Land Rover Discovery 4
Discussion
I’ve been an absolute Land Rover nutter for years and was a regular off roader in my heavily modified Disco 1 and then Defender 90.
All that’s stopped when I had kids and the 90 barely turned a wheel. As it was a toy it was sold to make way for something sporty for a while. That turned out to be a fair while as this was 6 years ago.
My trusty old Honda Accord which I owned since 2013 was starting to show it’s age (180k miles under its belt) and at MoT time in April the tester noted a fair few things that might need addressing come next time, along with it only just edging it emissions after I took it for a blast mid test to warm the cat up.
At this point I decided I’d had enough of faultless reliability and just HAD to have another unreliable POS LR product.
I’ve been on the lookout all summer for a Discovery 4. My criteria was it had to have the 8 speed box as it works so well with the sdv6 and I wanted heated leather, air con, cruise and dab as a minimum.
Ideally I wanted an HSE but my budget (£12k) was at the lower end of the spectrum and as such I needed to compromise somewhere. I ended up finding this ‘Xs with options’ that covers all my needs and most of my wants.
It was a private sale, the owner has ‘lost the service book’ for the first 80k Miles, so I did some sleuthing and discovered it had full LR dealer history. Of course I forgot to mention this to the owner and after some hard bartering from £12.5k we shook hands at £10,800, it’s had a very recent cambelt, discs and pads and tyres all round and also a few other bits done. No sign of the turbo’s being worked on however b
I used the saving to buy a £1000 motor easy 3 year ‘warranty’ hoping that if it suffers the known big issues of turbo or crank failure I’ll be covered.
I’ve had it 3 weeks now and so far no dramas. I never realised I’d find 7 seats so useful, mates I didn’t know I had keep appearing wanting pub trips!
Anyway, enough rambling. Here’s a shot I took after the first time I got it home and washed it. It was clean outside but inside there was dog hair in every nook and cranny, took me 2 hours to clean it out!

All that’s stopped when I had kids and the 90 barely turned a wheel. As it was a toy it was sold to make way for something sporty for a while. That turned out to be a fair while as this was 6 years ago.
My trusty old Honda Accord which I owned since 2013 was starting to show it’s age (180k miles under its belt) and at MoT time in April the tester noted a fair few things that might need addressing come next time, along with it only just edging it emissions after I took it for a blast mid test to warm the cat up.
At this point I decided I’d had enough of faultless reliability and just HAD to have another unreliable POS LR product.

I’ve been on the lookout all summer for a Discovery 4. My criteria was it had to have the 8 speed box as it works so well with the sdv6 and I wanted heated leather, air con, cruise and dab as a minimum.
Ideally I wanted an HSE but my budget (£12k) was at the lower end of the spectrum and as such I needed to compromise somewhere. I ended up finding this ‘Xs with options’ that covers all my needs and most of my wants.
It was a private sale, the owner has ‘lost the service book’ for the first 80k Miles, so I did some sleuthing and discovered it had full LR dealer history. Of course I forgot to mention this to the owner and after some hard bartering from £12.5k we shook hands at £10,800, it’s had a very recent cambelt, discs and pads and tyres all round and also a few other bits done. No sign of the turbo’s being worked on however b
I used the saving to buy a £1000 motor easy 3 year ‘warranty’ hoping that if it suffers the known big issues of turbo or crank failure I’ll be covered.
I’ve had it 3 weeks now and so far no dramas. I never realised I’d find 7 seats so useful, mates I didn’t know I had keep appearing wanting pub trips!

