They will sell a shed load of these though....
Yesterday our Discovery 4 was due a service so I arranged a test drive of the Disco 5 (2.0D HSE version) with the dealership. In total I probably had 40 mins driving it, and an additional ca. 30 mins messing about with it. For those who are mildly interested, here are my random comparisons between the two generations - they are very different beasts!
Positives: (i) the new vehicle feels considerably lighter and more nimble. There is less body roll, the steering is sharper, it stops quicker. The 2.0L Diesel engine is surprisingly punchy, the car felt just as fast as our 3.0D Disco 4 but with less turbo lag. It feels more car like, in fact in reminded me of a larger Jag F-Pace. (ii) The driver's seat goes lower so you can actually see all of the dash display (I have a long torso for my height!). (iii) The wide screen sat nav display looked great, the interior felt decent. (iv) The third row seats now electrically rise, saving faffing about with levers. (v) Looks are subjective but in the flesh they look good in darker colours (from the front at least!).
Negatives: (i) the dealership service team transferred over our 3 car seats into the middle row (1x isofix, 2x high-back boosters). I only had two girls with me so I would not have bothered - but I glad they did...they didn't fit in properly! The middle row is narrower than the Disco 4. It was a real faff securing the middle seat belt. The second row is also several inches lower; once they were (finally) strapped in the girls were complaining they couldn't see out as well. (ii) The rear wiper blade is now attached at the top of the screen, but only does a 3/4 sweep and stops at the 1/4 position on intermittent....it annoyed me instantly! (iii) They have replaced the split fold tailgate with a single piece design, featuring a crappy fold down flap. It's crap. (iv) the boot space looked considerably smaller as the rear of the car is not slab backed, but curves forward. (v) the sat nav seemed to zoom in and out randomly. It's better than the previous generation, but a league behind BMW Professional. (vi) It has an ugly back-side!
Does the 5 look modern and fresh, or does the 4 look more distinguished? I'm not sure.
Overall, I think LR have cocked it up. If they continued what was great about the Disco 4 they would have had a seriously special vehicle here. But they have ignored what makes these cars great for families. And did I tell you the rear wiper was annoying? Luckily it wasn't raining much yesterday....oh actually it was.
They will sell a shed load of these though....
Keep the mans version.
The whole "design language" thing is ruining great cars IMO.
The back end of the new Disco looks awful !!!
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I regret selling my D4 but I jumped thinking the 5 would cause prices to crash on the older model. Wrong! I'm a big LR fan and so wanted to like the D5 but I really, really don't. It's not just the ridiculously skewed rear door, I think the whole rear end looks wrong. So much so I actually think the evoque looks better (and I never thought I would say that).
We test drove the Disco Sport last year and hated it. It really is the new Freelander and I actually prefer the old one which swmbo has.
So sad to see this happening to LR.
I had 3 Discovery4's and was 'pre-sold' on buying a Discovery 5. All they had to do was avoid ballsing it up. Had a test drive and concur with OP. Drives really well and big improvements in many areas, particularly the interior. But who signed off that back end and have they been shot yet? If they'd have just stuck the Disco 4 back end on it (or similar) one would be parked on my drive now. I want to buy one, but can't. It's that bad. Just don't understand the thinking.
The new disco's rear is indeed an abomination, this however is much better looking.
Agreed...
I think there are still many people who are not fashion/style drive exclusively and want a chunky family bus, that isn't a...bus. (says the man who now owns a V-Class).
The new discovery seems like the new Volvo XC90 to me...a bit too "premium" for it's own good and far less useful than it should be in real life. Rented a D4 several times and really liked the character of the thing (though found it a little small in the end). Looked at a D5 but dismissed it as it was just...not family friendly in our terms. Like the Volvo in fact.
Not that i feel great driving a Merc mini-bus around but it does do the job!
Test drove the RR and the other one the Valarie or whatever other day, not impressed, rattles and squeaks, noisy cabin.
Dealer less than helpful when buying cash they want finance.
@ 8700 deposit and £780 per month that's nearly £14 grand in the first year with 8000 miles, that's why I don't do PCP or whatever it's called.
But your right they are lining up for them, I listened to one guy stating it was a bit over his budget but she managed to pursued him to put 3k down on his credit card for the deposit to get a better rate, what in the wholly name of debt is going on.
