Discovery Sport

[Kane]

Hi all,

Long time lurker, first time poster. We have recently sold our 2005 hawk, and about to take delivery of a 16.49-4, which the kids are looking forward to (and this big kid). Will post some photos once we take delivery. I think it might be the first 16.49-4 to arrive in WA, and is already there, but we are currently overseas so have to hold out.

But for now, I thought I would ask if anyone has any opinions on the new Discovery Sport as a tow vehicle.

We currently have a 150tdi touareg but the missus is keen on something with seven seats, so had been looking at a Discovery 4, but have just noticed the Sport coming out soon, and wondering whether it would suit us.. We don't need permanent seven seats, but would be good for occasional use.

We would go for the middle of the road with 140kw and 420Nm, which is comparable to the touareg..

Anyone got any great insights into these new beasts?

Cheers,
Kane

 

[twscoot]

Looks like a nice vehicle. I have searched far and wide and can't find a definitive answer on towball weights. I did find one non land rover reference to 175kg which might be a problem with your chosen van depending on its setup.
Just get a straight answer on this and the use (probably not allowed by Land Rover) on the use of a WDH.
I also think the seven seater reduces towing capacity by 300kg (2500 down to 2200kg) but again haven't seen this on a Land Rover site.
Congratulations on your first post too!

 

[relgate]

Welcome @Kane
Congrats on the 16.49-4
I cant help with the Discovery, but I'm sure there will be some opinions on here....

 

[davemc]

We where interested until we saw the price tow weight does seem to drop depending on engine etc
For the $ I would look second hand D4

 

[chartrock]

Welcome to the forum @Kane. I also have no ideas on the Disco but am confident someone will come up with advice for you.

 

[Kane]

Thanks for the replies and welcomes - I'm sure I'll be posting much more once we're back and pick up our van.

We want to get something that gives us the 7-seat ability, without being too massive - ideally, the Touareg would come in 7-seater (or 5+2), but unfortunately it doesn't.. It seems the Discovery Sport is slightly shorter (190mm), but it would depend on the internal dimensions to determine if it would suit us. And obviously it has to be able to tow sufficiently, so that is a given. As mentioned, the other option is an 18mo old Disco5 for around the same money, but it's obviously a bit bigger - and given the Disco6 is due out next year, I supposed that would be getting old technology (although some would say we're getting proven technology, I'm a bit of a nerd so love new tech)

So when you say a WDH may not be allowed by Landrover, is that because they recommend against them? In which case, would we be best off avoiding? From reading on here, there seems to be a lot of varied opinions, so we were going to see if we could get away without a WDH for now..

I will certainly ensure I get verified information from Landrover before getting too carried away - as it's a new model, there's going to be a bit of misinformation out there.

Cheers

Kane

 

[bigcol]

welcome @Kane from a fellow west aussie

We where interested until we saw the price tow weight does seem to drop depending on engine etc
For the $ I would look second hand D4

I think @davemc may be onto something, as he is the only one who has owned up to owning a Landy (someone else has voted for one, but dont know who)

me?
I'd be either keeping the Toerag, or going for the Audi Q
but only the V10 Diesel

I think 980Nm is enough torque

 

[davemc]

For the land rovers with air suspension you cannot use WDH. As they fight against each other WDH pushes down auto air suspension pushes up.

The D5 is basically a D4 which shared a lot with our D3 so yes proven.
What do you need the 7 seats for? For us we have 4 kids under 8 all in car seats.
Territory I keep looking at although hate the fixed 3rd row or a pathfinder/Prado

From what I read you have to have a diff engine and tow bar for 2500.. And I think it's 2200 only in 7 seat.. Although yes confirm.
Where the Discovery is 3500 and has more space in the car.
I was hoping the sport be around Freelander price ;(

 

[Kane]

We have three kids (2.5 up to 8) but the reasoning behind the seven seater is more for the exception rather than the rule - we quite often have a need to have other kids in the car, so temporary additional seats would be handy.. And the Kids sometimes could do with a bit of space between them, so being able to stick one of them in the back would save a few headaches!