Anyway, enough rambling. Here’s a shot I took after the first time I got it home and washed it. It was clean outside but inside there was dog hair in every nook and cranny, took me 2 hours to clean it out!
ChevronB19 said:
Lot of car for not much cash.
I have a 64Freelander 2 HSE that I bought approved used for 18k 2 years ago! Adore it, have driven the Discovery Sport and didn’t like it, can’t afford a Defender, and the only thing I can think of replacing it is a late Discovery 4.
If you adore it don’t replace it!! Once you find a good ‘un, Cling on, LR’s are among the best vehicles around when working IMHOI have a 64Freelander 2 HSE that I bought approved used for 18k 2 years ago! Adore it, have driven the Discovery Sport and didn’t like it, can’t afford a Defender, and the only thing I can think of replacing it is a late Discovery 4.
That looks great.
Its one of them motors that just looks better every passing year and you didn't appreciate it's rugged but handsome looks until it was gone.
Its replacement is just bland, and if your going to have an offset number plate, do it right like your model...the current one just offends even those that don't even have OCD...
Its one of them motors that just looks better every passing year and you didn't appreciate it's rugged but handsome looks until it was gone.
Its replacement is just bland, and if your going to have an offset number plate, do it right like your model...the current one just offends even those that don't even have OCD...
I think I got lucky value wise, my budget was so tight that I’d been looking for ages, alerts setup everywhere. It was one of those lucky purchases where the owner was plenty well off, he was basically selling it as zero history so needed to drop the price and I think he had seen a fair few tyre kickers.
I think it helped that I’m a bit of a LR beard because he was talking all the time about how nostalgic it made him feel about his dads serial LR ownership as a kid.
Also the HSE’s fetch a fair wedge more than the XS. I barely saw any HSE under my 12k budget unless they were moon mileage or no history.
It’s black leather inside which I don’t mind. The nirvana for me would have been blue outside and cream inside but at my budget beggars can’t be choosers.
I think it helped that I’m a bit of a LR beard because he was talking all the time about how nostalgic it made him feel about his dads serial LR ownership as a kid.
Also the HSE’s fetch a fair wedge more than the XS. I barely saw any HSE under my 12k budget unless they were moon mileage or no history.
It’s black leather inside which I don’t mind. The nirvana for me would have been blue outside and cream inside but at my budget beggars can’t be choosers.
eltax91 said:
I think I got lucky value wise, my budget was so tight that I’d been looking for ages, alerts setup everywhere. It was one of those lucky purchases where the owner was plenty well off, he was basically selling it as zero history so needed to drop the price and I think he had seen a fair few tyre kickers.
I think it helped that I’m a bit of a LR beard because he was talking all the time about how nostalgic it made him feel about his dads serial LR ownership as a kid.
Also the HSE’s fetch a fair wedge more than the XS. I barely saw any HSE under my 12k budget unless they were moon mileage or no history.
It’s black leather inside which I don’t mind. The nirvana for me would have been blue outside and cream inside but at my budget beggars can’t be choosers.
Yeah after my previous “incident” I think it helped that I’m a bit of a LR beard because he was talking all the time about how nostalgic it made him feel about his dads serial LR ownership as a kid.
Also the HSE’s fetch a fair wedge more than the XS. I barely saw any HSE under my 12k budget unless they were moon mileage or no history.
It’s black leather inside which I don’t mind. The nirvana for me would have been blue outside and cream inside but at my budget beggars can’t be choosers.
supplying dealer and full LR history was important to me and it had to be HSE (I like the arm rests amongst other things!) with black leather and piano black. miniman said:
It does look great value, mine’s an few months older HSE with 60k and full (supplying) dealer history, but I paid a *lot* more than that!
As did I, £35k albeit 5 years ago. Mine’s an HSE 8 speed 12 MY. No dpf or stop-start rubbish which I’m grateful for. Maintenance is everything on these and so long as you look after it, it will do the same for you. Mine certainly hasn’t missed a beat in the time I’ve owned it.eltax91 said:
PSB1 said:
I still have an OEM plastic floor cover for the boot. Anybody want it?
That would be ace if it’s available. Muddy football boots will be regular in mine. PM me how much you want for it bud and where you’re located.
miniman said:
It does look great value, mine’s an few months older HSE with 60k and full (supplying) dealer history, but I paid a *lot* more than that!
Likewise. Makes me smile when I read the Porsche threads worrying about depreciation!I wouldn't swap it. Does everything you can ever want it to whilst at the same time being able to waft you along on long journeys.
A complete interior LED replacement is a quick, cheap and very effective Top Tip. Rubber mats throughout is another one. Enjoy it!
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