What car, Discovery 4 or X5?

[Dover Nige]

Out of curiosity, have you considered a Land Cruiser?

[aponting389]

speaking from experience... ive owned both a disco 3 HSE and an X5 40d

the discovery is comfy, fairly refined, terribly slow (2.7 TDV6) and horrible in corners. image is ok i guess but who cares. pretty good off road with the right tyres

X5... very, very fast a to b car, drives pretty well when pushing on a bit (for a big car). not as practical for moving people/things around. never got stuck once in about 14 months of ownership (it had dueller tyres) living and working on a farm

[Davel]

The new SD 3 litre in the Disco 4 is better but still wastes time searching for a gear on starting off.

[gizlaroc]

X5 will be replaced very soon, so expect to loose shed loads on one if you are buying up to 2 years old.

Disco 4 holds its value extremely well, especially if you don't want a really high spec one.

Friend of mine just traded his early D4, it was the 2.7 diesel and he paid £33k for it after some discount, and he has just sold it for £25k nearly 3 years later with 50k miles on it, and it went in less than a week.

The X5 would have been £50k to still be worth that.

Massive difference in overall costs of the two, and even more so when you have the old X5.

[jonnynine11]

300bhp/ton said:

Out of these two I'd opt for the D4 easy. Although I daresay the X5 is faster and more car like.. but then I'd rather just have a car if that's the case.

That said, how many people do you actually need to transport? I'm guessing this current role is being filled by the 1 Series?

Five kids, 19, 12, 2x9 and 7. The eldest has her own car now and doesn't often come out with us. The VW kombi was doing the job of ferrying us all about, 997 my toy, 1 series for the wife. Although the VW is nice, the 997 hardly gets used so I thought get rid of that and the BMW and get the 7 seater as a nice all rounder.

[Davel]

We spent a week in the 7 seater Disco 4 touring Cornwall.

Me, the wife and in-laws (so 4 adults)

A 16 year old daughter and twin boys of 14 years old.

I really don't think that the X5 or Q7 would do that.

[Zod]

aponting389 said:

speaking from experience... ive owned both a disco 3 HSE and an X5 40d

the discovery is comfy, fairly refined, terribly slow (2.7 TDV6) and horrible in corners. image is ok i guess but who cares. pretty good off road with the right tyres

X5... very, very fast a to b car, drives pretty well when pushing on a bit (for a big car). not as practical for moving people/things around. never got stuck once in about 14 months of ownership (it had dueller tyres) living and working on a farm

This man speaks sense. Unless you need to do lots of serious off-road work, get the X5 (buy secondhand, as the new one will be on the road here in 2014). The Discovery is mind-numbingly slow.

[anonymous-user]

Zod said:

aponting389 said:

speaking from experience... ive owned both a disco 3 HSE and an X5 40d

the discovery is comfy, fairly refined, terribly slow (2.7 TDV6) and horrible in corners. image is ok i guess but who cares. pretty good off road with the right tyres

X5... very, very fast a to b car, drives pretty well when pushing on a bit (for a big car). not as practical for moving people/things around. never got stuck once in about 14 months of ownership (it had dueller tyres) living and working on a farm

This man speaks sense. Unless you need to do lots of serious off-road work, get the X5 (buy secondhand, as the new one will be on the road here in 2014). The Discovery is mind-numbingly slow.

Agreed. X5 is the best bet even if it does have a dubious image.

[David911RSR]

Zod said:

his man speaks sense. Unless you need to do lots of serious off-road work, get the X5 (buy secondhand, as the new one will be on the road here in 2014). The Discovery is mind-numbingly slow.

Agreed if you are referring to the Disco 3 however, the OP is considering a D4 which was a vast improvement on the D3 in every respect.

Edited by David911RSR on Thursday 27th September 10:50

[Budleigh]

I'd also get the Disco, but that's because it's a nicer place to sit than the X5. I don't get the image/chav anxiety that bedevils the UK though - a Disco 4 has massive wheels, fairy lights and my neighbours wouldn't be able to tell the illicitness or lack thereof of my income if I parked either a D4 or an X5 on my drive. Also, going out of my way to appear old-money/Jolly Farmer Brown/ an upstanding member of the community for the sake of the neighbours strikes me as just as much a faux-pas as donning my trainers and kicking about in a dark-windowed X5.

Drive both, see what suits you.

