Land Rover Discos - Truly Overrated (Land Rover Discovery)

Member Name: anthmack

Product:	Land Rover Discovery
Date:	24/04/04 (4708 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Robust, Powerful, Comfortable, Good Value

Disadvantages: Poor Traction, Poor Braking System, Fickle and easilly worn tyres, Incovenient and unreliable differentiation faculties, Fickle Radio that performs poorly after excessive use

* INITIAL NOTE *

As many people may already know, I travel to a from the UAE, and often travel to Oman and the desert of Dubai, and by many 4 x 4 standards, truly off road (not dropping the kids off at school - the typical stereotype of the 4x4 use in Britain)

In the UAE, A 4 x 4 although not essential, is generally purchased so that you can travel about freely (not all of the roads are tarmacked, and therefore if you have a low to the ground car it is likely to become damaged after rapid driving)

* OUR CAR HISTORY *

We travelled in a 1998 model, which was recently bought for AED 42,750 ( or approximately £7000). With a good service history, and 40 000 KM on the clock. It had never been used on any truly challenging terrains (only road use), and had an impeccably spotless body. Everything had been working perfectly leading up to the trip.

* THE TESTING *

Firstly, when driving over the flat sandy and rocky terrain of the Hajjar Mountain plains and Mussandam Peninsula ( EAST COAST OF OMAN AND UAE), the car stalled on 3 occasions, for, which in my opinon for no apparant reason. We also, on one of the occasions became stuck after stalling. Now, understandably within a mound of thick sand, yes, but amongst rocks, where surely the car should have enough traction and power to pull itself out. (bearing in mind that we had measured the correct tyre pressure for the terrain, and driving with a highly expreienced driver in the terrain, I was extremely embarassed of this piece of junk).

Preceeding this, we had scrambled on the side of the mountains on dirt tracks (which, in terms of the amount of rocks that spit back up at the car from the road, is not much more than a resurfaced road). Now, as we had driven to one paticular point, there were many other people there, with a range of different 4 x 4s ranging from a Nissan Patrol and a Jeep Wrangler, to a Ford Explorer and Mitsibushi Pajero.

Now when these ca
rs proceeded to go down the side of the mountain, they experienced no problems. In the Land Rover Discovery, we nearlly died. I am not exaggerating. The braking system is appaling, which is essential for travelling up and down steep gradients. The driver had applied the breaks, and almost had no effect. The traction on the wheels were appaling! The car was sliding all over the place, almost falling off the edge of the mountain side. The differentiation kept slipping out of gear, meaning that the car would suddenly accelerate (heart clenching when going down a mountain side), instead of slowly taking you down.

Due to the amalgamation of the poor controls, the car had been bounced around a bit ( seriously, not much).

* CONCLUSION *

After a trip lasting over 6 hours, with, some moderately rough terrain the car failed miserably. We managed to travel back to Dubai with; - A broken Axel, - a sheer plummet in steering quality, - and tyres that had been worn to the bone (bought new from Land Rover), looking as if they had been used for over 15 years.

The original parts are also extremely expensive, and now have a bill for over AED 4,500 (£700). Bearing in mind that this is dubai, where generally everything in relation to cars are approximately 30% cheaper than at home.

Therefore, after testing, what truly a 4 x 4 should be used for, I strongly advise against the puchase of this car. If you live in a flat area, where you are not going to use this car for off road, sure, its a great car (Has lots of room in the boot, and has additional seats for extra people - going up to 7), but otherwise a BIG NO NO.

The best I have come across so far, is any of the jeep wrangler range. If youre going off road, get one of them.

Summary: