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

I would love the supercharged V6 version of the D4. Available in Aus 2016-17.

My discovery 4 2012 2.7 has 400000kms all original

Good at breaking down due to sensor problems

Well...no. Not here in the U.S. We have a thing called an LBZ. It will (literally) crush any Land Rover several times over. 500,000-600,000 miles before an engine/tranny rebuild. I have two. Party on...

As much as I love the Land Rover Discovery 3/4, the TDV6/SDV6 engines and their expensive failures scare me to death! Yes, you can go for a V8 however they're very thirsty
The air suspension is also prone to failing and it's expensive to repair
On the upside, you do get a lot of car!

Interesting side note a personal conspiracy on the Freelander name and why it was discontinued, the first generation one was so bad that it tainted the subsequent ones (like the Discovery 1 and 2 tainted that name)

I’m in the USA and I have a 2006 LR3 HSE V8 that I’ve owned since new. I love it. I’ve been able to do most of the repairs to it myself and it has been pretty reliable. I take it off road quite a bit. If you don’t drive a Land Rover off road then you’ve missed the best part. While they aren’t bad on road they are spectacular off road. The ride on unpaved roads is by far better than most off road vehicles.

Why the hell are roads in the UK very narrow?

Had my 2011 Disco 4 HSE SD6 for about 18 months. Picked it up on 132k miles, and so far it has had a coolant issue (sensor in the coolant bottle - new coolant bottle for £23, 5l of coolant and 60 minutes of work and sorted) and the air compressor for the suspension go (£588 to replace). I have also had a big service which replaced a number of hoses, a few rubber bits etc, which came in at about £750. My thought when getting the car was that it's going to get a bit wrecked with dog and family, and I need a decent 7 seater and something I can potentially drag my little tractor our with. It felt a bit of a waste paying £35k for a 2018 Disco 5 or XC90, and the potential unreliability would more than be made up by the fact that I paid so much less for this. And it is comfy. So very, very comfy. It's like driving an armchair around. Engine is very good, feels brisk when you really put your foot down. I also think they are thoroughly handsome chappies.

A couple of tips though. If you buy one, get one with a history of regular maintenance. This is IMPERATIVE or you'll end up with some big bills. Also ensure there is a reliable LR specialist nearby. They are invaluable (down here in East Sussex we use Groombridge).

Overall, I bloody love this car - it genuinely is a delightful thing to sit in and drive. Would recommend to anyone, as long as you go into it with your eyes open.

Please find a 1HZ Toyota Land Cruiser

As a previous disco owner I wouldn’t even buy a dog called rover … unless you’re married to a mechanic with time on their hands give these money pits a very wide berth 👎

Apart from the hole in the gearbox casing, I think Land Rover do a filler kit or something to bodge up the hole, happy days🙄

Loved my D4. A great regret that I sold it

I absolutely love this car! It looks fabulous and rides fabulous. I’m sad to see it got. My dad passed his lr4 2015 down to me and I’ve been driving it. There’s only 48k miles on it but it’s just getting too expensive for the yearly maintenance so my dad suggested that we trade ir in for something else😢😢. We have the new car picked out but I just LOVE the look of the lr4, something about the boxy front just looks so good to me!

Always Ronge Rovar

What you say about the cayenne - “and when it breaks, because it will” - applies to all Land Rover products. If you gave me their full development budget, it still wouldn’t entice me into a Land Rover.

I use my 2016 Disco 4 HSE for my farm and its unstopable. I give it a hard time with the thick mud and uneven roads. It already has 180,000 km and still runs as when i first got it at 60,000 km. I also own a 2021 Tacoma and 2020 VW Amarok v6 and they are both nice but man, I would never change them for my Disco!

I don’t agree that LR are unreliable cars. I own a Defender tdci 2.2 as a daily driver, and it hasn’t missed a beat during the past 160.000km

VIN = vehicle identification NUMBER. To say "VIN number" is therefore redundant

The Disco5 is now worth the same as the D4. D4 prices are getting like old defender prices. I’m was after 1, but they’re not worth that much to me if I can get a D5 for less! 😊

I have a Disco 4, best vehicle I have ever had.

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!

Hi Jay, I agree with you that Disco 3 & 4 can be very fine GP cars, but are you aware of the crankshaft problems the 2.7 and to a greater extent 3.0 have ? The v6 blocks are really very small front to back and this apparently impacts on the ability of the main bearing to survive especially in the 3.0 versions - the main bearing spin closing off oilways and the crankshafts literally SNAP !!! Not just one or two, lots. See LR Time channel videos and explanations.

I would love to have a Disco 4 in my stable but the idea of needing a new engine at £8-10,000 chills my old bones.

Annoyingly unreliable and expensive to maintain! Sorry it’s a Toyota Prado in my garage

Land Rover really missed a trick by not offering these with the TDV8 motor, that´s why I have a RRS instead, otherwise I prefer the look and practicality of the Disco 4

I’ve had an LR3 (good) LR4 (really, really good) and now a new Defender (excellent).

Been driving Disco 3 and now 4 for 14 years. Was able to get a 2017 SDV6 and chose that over the Disco 5 (which is more a Range Rover Cargo).
One the amazing things of the D3 and 4 are the seats which give you so many options. It can turn into a flat load space. And I mean a REAL flat load space.
Look at the New Defender 130 its load space floor with all the rear seats ""flat"". Useless!!!!
I will probably NEVER going to find a car so utilitarian as my Discovery 4.
Nice video by the way!

The only SUV worth its salt and does what it says on the tin .....Subaru Foreste r

I had for 20 years a Defender; was top! Classic Range Rover; OK! 2x a Discovery 3: Poor quality, unreliable as…,… and my last a Discovery 4; it drove perfect until the motor exploded… SD6HSE…, made by PSA!!! ,… so I’m finished with LR! Never again! My choice will be INEOS.

