Discovery 4 or 5

lightning · Jun 19, 2022

l've been on the Defender forum for years but this is a general question for Discovery people.

l've currently got a 2005 Defender 110 and was looking to replace either that or my wife's 2020 Jimny with something more suitable for holidays.

We've just bought a caravan and while the 110 is obviously fine for that, it would be great to have something more, erm, modern for longer trips towing the 'van.

l've got a Defender 90 Commercial on order but LR have put up the price twice since l ordered it, and it's now out of reach at nearly £55,000

l've been looking at the Discovery 4 but with a budget of £30-35,000 it looks like l can get a Discovery 5 or Sport within my budget.

As l am self employed
lt also needs to be used for my job repairing domestic appliances, so the rear seats need to fold completely flat so l can use it as a van (l looked at a customer's Evoque and the seats wouldn't fold flat on that)

My thoughts are currently Discovery 4, but l need something that will manage reasonable economy (over 25mpg) in urban driving.

l would also prefer petrol to diesel, although l realise that may not be possible (for instance new Defender Commercial is diesel only)

Any advice would be appreciated. Discovery 4 or 5?
Discovery Sport? l have very little experience with any of these vehicles and have not driven any of them.

300bhp/ton · Jun 19, 2022

Disco 4 is diesel only in the U.K. the 3.0 TDV6 is a good power plant. But known for snapping cranks. So you might want to read up a bit on it.

D4 is also a lot more practical and ultilitarian in its design. A big square boot opening and a pallet will fit. The D5 is more luxury focused. But probably still quite capable overall.

Think the D5 uses the same TDV6 engine. But might have other engine options. D4 is fairly old now and you can pick them up in nice Knick for way less than your budget.

For your budget I’d suggest also looking at the L405 full fat RR and the same year Range Rover Sport. Use as practical as the D5. But more engine options. The 4.4 TDV8 is stonking.

As for petrols. None of them will be 25mpg in vehicles if this size and weight. More likely 14-20mpg range.

Nodge68 · Jun 19, 2022

lightning said:
l've been looking at the Discovery 4 but with a budget of £30-35,000 it looks like l can get a Discovery 5 or Sport within my budget.

Discovery sport? Or RR Sport?
The Discovery sport is much smaller and less capable than the Discovery 5, as DS is based on the long discontinued Freelander 2.

The Discovery 4 and Discovery 5 are very different vehicles, the D4 being based on the D3, which has a separate chassis, with a monocoque body on top.

The D5 is a new body altogether, which is a monocoque, with subframes keeping the vital components in connection with the body.

Keeping above 25 MPG in the rear world in urban driving is unlikely, especially in the D4, as the thing weighs 2.7 Tons. Also in the UK, the D4 was only available with a 3.0L V6 turbo diesel engine, which isn't great, as its known to suffer from crankshaft failure, not all of them suffer, but a lot do, effectively meaning the vehicle is worth little more spares or repair prices only, as replacement engines are both expensive to buy, and long winded to replace.

The D5 isn't much better where engines are concerned. The 2.0L diesel is proving to unreliable, and is very underpowered in a vehicle this size. The 3.0L V6 is the same unit as the D4, and seems to be suffering the same crankshaft failure issues.

The DS uses the same 2.0L diesel as the D5, and is also proving far from reliable, although it is economic to run. However you're not going to get many washing machines in it, as it's smaller than a modest sized estate car.

100% Agreed with the above comment.

lightning · Jun 19, 2022

Thank you that's really useful advice.

What mileage are people getting from D4's in urban driving? My day is spent driving between customers houses locally.

My Defender TD5 manages a consistent 25mpg and l wouldn't want much worse than that in the current climate with diesel at £2 a litre

Currently l am putting £20 a day in it, up from £10 last year.

20mpg or less would be no use to me.

l don't carry large appliances, l always repair those in the home, l carry tools and smaller appliances such as HI-FI and TV's

A false boot floor with compartment for tools would also be useful, even if it's quite small, the new Defender has one, do any of the others?

300bhp/ton · Jun 19, 2022

The D4 could be had as a commercial btw. Not sure on the D5.

the 3.0 TDV6 should be around 25mpg running about. They do over 30mpg on a run.

Can’t remember about the boot floor. Sorry.

lightning · Jun 19, 2022

Well, that would be a good start as l can't get more than around 26mpg from the Defender even on a run when l sit on the motorway at 55-60mph

biketeacherdave · Jun 19, 2022

Buy the D4

lynall · Jun 19, 2022

Any other make of car would be your best bet.

