2008 Land Rover Discovery 3 TDV6 SE review
June 6, 2008 by Paul Maric
2008 Land Rover Discovery 3 TDV6 SE Road Test
Model tested: Land Rover Discovery 3 TDV6 SE
Recommended Retail Price: $64,990.
Options fitted: Premium navigation ($7,300); beige leather interior ($NCO).
Impressive off-road; styling; fuel efficiency.
Weight; some options pricing.
CarAdvice rating: 
(4.25)
- Review and photographs by Paul Maric.
Disco fever has hit and I thought I’d join the party by road testing Land Rover’s Discovery 3 TDV6 SE. I spend a lot of time on the road and see plenty of Discovery 3s (or D3s as they’re also known) and I’ve always wondered why. After spending a week with Land Rover’s popular model, it became quite clear why it’s such a popular vehicle with the punters.
The boxy design gets straight to the point, there are no swanky lines or curves to interrupt the vehicle’s main purpose – climbing big hills and trekking through muddy tracks. The Discovery 3 is very driveable. Although it weighs around 2.3-tonnes, the car feels quite agile and somewhat nimble. The turbo-diesel V6 gels nicely with the vehicle.
Putting out 140kW and 440Nm of torque, the V6 oiler sends power through a 6-speed automatic gearbox which is constantly in the right gear for optimal acceleration. Fuel consumption sits at a friendly 10.4-litres/100km, which is pretty good for a heavy 4WD like the D3.
Off-road is where the D3 is most at home. Height adjustable suspension, a low-range gearbox and intuitive 4WD mode selector head the D3’s off-road equipment. The torquey V6 diesel packs plenty of pulling power for steep inclines and muddy ruts.
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I would never buy one with reliability problems I’ve heard about. Go a prado or pajero any day.
Nice Car, brilliant on Paper.
Too bad about the well documented Reliability issue!!
Very cable vehicle off road, worth considering if you have deep pockets and a good relationship with a knowledgable mechanic… because you will need one. And the 75K price tag isn’t cheap. Tick a few options and 90 to 100 k isn’t impossible. Sadly the long term resale values are woeful!
Which reliability issues are you three rabbiting on about?
Care to share any links with evidence to such problems?
I’m sick of hearing from armchair experts who don’t and never have owned the things they comment about!! My brother in law has a TDV6 HSE with 80,000km on the clock and it hasn’t had any problems at all.
In fact, do a Google search for “Discovery 3 reliability” and it will show you that you three are just making rubbish up to sound intelligent.
Benjie, My boss and I were just discussing this very article and he told me that a good friend of his works for Land Rover and has himself admitted to the reliability issues.
www dot jdpower dot com/autos/ratings/quality-ratings-by-brand
www dot jdpower dot com/autos/ratings/dependability-ratings-by-brand
Brilliant car being the product of the late Geoff Polities and Engineering genius Richard Parry Jones.
Cant have any issues with the reliability of the drivetrain. The PSA v6 is a pearler and the ZF 6speed auto you cant fault.
There is more than the odd reliability issues with the Aisin slushers in prados and the rear diffs have a tendency to mimic an Iraqi IED.
Mitch, there is nothing model specific in those links you handed me.
Do some real research mate, you’ll look a little less clueless next time.
Benjie,
4wd of the Year Awards for 2006, for 4wd Mothly Australia..
6 4wd went bush (Prado,LC100,Patrol,Pathfinder,LD3,Grand Cherokee). The discovery 3, died on the mid bush, had to be brought back on the back of a truck…
There is numerous other examples of the Discovery 3 being shonky built, it even was voted in the US as the worst reliable new car on market… Which i reckon is a shame since it looks quite nice, and is really good on paper.
Trackdaze, i dont know where your getting your info on the diffs?? I’m member of a PRADO forum, and thats the first i hear of it…
Tomas the weak diffs are not restricted to Prados, the Land cruiser 100s with IFS also use corolla diffs in the front which burst with pathetic ease.
I concur with the others!
Good thing with L/R product, you will get to know the service dept. guys real well.
Is it no wonder that in customer satisfaction surveys for quality and problems, L/D comes LAST!
Its first from the bottom of the barrel!!
Cheers
F-0
Absolute RUBBISH vehicle, Ford could not get it right, Tata will make a dogs breakfast of it.[And Jag]
KEEP WELL AWAY!
Regards
Fred
Thomas 79,
The real story about the disco that “had” to be brought back on a truck was they drove it full speed through bonnet deep water about 5 times for photos, later on the suspension dropped to it’s lowest setting, they decided it was too hard to drive being that low and sent it back on a truck.
Ok, yes, the other vehicles also got hammered in the water, but I would hardly call this a pointer to reliability as it was being used beyond design parameters.
