GraemeS
Member Since: 17 Mar 2008
Location: NSW
Posts: 706
  
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| D4 ride changes not all good |
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From a report in www.drive.com.au by Barry Park:
And whatever Land Rover's chassis engineers have done, it works. The old Discovery 3 felt its weight. It tended to lean into corners, then give a bit of a vague wriggle at the steering wheel as the weight shifted across the centre of gravity, but in the new model it's all but gone.
Steering feel, too, is surprisingly crisp and direct, with a decent level of feedback considering its speed-dependent assistance is tuned to help it shunt around shopping centre car parks.
But the enhanced handling does have its downside. At speed the Discovery is quite refined, but slow down, and the ride becomes noticeably bumpy, particularly on rougher road surfaces. Off-road, the Discovery at times feels overly sprung and choppy. But as the Discovery 4 is likely to spend most of its time in suburbia, it's a liveable compromise.
Might need to retrofit D3 shocks (or the Konis if they're as good on slow bumps) for those like me who don't live in suburbia.
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 19th Aug 2009 9:38 pm |
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jwblue
Member Since: 19 Sep 2008
Location: On the sand
Posts: 22
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I could not find the review on the site.
This review says pretty much the same thing.
Quote: Anyone who values on-road dynamics and never plans to venture off pavement should shop BMW, Audi, or Mercedes.
http://www.autofans.us/2009/08/08/first-dr...rover-lr4/
The power improvment is a plus.
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| 20th Aug 2009 2:36 am |
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caverD3
Member Since: 02 Jul 2006
Location: Oberon, NSW
Posts: 6922
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Fairfax have always been biased towards Tojos and against LR. 
The author clearly never drives off road. 
'There's something very disconcerting about the way water laps at our Discovery 4's underpinnings.'
This implies that the 3.0 litre will not be available here: 
'There's also a fair bit more poke than the old engine, which incidentally will hang around in Australia for a bit longer.'
Clearly the new one handles better than the old but the D3 handles brilliantly compared to the LC200 as pointed out by 4x4 reviews.
'The old Discovery 3 felt its weight. It tended to lean into corners, then give a bit of a vague wriggle at the steering wheel as the weight shifted across the centre of gravity, but in the new model it's all but gone.'
'But Land Rover's attempts to impress the world's media with the Discovery 4's depth of off-road ability will probably hold little sway with many Australian customers.
As an exercise, I phoned up several people advertising second-hand Discovery 3s in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney to find out how many had taken theirs off-road.
Of those I contacted, only one admitted to an off-road excursion – they'd once taken it down a dirt driveway while on a winery tour through rural Victoria. It was pretty slippery gravel, the owner said, and wet, but the Discovery got down there and back OK.'
They will find an excuse to stick the boot in one way or another.
The US site actually says the opposite. Great off road but not so good on. 
I would wait for a serious review, lets see how many awards the D4 will get. “There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely gamesâ€
Ernest Hemmingway
D4 3.0 Active Diff, Adaptive Lights, High Beam Assist, Surround Cameras, Privacy Glass.
D3 2.7:Adaptive Headlights,Electronic Rear Diff,ARB Bar,Blaupunkt Speakers,JVC Powered Subwoofer,Removable Snorkel,Mitch Hitch,Pioneer After Market Head Unit,Steering Wheel Control Adaptor,Remote Adjustable Supension Rod System, Taxside Dual Battery System.
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| 20th Aug 2009 3:13 am |
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