The Land Rover Discovery 4 is Annoyingly Good.... at Everything.

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Today on the channel, I drive the country cousin of the Porsche Cayenne - Land Rover's Discovery 4. Built on a new platform the Discovery 3 and 4 were intended to bring a more affordable alternative to the Range Rover to the market. Now they're some of the cheapest Land Rovers out there - are they worth buying?

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[JayEmmOnCars]

CarVertical: The History Checking Service
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[benhall]

I love mine. I've owned it nearly from new. Does everything brilliantly and has been 100% reliable over the 7 years i've owned it.... apart from getting stolen. Currently awaiting its return.

[simonk]

I have zero need for a disco, but I've wanted one for years. Absolutely no idea why!

[steffenchristmas]

As a die hard Land Cruiser fan and owner I'll happily agree that the Disco 4 is a real high point for Land Rover. They really nailed the design, capability and practicality side of the vehicle. As an aside we had a top spec Disco 5 for a while which was an absolute disaster of a (very costly) vehicle. I can totally see why so many owners have hung on to the 4.

[landhopper]

A Disco is not an SUV. It’s a 4x4, a touring vehicle, limo and family hold-all. 10 years and 180, 000 trouble free miles. Awesome machine.

[HighPeakAutos]

Great video. I love the disco 4. For me it’s peak LR

[jntdad]

Big fan of the Disco 4 - I have a 2015 SE Tech model developing 255 BHP - 600 Newton meters of Torque and weights 2.7 tonnes when fully fuelled and lubed - Stop start Tech and Ad-blue reduces emissions. I have owned mine for 7 years / 80, 000 miles and had just one issue - the transfer box developed an oil leak which my local garage cured for 60 quid. I have been all over the Highlands and islands seeking forestry tracks and cattle paths over mountain passes - on Islay we rented a house that had no road to it and we needed the Disco just to get there. I have transported 7 full size adults (my family are not Hobbits) in comfort for reasonable distances (no room for much luggage in 7 seat mode though) - also transported a nieces wardrobe to new home and picked up ballast from builders merchants, taken rubble and full height freezer to tip. You get the idea - it will do most things from white van/mini bus to when cleaned and polished a classy comfy and fairly luxury car. But the reason I am smitten is the off road capability - nothing stupid but it will go further than any SUV - because it is not an SUV but a 4 X 4.

[berttroubleyn]

My dad bought an early Disco 4 SDV6, with cloth seats and virtually no options, BUT with the optional locking rear diff.
The thing was unbeatable offroad and very capable on road.
My brother took it out of his hands and used it primarily for hunting trips... to Slovenia. He left on Friday afternoon, went hunting on Saturday and returned fresh as a fish on Sunday.
Very, very good car, that thing. Really!

[wandering_not_lost]

I've driven a Discovery 3 for the past ten years it now has 170, 000 miles on it and although it's cost me plenty in maintenance and spares (air compressor, gearbox refurb, prop shaft, turbo) it has never let me down or stranded me at the roadside. Driving it gives me a feeling of unstopability, as if I could drive it up a mountain if I wanted to, as indeed Mr Clarkson did with one on Top Gear.

[reality-cheque]

Thanks for the video. I don't understand why LR products have a poor reputation for reliability. I'm on my 4th Range Rover (L405 - TDV6), having started with an L322 V8 in 2004. All, did over 100, 000 miles and one did 184, 000, without missing a beat. None let me down, but the important thing is to maintain them. They are expensive cars and need regular maintenance. I've just driven almost non-stop from the Swiss Alps and the journey was effortless and very quiet (double glazed glass) and I get 600 miles from a 68 litre fuel tank! 
I tow a 3 tonne boat and also use mine for shooting and have General Grabber AT3 tyres - which I highly recommend to Derek when he replaces the Goodyear Wranglers on his Disco 4.

[joelsmith]

I’ve got a Discovery 4 and agree, it’s annoyingly good. The looks are better than the Discovery 5, as is the turning circle (which is amazing and makes it incredibly easy to drive in town) and the load bay is easier to use for large items because it’s basically a square entry. The new Defender doesn’t have rear seats that fold flat into the floor and doesn’t have a rear tailgate that opens vertically. That doesn’t sound like a big deal but when camping we sit on the rear shelf with the door opened above us - it shelters from rain and/or sun! And we fold the seats down, lay out a camping mattress on the completely flat floor and sleep in the back. Awesome. We rarely use the full 7 seats but when the extended family visit we do - and when not in use, the seats disappear completely into the floor. So basically Land Rover made a car that is now impossible for me to replace. I’ve got my fingers crossed that they get the Discovery 6 right in a couple of years - in the meantime I’ll keep on trucking with the ridiculously competent and handsome Disco 4.

