Used Land Rover Discovery 5 review

Exterior:

There are plenty of reports of leaking sunroofs and windscreens. This can range from small amounts of water entering the cabin, however some owners have experienced more severe cases where the water leaks are so serious, it can impact the electronics which possibly impacts the airbag.

The real disappointment to this issue is that even though it’s a commonly reported problem, plenty of owners have been denied any sort of warranty help from Land Rover.

On the subject of electronics, pretty much anything electronic on the exterior has complaints attached to it. Door lock actuators and central locking issues, lighting issues, electric mirrors failing, if it’s electronic, it may have or possibly will have issues.

There are a few reports of the 360 surround cameras showing black screens and in a few instances, some cameras have been fitted incorrectly meaning the display may be the wrong way around or just wonky.

Air suspension systems can have a range of issues. Small air leaks commonly occur in the lines of air struts. This can then eventually lead to the suspension ‘sagging’ which then puts additional pressure on the air compressor, which has to compensate for the leak. The labour, time and expense repairing this will vary depending on the seriousness of the issue however, it is a Land Rover, parts and labour ask a premium.

Interior:

The electronic gremlins continue and they continue everywhere.

Firstly infotainment system can have a variety of problems. Best case scenario the system becomes slow and immensely frustrating to use, the bluetooth can drop out or not connect, the whole system can just either turn off or not even start which requires you to re-start the car.

In the worst case scenarios, the entire system has to be replaced and being a Land Rover, that won’t be cheap if it’s out of warranty.

More common on the HSE models apparently due to the extra tech and features, these models have a habit of draining the battery quite quickly. Apparently this is worse if the Disco is unlocked.

Steering problems are also somewhat apparent, some owners have reported instability or even wobbling whilst driving.

Mechanically:

Land Rover suggest Servicing every 26,000km under normal conditions or 10,000km under extreme conditions. However, if you drive your car in a hot climate or a cold climate, if you tow anything or drive off road, if you drive in stop start traffic, these are all considered extreme conditions.

As we’ve stated in other cheat sheets, even with modern synthetic oils, no engine will last with any type of extended service intervals and in a Discovery 5 where all of the engine options (petrols and diesels) are plagued with problems, you’re just asking for trouble if not serviced at least every 10,000km.

In regards to reported faults, the 4-cylinder petrol engines (the Ingenium engines) are well known for having a number of different timing chain issues. If you do manage to catch the timing chain before it fails and causes a catastrophic failure, because the engine is designed with the timing chains at the back of the engine, it’s either an engine out or transmission out procedure to fix it, and unsurprisingly, its eye-wateringly expensive.

The 4-cylinder diesel engines are designed the very same way and have the same problem. However, they also have diesel injector problems that have caused engine failure, there are plenty of reports about cracks in the engine block which requires a whole new engine and like all modern-day diesels, they have EGR cooler, DPF and turbo complications.

As for the 6-cylinders, the early versions had a V6 diesel (which is a Ford engine) and is arguably the pick of the bunch. It’s not perfect though with oil starvation and crankshaft failures on the list of common issues. It does have a timing belt so maintenance is more expensive but way cheaper than failed timing chains in the other engine options.

More recent versions received a straight 6 which is from the Ingenium family and so far, it does appear to be more reliable than the 4-cylinder versions although time will tell.

We should note, these are just the more common issues reported, the sheer number of reports of more sporadic mechanical, quality and electronic issues is honestly terrifying. It seems that every single element of the Disco can and quite often does have some sort of issue attached to it. As an example of inconsistencies in quality, the Disco might just take the cake.”

Recalls:

• 19 October 2018 – 29 units of the 2018 Land Rover Range Rover Sport and Discovery were affected by a defect wherein the Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) feature was not available when required, and a warning message was not displayed on the instrument cluster to inform the driver.
• 29 January 2021 – 18 Land Rover Discovery models from the 2020 year range were affected due to the incorrect installation of the upper anchor point for the left-hand side third-row seat.
• 4 May 2021 – 1,541 units of the 2018-2020 Land Rover Discovery model were affected by a defect where there was potentially insufficient contact between the startup battery ground stud and the chassis.
• 26 May 2021 – 533 units of the 2020-2021 Land Rover Discovery and Defender models were affected by a defect where the fixing nuts connecting the exhaust downpipe to the catalytic converter were not tightened to specification, which could cause a hot exhaust gas leak into the engine bay as the fixings loosened over time.
• 24 August 2021 – 266 Land Rover L462 Discovery model units were affected by a defect where the battery was insufficiently earthed to the vehicle chassis, resulting in various electrical faults such as engine cut out while being driven and loss of all electronics.
• 19 October 2021 – 54 units of the 2020-2021 Land Rover Discovery L462 model were found to have been affected due to the potential absence of the Occupancy Detection Sensor System (ODS) in the front passenger seat, which would have resulted in the lack of a warning signal if the seat belt was not buckled while the seat was occupied.
• 23 December 2021 – 241 units of the 2018-2019 Land Rover Model L462 Discovery were affected by a defect caused by a manufacturing issue where the fuel feed hose assembly was incorrectly routed, which resulted in potential fuel leakage into the engine bay.
• 11 August 2022 – 350 units of Defender, Discovery, Discovery Sport, Range Rover Sport & Range Rover Velar, built from 2021 – 2122, were affected by a manufacturing defect where damaged front seat belt pre-tensioner tubes were installed on the seat belt retractors, resulting in the pre-tensioner not operating as intended.|
• 15 February 2023 – 205 units of the 2023 and 2024 model years of the Range Rover, Range Rover Sport, Range Rover Velar, Discovery, and Defender variants produced between 2022 and 2023 were affected by a manufacturing issue wherein the camshaft carrier oil gallery was not drilled to specification, potentially leading to an external oil leak or oil discharge into the engine air intake system