A year with my Land Rover Discovery 4: Why I'm happy I bought it

I haven’t done a lot of off-roading except a few times on the snow but I have the feeling that the Discovery 4 can conquer all.

BHPian Uprasenjit recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

After 1 year and 9000 miles later I can happily say that the Discovery 4 is the best choice we made. Of course, there are some pain areas but the D4 took us to places without any headaches. I know people complain about the quality of Landrovers but what I think is these cars have sentiments and heart, and if you take care of them they will take care of you.

First the pains:

Maintenance is high. So far had to change:

• Suspension pump (£600)
• Rear discs(£289)
• Rear brake pads(£200)
• Tear brake caliper (£187),
• Ronnet lock (£111)
• Railgate lock (£150)
• DPF clogging reset (£200).

Had to service twice, before our big wedding road trip to Italy I just wanted to make sure everything was okay, so I serviced everything. The previous yearly service was done back in November ’22 and is due next week. A major yearly service costs around £250. The best thing was MOT passed without any faults and only 2 minors. This means the car is ready to go for another 1 year at least. Its currently returns a mileage of around 6-7miles per ltr diesel. The fuel consumption isn’t good but isn’t bad either considering the size of the car.

The car is huge, and finding a parking spot in a busy city like London or Paris is a problem. The car doesn’t fit in most of the parking on streets. The height is another problem. Most indoor parking has a height limit of 1.9 meter. While the D4 stands exactly at 1.9m it means we can never carry anything on top (like a roofbox, or a kayak or a Christmas tree) if we want to park in the city.

Emission is another problem, and going to be a greater problem in the future. This model has the highest emission ratings which means I already pay the highest tax in the UK, I also need to pay several other charges to go into green cities like London or Brussels, or even Paris. UK government is adding more tax each year and at some point it will be difficult to drive these cars financially.

On top of that due to a high number of thefts of Landrover the insurance is also going up every year. So yes financially getting a Ford truck or a Toyota SUV makes more sense.

Now the good part – it is amazing, never had I driven a car so capable, comfortable, relaxed, and easy to drive. I haven’t done a lot of off-roading except a few times on the snow but I have the feeling that the D4 can conquer all. Long distance doesn’t matter anymore due to the air suspensions which feels like riding on clouds. The baby still pukes sometimes but I think that is due to my braking or accelerating style, not the body roll anymore.

This car demands to drive. On a casual weekday, I only drive it 3 to 10 miles and I don’t think it likes it. And I will tell you why – A few days back before winter came it suddenly white smoke started coming out. I was worried and took it to Halfords (service and repair company, UK wide chain) and they told me it was the turbo. Halfords couldn’t look at the turbo or replace it because the way it's designed, the body has to be taken apart and Halfords didn’t have the tools to do it. I spoke to many people (Experienced people) and was advised not to drive it much, because if it was the turbo then driving it further could potentially damage the engine. I got an appointment with our nearest Landrover specialist after 1 month. So for a month I kept the car at home and drove around a friend's Punto. After a month when the LR specialist looked at my car, they said it wasn’t the turbo, maybe the DPF. They also mentioned the 2nd turbo wasn’t being used at all So maybe there was some oil that was making those white smokes. The 2nd turbo I think kicks in around 2.8K rpm. They cleared and reset the DPF and the smoke was gone. And asked me to drive the car more! The car wasn’t driven enough, may be on higher rpms. I drove it around on manual gears above the normal 2K rpm for some time. The white smoke is gone but even now when I accelerate very hard very quickly a burst of smoke comes out. Anyway, the turbo episode is now closed, the Punto is back to its owner, I am driving the Landrover daily without any fuss (until the new EV comes).

I don’t speak enough about the interior. Because I think it's fantastic, and suits perfectly to my height. Starting from the window buttons, to gear know and handbrake everything is in the exact position as it should be. There are 2 cup holders which hold most of the coffee cups or small bottles. The display is 12 years old and not fancy but the infotainment works well. There was no Bluetooth so I bought a Bluetooth aux receiver, which I hardly use. The USB slot holds my pendrive for most of the songs for long journeys.

The map is outdated and I am told it cannot be updated so I am using an external tomtom navigation. We are out again during Christmas and hopefully will be back with good memories. I will add some pictures after the car is back from its yearly service.

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