I also note you forgot to mention(on another 4×4of the year) the landcruiser that snapped it;s front diff, or the ones with the broken front suspension arms, or the weak rear diff in the prado, the overheating transmission in the hilux auto, the cracking firewalls in prado’s(look that one up in your prado forum!) that are used offroad, or the 8+ years of landcruiser turbo diesels that constantly blew big end bearings, or the first 4 years of 80 series cruisers with shoddy gearboxes, or the pootrols that the engine blows up when towing, or the 5th gear that wears out when towing, or the 6th gear in the new 200 series landcruiser that it never shifts into.
Point is, all cars have problems, the Toyota ones are all well documented, the LandRover ones are all, “well my mates cousins uncle reckons they are shit”. Given they have suffered from some(many) pommy build quality traits in the past, however it is widely believed that the later batch, (D3, RRS, FFRR and Freelander 2) are as reliable as anything else on the market today.
As for JD power in the US, to much of the score if down to personal feeling about the car and not actual problems or faults.
Rant over.
Waterboy, I’m fully aware of the toyota Problems you have mentioned, and belive me even though i own a 08 Prado, I’m not part of the “Toyota unbreakable” crowed, but the discussion here is about the Land rover Discovery 3.
In another article of Australian 4wd monthly, they were testing the reliability of the modern High-Tech 4wds such as the Landrover Discovery 3 and the Grand Cherokee under tough Australian conditions. The Landrover 3 Randomly kept on overheating, and the suspension kept on dropping, and the warning lights kept on lighting up.
They had to turn the engine off, for it to cool down, and for the CPU to reset, a number of times….
The problem is water boy that Land Rover has had reliability problems in the past so they have this reputation for being unreliable (even though they largley arn’t these days) – but reliable (boring) old Toyota has an untouchable name for reliability so even major things that do go wrong with them are just waved off.
I have this car but in HSE spec. Wonderful car. I got it the week it came out in 2005 and its great! I get it serviced when its time and its not let me down once – always starts first time even in cruel English winter mornings. I do take it off road as I live in the Cotswolds and have to take it up and down wet muddy hills and down country lanes that bog all my other cars if its not dry. Ive done 125,000 miles in it and I cant yet see a reason to get rid of it. My next car will either be another one of these or a Range Rover Vogue TDV8 but I think it will be this again.
Sorry disnt realise there was already an Alex ^^^
Truely great car. We went to Brooklyn town and Vic Big River Country for some 4wd fun over the past two weekends, D3 proved to be the most capable ones among Prado, Pajero, Forester, X5 and Freelander 2. It’s the champion off road but very sluggish, if not the slowest, on road. All drivers at that day suggest a 3 Liter V6 diesel engine would do way better compared with the current 2.7L one. It’s underpowered!!! Afterall, we all drive 99% of the time on road. and seriously, we all love so much about its air suspension.
regarding to the reliablity, coz I was planning to buy a D3 TDV6, so I have done a lot of forum research and gained some first hand experience from friends who own one. the conclusion I get is that it’s not as reliable as a honda accord and toyota camry, and these cars never go off road, but D3 is pretty good. No complains from 3 current owners that I know and they all absolutely love it!
I didn’t end up buying one coz my wife dislike the looking a lot, although i find its exterior acceptable. It’s simply not a girl’s type of car, as it’s not for girl, but these days, people buy large 4wd also/mainly for carrying their family.
I’d like to know how many people that comment on vehicles in forums are actually paid by the companies involved, recommendations in forums has got to be one of the most popular marketing tools in existence
Im not being payed. Mine is just simply reliable. However – if the services arnt kept up to the exact times when they need doing, they probably can be unreliable. Like Alfa Romeos. Reliable if you keep servicing up.
$7k for sat nav? What a f*cking joke!!
Audis once did badly in the JD Power survey. When the results were scrutinised, it was because the drink holders were for skinny little European cans, not the standard US sized cans.
Thomas79, this is exactly the crap I am talking about:
“In another article of Australian 4wd monthly, they were testing the reliability of the modern High-Tech 4wds such as the Landrover Discovery 3 and the Grand Cherokee under tough Australian conditions. The Landrover 3 Randomly kept on overheating, and the suspension kept on dropping, and the warning lights kept on lighting up.
They had to turn the engine off, for it to cool down, and for the CPU to reset, a number of times…. ”
All hail the gods of 4WD monthly, if you had bothered to dust off Page 75 of the June 2006 issue, you would discover that it was the jeep that kept overheating not the Landrover, the only problem it suffered from was the suspension dropped to “safe mode” after hitting a washout.
Alex, all too true. For sure Toyota make great trucks(if not a little bland), but they could make they biggest bucket of puss and everyone would defend it to the end of the earth.