One quote I remember from a discovery 4 owner was, he had to sell it as every time he drove it it was like driving around on a hand grenade with a pin pulled!

You have to spend quite a lot of time on a model specific forum to read between the lines to know what the motors are really like as owners don't always tell you the whole truth.

gstuart · Jun 20, 2022

Or there’s always a D4 with the petrol 5 litre supercharged engine lol

I’ll get my coat

lightning · Jun 20, 2022

That would appeal. Would it manage 25mpg around town?

gstuart · Jun 20, 2022

lightning said:
That would appeal. Would it manage 25mpg around town?

Hiya

have heard a few on LPG get around 24 mpg in town, my 2.7 TDV6 gets 18-20 around town, 30 mpg on a run

TDV8 4.4 in the D3 and RRS are supposed to be very good

Plus 1 , would stay away from the 2.7/3.0 TDV6 due to the crank issues , even heard same engines also failing in the D5

I’m pretty sure the 5.0 litre had issues with chain guides, isimilar i believe to the 4.4 , others will be able to advise u better

discovery sport doesn’t have air suspension , as others have said also heard bad things about the ingenium engine issues

personally my next landy will more than likely be a TDV8 4.4 RRS , the FFRR insurance is very high at group 48-50

hope that helps a little , plus at the end of the day shame so many land rover engines have had issues

lightning · Jun 20, 2022

l've read that you can get a modification done to prevent the oil seal failure (and resulting oil leak/ pressure loss) that can lunch the engine on the Discovery 3/4

gstuart · Jun 20, 2022

lightning said:
l've read that you can get a modification done to prevent the oil seal failure (and resulting oil leak/ pressure loss) that can lunch the engine on the Discovery 3/4

Must confess haven’t heard that ref oil seal, only about the weaker oil pumps where the tensioner snaps off the casing , they do an upgraded one now , or the shells spinning causing the crank to snap

ref the crankshaft oil seal that has to be put in dry and 1mm in using a special tool, then need to wait I think 3-4 hours before the engine can be started

300bhp/ton · Jun 20, 2022

lightning said:
That would appeal. Would it manage 25mpg around town?

Nope. Would be amazing to see 25mpg on a run in a V8 D3/4. But the D4 was not offered in the U.K. with a V8. Only for RoW.

lightning · Jun 20, 2022

l don't like the idea of random engine failure in the Discovery 4

As in, there's no way to know if it will ever happen, and if it does the vehicle could be scrap.

My old Defender is making more sense! l just fancied something a bit more refined for towing the 'van up to Scotland or over to Norfolk etc

Eight hours in an old Defender is fully do-able (l've done it many times) but a newer vehicle appeals.

gstuart · Jun 20, 2022

300bhp/ton said:
Nope. Would be amazing to see 25mpg on a run in a V8 D3/4. But the D4 was not offered in the U.K. with a V8. Only for RoW.

Hi

Indeed ref the V8 but see there’s many thats been imported from Japan ,RHD , approx 35k

ifloochies · Jun 21, 2022

I agree with @lynall in saying that any other vehicle aside a land rover would be your best bet. At your price point, if you really must, you could have a Prado or final edition Shogun, and those are just as comfortable on a holiday with the added assurance of knowing that they will never break.

gstuart · Jun 21, 2022

lynall said:
Any other make of car would be your best bet.

One quote I remember from a discovery 4 owner was, he had to sell it as every time he drove it it was like driving around on a hand grenade with a pin pulled!

You have to spend quite a lot of time on a model specific forum to read between the lines to know what the motors are really like as owners don't always tell you the whole truth.

hiya

see some former D3/4 owners have been going over to a Volvo VC90

as a side note saw a review / video on a jag i pace , look really nice, was also curious on insurance , fully comp is £715

lightning · Jun 21, 2022

Reading about the random engine failures has put me off the D4

lt does appear completely random, the engine can fail at any time because the centre crankshaft bearing turns and blocks the oil feed resulting in seizure.

There's no warning the first you know is the engine starts knocking, can happen at 10,000 miles or 200,000 miles.

Sorry that's not for me. Will look at other options as suggested above. Also what about the LWB Wrangler?

300bhp/ton · Jun 21, 2022

ifloochies said:
I agree with @lynall in saying that any other vehicle aside a land rover would be your best bet. At your price point, if you really must, you could have a Prado or final edition Shogun, and those are just as comfortable on a holiday with the added assurance of knowing that they will never break.

They can and do still break, esp the Shogun tbh.

Both good vehicles, but the Shogun has a lower tow rating iirc. And the Toyota's are just ugly.

Discovery 4 or 5

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