Discovery 4

[straydingo]

Ok, I did the deed......I bought a Discovery 4. Ex-demo SE V6, with less than a 1000km done (150 by me)

The Pathie is to go.

Now; Disco owners....what should I know that I haven't asked/included?

And anyone want to buy pathfinder?

 

[Klugerclan]

Jealous, what color ? Photos ?

 

[expanda]

Ohhh noooooooooooooooo not the pathy!!!!

 

[straydingo]

Jealous, what color ? Photos ?

Fuji white with ebony interior. All pretty stock but with the touch screen in dash (without gps module unfortunately) and the xenon headlamps. I asked for the 20" rims to be taken off in favour of the 19s. Even that will be hard enough for decent tyres.
no photos yet - will post a couple up once I've taken delivery

 

[jeffa32]

Congrats on the Disco. Has it got the electric brake controller already installed? If it hasnt - make sure you get an auto electrician who know how Disco's are wired. I had to take mine back twice to be re-wired as the wiring is different.

Check out www.aulro.com and search for electric brakes for more details.

I have a red arc controller with the remore unit.

Other things are:

1. Spare wheel winch - you must have tension on the winch when winding it up or down as it seizes without tension. So if you have to change a wheel - dont throw the puncture on in the boot and then wind it up ! Either put it back on the winch or cable tie onto the chassis.

2. I keep the refuelling error device in the glovebox as it is a pain to get to when the boot is full of gear.

3. You dont need WDH given the air suspension

4. If you have a rear camera you can lower the suspension and hitch the van on by raising the suspension when in position - commonly known as a marriage saver!!!

Other than those couple of points - just enjoy. It is a great car.

 

[Billrw136]

Congratulations - I must confirm the info from jeffa32 about the spare - I didn't know about that and managed to get it jammed - sorted by tyre dealer when new tyres fitted!
I have my Discovery 3 for nearly 7 years with very few problems.
You will love it!

Bill

 

[cruza driver]

Very nice SD, and colour coded to the Expanda :hippie:

 

[Moto Moto]

Congrats on the new car. I love the look of the Disco's.

Maybe you should get a Jayco Discovery to complete the picture :wacko:

 

[straydingo]

Congrats on the Disco. Has it got the electric brake controller already installed? If it hasnt - make sure you get an auto electrician who know how Disco's are wired. I had to take mine back twice to be re-wired as the wiring is different.

Check out www.aulro.com and search for electric brakes for more details.

I have a red arc controller with the remore unit.

Other things are:

1. Spare wheel winch - you must have tension on the winch when winding it up or down as it seizes without tension. So if you have to change a wheel - dont throw the puncture on in the boot and then wind it up ! Either put it back on the winch or cable tie onto the chassis.

2. I keep the refuelling error device in the glovebox as it is a pain to get to when the boot is full of gear.

3. You dont need WDH given the air suspension

4. If you have a rear camera you can lower the suspension and hitch the van on by raising the suspension when in position - commonly known as a marriage saver!!!

Other than those couple of points - just enjoy. It is a great car.

Been trolling the AULRO site for a bit (although it seems to have a terrible lag when I'm trying to bring up posts)
MLR will be putting in the red arc before I pick it up and hopefully a switch to stop the mirrors trying to fold in when the towing mirrors are fitted (with the brace to the door). The WDH will be up for sale in classifieds shortly - only 8 months old.
I don't have the camera installed. They put the upgraded screen in this one, but no gps or reverse camera. So I'll need to fit that myself, either with an ICE controller, or an AV input into the windscreen mounted nav. I like the idea of raising the car up to the hitch rather than dropping the hitch on the car And communication between myself and the missus isn't the best whne it comes to the van hitching.:help:

The wheel winch is an odd design - slacken off too much and the cable starts reversing and jams, no tension and the cable jams... I'm hoping in about 12 months to fit a carrier to the back and a long range tank under, which would alleviate that problem. Need to be 100% sure of the GVM before I do that - don't want to get caught short again.
But bull bar and lights, AT tyres, Traxide 2nd battery/aux power/ando plug, uhf, video headrests etc first.

 

[cruza driver]

So where are some photos of the new Disco eep:

 

[straydingo]

its been raining

All very vanilla at the moment, but.....

 

[straydingo]

currently trying to resolve tyres - not many options for 19" rims.
Will add the snorkel, a manual height control (llams) rather than relying on the automatic extra lift after it hits an obstacle on the underside, and second battery as soon as I have half a minute to order them.
bull bar probably after June 30, so I cn write the full cost off under her highness' $6500 asset allowance in the budget (it is a business car after all)

 

[cruza driver]

Very nice mate, i dont think you will have any problem towing the Expanda with that.