My D3 TDV6 HSE 54reg with cheap tax is still running like a peach and is only on 66K miles

As off-road in the UK means muddy tracks, no doubt some vaguely capable "off road" tires are fine. But I've done all my off-roading in the USA and all my 4x4s have used BFG AT KO2 tires (with much, much larger sidewalls....) because frankly the road noise is never really an issue and if you have to traverse anything more than a muddy track (no rocks, no sand, no serious traction-reducing surfaces of any kind) then compromise tires are a very bad idea. But in the UK, sure, BFG AT KO2s would be overkill. That said, in the UK why not just run a Mazda CX5 with all-season tires? It will handle everything it can possibly encounter, is infinitely more reliable than any British product, costs a fraction of the Rangie, has much better tech and feature-set, and... well, you get the idea.

I live within the M25. Family of 5 with the need to pick the kids friends up…so need 7 seats. Bi-annual trip to the alps where we need ride height, snow tyres, snow chains and 4wd. Agreed, most people won’t use the capabilities, but some do!

Unreliability is usually due to poor service and maintenance, spend money and like my Two RR 70.000 miles with no issues

oh god, not agreed! LR D4 has been a nightmare for me! too many breakdowns! bad luck maybe

Less ostentatious it may be but it is likely to be even less reliable/durable and just as expensive to repair and maintain as the Cayenne.

This is one of my favourite shapes in the land rover line.Something that still looks rugged and boxy. I doubt its annoyingly good at reliability.

Been trying to get one of these, but look at the mileage of every LR out there! Where are all these LR owners going? Everywhere it seems. No wonder LR has a reliability issue. Every LR owner on the planet lives drives his vehicle to extinction!

the driving position of proper suvs is glorious, love them

What did Landover think with Disco 5? 🤷🤷🤷

Apart from a god awful engine and terrible unreliable suspension

Given the virtually identical chassis, I'd say the LR3\LR4 decision comes down interior style preference. I prefer the chunky big knob, big shift lever rugged charm of the LR3 over the much more refined look of the LR4 interior. Stateside we didn't get the diesel so it's a choice between the 4.4L V8 in the LR3 or the more powerful 5.0L V8 in the LR4. Anecdotally the 4.4 does get the reliability nod over the 5.0 but I've never seen any hard number on failure rates. The Ford Explorer 4.0 V6 powered LR3s are out there but are much less common.

wait til the Crankshaft snaps on the LR4.....been there

I have a Disco 3 Petrol 4.4 V8 HSE 135.000 kms and a Disco 4 Petrol 5.0 V8 HSE 63.000 kms, love both, no big issues at all, the key is to be consistent with maintenance, not cheap but assure good performance. LRs are not a car for everyone. My Discos are unstoppable. Best cars for active families with offroad and big spaces needs.

I was hoping you'd do a video on this vehicle. I have a 2016 Disco 4 and I can attest to the quality if the advice of getting the newest one you can afford. Don't bemoan the lack if the V8 in the UK. It was the worst engine available. The SD or SC V6 was the engine you wanted.

Not sure why there's a comparison against the Cayenne...totally different 'car'...compare this against a Patrol or Landcruiser

Nice honest review - makes a bleeding change because people slag LRs off all the time. I have owned land Rovers since 6 weeks after passing my test in 1984 - I have owned S3A County class LWB (1st one) right up to Range Rovers - I currently own and daily drive a D2 TD5 (Mapped) and a D5 - in total - I have owned 12 land Rovers - the only time they have broken down is either when I played with them to make them faster (300TDi fuel pump) and on two occasions where a water leak took out the AC pump that siezed and would not allow the engine to start - 20 minute fix to replace - I have driven them up mountains, through rivers, across deserts, beaches, wooded terrain and everything between (My hobby and passion is actually Astronomy so Landies allowed me to get telescopes to dark sites in remote locations).

Most of the time they are unreliable is because wannebee mechanics do a piss poor job of working on them - they are like any vehicle - look after it and don't skimp - they are good - mess about, ignore warnings signs of wear and tear or do shoddy work - they break down.

My current TD5 I have owned since it had a little over 40K miles on it - it now stands at 291,700 and is going strong - only fails - replaced the gear box when it dumped the 5th gear bearing in Nthn Italy at 230,00 miles - stil got back to the UK with 4 gears (it had covered almost 8000 miles in 5 weeks when the bearings went), removed the AC pump after the 2nd failure - and replaced the alternator when it totally died at 260,000 miles.

The D5 - I'll admit that we have had a couple things with it - Marshall Land Rover failed to put oil in it after a service, so had to replace the engine at 42,000 miles, and we have a windscreen leak when it rains thanks to the sunroof drain issue which I need to get to the botttom - or we give it to James French who now do all the servicing works after we no longer use Marshalls (Typical Main Stealers).

My TD5 will be replaced soon - I am going to be selling my 2010 E43 Coupe and the TD5 - and buying a D4 - I need the "expedition" ability of the D4 - the D5 is amazing off road - better than a D4 by a statute mile - but it's a monocoque - any body damage and its an insurance write off - so it remains our Chelsea tractor - with a bit of mild off roading.

Looking forward to watching more of your videos -

You must have high standards, the d4 probably has one of the best looking interiors of any 4wd of the past 30 years. Only being beaten by the l322 range rover.
Good video as always.

Great video! What model of Goodyear’s is he running? Thanks.

Land Rovers (modern ones) are just as reliable as any other European luxury car, in fact I dare say better than Audi and BMW, and on par with Mercedes Benz, but they’re all cars which require proper maintenance.