Chris Cordes of Overland Expedition recently took the new discovery 5 out to Anza Borrego in what I can only assume is the first off-road excursion for the Disco 5 outside of Land Rover hands. Jokes aside I was very impressed by many things in the review, in addition I have many criticisms. Since I can’t say much on the terrible commenting system on ExPo allows you’ll get to hear it.
So here we are! I’m going to be taking a few of the pictures from the article for commentary only.
So let’s start at the end -
Discovery 5 HSE luxury with the capability plus package (rear locker, 2 speed transfer case air suspension) and the 3.0 diesel engine (as well as every other tech option it seems)
It’s not a cheap. About 82 grand. In the age of 50k wranglers is an 82 grand loaded discovery that outrageous? I think so. BUT you can option this to a much lesser extent and still get all the good stuff (diesel, capability plus) for about 67. Substantially more than its closest competitor, Lexus GX, but the Lexus doesn’t offer diesel efficiency, full ride height adjustment (only rear) or a rear locker.
The interior - It’s nice. Duh. Moving on
However this interior tidbit - “73 cubic feet of space. You can pack a payload of up to a staggering 2,089 pounds”
2089 lbs?! With what configuration I wonder. I would guess it have to have the air suspension to deal with the load but thats pretty amazing. I guess that’s the Ford Formula for payload at work - max out the class GVWR (6900 lbs in this case) and ditch weight with Aluminum. If I do the math right even the porkiest Disco still has nearly a ton of payload. Wow.
Also wow? 26 Actual MPG. Given that the diesel is only a $2000 upcharge over the supercharged V6 and knowing that engine will drink premium fuel like mad...yeah I can’t imagine why you wouldn’t you spec it?
This one is is equipped with the air suspension and, well, air suspension and Land Rover deserve some raised eyebrows. This statement doubly so:
“Now I can guarantee that someone out there is ready to make a quip about field failures, but for all the grief people like to give their air suspensions, they almost always last longer than any of us would run a coil-sprung or leaf-sprung alternative. I mean, be honest, how many people actually run a suspension for 70,000 miles without service? I certainly never have.”
wait wait wait...really? REALLY?!
What do you define as “service”? And where did you come up with the idea that these would actually make it 70,000 miles without issue? Also, the front coils in my GX are stock at 140k and doing fine and the airbags went 120k miles. I’m at 145K miles and my air compressor works, My adjustable right height works, my adaptive shocks work, my coils work. 70k miles is a LOW bar.
Lastly...air spring failure is TOTAL failure. Coils and leafs don’t really fail that often and if they do you probably deserved it. This is less about ai suspension generally and more about Land Rover air suspension. Given that they’ve been doing this as long as they have its amazing they haven’t been able to shake off the reliability woes.
The air springs are part of the off road package and required if you want a 2 speed transfer case or rear locker, plus they are the only way to really make the most of the vehicle off road. The bags give you the ride height you need, they are also cross linked for better articulation. This is one thing Land Rover has gotten right since the LR3 - they are no question the leaders in full independent suspension articulation. More later.
On road - Who cares. Its a modern luxury vehicle I’m sure it drives great. Oh it does? K.
Off-Road
1. Stupid wheels are stupid. This tester has 21 inch wheels. Stock is 20 for this model and 19 is the smallest you can buy from the factory (oh and a full size spare is extra). There are one or two wheels that fit and give you 18 inch but it shouldn’t take a specialty manufacture to make a wheel SMALL enough for your off-road vehicle to be able to fit the minimally acceptably wheel. Land Rover likes to make the claim that their vehicles are “tire independent” and what they are trying to say is that they work well regardless of tire. What they actually saying is that they wanted to fit big brakes and tires...deal with it. My theory is that their excellent traction control system is dependant on big brakes in equal measure with the fashion forward requirement to fit the big diaper monster to look unlike a wheely bin with regular wheels.
2. The angles at max height are very impressive: 11.1 inches clearance, 34/30/27/3 (approach, departure, breakover)...but again you need the air suspension to get them.
3. The articulation is...actually impressive...again with the air suspension. The cross-linking means the air crosses between front left and rear right and vise versa (similar to the way Toyota X-reas and Infiniti HBMC works but with springs and not shocks). That and the fact that the front and rear flex is fairly well balanced makes up for the fact that it doesn’t flex as much as solid axles.
Seriously...this isn’t bad all things considered.
The unibody. hmmm
“Their response was simple, and to the point. The new Discovery uses “aerospace levels of aluminum manufacturing and engineering,” it is “the stiffest Discovery we’ve ever done.””
This is garbage jargon. Everything is “aerospace” grade or “military grade” or some such nonsense because in today’s world you can’t just say - “we use high quality aluminum and modern manufacturing.” (or aluminium if you prefer).
It’s bonded, series aluminum and it forms a unibody. That makes it “light” (4700-4900 lbs) and stiff but there is no point in even trying to compare it to body on frame they are just 2 different technologies:
Engineered-in compliance versus [ideally] distributed stress.
I’m on team frame but I understand the benefits of unibody. Lets not muck about in meaningless figures like this
“The platform uses a lightweight monocoque body constructed of 85 percent aluminum, 43 percent of which is recycled for sustainability. The underside of the vehicle is pressed from a single piece of aluminum providing the truck with greater structural integrity and longevity. It’s then fused together in a similar fashion to modern aircraft, giving it immense strength in all conditions”
This could easily be replaced with - its a really stiff aluminum unibody.
The trouble with unibody is that is concentrates stress and aluminum isn’t known for being very tolerant of those kinds of shenanigoats. I’m sure it’s well engineered but we need to be honest and not compare it with a frame - it won’t be as durable.
But it also won’t really matter, here’s why.
Luxury off-roaders are taken off road by their 3rd owners. It’s very rare people are buying expensive off-road vehicles and fully equipping them straight-away for adventure. Yes some basic off-roaders start expensive but the fact is that it’s usually after a little depreciation hits that the real serious types get involved.
Im worried that those buyers won’t have much car to work with by then. Land Rovers have notoriously bad depreciation so they won’t have to wait as long as, say, Toyota buyers to reach affordability but the question remains - 70,000 mile Discovery or 150,000 Land Cruiser? Even at these mileages the Land Cruiser will probably be about the same price and it begs the question; why? The answer is simple - cars depreciate, parts do not. You can buy a cheap luxury car, but affording it is another matter entirely. It’s not that Land Cruiser parts are cheap (FAR from it) but then again there is no expectation you’ll be “servicing” the suspension at 70,000 miles either.
Has Land Rover QDR improved since Tata got involved? Probably. They’ve also got massively more complex and let’s be clear - the LR3/4 were huge leaps forward over the Disco I/II and they were still maintenance traps.
http://dashboard-light.com/vehicles/Land_Rover_Discovery.html
Who scores a zero? I thought it was because there was no data but nope. I mean...yikes.
Are they amazing machines? Yes, they always have been, but the candle that burns twice as bright burns half as long and that’s not great news if you are the 3rd in line to use the candle.
Wow, that was a lot longer than I was expecting.