engine builder anyway,
It was at that point that I decided to just suck it up and get the engine rebuilt. Thankfully LR have been screwing it up since 1948, so there are plenty of engine builders to choose from and funnily enough there are many in the Barking area. One can assume these are trades learned from when Ford had a large presence in that area.
Most builders had a two to three month wait and nearly all of that was Disco and Range Rover with the 3.0SDV6. My wait was only 8 weeks in the end and they did send me loads of photos of the build process.
Others questioned why I didn't just park it on the motorway. That might have saved the engine....but we could have been hot by an artic, so I can live with my laybe decision. What was worse, was the god awful RAC. Registered on the App and we were told 5 hours. Eventually the Highways rang us as four and asked how we were doing and if it was going to be much longer, they would intervene and get us off the motorway.
Eventually a Highways Patrol plonked his XC90 on behind us and said he could get the recovery driver here in 20 minutes (For £190 for 4 miles to the services). I happily accepted that. The RAC patrol eventually called us from his van and we both agreed that he wasn't investigating this on the roadside and of course, his Transit can't tow a 2.5T Range Rover, but RAC protocol means Transit has to arrive and then they call the low loader. It became a farce.
My car was picked up by an external recovery company who took it to a compound in Manchester whilst the AA then Taxi'd us to Enterprise which was 1 hour north and we then drove home. We arrived at 3am having called the RAC at 3pm in the afternoon.
Crikey, what a palaver that was.
However, having had my RR for a few months, I can now totally understand why people are so forgiving of their LR's foibles. When they are working they do make you feel warm and fuzzy.
Hopefully I won't need to be in touch to ask you for the details of your engine builder...
Enjoy your new machine.
However, having had my RR for a few months, I can now totally understand why people are so forgiving of their LR's foibles. When they are working they do make you feel warm and fuzzy.
Hopefully I won't need to be in touch to ask you for the details of your engine builder...
Enjoy your new machine.
Nice colour combination and spec, the petrol models are not that common at all. Will you put a Land Rover warranty on it?
I’ve recently moved from a 2014 D4 to a 2025 D5 D350 Metropolitan, you can’t get a new P360 anymore it’s D350 only, I did look at a few used P360’s.
I miss the larger boot space and more utilitarian interior of the D4. We looked closely at a Defender 110, I like the look of them, but preferred the D5 for everything else.
A used L460 Range Rover is what I really wanted, but it wasn’t really suitable for my day to day use.
I’ve recently moved from a 2014 D4 to a 2025 D5 D350 Metropolitan, you can’t get a new P360 anymore it’s D350 only, I did look at a few used P360’s.
I miss the larger boot space and more utilitarian interior of the D4. We looked closely at a Defender 110, I like the look of them, but preferred the D5 for everything else.
A used L460 Range Rover is what I really wanted, but it wasn’t really suitable for my day to day use.
CB 987 said:
Nice colour combination and spec, the petrol models are not that common at all. Will you put a Land Rover warranty on it?
I’ve recently moved from a 2014 D4 to a 2025 D5 D350 Metropolitan, you can’t get a new P360 anymore it’s D350 only, I did look at a few used P360’s.
I miss the larger boot space and more utilitarian interior of the D4. We looked closely at a Defender 110, I like the look of them, but preferred the D5 for everything else.
A used L460 Range Rover is what I really wanted, but it wasn’t really suitable for my day to day use.
I've paid for Customer Protect 2 year warranty on it. I know it doesn't match the LR warranty and I might elect to add that when the Customer Protect has run out, but My Customer Protect has turbo cover and a decent claim limit. We had a Citroen with Customer Protect on it and it did actually pay out for some work on the Citroen without too much hassle. I’ve recently moved from a 2014 D4 to a 2025 D5 D350 Metropolitan, you can’t get a new P360 anymore it’s D350 only, I did look at a few used P360’s.
I miss the larger boot space and more utilitarian interior of the D4. We looked closely at a Defender 110, I like the look of them, but preferred the D5 for everything else.
A used L460 Range Rover is what I really wanted, but it wasn’t really suitable for my day to day use.
I considered an early i6 MHEV engine, but the reality was that it was going to cost me at least another £15k and I just wasn't willing to stretch myself that far, but hopefully I might be able to get one in a few years time. It also depends what Land Rover do with the D6 as that can suddenly lead to a spike in demand f previous gen cars (Ala D4)
alfabeat said:
Nice car - but white leather with two boys!!?? Are you mad 
All of our cars' interiors are black leather for a reason...rugby and football.....
I do hear where you are coming from All of our cars' interiors are black leather for a reason...rugby and football.....
Yeah, my eldest plays a lot of football too and even when I sold the Range Rover, I was wiping melted galaxy chocolate off the back seats. Thank god is the middle seat in the back as otherwise that would never be coming out the perforated leather of the outer seats. This is when cooled seats are actually a PITA and given how little I use the cooled function, I'd happily live with out as it would make the seats easier to clean.
Light colour interiors are quite rare on the D5 though. So many in black and with the black headlining too and my preference will always be the lighter colours. They do a lovely light brown, but I have only ever seen one of those for sale.
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