Finally had a chance to read through the sales brochure and all of the specs and dimensions. Still a couple of concerns about turning radius and as for towing it will be interesting to see what guidance they provide on weight distribution and anti-sway hitches. (I don't think the Europeans tend to have a lot of people who pull big travel trailers that act like a sail in the wind. Most of their "demos" tend to be loads that, though heavy, are rather dense/compact/etc.) Anyway, beyond those things I am pleasantly impressed with many of the specs and intrigued by some of the new tech and features. Yes, I miss the lower tailgate. And I miss the ability to have the middle row at a high level than merely flat (handy when you are using the 3rd row as a "virtual office".) And the overall "feel" of the interior doesn't seem to be all that "adventure" focused. But, again, all this has been said before. Yet if all of the new features and tech eventually prove to be reliable, durable (last 300K miles) and if we find we can do at least modest tweaks like slightly larger tires and rock sliders and a decent roof rack then this could be an impressive vehicle for many of us. The pricing falls just a bit under what I paid for my 2016 Land Cruiser. The Land Cruiser doesn't have nearly the features (though its V8 still has a stronger torque/HP combination - at the cost of gas mileage). But it continues to have a strong resale market because it is common for the Land Cruisers to last over 300K miles. Where I was becoming concerned about how many miles I was putting on my LR4 (55K in 2 years) so I was enjoying it less, I don't worry about that on the Land Cruiser. As my 25K/year (no commuting) rate I could comfortably drive the LC (with some maintenance and replacing worn parts) for 12 years!
Bottom line - I like much of the new tech (I am a bit of a geek after all) but I have questions about pulling a large travel trailer and long term reliability and durability. Those questions will be addressed over time. In a few years we'll see. When LR launched the Discovery, there were some hiccups which hurt their reputation. (Also reliability issues with other vehicles so, fair or not, it hurt their reputation and resale value.) But I had 0 issues with my 2014 LR4 and it seemed that reliability generally got better. I'll give LR a pass on the first 2 years of the new Discovery. It is inevitable that things will happen once customers start doing what customers do with these vehicles. So, for me, that mean 2020 to being looking at these again. By then I would expect updated tech, possibly improved engines. And possibly improvements (or fixes) to other areas. I'll presume that most, if not all, of you who jump on this over the next couple of years will be leasing. ;-)