I can see a sub prime crash any month caused by the car market, these loans are for 60K + each car that's a load of debts out there.
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Last edited by Fords; 10th August 2017 at 07:42.
Because of the middle seats (and that stupid rear wiper) I actually feel angry at JLR for this car. All they had to do was make the D4 lighter and revamp the interior. On the positive, at least the residuals on the D4 are strong!
My wife gets a car allowance from her work, but she has to use it on a car less than 4 or 5 years old (I forget which). So simply keeping the current D4 is not a long term option. I might be on the hunt for a run out edition D4 next year....
I just read the review in the latest TG magazine. TBH I do not like the styling departure and it looks too much like they've borrowed from Audi's standard styling practice of taking the Land Rover Sport, putting it on the photocopier, press +10% and et voila New Disco. But that said, of the cars tested; BMW X5, Audi Q7 and Volvo XC90 I reckon Land Rover would still be getting my money (if I could afford it).
I saw it launched and thought 'meh'. Having said that when the Velar was launched at the Geneva show this year I thought an even bigger 'meh'. I did read a piece about JLR accepting that women tend to either buy or influence the buying of a lot of their Land- and Range Rovers, hence the Evoque. The Disco 5 appears to have a less rugged look. Maybe it's just more aerodynamic or maybe like the Mk3 Golf was to the Mk2, they hit their peak with the MK4 and while this car represents progress its looks are taking a bashing compared to its predecessor's.
"A man of little significance"
I'd forgive its ugly backside if it was as practical as the previous generation - losing the split tailgate is a massive mistake, and the load space is less usuable. The changes to the middle seats are unforgivable - that was the best thing about the Discovery!
I quite liked the older ones, bags of room and nice mixture of luxury with off-road ability. Almost got a D3 a few months back but it failed the "buy the seller" approach.
The new one doesn't seem to have any of the advantages that the older models added to their range.
A colleague had one of the first new discoverys on 1st of march. It has had a recurring fault with a faulty fitted bit of trim on the windscreen that has meant it has been back to the dealer 7 times and he has done about 3000 miles in the loan cars. Some of these were similar models and all had some fault or other (door trims, electric tow bars, sat nav, similar whistling noise) and he is about to move to a cayenne. Another colleague has a rr sport that has faults with the diesel particulate filter every 1000 miles. It is 6 months old and again is going back to be swapped for a new car.
Both are friends with dealer principle at listers Droitwich who has confirmed that build quality and support from JLR is poor.
As an example new trim was sent by express delivery but twice the wrong parts were the wrong ones.
Both have had other JLR cars and both looking elsewhere.
Can send more detail if anyone wants it on the various faults but both cars have been back to dealer at least once a month since bought.
Pete
Keeping my D4 for another two years, then this is were my money will be going. Went to the dealership last Saturday and went all over one, it is one stunning car, the interior just looks total class and drips with quality, I love it to bits. I will leave it till they have ironed most of the faults out.
While I was there got talking to a guy who builds the new engines at i54 in Wolverhampton, and he was saying how stringent the build quality is, and checked on numerous occasions down the production line. These engines are now 100% JLR so I think that they may just get it right.
D4 any day. Much better looking vehicle.
Is the suspension on that D5 lowered? It looks way too close to the ground between the wheels.
I fear that Land Rover is losing its way and will be left in the cold if and when buying tastes change.
This is very worrying.
We had a new Evoque two years after launch and the only problem we had with that was rear trim became loose and some delaminated. It went in for a day to be repaired guess what they sent the wrong piece of trim, I had to go and pick it up and return it a week later, they did put half a tank of diesel in it.
Mark - yes the D5 is lowered (I think the D4 is too). The D5 automatically lowers itself when you turn the engine off; useful outside your house - not so useful if you are parked on a rock! That feature annoyed me too!
Kirk have a look at the 66 plate D4 landmark, LR threw every extra at this last of the line, all have 7 seats and twin rear entertainment for the little ones, I even found one with everything ticked in the options list in the LR search function £44,444.
Myself I may be going Audi Q7 E tron
3 weeks ago one of the RR I was going to test drive would not unlock its doors, the salesman said this is unusual.