[R60EST]

A lot of insurance companies have increased premiums across the board on BMWs in light of the ease in which they can be stolen . D4 would be my choice of the two but also I think the Q7 or even a Land Cruiser would be better in the long term

[whoami]

R60EST said:

A lot of insurance companies have increased premiums across the board on BMWs in light of the ease in which they can be stolen . D4 would be my choice of the two but also I think the Q7 or even a Land Cruiser would be better in the long term

Why?

[R60EST]

whoami said:

R60EST said:

A lot of insurance companies have increased premiums across the board on BMWs in light of the ease in which they can be stolen . D4 would be my choice of the two but also I think the Q7 or even a Land Cruiser would be better in the long term

Why?

For the theft /insurance reasons alone I wouldn't choose any BMW at the moment

Of the two that leaves the D4

As the OP says it's going to be a long term keeper then as he's already gleaned the D4 may have plenty of niggles further down the line. That's why I would consider a Land Cruiser , reliable and good residuals. a 15 yr old Amazon can still command a £10k asking price. The Q7 is more of a personal preference for me , I like the looks despite what others think and I feel, having owned products from LR and Audi back to back that Audi is better made and is likely to be less trouble in the long run .

[Zod]

David911RSR said:

Zod said:

his man speaks sense. Unless you need to do lots of serious off-road work, get the X5 (buy secondhand, as the new one will be on the road here in 2014). The Discovery is mind-numbingly slow.

Agreed if you are referring to the Disco 3 however, the OP is considering a D4 which was a vast improvement on the D3 is every respect.

It's still very, very slow.

[Zod]

R60EST said:

A lot of insurance companies have increased premiums across the board on BMWs in light of the ease in which they can be stolen . D4 would be my choice of the two but also I think the Q7 or even a Land Cruiser would be better in the long term

Read the thread. Not a single one has so far.

[JSquaredJim]

R60EST said:

The Q7 is more of a personal preference for me , I like the looks despite what others think and I feel, having owned products from LR and Audi back to back that Audi is better made and is likely to be less trouble in the long run .

So you wouldn't class all the 3.0 V6 Tdi engines that have started to randomly grenade themselves as a small "trouble"?
Remember, every car has problems and that's what you hear about on t'internet.
Disco 4 for my money

[LeoSayer]

whoami said:

Do you have an X5

Might have ...without drug dealers wheels, without the body kit and with M&S tyres.

[jonnynine11]

I know the Internet forums only ever get the horror stories, had the same with the 997, IMS/RMS, bore scoring etc, but it ran faultless (although my previous 996 had about 6k spent on the engine). It looks like it'll be see what fits and take the chance as any one does with a used car. I just didn't want to make a mistake and spend the hard earned on something that might end up sat in a workshop. Maybe a Q7 is worth a second look, the Toyota doesn't do anything for me. I'll get all the kids together and go round the dealers, I'm sure they'll love that

[sjc]

Zod said:

David911RSR said:

Zod said:

his man speaks sense. Unless you need to do lots of serious off-road work, get the X5 (buy secondhand, as the new one will be on the road here in 2014). The Discovery is mind-numbingly slow.

Agreed if you are referring to the Disco 3 however, the OP is considering a D4 which was a vast improvement on the D3 is every respect.

It's still very, very slow.

No it's not.It's got enough mid-range to keep with with any traffic, cruise all day at 90 in comfort and silence other than a bit of wind noise.Jesus, when I jump in my wifes Disco from my M400 I never ever think "FFS this thing is slow".An utterly rediculous Clarkson like statement.

[OscarIndia]

Zod said:

David911RSR said:

Zod said:

his man speaks sense. Unless you need to do lots of serious off-road work, get the X5 (buy secondhand, as the new one will be on the road here in 2014). The Discovery is mind-numbingly slow.

Agreed if you are referring to the Disco 3 however, the OP is considering a D4 which was a vast improvement on the D3 is every respect.

It's still very, very slow.

Very slow? I have the new D4 with the uprated engine and new gearbox. I would not call it slow.
Considering this was a replacement for my E55k Merc I think that says something.
How are you defining slow? 0-60 will not be groundbreaking, but once moving it has great acceleration, more than enough to overtake when needed and hustles along very nicely.
Have you driven the new one? My D3 I will admit was not quick, but the new one has moved the game on nicely.