Drove the new Discovery and I'm totally confused now.

jbrockiii said:

After many LRs I am currently driving a '16 4Runner Limited. It's got plenty of luxury conveniences, is full time 4wheel drive, has locking diff., etc. If you wish, the 4Runners can be modified fairly easily. It's a toyota, so resell and reliablility are excellent. The down sides are sluggish get up and go, doesn't tow a ton and the gas mileage isn't great. But I'm really enjoying it. I did an extensive comparison with the GX 460 and liked the 4Runner much better for various reasons. The GX does tow more and has much more power.

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I just can't get past the seated on the floor feeling and lack of headroom in the 4Runner oh and the lack of a V8. Toyota dropping the 4.7L in the 4Runner was a big mistake. Otherwise a nice rig.

NeilP said:

New Toyo Land Cruiser comes out August 2018 or so . Straight six twin turbo diesel replaces the eight .
This is what I'm replacing the LR3 V8 with . The LR5 diesel is a total cockup and the Canbus faults/electrical problems are dreadful . Read the reports from the British Disco5 site . Dreadful !

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I6 turbo diesel ?, ********. Not in North America anyway and sounds doubtful they'd replace the ROW tdv8 either.

I've inside info .

NeilP said:

I've inside info .

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LOL ********. not in USA. I'd have seen it on the cruiser forum and it's only vague speculation of v6 td. Inline 6 might actually be cool if enough displacement but I just seriously doubt it. The one in my bmw 535 wagon is very smooth, nothing like the tdv6 cars I've driven.

However, due to direction of D5, Land Cruiser is most likely the replacement for my LR3 in 2-3 yrs unless I just go totally old school with a Mercedes G of some flavor.

Wait and see : you don't know anything about it ........... good bye

ktm525 said:

I just can't get past the seated on the floor feeling and lack of headroom in the 4Runner oh and the lack of a V8. Toyota dropping the 4.7L in the 4Runner was a big mistake. Otherwise a nice rig.

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This, this, this.
My 6'8" co-worker and I drove his brothers new 4Runner about a month or two after I bought my LR4.

It made me happy I didn't buy a Toyota. Leg room was good, but that was it. From the waist up it is very confined. My co-worker looked like he was in a clown car, his head was literally going up through the sunroof.

He has plenty of room in my LR4. Headspace and shoulder space to spare.
I was even claustrophobic in the backseat and I am far from a giant.

I had the opportunity to drive a new Disco HSE with the diesel. Overall, very sad (but not surprised) to say that is was pretty bland. No other word for it really. Diesel has a lot of clatter on start up and idle, much more than say an X5 or Cayenne diesel. Throttle lag off the line then some scoot, but less than you would expect from a diesel. Pretty quiet when up and running and around town or at highway speed. Handling was fine, ride was far more harsh than the LR4 - the aluminum chassis transmits far more road imperfections and low frequency vibrations. This car was shod with 20s, same as our LR4 but no contest on ride. Steering felt light and artificial, consistent with the average EPAS equipped cars these days. Brakes were also notably weaker feeling. This could be down to just less initial bite, but certainly not confidence inspiring especially considering the weight loss. Interior while nicely finished was another disappointment. Much less airy and felt cramped to me. Stadium seating is history, regardless of the token roof "****". Middle row seemed to have less leg room to me and the seat bottoms looked narrower. Less comfortable than an LR4 for sure, thin or harder padding as well.

All I have to say is that they better offer something else soon. We currently own both an LR3 and 4 and love them, I'd never trade for a Discovery. For context, I am not a Luddite / no progress guy. We have a SCV6 in the 4 and still love it. This drive was such a let down. And at $75k for a loaded HSE, you don't even get value IMO. Dealer was good and acknowledged JLR is moving away from its core audience to tap a broader market, and like others said, they don't expect fans of the LR to like it right away. Maybe I'm being too optimistic, but that tells me they are moving the enthusiast owner group to the Defender platform. Just hurry up and build them! Till then no Disco for us...

R Hermann said:

Great thread!
A couple of thoughts/observations:
1) New BMW X5 due soon - this Fall? X7 Rumored to be coming too. I know that doesn't help for 2017 depreciation. ...

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X5 was completely redesigned and released as a 2014 model. There will be a mid-life cycle "facelift" coming soon, but it's usually minor cosmetics.

BMW has a ~7 year life cycle on their X5 / X6 vehicles. A "new" one won't be due until 2020.