Review : Land Rover Discovery L319 ( 2004 – 2009 )

Ladies, gentlemen, and everything in between, let’s welcome the Land Rover Discovery L319 with a round of applause, one of the heaviest modern cars and also one of the worst in terms of reliability. Land Rover Discovery L319, a car to avoid if you have deep pockets and short hands.

It’s abit of a tradition everywhere that when the management changes, the quality also changes and not always in a positive way, and the Land Rover Discovery L319 turns the concept to 11. Built at the end of the BMW tyranny and the beginning of the Ford tyranny, the Discovery L319 was left behind and was not molested by the X5 or the X3. No no, it molested itself. In fact, it’s so good at what it does that it received the award for the least reliable new car, and that’s saying something. After all, it even beat the Range Rover.

But at least you get some advantages for all the sub-par, barrel bottom reliability. The lightest version weighs in at 2419 kg / 5333 lbs and the heaviest goes up to 2460 kg / 5426 lbs. We praised the Santa Fe as one of the few cars that could take on a Touareg in a frontal crash. But with the Land Rover Discovery L319, how the turntables…. the Touareg stands no chance. It is 200 kgs heavier than a Land Cruiser 150 Prado and 220 kg heavier than a Touareg 7P 3.0 TDI and 170 kg more than the first generation Audi Q7 3.0 TDI. I’ve already run out of options, whatever car I pick, in front of the Land Rover Discovery L319 it’s like throwing Graham Norton in the ring against Vince McMahon. He has no chance in hell.

How did it manage to be heavier than 99% of the cars on the street that are driven with a B category license and are not commercial vehicles?

Actually, forget about the commercial vehicle part. An Iveco Daily weighs in 2325 kg, so you are safe in a Land Rover Discovery L319. The idea is that the British, in their vast intelligence, bolted two separate chassis on top of each other. On the one hand, you have a ladder type chassis for off-road and a monobody chassis was placed over it for comfort. So you have two cars in one, you have a very capable car both on tarmac and off it. It’s just that when you have so much weight to haul, most parts have a short life expectancy. Shorter than Korgoth of Barbaria.

Land Rover Discovery L319 Engines

Petrol

• 4.0 V6 Cologne of 216 horsepower – An American engine borrowed from Ford and which is quite reliable. Occasionally the timing chain will stretch and every 100,000 kms / 60,000 miles the cylinder head burns, but overall it’s a decent engine as well as reliable. Yes, this is the Mustang engine but it is modified to accomodate this B-license tank.
• 4.4 V8 AJ41 of 306 horsepower – This is not the BMW engine. This is not the BMW engine. THIS IS NOT THE BMW ENGINE. Instead, it is a Jaguar sourced engine and has only one issue which is specific to the first units. The timing chain tensioners are made of plastic that was recycled from a melted trash can and when the tensioner gave way the engine was off. Theoretically any Land Rover Discovery L319 with a decent mileage shouldn’t have this issue because it survived long enough, but it still needs to be checked.

Diesel

2.7 TDV6 AJD of 195 horsepower – This was meant to be the most popular engine for Land Rover Discovery L319 in Europe and it is also an engine borrowed from Jaguar who borrowed it from PSA/Ford. Basically, whose engine is it? In any case, unlike the French version which has a bi-turbo system, the Englishman put a single larger (or lager?) turbo and tuned the engine for power in the lower rev range, which is more suited for off-roading or towing. As specific issue the turbo can and will crack, the thermostat needs to be replaced occasionally and the water pump also needs to be replaced at the same time with the timing chain. All in all, a reliable engine that tones down on the running costs of the Land Rover Discovery L319.

Land Rover Discovery L319 Common Issues

• The air suspension does not cope with the sheer weight of the car, so it will constantly breathe heavily and eventually run out of air and you will constantly have to replace the airbags and compressors. Fortunately, instead, technology has evolved and now you won’t have to sell your children to fix an airbag. Repairs and refurbishings are quite available for reasonable pricing.
• Petrol engines automatics are essentially disposable one-time use, so you will have to replace them every 150,000 kms / 90,000 miles. But if you can afford a 4 litre petrol Disco, a new gearbox probably will not affect you too much or at all.
• As I said in the intro, the quality suffers when the owner changes, and in the case of the Discovery L319 we are talking about the electrics left by BMW, in the dumpster at the exit. Many electrical issues with absolutely any function, option, dash, knob, plastic or general component of the car.
• The fabric upholstery of the seats tears off just like the heart of a teenager who asked out that girl thinking that the worst response would be “no” but it’s “eeewww” instead, but that’s what you deserve because you didn’t follow Paris Hilton’s advice and couldn’t afford leather upholstery.
• The electromechanical parking brake is constantly locking itself and leaves you stranded the parking lot. Basically, you and your neighbor with the Passat B6 will be best friends, you will be parking lot neighbors.
• This one is borrowed from the Range Rover and it’s the steering column that can fail after 45 minutes of use, usually dynamiting the steering box as well.
• Discovery L319 eats alternator the same way I drink beer and there was this one time at a BDC (Beer Drinking Contest) when I drank half a beer in 3.8 seconds. I don’t want to talk about what happened next.
• The tailgate tends not to close properly due to the faulty locking mechanism. This means that you risk that the people sitting in the last row falling directly on the tarmac and they will much too far away from you to be able to hear them so they will have to deal it with themselves. Basically, the passengers in this car life in a different time zone from the driver.
• And finally, the infotainment system resigns every time it has to do its job, so you better get used to the idea of ​​not having a functioning infotainment system.

Land Rover Discovery L319 Verdict

Money talks and here you have one of the most expensive cars to run on the market. However, if you don’t mind spending a few thousand pounds per year on maintenance (provided nothing serious breaks down), then you have one of the most complete cars on the market. Off-road, tarmac, family car, towing, Land Rover Discovery L319 really does it all. But only when it works properly.

Which engines do I recommend? For petrol you will most likely only find the 4.4 V8 Jaguar unit, and for diesel obviously the 2.7 TDV6 190 horsepower unit is one solution. Another solution would be to look for a more reliable car. “Car”.