Land Rover Discovery 4 vs BMW X5

this is a no brainer...the Discovery any day over any german SUV. Its mean looking and looks up to the job. Sure the Germans know engineering but the Land rover has experience in the key field of off roading so why seek an alternative unless you know nothing about off roading and don't intend on going off roading - in that case get a 5 series!

By corsamani on 17 January, 2012, 11:06am

Go outside of the uk and nobody picks the land rover. Especially now under the china ownership.

By giorikas81 on 17 January, 2012, 4:58pm

Think you mean Indian ownership and that change of ownership has provided far more investment in JLR than they enjoyed previously.

By mbg20 on 17 January, 2012, 5:11pm

Stolen technology

Any true landrover fan knows BMW stole all the 4x4 technology while they owned landrover. They didn't even have a 4x4 model until after they sold them off again. Much like the mini.

By terryphelps on 17 January, 2012, 6:30pm

Giorikas81 I think you don't travel to much, I live in Chile and over here the D4 is one of the best selling premium SUV.

By ProbeC on 18 January, 2012, 2:42am

A good call by AE admittedly. Disco looks classier and less vulgar than the BM. LRs offroad experience gives it real pedigree.

By SirWiggum2 on 18 January, 2012, 11:18am

I would chose the Discovery, however

1. It weighs 500kg more.

2. Despite the new 8 speed box making it better, its nearly 20mph slower, its a second slower in nearly every acceleration bracket, and almost 10 mpg worse economy in the real world, and its a damn sight more expensive to service.

3. Its far better off road, not that 90% of customers will ever find out.

By Shaun34 on 18 January, 2012, 5:37pm

They are for different purposes

1. I would not take an expemsive and shiny car like these to a real wild terrain. There are very often trees with sharp branches which reach to the vehicle and the paint surface gets scratches.
=> the terrain ability of these cars need only to survive in the uneven and wet terrain found in bad country roads. The comfort on motorways and on winding country roads is a more important weight value.
2. The boring cubistic idiom of LR belongs to a functional work machine or to a real utility car. When people buy cars they need attraction for the car.
3. The fuel consumption compared to sporty performance has become very important factor for the buyers in Europe. The comparative low fuel consumption "grant to buy" a resented SUV. I don't know, maybe in UK you are coming behind in this matter?

By JerryFin on 18 January, 2012, 11:53pm

Economy

From what I have investigated to date you a more likely to achieve the stated mpg in A landrover than a BMW whereas the BMW X3 for example if you look at the stated 50mpg people are getting in the real worl a poor 34 to 38 so is way off. Yep The Disc is the one toy will get 30 to 32 mpg the BMW will not get the 38mpg claimed nearer to 33 34 so not much in it in truth. can't wait for the new Disco 5 in alli 500kg less that will be some machine.

By coolkid on 19 January, 2012, 9:04am

I love the Discovery but....

The Disco is a great vehicle in its own right and its re-assuring to know that with the right level of (Indian!) investment, the UK can still design great cars.

The big downside is the question of reliability at Land Rover although they MAY finally get to the bottom of that issue once LR learn a little more about how to build cars from Jaguar!

Coolkids comments about BMW and their stated MPG figures from the 2.0tdi engine are spot on, but I know from personal experience that the MPG figures from BMW's 6 cylinder engines (such as the 3.0tdi in the review) are very much closer to the mark. I think BMW market the 2.0tdi to buyers who want the very max MPG (so its worth their while massaging the test figures) while buyers of their 6 cylinder engines care more about overall performance.

If LR can sort out their reliability issues then there will be nothin else to hold them back (especially with their new design direction based upon the Evoque)

By Pinski on 19 January, 2012, 6:04pm

When it works

What AE and all the other UK car mags seem to gloss over is the HORRID reliability of LR products. Yes it might get you to the top of the mountain; it'll possibly also leave you there. Thus it's a better 4x4 WIW (When It Works).

Secondly (if Mercedes hadn't priced it so ridiculously) the G-wagen is equally capable as the LR off road, and won't break down. Neither will the LandCruiser. Any serious off-roader driving into extreme conditions will pick the Toyota anything else any day of the week and twice when it's raining.

I've made the misake twice (Disco 1.0 and Range2.0) and have paid for it dearly both in economic terms and in literal danger to my life. Never again.

Thirdly BMW spent close to 1billion pounds developing the RR, so those who think that BMW stole anything from LR is seriously mistaken.

By theos on 21 January, 2012, 7:20pm

best offroader

Standing in the viewing area of the "Islands in the Sky" of the Canyonlands National Park in Utah, overlooking the 140 miles long offroad track called the "White Rim Trail", we watched a black dot slowly crawling its way along the track, from our vantage point we could see more than 10 miles of the track. An American with a professional video camera zoomed in on the dot some 3,000 feet below us, he commented "No wonder he is between a rock and hard place, he's driving a crappy Explorer, you want to offroad, get a Discovery for God's sake".

By wrinklyoldgit on 25 April, 2012, 7:55am