 

[Bank of Dad]

Cool car mate - well done!

I brought a bit of a Land Rover - the diesel engine in the Terry is from a Disco 3! You win though!

All you need now are your green wellies, Barbour jacket and a labrador and you will be "Very Chelsea"!

 

[Ozwitch]

Well, we've just done 6000 kms with our new SD V6 3.0 and couldn't be happier. We have standard 19" rims and tyres, and had no issues. We lowered our tyre pressures to 25 hot on the Oodnadatta Track and Mereenie Loop and they were fine, we didn't drive above about 70, and were happy to let all the other 4WDs roar past us. I think we will eventually buy a set of 18" Compomotives (check the AULRO site for details) and a set of Pirelli Scorpions, just to feel a little safer and more confident, but honestly the road set-up wasn't an issue as long as you are sensible.

Fuel consumption wise - we averaged 11.0L/100 overall. We used an iPhone app to log our fuel and I noticed that its logged figures don't quite correspond with the figures that Land Rover show on the trip computer. I figured Land Rover were telling porkies . . .

Fuel consumption went up and down according to speed and the temperature on the day as you'd expect. With trailer attached the fuel consumption was about 1.5L worse (pretty small trailer!) Once we get the Expanda on the back next year I daresay it will go up to about 13? Anybody have any info on this? I'm really guessing here because that's what we got on the Hilux towing a Destiny.

Eventually we'll put a long range fuel tank on it which means moving the spare anyway so will grapple with that issue when it arises.

The air suspension is something else. Absolutely brilliant. Put the trailer on and the car wiggles up and down a bit and then says, ok fine now. Brake controller is a Tekonsha P3 - no issues either, very easy to set up and operate.

So all in all, we adore our tow car. Great decision!

ETA: Straydingo, what 2nd battery did you have in mind? We went the Yellowtop Optima D34 route with a kit. Pretty fiddly to install though, as the place where it used to go in the D3 is now taken up by other stuff and it has to go in front of the primary battery on the left. Let me know if you need any info on that.

 

[straydingo]

Picked up the Expanda from Jayco today after a service/warranty jobs.

I started to drive off and literally had to look in the mirror to make sure it was following. What a difference to the Pathy. I simply felt the same as when not towing!!! I noticed it on the bumps etc, as the car bounced a little in response but otherwise....wow!

Ozwitch, thanks for the comments. I spoke with Green Oval about the 18" rim, but at $500 a piece, plus shipping from WA at $160, too much for the moment, plus going to a 18" tyre only saved about $60 each. Don't think I could justify to the missus (or myself). But I love the look of them. A local D4 owner sold his original rims and tyres for about $1500 after getting the same rims, so that would partly offset the cost, but still....
I'd rather spend $500 on the LLams, $500 on second battery wiring and $500 for the snorkel (plus fit). The rims can come much later, by which time, they may have dropped a wee bit in price (as if!) or some others become available also.

I'll go with the traxide battery system, with ando plug and the extra rear sockets. I liked the idea that every piece if kit is precut and terminated to fit the D4 exactly, and made for non-tech person like me to install. I just need to check that I can use it without the battery per se, and add that in later. Otherwise, yellowtop optima will be the go. It will all sit in front of the battery as you note.

 

[Ozwitch]

My husband installed the Traxide kit, after being assured it would only take a few hours. He's not an electrician, but knows his way around a circuit. It took several days. One of the reasons was that we had the brake controller installed first and the battery kit wiring follows the same path from back to front and it is a very very tight squeeze getting all the wiring in. Be prepared to swear a lot. The grommet in the firewall was also way too small to fit both leads in. We eventually had to cut the insulation away which was a bad choice but the only choice. The battery tray was also extremely difficult to get in. You also need to read the instructions backwards and sideways to understand them all.

It's not the Traxide guy's fault, his Discovery and ours were built at different times, and there are small changes here and there, enough to add up to a fair sized headache at the end of the job. I suggest you call or email him directly to discuss - I'm not trying to put you off the job, just give him a call - he is very helpful. PM if you need further info.

 

[cruza driver]

Hey SD I read that BMW *Try posting a bit more so your post isn't boring* 17'' rims fit that might sort out your tyre size problem.

 

[Mike7]

G'day ozwitch,

We towed a fully loaded 16-49-3B to kiama from Sydney in a 2.7 D4 (your fuel figures should be better in the 3.0) and we averaged 11.6/100 to kiama and 12.3l/100 return, the return trip is uphill. We cruised at about 100kph most of the way.

Very easy car to do towing in, I love this car.

Cheers
Mike

 

[Big Gee]

Looks awesome SD, well done mate!