Interesting about the wdh - so does the air suspension do the job of a wdh or is it a bit annoying to have air suspension when towing? Not even sure if the sport has it?

 

[davemc]

As the air suspension works automatically on each wheel it keeps the car level. So when you connect the van on the rear it levels it out.. Like what the WDH does. We have had no problems with ours although have ESC fitted.
If you leave the van hitched even with the engine off it auto levels every 15-20 mins so while your sleeping you feel it move he he... I only left front legs down once while in drive through, they where pushed into soft grass over night tight as car lowered so have not put them down again.

Take a big discovery and a sport for a drive.
I will be interested to see a sport in the flesh and see how much room in the rear.. The big one has room for a adult in the 3rd row.
The small diesel might struggle towing the 16 expanda and as said once you start upsizing on a Land Rover you get into the 70-80k zone quick

 

[acmackie]

I got the Q7 for similar reason. My 3 kids same ages. Normally don't use the rear 2 seats but for my current trip I've got one back there and 2 separated in the middle-saves a lot of trouble. I have no idea about the discovery but I love the Q7, plenty of power (3L V6 turbo diesel) and economy. Always plenty of personal reasons to go one car vs another, this is my 2nd Q7 and I don't regret it one bit.

 

[Bellbirdweb]

Welcome @Kane have you considered at 200 Series Landcruiser ?

It will comfortably fit 8 and can tow 3500kg and for the money a Disco will cost you you could get all the bells and whistles on a Toyota, not to mention reliability.

 

[Kane]

Welcome @Kane have you considered at 200 Series Landcruiser ?

It will comfortably fit 8 and can tow 3500kg and for the money a Disco will cost you you could get all the bells and whistles on a Toyota, not to mention reliability.

Nah, a bit too big for our liking - obviously will tow very well, but it's also the every day drive for my wife, so not really keen on anything much bigger than the touareg!

 

[davemc]

tourareg 4754 long 1928 wide
D4 4838 long 2176 wide
D sport 4599 long 2069 wide

So D4 8cm longer then Tourareq according to car sales

Prado 4930 long 1885 wide
Land cruiser 4910 long 1870 wide

So yes a little longer

 

[dagree]

Prado 4930 long 1885 wide
Land cruiser 4910 long 1870 wide

Prado longer than the Landcruiser? Just wish my Prado had the power of the Landcruiser
200 Series Land cruiser 4990 long 1970 wide

(Making allowance for the tooth and pain killers @davemc ... Typos allowed LOL)

 

[Panda Shell]

Hi Kane,

We have a 2012 Discovery 4, 7 seater. It is a fantastic vehicle and the SDV6 is an awesome engine with plenty of torque. Tows no problems at all. The only drama we had was our Auto Sparky reckons they are a pain in the bum to fit the electric brakes and 12 pin plug to, but he did a fantastic job. If you do get one I would recommend a Ritter Bros tow hitch, as they sit a lot higher than the standard hitch and are better if you want to go off road. Can show you pics if you go down that road.
We hopefully pick up our new van on the weekend 20.64-1 OB so I will let you know how she handles it!!

Shano

 

[Kane]

Jees, it's not going to be an easy decision is it?

In terms of an "overall size", multiplying width and height and taking off a few zeroes, I get the following rankings.. Have also adjusted a few of them to ensure the widths exclude mirrors, and are from the official PDF specs, as some seem to vary from the wiki articles... Not that this is terribly enlightening, but does at least give me a gauge of how "big" each is..

prado 4930 1885 92.9
disco sport 4599 2069 95.2
touareg 4898 1965 96.2
disco 4 4829 2022 97.6
cruiser 4990 1970 98.3
q7 5089 1983 100.9

When it comes down to it, as long as it tows the panda fine, it'll be up to the missus as to which one to get! I'm just the lead researcher.

