5.0 V8

Best family car ever, but ...

I wanted a Discovery since I was a child. But it took me until I was 50 to pluck up the courage to actually buy one. My previous car was a Mercedes ML 320DCI. That was bought to facilitate a camping trip to the south of France. Now I’ve repeated this trip with a Land Rover Discovery 4, petrol V8. Yes, the Japanese import, as JLR decided the UK didn’t want a Petrol V8.

So, the first thing you want to know it what is the fuel economy of a petrol V8? Well, on a 2,000 mile trip to the south of France, it’s registering 22mpg. The best motorway trip I got was 27.5 mpg. Around London it’s 14mpg, but who cares about that.

Compared to the ML, the Disco is way better. There are compromises, but the Disco is epic. For us, it ticks so many boxes that I didn’t know needed ticking until I bought it. I no longer need a roof box when on holiday. So now I can park in more car parks. The split tailgate I thought I’d not use, I use all the time! It’s more comfortable on long journeys than the ML … which in turn is more comfortable that say a X5. We have rear air-con and this helps with 37c temperatures in Southern France.

If you are in the market for a Disco, and you don’t drive many miles. Then really, the V8 petrol is the best option. It’s frustrating that JLR never officially sold them in the UK. But the engine works really well with the Disco. And there’s far less to go wrong than the diesel. No turbos, no intercooler, do add blue, no particulate filter, fewer sensors, and no wastegates (or whatever they are called) to jam, not plastic air intake to crack and send you home in limp mode … Instead, you’ll pay a few more £ in petrol and insurance and one day it’ll cost a small fortune to have the timing chains replaced.

I am hoping we are able to keep this Discovery for as long as possible, because when Iook at other, newer alternatives, they don’t have everything the Discovery 4 has.

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