Land Rover Discovery (2004 - 2017) 3.0 TDV6 HSE 5d Auto Owner Review

When you buy a Land Rover, you’re buying into a long heritage of capable off road vehicles, over-engineered for typical road use. This over engineering (chassis strength and towing ability) is expensive to buy and run, and a large heavy permanent 4x4 with air suspension is going to be hard wearing on suspension and brakes, so budget at least £1,000 per year for servicing and repairs and you won’t be disappointed in terms of running costs. In terms of reliability, it’s the usual story; buy a car which has been regularly serviced (that means regular oil changes) and ideally serviced or at least MOT’d by a garage which knows its onions, and they’ll catch anything that needs doing. There are reports of engines going bang, but it’s difficult to say how big this issue is. If you’re concerned, buy a car with an extended warranty. We’re not concerned. The car wears through brakes at a rate of knots, but the brakes are good and reassuring. Likewise the lower front and upper rear wishbone bushes wear over time and the arms need replacing. If it’s the first time they’re being replaced, you might want to get a garage to do the work, as one or both are likely to be seized and will require cutting out. Otherwise the job is within the reach of the DIY mechanic (same goes with the brakes). On older cars look for rusty brake pipes as this will be an expensive fix. The air compressor is another wear item which is not picked up (the LR service guide recommends replacing the dryer at 75,000 miles), but it is rarely the compressor that is faulty, but the dryer unit (a vessel filled with silica gel) which gets clogged and caked up over time. If you get a ‘normal height only available’ warning, it’s likely that your dryer needs replacing. This is a sub £100 fix and can be done DIY, so don’t pay the garage £750 for a new compressor, it’s not necessary. I removed and rebuilt the Hitachi compressor on ours at 110k with no vice and minimal tools (apart from the dryer it was in perfect condition) for £140. The garage wanted £750+vat plus fitting. Garages will take the piss if you let them, the gains on these big complex cars are too juicy to pass. The compressor is easy to remove and service yourself with minimal tools, (Google 4x4 air seals) In terms of fuel economy, ours is a 3.0 TDV6 which has no DPF (expect smokey cold starts) and we get 27mpg which is ok for a big car but could be better. The SDV6 from 2012 has a DPF and gets better mileage into early 30s. Still not great but this is a big heavy car, so I don’t expect miracles. It’s a shame they never fitted the 4.4 TDV8 as this gets around the same fuel consumption as the 3.0 TDV6 with more gusto. The 3.0 isn’t lacking punch, it’ll shove you down the road with purpose, but it’s not a sports car by any means. It’s more like piloting a boat than driving a car. Captains hat optional. In terms of chassis dynamics and fuel consumption, buy the latest car you can afford as improvements came every year, but there were many chassis and steering tweaks from 2012 onwards which improve the driving dynamics, so a low mileage 2012-2016 car with an extended LR warranty, would be a good car to test drive if you’re looking. If you’re used to driving road cars, when you get into a Land Rover it’ll take you a while to recalibrate to what is a proper heavy SUV, with tested off-road credentials. But once you sit back and relax into the cosseting air suspension and delight in the top notch hifi system, you’re experiencing something of a Range Rover experience, albeit not quite as well bolted together, but for less money. The interior is huge, and a nice place to be. Visibility is excellent, and you’ll have no qualms about threading your enormous truck down narrow country lanes. The boxy styling helps you know exactly where the corners are, but a reverse camera is essential, so avoid the cheaper specs and go with HSE as a minimum. It is a utility vehicle though, so lots of hard wearing cheaper plastics lower down, and the fit and finish are not up to RR standards. But the functionality of the vehicle is enormous. With the seats all down you have a large van, with all 7 seats up you can have a minivan - transport 7 full sized adults in comfort, plus some luggage. You can fit three child seats across the back seats, you do need to check the widths, and only the outer two have isofix, so maybe not the car for triplets. The Harmon Kardon soundsystem is great, ours has rear seat entertainment with a DVD changer in the boot. The infotainment system is obviously dated, but you can get Bluetooth adaptors which stream Spotify etc from your phone. The satnav is dreadful (it defaults to Belgium for some reason), but who uses those anyway, you’re more likely to use Waze or Google or Apple Maps from your phone. Ours has remote heat, which you can programme to come on in the morning to preheat the cabin. It’s difficult not to be smug when your 10 yr old car is running it’s Fuel Burning Heater and defrosting your car while you eat your breakfast, while your neighbour scrapes the ice off his £60k brand new BMW X6 If you’re handy with the spanners, then these cars are plenty easy enough to work on yourself, certainly in terms of brakes, suspension, oil and filter changes (you can suck the oil out so don’t even need to drain it from the bottom plug). If you change suspension arms, you’ll need to get 4 wheel alignment done. Oil and filter changes are key to engine life to do these more regularly. Fuel filter needs water trap emptied and replacing every other service, and the rear brake shoes need adjusting at each service but there are guides online (Google Bodsy’s Brake Bible) What is most reassuring about LR, is there are many fans, enthusiasts which will mean these vehicles - provided they are well looked after - will keep on going for many years to come. If you buy a late model D4 with an extended warranty, and keep on renewing it, you’ll have a keeper for many years. If you’ve never driven a proper heavy 4x4 take one of these for an extended test drive, over the worst roads you can find, and you may be surprised at the results. You will either love it, or hate it. I personally love the heritage that goes into these cars, and I’m glad we bought ours, as it’s difficult to imagine what else does this much for the same money.