New Family Car - Discovery 4 or Landcruiser Amazon?

[RoseLagonda]

We need a new family car and have narrowed down the choice to either a Discovery 4 or an Amazon Landcruiser.

I have been driving a '95 Subaru Forester Sport for the last ten years but it is not really big enough for us anymore.

The new car has to tick these boxes:

- Have light off-roading capabilities
- Be high off the ground
- Be comfortable in the back for 3 growing kids
- Be able to gobble up motorway miles but not be miserably boring to drive
- To cost around £12k and not have massive running costs

I have no interest in all the electronic bells and whistles stuff like satnav etc. but would like bluetooth...

I tend to stick with my cars once I get them so am looking for a long term commitment and would be really grateful for any advice.

Thank you!

[jason61c]

Landcruiser every day of the week.

It'll cost less to run and hold its money better also.

[RoseLagonda]

Thought so!

Will it be comfortable to drive? I'm sort of looking forward to having a modern car experience for once... my subaru is pretty basic and there is nothing 'comfortable' about it!

[cheerfulcharlie]

Have no experience of Landcruiser's but have had 3 Discoverys (2 3's & a 4) - effectively the same car.

They are lovely places to be if you have a long way to go - the last one we had was a 4 and it was faultless over the 3 yrs we had it - (can't say that for the other ones). I think by the time they had got to the 4 they had figured out how to make a reasonably reliable car.

The big advantage I found was space in the back as it has 3 specific seats rather than 2 + middle seat. Having 3 kids in the back made that much easier to manage. Longest trip we went on was down to the Algarve and back and it was super comfy all the way.

[RoseLagonda]

Thank you

[Walter Sobchak]

Disco 4 will be nicer to drive, faster,better on fuel,newer and more likely to have issues, Landcruiser Amazon will be older,tough as old boots and hold it’s money very well, up to you really, personally I like both of them a lot.
Either of them will be more than up to the task of light off roading duties!.

Edited by Walter Sobchak on Monday 14th September 18:24

[edthedead]

Disco 4 get stolen and rung, a lot. If you decide to get one my advice would be buy from a reputable dealer, definitely not some geezer in a pub car park for cash because it's a good deal!

[Superleg48]

Any Land Rover product, whilst undoubtedly capable on paper, will see you develop a close working relationship with a breakdown company.

A Toyota Land Cruiser Amazon, will on the other hand, be indestructible.

I would have the latter. A V8 one at that.

[ChocolateFrog]

You'll get a newer Disco but my choice would still be the Landcruiser.

I'm looking for one myself but can't justify 10k for a rotten one with 200k (and most of them are rotten)

There's a sweet spot of 2005 models that have all the nice facelift bits inc the 5 speed auto but don't incur the £570 tax. But you pay more still for these.

£12k will probably get you a 2003ish model with the facelift interior minus the newer gearbox but it'll still have atleast 150k on the clock.

Some dealers are asking as much as £30k for 2006/07 models that have under 100k, totally mental.

[david mcc]

The landcruiser is the best of those two by a mile but test drive one first. I found them very soft and wandery when driven above 50mph on country roads or on the motorway.

I ended up with an XC90 which was much more car like to drive.