I had a business trip to Carlisle last week and passed a transporter full of LR i chuckled to myself about that being the only trip that lot would make without breaking down.
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Last edited by Fords; 10th August 2017 at 19:14.
Yes that's what I'm thinking for next year Fords me ol' mucker. I drove past your street tonight on the way to my Dad's place.
Doh, air suspension is lovely on the right vehicle but, as you say, it can have serious drawbacks for off-road use. It really does sound as if LR is losing its way. Over-complication is not what LR should be about, surely.
But then I think that it would be foolish to think that these are serious off-road vehicles any more. They might be capable but who would want to risk it.
In this respect it seems to me that Land Rover might have jumped the shark. Toyota or Nissan would seem like better bets.
Even more worrying for the owners. Engines are great and the interiors are fantastic- the technology is also really good but little things seem to go wrong a lot. My colleagues car was "fixed" the other day after a lot of trips and today he announced it is still wrong. He is off to Porsche on Saturday.
The D5 hasn't been a sales success for JLR.
As for the D4, I had a late model, facelift HSE and it was a great vehicle in many ways - practical, handsome and decent handling (for what it was); however, what let it down was the diesel engine. Agricultural, poor performance when you consider engine size and compare it to Germanic equivalents and generally noises and unrefined. No matter which way you skin it, LR need to spend a lot more on engine development than they currently are because although they sell on prestige, the nasty V6 diesel is anything but refined, quality or market leading.
I accept a rattly diesel in a Defender but in the Disco, RRS and RR, I think they should be doing a lot better than they are.
It also has the Windsor leather, your right about the D5 ugly as sin.
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What's the mileage allowance like, I always buy my cars outright, we all lose money but I like to keep it at a minimum, I was just shocked at what people are paying per month.
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The interior of the D5 HSE Luxury is lovely.
The drive is great for the size of the vehicle and the 3rd row seats are actually usable for more than 20 minutes unlike the ones in my disco Sport.
Once they've been on the market for a year or two more and the niggles are ironed out I'll probably get one.
I require storage and a little off road ability and this fits the bill.
Bloody ugly from behind though.
Then probably at best £100 per thousand over that.
8000 miles is 166 per week, I'm retired and do about 125 per week Mon-Fri with just 3 hobbies + about 35 miles per week on a school run in our other car, we never go out at weekend everywhere is full so no point.
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Last edited by Fords; 11th August 2017 at 07:50.
Or a Nissan Murano that ugly SUV from the 90's or 00's
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I have a 6 month old disco sport and its done 4k miles its just been in for its second service yesterday all to do with oil dilution from the dpf with the Ad blue and the sensor picks it up and throws up the service light,its also had the dpf regen light on around 8 times so far which is all to do with the euro 6 emissions and the current software on the 2.0ltr ingenium engine.
I have heard the 3ltr is having problems with software as well.
Funny enough the Jags with same engine arent having any problems at all
IMHO the LR range as a whole is becoming less distinctive between models. Most models are smaller than the previous ones - so far less imposing on the road. The D5 is starting to look similar to the newer Suzuki Vitara.
Maybe, like chocolate bars and toilet rolls post-Brexit, they're down-sizing?? Have to admit, it's little amusing to read "positives: it drives like a smaller car", "negatives: it IS a smaller car!".
I've been tempted to look at a D4, they're kind of ruggedly handsome, but passed a few D5's and, as most have commented, the rear is just fugly!
I am very sorely tempted by a Velar for my daily runaround - the first LR product that has really made me properly interested.
The problem is the never ending detail and reliability and issues that have always plagued the brand - I have so many friends who own them and they all seem to have had issues.
My daily car is a Lexus RX hybrid - and nothing ever goes wrong or falls off, ever. It may not be as stylish, but I have another car to satisfy desires in that direction.
Although the Lexus doesn't get me excited, it's earned my respect through just being incredibly well engineered. I don't think I'd be able to say the same about a RangeRover.
So clever my foot fell off.
Has anyone seen a Velar on the road yet? My brother seemed to think he saw one about a week ago, he wasn't sure what it was at first
#46
I've never had a Lexus, but over time I've had the use of a few LR vehicles, you may get lucky who knows.
"Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action."
'Populism, the last refuge of a Tory scoundrel'.