Joe, $7k also includes some other stuff like premium sound system etc, but true it is on the steep sie, but not that bad compared to vehicles(X5, ML, Q7 etc.) in it’s segement.
Stu, can I reverse your argument as ask if you are paid by other car firms? perhaps not, so when you disagree, there are more than one way to think.
Water Boy, I agree most of your comments except, em…, sorry, don’t think LR is in the same sgement with BMW, Benz and Audi, ANYMORE. Can we face the truth in this case?
Joe, I speak the same as you did:
$7k for sat nav? What a f*cking joke!!
and same to all other brands, it’s a ripped off. But if we don’t like the price, don’t get it.
I did a small amount of research and the reliability problems are there but not in the masses some here are making out. One webite gave it 7.0 out of 10. most of the comments made on this particular site were positive. Its hard for a manufacturer to shake off the past problems and takes years, Audi a as someone pointed out had problems in the USA and virtually pulled out for years, now they are back aiming to take their fair proportion of the market.
As for LR – I’m sure Tata will improve even more on the reliability stakes given time. Toyota does the off road well, LR do it in style. Nuff said
Sorry I misposted this in the Holden Love in and it seems a bit late. Thanks waterboy for putting up a fight to the witch hunt.
Google “broken prado diffs” a few from 4wd monthly, overlander etc etc. The diff is built well just poorly engineered.
Yes, there is a difference
Should we ask the author on Disco 3. Did anything go bang or like like it would on the test?
Mitch, You really should be carefull relying on surveys. Sometimes they rely on the same misconceptions that this blog have highlighted. The Jag finishd well up the order of the last uk survey (one behind toyota) and it runs the same drivetrains as the disco. Survey results have to be taken with a grain of salt.
Trackdaze:
“Should we ask the author on Disco 3. Did anything go bang or like like it would on the test?”
Nothing went wrong at all during the test. In fact I was very impressed with the vehicle while I had it on loan.
I’ve never had a Land Rover come across any issues during my time testing the vehicles. This includes at launches where they are really tested to their limits.
Armchair experts like some of those commenting above are proof that nobody should trust internet commentators, they generally have no idea what they’re talking about.
Its all well and good saying that one is more reliable than the other, or one is more capable. What turns me off the LR’s is when and IF something does go wrong with a vehicle, I want to know that the parts will ALWAYS be available. For the majority of Japanese brands this means 24 hours (Australia wide), whereas you can wait up to 6 weeks for the LR parts to arrive (not just LR but any euro or Yank 4×4).
No good then for me if I want to use the vehicle for what is was intentionally designed for (and have an issue like that hovering in the back of my mind).
From personal experiance Landrover parts are always able to be sourced quickly. Parts are rarely needed anyway. Reliability issues are overated and non existant, only a few minor electrical issues back in the 90s.
Thanks Paul.
I for one totally agree with Water Boy, I\’ve had 3 Discos so far and have had no reliability problems. This main issue here is how many people who bag Land Rovers have actually owned and driven one. And of course any brand of vehicle is going to have problems of some sort. We don\’t live in a perfect world. I prefer to have creature comforts and the feeling the the 4wd under me is more than capable of doing the job, as the Discos have. Each to his own!
Land Rover are an awesome car with genuine 4 x 4 capabilities and having worked for a main dealer I understand what they can do. If you want a large vehicle to look good in just to drive around town this is not a good option – way too expensive to maintain and fuel, but if you do need to go off road and you want abit of luxury then there is not much that will out perform the Discovery.
Reliability is a big issue, but people in love with the brand are blind to it and are very defensive about their vehicles. They’re either very rich or a tad thick.
Value for money and reliability wise you have go Japanese.
It seems like most problems occurred during the first two years of production, if you look at the dates on some of these “forums” where owners can go and complain. And most are software, some air compressors ( air suspension ) and a couple of electrical problems. But lately it seems to get better.
As for JD Power survey, this is a “predicted” score and is based on data between recent and a few years back. So you can only imagine the damage DISCO2’s well known reliability ratings ( thanks to BMW ) are still inflicting on the ratings of the DISCO3. Nobody can really accurately predict the reliability of the latest, 2008 models, can they ?
IMO BMW RAPED Landrover so they could learn how to make SUV’s. Then after screwing up their first attempt they dumped them on Ford. Ford then helped fix the mess and even though they never had too much cash to invest in this project ( Ford has financial difficulties ) I think they did quite a good job completely redesigning and building this new one from the ground up. Landrover was actually making them money ( but sadly Jag was making a loss ), and they had to let Landrover go with Jaguar. Some people say Tata will do a better job than Ford because they have a more money to invest in R&D.