[simonuden]

The one you were driving is Euro V compatible, with a DPF. The very last of the Discovery 4s, like the last 9 to 12 months had a Euro VI engine which took DEF (Ad-Blu) and it's ULEZ compliant. I assure you the seats in those cars are extremely comfortable for long trips. I took mine to Mayrhofen in Austria twice, and on both occasions I did the return trip to the UK Midlands in about 15 hours (with fuel and food stops) on a single day, and was fresh as a daisy when I got back. You breezed over the load capability. With the two rear rows of seats down, there is a flat floor over six feet long in the back, and the tailgate is wide and tall, so loading and unloading are a breeze. Try getting stuff that size into a new Defender! The third row seats were designed from the beginning to be big enough for 95% percentile adults. I'm 6' 2" and about the same around, and I can fit in there, but there's next to no boot space left with the third row up.

[johnwillett]

I got my Discovery 4 Landmark last August - registered in September 2016, so one of the very last. It only had 34k on the clock and still looked brand new. I had it professionally Lanoguarded this week as I plan on keeping it for a long time and I went to PowerfulUK and have swapped any filament lights to LED (ie: number plate lights, rear fog and reversing, puddle lights and internal lights - will swap the front fog lights as soon as Powerful UK get them back in stock. Absolutely wonderful vehicle that I just want to heep driving. 👍

[mickr]

Bought my Disco 4 in 2017, still have it and I'm totally in love with it. Understated looks, excellent capability, brilliant second row seats with a huge luggage space. Just one issue during my time of ownership was both Air Mass units. Can't complain at all. Keeping it for many more years to come.

[pentagrammotorsport]

I have a Discovery 3 SE 2.7 TDV6 on the Goodyear Duratracs and it’s sublime. 7 full sized seats, as comfortable on the motorway as my living room and a truly fantastic tow vehicle. We do live in rural west Durham. I can’t imagine it’s much fun in a city but I adore mine.

[PaulB-justme]

I had one of these for a couple of years - a TDV6 HSE luxury and it was a wonderful car! We were using it to pull a big caravan, and (apart from MPG!) it was perfect! It was comfortable, apart from being a bit upright for really long journeys, and was great as a load carrier (the amount we got in the back from an IKEA trip still amazes me!) We got rid of it when we were downsizing the caravan and no longer needed a car of this size. We were also having some problems with the turbo oil feed which the specialist had 'fixed' once, but was stilloccurring - that and the cost of fuel resigned it to the list of past cars owned (although, if I could afford one again I would happily get one!)

[remizovk]

Great video Jay!

Got a final run top spec one of these. It is the Swiss Army knife of cars: luxury (proper) 4x4, (proper) 7 seater, occasional transit van. Will tow 3.5 tons!
It feels like driving in your favourite (heated) armchair - you just don’t feel chewing through serious miles in this.

The SDV6 and 8 speed ZF work nicely together with lots of pull low down in the rev range. LR tweaked the gearbox mapping to make it more responsive for the ad-blue version.
The flappy paddles aren’t something you’ll use much but are useful holding gears either while going downhill or when towing.

Make no mistake though - 2.5 tons is expensive to maintain: chews through pads, discs and tyres. It’s complicated with transfer case, air suspension, two turbos - so when they go wrong or wear out it will sting!

Will average high 20s mpg if you drive like a nun, 30s at sensible motorway speeds. If I wasn’t worried about ULEZ I’d get the 2014 XXV anniversary trim as that has almost all options (HSE Luxury and more).

Get one with a full service history and be aware of expensive service milestones around the 112k/7 year mark with the cambelts needing replacement.

There is also the issue of the crank going… which is a bit of a lottery. Regular oil changes may spare you a replacement engine…

[TheLaXandro]

Have one in the family. It's surprisingly reliable. There are electrical gremlins like right rear door not locking with the rest (but unlocking just fine) and key randomly dropping off, needing to restart the car to get it to recognize it again, but drivetrain-wise it's been bulletproof.

[Bjornlovesjazz]

as a LR disco 4 owner, and disco 4 lover, i plan to keep mine till i'm a 100 years old!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE it!

[spiritzen]

Always impressed by your videos, you should be on prime-time TV my lad. Love the Disco 4, once I get a bigger garage I'm going to get myself one.