On the face of it, I supposed that if our base model Touareg is 150kW and 400Nm, and the mid-range Discovery Sport is 140kW and 440Nm, then I would imagine there wouldn't be much of a difference in terms of towing - assuming that we're within allowed limits (2200kg in the disco sport, 3500kg in the touareg). Or is there more to it than the power and torque?

And thanks to all for the extra tips.

Cheers
Kane

 

[Panda Shell]

Jees, it's not going to be an easy decision is it?

In terms of an "overall size", multiplying width and height and taking off a few zeroes, I get the following rankings.. Have also adjusted a few of them to ensure the widths exclude mirrors, and are from the official PDF specs, as some seem to vary from the wiki articles... Not that this is terribly enlightening, but does at least give me a gauge of how "big" each is..

prado 4930 1885 92.9
disco sport 4599 2069 95.2
touareg 4898 1965 96.2
disco 4 4829 2022 97.6
cruiser 4990 1970 98.3
q7 5089 1983 100.9

When it comes down to it, as long as it tows the panda fine, it'll be up to the missus as to which one to get! I'm just the lead researcher.

On the face of it, I supposed that if our base model Touareg is 150kW and 400Nm, and the mid-range Discovery Sport is 140kW and 440Nm, then I would imagine there wouldn't be much of a difference in terms of towing - assuming that we're within allowed limits (2200kg in the disco sport, 3500kg in the touareg). Or is there more to it than the power and torque?

And thanks to all for the extra tips.

Cheers
Kane

Hi Kane,

You need to consider the tow ball down weight as well, as I found with my Defender that although it had a 3.5 towing capacity, it only had around 200kg of tow all down weight allowed.
The SDV6 Discovery comes in at 600 nM of torque. We had a 7 seater pathfinder prior to this and there is just no comparison. Yeh it's more expensive but you get a whole lot of car for that.

 

[Bellbirdweb]

Hi Kane,

The only drama we had was our Auto Sparky reckons they are a pain in the bum to fit the electric brakes and 12 pin plug to, but he did a fantastic job.

Shano

I can back up this problem with the wiring of the brake controller, had a friend with a Disco who was wanting to tow a horse float. ended up at 2 different auto electricians and 3 weeks of pain to get the electric brakes wired up. You wil need to find someone who actually understands Landy electrics

 

[Bellbirdweb]

Jees, it's not going to be an easy decision is it?

In terms of an "overall size", multiplying width and height and taking off a few zeroes, I get the following rankings.. Have also adjusted a few of them to ensure the widths exclude mirrors, and are from the official PDF specs, as some seem to vary from the wiki articles... Not that this is terribly enlightening, but does at least give me a gauge of how "big" each is..

prado 4930 1885 92.9
disco sport 4599 2069 95.2
touareg 4898 1965 96.2
disco 4 4829 2022 97.6
cruiser 4990 1970 98.3
q7 5089 1983 100.9

When it comes down to it, as long as it tows the panda fine, it'll be up to the missus as to which one to get! I'm just the lead researcher.

On the face of it, I supposed that if our base model Touareg is 150kW and 400Nm, and the mid-range Discovery Sport is 140kW and 440Nm, then I would imagine there wouldn't be much of a difference in terms of towing - assuming that we're within allowed limits (2200kg in the disco sport, 3500kg in the touareg). Or is there more to it than the power and torque?

And thanks to all for the extra tips.

Cheers
Kane

The other thing to consider if you are concerned about power & torque is adding a chip.

I have a 100 series 4.2 TD, and even that was a real struggle over Christmas dragging the 21.64-1 uphills and into the wind.

I have just fitted a DP Chip and its like a different car. Just towed up to Port Macquarie over Easter with the now chipped 100 series, and I was actually able to keep at freeway speeds, even up hill, an d the fuel economy remained pretty much the same (still 23 l/100km but at least it didnt take forever to get there).

If you were to chip a Disco or Toureg it could make for a very capable vehicle. http://www.dpchip.com/home/australia-vehicle-list/volkswagen/ http://www.dpchip.com/home/australia-vehicle-list/land-rover/