Four Wheeler – October 2019

BY CHRISTIAN HAZEL [email protected] PHOTOS: CHRISTIAN HAZEL

fourwheeler.com FOUR WHEELER OCTOBER 2019 77

REPORT: 4 OF 4

Previous reports: Dec. ’18,

Mar. ’19, June ’19

Base price: $65,490

Price as tested: $74,875

Four-wheel-drive system:

Full-time electronically

controlled, two-speed

LONG-TERM

NUMBERS

Miles to date: 30,088

Miles since

last report: 9,820

Average mpg

(this report): 16.7

Test best tank (mpg): 18.9

(highway @ 65 mph, no traffic)

Test worst tank (mpg): 12.5

(highway @ 65 mph towing

2,500 lb)

MAINTENANCE

This period: N/A

Problem areas: (Unchanged

from last installment) throttle

tip-in still inelegant—lags

then hits hard; door seals

squeaking as chassis flexes;

continued infotainment freez-

ing and interface quirks;

coolant low warning lamp

WHAT’S HOT,

WHAT’S NOT

HOT: Super-stable dirt-

road grip

NOT: Squeaking, glitching,

and quirking intensifying

LOGBOOK QUOTES

“Rear seat ingress is

borderline medieval torture

for a fullsize adult.”

Yakima roof rails on the Disco for

an impromptu trip, but discovered

(there’s that pun again) the super-

low-profile, partially submerged

roof rails require a clamp-type

rail mount that, at the time of our

testing, wasn’t fully supported by

most aftermarket rack companies.

The dealer had them, but they

were back-ordered, so we never

played with rooftop toys.

One of the questions we always

ask ourselves at the end of these

yearlong evals is: Would we buy

this for ourselves? And in recent

years, the answer hasn’t been

quite so cloudy. On the one hand,

the Discovery definitely deliv-

ers on a few fronts that are most

important to us, namely off-road

performance, spirited acceleration,

ample power, and acceptable fuel

The spare tire is mounted under the
rear cargo area and is lowered via an
access port from the inside. There’s
not a whole ton of storage space
available, but it does come in handy
for chucking muddy gloves, jumper
cables, or the odd dirty diaper. Hey,
the Disco is a family vehicle, after all.

Options as tested

Vision Assist Package ($1,020): Auto High Beam Assist, Surround Camera

System, Auto-Dimming Exterior Mirrors. Drive Pro Package ($2,400): Driver

Condition Monitor, Intelligent Speed Limiter & TSR, Adaptive Cruise with

Queue Assist, Lane Keep Assist, Blind Spot Assist, Reverse Traffic Detection.

360 Parking Aid with Visual Display ($285). Advance Tow Assist ($410).

Head-Up Display, Gen 2 ($970). Capability Plus Pack ($1,275): Twin-Speed

Transfer Case, Terrain Response 2, Electric Air Suspension. Activity Key

($410). Trailer Hitch with Electric Connector ($665). Heated Windshield

($285). Cabin Air Ionization ($105). Loadspace Cover ($155). Black

Contrast Roof (NCO). Full Length Black Roof Rails ($410).

The side-view mirrors house

both cameras that help provide a

360-degree in-dash video of the

vehicle and its surroundings for park-

ing and/or off-roading, as well as

lamps that illuminate the ground when

entering the vehicle at night.

The Achilles’ heel in terms of off-

road performance is the tire aspect

ratio. We’d love to see what a new

Discovery properly outfitted with steel

rocker armor and some tires with de-

cent sidewall aspect ratio could do.

economy. On the other hand, this

particular test vehicle has had a

host of issues you really shouldn’t

have to deal with if you’ve plunked

down almost $75,000. At the end

of the day, the ’18 Land Rover

Discovery HSE Luxury with the

Si6 supercharged V-6 won our 2018

Four Wheeler of the Year award

cleanly and fairly. However, it lost

by only a slim margin in empiri-

cal numbers to the 3.0L Td6 diesel

Discovery, which was also in our

test that year. And sitting here now,

we can’t help but wonder if we

would have had fewer gripes with

the Td6 diesel Discovery despite it

losing several points to the Si6. But,

we test what wins. And even taking

the low points into consideration, if

you’re looking for a luxury seven-

seat SUV that can honestly tackle

any on-road weather condition

with poise and confidence—and

also won’t leave you disappointed

off-road—then it’s hard to do better

than the 2018 Four Wheeler of the

Year, the Land Rover Discovery

HSE Luxury Si6.

cover (pun intended) you’re inad-
vertently exceeding the legal limit.
And with a best tank of 18.9 mpg
(and with several other 18-plus
mpg freeway tanks), it’s nice to see
all that footloose and fancy-free
freeway velocity doesn’t come at a
huge fuel penalty. The one excep-
tion to the freeway economy was
when we hitched a 2,500-pound
trailer to the rear and towed it from
Phoenix to SoCal, earning a pair
of back-to-back worst mpg runs of
12.5 and 12.8 mpg.
The Discovery has seating for
seven, but if you’re planning on
hauling anything larger than a
couple boxes of Kleenex behind
the third row, it’s much easier to
fold down one of the rear-most
seats and pile in the suitcases. A
standard airline carry-on suitcase
does technically fit between the
tailgate and third-row seat, but
as Austin Power’s nemesis in
Goldmember would say, it’s toight.
We looked into putting our old

Three days before our long-

term evaluation came to an

end, we started getting a

random “Coolant Level Low”

warning sign in the dash when

first starting the vehicle in the

morning. A check of the cool-

ant level confirmed it wasn’t

low, and with little time to

make it to a dealership for

investigation, we’re going to

chalk it up to just another

electronic glitch, of which this

vehicle suffered many.

“WHY DOES

THE INFOTAIN-

MENT SYSTEM

FREEZE UP SO

MUCH?”