i caved and brought the car to my local LR dealer for diagnosis. we'll see what they say. I have a feeling they will blame it on rusted heat shields. which do have some rusted through bolts, but arent rattling. hoping for the best anyway.
in the mean time, I have a 2020 discovery sport loaner...what a POS.
light throttle tip in sucks. sometimes its fine, other times the engine revs to 2k+ before the car starts to move. and by that time the car lunges forward.
the electronics are soooo slow. might not sound like much, but something as simple as changing the volume is delayed by 1-2 seconds. the steering wheel controls are in a **** position that you have to remove your left hand from the wheel to skip tracks, otherwise your thumb crossing over the volume button is enough for it to accidently change the volume...then you have to wait 1-2 seconds to press another button while the infotainment catches up.
The only thing i really like is that it gives me an audible beep when approaching an intersection with a red light camera.
for a land rover, it certainly drives more like your average small crossover SUV. never thought id say it, but i like my 140k mile, antiquated, LR4 much more than a 2020 52k sticker Discovery sport.