RE: The Land Rover Discovery at 30

[legless]

Walter Sobchak said:

camel_landy said:

Yeeeessss.... Gearbox oil changes every 80k help extend the life.

M

someone on here a while ago said the ZF 6 speeds in the Supercharged and TDV8s have stronger internals and are less likely to fail, I’m not sure if there’s any truth in that though?.

Yep - the Supercharged and TDV8 used the stronger 6HP28 gearbox. The lesser powered ones used the 6HP26.

[legless]

300bhp/ton said:

Well yes that is my exact point. And they did make a V8 D4, they just decided not to sell it in the UK. The USA and ROW markets got the V8. 4.4 n.a. AJV8.

The export V8 D4 used the 5.0 AJ133.

The only other slightly odd export engine in the D3 was the 4.0 Cologne V6.

[cb31]

Mates dad had an early v8, great fun going on the beach in it and it seemed very special at the time. I had a lift in a diesel version of it a few years ago, horrific. Can't ever remember such a noisy uncultured powertrain, nothing like I remembered the v8.

I had a D4 HSE, brilliant car. Had it just over 3 years and it never went wrong at all, just yearly servicing. Kids were gutted when it got swapped for a Volvo v90. The gopping D5 made me change brands, awful looking thing no matter how competent it is.

[anonymous-user]

300bhp/ton said:

Brooking10 said:

It's not just the cost of making them though.

It's the cost of marketing, servicing, inventory and administration for a model derivative which would have sold in tiny numbers in UK and EU markets at the time.

I doubt either of us will know anything for sure. But marketing?? Nope, all it is is a line in the brochure. Which are usually pretty generic anyhow. So may have cost them more to remove it. It's not as if they had a bespoke TV ad just for the V8.

And servicing/inventory also unlikely as almost all the parts would be stocked for the RRS anyway.

Ultimately we will never likely know the real answer.

We do.

It wasn’t worth their while commercially.

[camel_landy]

Brooking10 said:

300bhp/ton said:

Ultimately we will never likely know the real answer.

We do.

Indeed... If some people listened, rather than arguing the toss all the time, they might realize there are some on this forum who work (or have worked) behind those 'closed doors' and do actually know. Sometimes information is 'public domain' and can be talked about freely but there's a lot of stuff which isn't, so IMO it's worth learning how to take a hint and to pick battles carefully.

M

[300bhp/ton]

legless said:

The export V8 D4 used the 5.0 AJ133.

The only other slightly odd export engine in the D3 was the 4.0 Cologne V6.

Thanks you are correct it wold have been the 5.0 litre by then.

Yes the 4.0 litre petrol V6 entry model. I guess the TDV6 was probably a better bet and similar performance though. But the V8's would be nice. All of the D3 4.4's seem to have Starship Enterprise mileages on them when I've looked too.

[300bhp/ton]

Brooking10 said:

We do.

It wasn’t worth their while commercially.

No, you only think you know....

[300bhp/ton]

A.J.M said:

No 300. It is fking awful.
I drove it plenty, I towed with it and even the owner admitted he wished he got the auto. .

Having also driven one. I just don't agree.

fking awful would be something like a Yugo and it really isn't. With a manual box, the D3 is still a D3, so the rest of it is 100% the same. Claiming the entire vehicle is "fking awful" just because of a manual gearbox is pretty stupid tbh.

And as far as manuals go, it is very much on par with any other.

[camel_landy]

300bhp/ton said:

Having also driven one. I just don't agree.

Well colour me surprised...

M

[legless]

300bhp/ton said:

A.J.M said:

No 300. It is fking awful.
I drove it plenty, I towed with it and even the owner admitted he wished he got the auto. .

Having also driven one. I just don't agree.

fking awful would be something like a Yugo and it really isn't. With a manual box, the D3 is still a D3, so the rest of it is 100% the same. Claiming the entire vehicle is "fking awful" just because of a manual gearbox is pretty stupid tbh.

And as far as manuals go, it is very much on par with any other.

I drove plenty of D3s for many thousands of miles when I worked for JLR. It was 3 years into the model cycle before I drove my first one with a manual box.

I really didn't get on with it to be honest. Maybe it's because I'd spent so much time behind the wheel of auto examples, but in my opinion the manual really didn't suit the car.

Part of L319's appeal was its 'velvet steamroller' approach to driving. Very laid back and very relaxed. The manual seemed completely at odds with this, almost like a manual box would on a Bentley.

I'd agree that it wasn't fking awful, and it didn't completely ruin the car, but I personally wasn't a fan.

[anonymous-user]

300bhp/ton said:

Brooking10 said:

We do.

It wasn’t worth their while commercially.

No, you only think you know....

Oh I forgot I’m not the CFO of JLR

I’d love to know what you think the underlying reason might be.

[A.J.M]

300bhp/ton said:

Having also driven one. I just don't agree.

fking awful would be something like a Yugo and it really isn't. With a manual box, the D3 is still a D3, so the rest of it is 100% the same. Claiming the entire vehicle is "fking awful" just because of a manual gearbox is pretty stupid tbh.

And as far as manuals go, it is very much on par with any other.

The car is fine. Hence I own one.

The manual ruins it. It’s not a car for a manual, it doesn’t suit the nature of the car and the delivery of the engine. It’s a car for an auto and suits the nature of the car car better.

Funnily enough, I know 5 people who have had/still own manual D3s.
All 5 wish they had the auto. One guy did 167,000 miles in his manual so had plenty of use from it.
3 now have D4s, with auto and all love the car.


If you like it then fine. I ain’t changing my opinion on the manual box.
It’s fking awful and I will stand by that.

[Art0ir]

I owned this monstrosity one particularly bad winter. The zebra paint job came with the purchase and I did attempt to remove it - done originally with emulsion paint and a roller brush I believe -but gave up as it was too cold (2010-2011 winter).

300TDI, completely unstoppable. I left it sitting for a week and jumped in one morning and it sprung into life before I’d even finished turning the key the whole way, in -20c.

I sold it when the country thawed as I had an e46 at the time and was struggling to keep both on the road as a student. The bmw also needed a lot of work after sitting up for two months in those temperatures.

Guy I sold it to exported it to South Africa and I love to hope that it’s blazing across a dirt road complete with the stripes to this day.

Edited by Art0ir on Saturday 13th July 02:42

Edited by Art0ir on Saturday 13th July 02:43

[BogleDog64]

No mention of the Discovery MK4 which was probably the high water mark for the brand. Sophisticated while rugged and less troubled by problems than the previous model.
Land Rover has gone down the same route as many other marques with their family identity to the extent that they have become almost indistinguishable from each other. Does the market really need the current line up? I wonder what goes through the minds of potential customers when pondering the purchase of a new Discovery, Discovery Sport, Range Rover Sport or Velar. I wish the brand had the same courage as Mercedes with the G Class and Suzuki with the Jimny.