Discovery 4

New Car Diary gives an expected arrival of October 2009.

Axle

"Its a shame because the disco 3 "IS" a very good unit, so if they have improved off this model then the Discovery 4 should be a cracker!!."

Grammatically I think that should read "Bomb" not cracker. LOL. Just kidding mate.

You are right about support, in all of Sydney there are maybe only 3-4 dealers for a population of near 4million people.
Cheers, Colin.

Hi Colin,

Its hard to know what their thinking!, Just maybe landrover think that their vehicles are so reliable their customers don't need any support when off the beaten track!!..LOLlol. ...And just maybe Toyo have a dealer on every corner of every town in this country because their worried about their product making the distance!...hahahahaha,!! "The mind Boggles".



Cheers Axle.

"In all of Sydney there are maybe only 3-4 dealers"

Isn't that all they need given there is only 3 or 4 Disco's in all of Sydney?? :-))

HERE we go Again!!!.



Axle.

Axle & John
well done boys, 2 good retorts.
Colin

My thoughts exactly Axle, I've gone to the darkside after one problem which couldn't be fixed anywhere except Perth.
I had extended the warranty after the 3 year original had run out and LRA/RACWA couldn't have responded better, immediately offering to take the vehicle (Td5 Defender) plus camper back to Perth or on to Karratha where there was a dealer at that time.
Pity the lack of interest by Austrans meant it took 3 weeks to get it back to Perth!!!
I met another longtime LR owner in Quobba last week who's doing the same thing and going Jap after having to be flatbedded 1500 kays back to a dealer in Q/Land after a gearbox failure, and finding that although Darwin was closer it couldn't be fixed there.
LR obviously don't want to be bothered with those that either live out of town or venture away from it.
Alan.

The disco 3 was winning hands down in the 4WD Action FWDOTYear a couple of years ago until it was driven across a creek crossing in Nth QLD. All the other vehicles made it but not the disco. Landrover accused the magazine of using the vehicle inappropriately & all types of letters were exchanged by the Mag crew & LRA (allegedly). Finally LRA issued an apology (after legal action was threatened. allegedly) to the mag when the latter offered all of their video footage & still shots of all vehicles making the crossing. Every vehicle had a car bra fitted & the only vehicle to fail...disco 3. This type of poor publicity time & time again brings the disco down. I have had Rangies & disco's that were good cars, however the old reliable Tojo, Pootrol & Pajero are just that reliable. I am not knockung the Disco I am just giving an opinion...imagine paying $87,000 for a topline Disco, pack your family up and put the C/T on behind & get up Nth of Townsville following other friends in their 4x4 and your vehicle just stops & must be flat topped towed back to Townsville!!! LRA MUST give the motoring public faith in the vehicle they produce by doing what Mitsubishi Motors have done 5 year Road side assist,5 year warranty & 10 years warranty on driveline & motor. THEN they will sell more vehicles & possibly instill some degree of faith in their vehicle.

"The disco 3 was winning hands down in the 4WD Action FWDOTYear a couple of years ago"

Yeah until LRA pulled the advertising spend with the respective magazine and the mags suddenly changed their mind about who is the 4wd of the year.

Not that I would suggest that he who coughs up with the most advertising dollars suddenly wins 4wd of the year. :-)

Are you all trying to talk me out of buying a Landrover?

I have always had Toyota 4WDs and really wanted an LC200 when they were released. Problem is the price of a TD LC200 went up by about 11% over a TD LC100 and has since continued to rise by another 9%. On top of this I have to pay another $2500 for KDSS. And don't forget this is for just a GXL.

With the release of the Discovery 4 with 600nm of torque I thought this vehicle would be much better value for money. A proper luxury vehicle that will outperform the LC200 on bitumen and dirt roads, and still be able to tow my 2800kg boat comfortably. Space inside the vehicle is not such a problem for us anymore as we tow a camper.

The issues mentioned above about dealerships are important to me. We usually do a big trip every two years including the Kimberleys, Cape York, East Coast and down to Tassie. We live in Darwin which does have a dealership. I rarely see a Discovery there and when I do they seem to sell quickly. After reading the above comments I will do some checking as to their servicing and repair reputation / capabilities.

Cheers.

Thanks for the info.

I am interested in the 3.0 TTDV6 as it compares well with the 4.5 TTDV8 in the LC200. The superior torque will tow my boat so much better than a current LR3 or Prado 120.

I will be looking for A/T tyres to fit the LR4. So far I have only checked out the Pirelli ATR.

Depending on rim size we can recommend either the Bridgestone D694 in AT or the Goodyear Silent Armour in 17" sizes. We run both and have had an excellent run from them. At present we are running the Silent Armour 70 profile on one of our Prado and I have just put the MTR with Kevlar on to replace some D694 LT to do some back to back testing. But the MTR is not a tyre you would use unless you were really into regular off-roading. The Pirelli Scorpian series is a very good tyre and we have seen it perform quite well off and on-road. Once you go to 18" rims it's another story sadly as the selection rapidly diminishes.

Towing 2800kg will not be a problem. I have one client with a RRSport and he tows a 2500kg boat and gets 9's to the 100km on a hilly freeway.

From a reliability perspective we keep hearing stories but not seeing anything bad. We have seen wnough of Toyota and Nissan products broken down to not jump to conclusions too early until we actually understand how each vehicle was being driven. Adam Plate at Oodnadatta sees all sorts of 4WD each year and whilst not speaking for him he is on the public record as saying he reckons they are proving as reliable as pretty much everything else. I saw him commenting on Disco3 on a carsguide website earlier in the year to that effect.

If your primary need is towing then I suggest you select a drive course and then tow your boat over the same course/road section to compare each vehicle's capabilities as well as the usual boat ramp test.

Regards

RobA

I am guessing the tyre size will be P255/60R18.