I lived in Oz for 5 years and ran a disco-1, awful build, awful reliabilty, poor door gaps and seals, a pretty bad car in truth and an embarrasment being a brit myself, so i fully understand why aussies prefer toyotas ( nissans though i’m still stumped if we are talking reliability here, come on, dreadfull build, prehistoric technology and where do they find those plastics ??), still managed Simpson, Tanami, Kimberly and Cape York though without ever getting it stuck so can’t knock ability, now run a disco3 and totally different story, been to Mongolia, Russia, North africa, and Namibia in it and as yet not put a foot wrong, I understand Australians suspician of the brand but give the new breed a “fair go” and you’ll be surprised by their reliability, useability and ability, I’m bringing this back to Oz with me when i return I am so pleased with it, just make sure they are maintained that’s the key.
Hi
We have done 30000km in our TDV6 with no problems, and we bought ours after checking with many friends with the same vehicle. The disco 2 may have been unreliable, but this Disco 3 is great. We have been all over with it, in South Africa, Botswana, Namibia & into Zambia. Fuel consumption is amazing – 9.5 l/100 on our last trip to Zambia.
120,000km in five years in Disco2 with minimal problems. Traction control/ABS system can have problems (you still have full braking function) repair to cost ~ $1000. Oil leaked into ECU (that’s an odd one) $550. Disc rotors replaced after 100,000km $320. Fuel leak $500. Total ~ $2500 above routine service and parts. None of the above has stranded me in my 70,000+ km of dirt/desert driving. So I would have to call the Disco2 reliable and believe that the Disco3 would be more so.
I expect to be in a position within the next 12 months to buy a dicso3 (whenever I’ve said “I expect…” it’s all gone pear shaped). Looking at the range of comments and reading and considering etc, I’m not phased by costs of repairs and servicing. Honestly, all vehicles need regular service and some level of part replacement, 4bies regardless of the brand even more so especially if used as intended. For all those from the japanese build guild and sect piling on LR’s just a note of reality: 1. LR is often at the forefront of 4wd innovation. 2. the septics with their wiley’s kicked off the the jappa 4wd build in the late 40’s early 50’s and ever since they’ve been copying jeep or LR.
That’s that for my subjective bit of nonsense.
The Disco 3 is a huge step in the right direction for LR. The TDV6 SE being the pick of the disco.
Sharing much of the RR sport’s running gear but being alot more practical.
my parents bought a brand new discovery 3 6 months ago they are touring around australia in a caravan. have done 21,000KM……..
and now its a smoldering heap on the side of the road.
they were driving along and lost some power suddenly and pulled over looked under the car and saw flames they had enough time to get there phones and the GPS and un hook the caravan. obviously they were pouring water on to it aswell but couldnt get it out.
and are currently stuck in WA
oh and it was the TDV6 so i wouldnt call it the pick of the disco
Burntout-”looked under the car and saw flames”. Why did it start burning? buildup of spinefex etc? Or just because it was a disco 3 TDV6? There can be many reasons for a car to catch fire, and they are not necessarily limited to land rovers……..
Having owned both an NM Pajero and now a TDV6 Disco I feel I’m half qualified to comment! The Disco is now 12 mths old and has covered 20,000kms with some serious off-road work and dragging a heavy off-road camper trailer. It has had ZERO – that is ZERO probems from new – it has not even thrown any fault codes. That is as opposed to the Pajero which had the auto gearbox out twice in the same time and over it’s 5 yrs of service some other issues (despite that, I still consider it a good car and it never let me down).
The Pajero was modified with aftermarket suspension, yet the Disco still kills it from a capability perspective, from a comfort perspective, from a power and towing perspective, from an economy perspective, from a ride and handling perspective (I could continue).
I believe early model Disc0 3’s did have a range of problems and I agonised a while before buying, but they would seem to have all those initial issues well sorted now.
Most of the D3 issues were resolved from my06 onwards. Ford spared no expense to iron out any problmes in the 04-05 D3’s, most of the issues were fixed from MY06.
I have MY07 TDV6, only issues has been the epb, which was a retro waranty fix anyway. other than that it is the best 4wd I could ever need, in offroad situations as long as it has one wheel with traction it still keeps going, so much so when you get bogged, you are well and truely bogged.
fuel consumption is 8.2->8.5 lt/100 on highway 110km/hr, 7.8 sitting on 100km/hr.
My wife hardly lets me drive, s she loves it so much with all the safety features/space and command driving position.
As for resale, well you try an pickup a cheap TDV6 one? I tried but was paying near resale, so I purchased brand new.
In conclusion there is only one car that can claim the title as being the most awarded 4wd ever (nearly 100+ international awards) I don’t think it is a jap brand?
If you have not tried one or been in one, or can’t afford one, please don’t comment on something you know nothing about
I should clarify, I meant retail instead of resale.
“As for resale, well you try an pickup a cheap TDV6, I tried but was paying near retail, so I purchased brand new”.
Tgl, the D3 does not come with a Front and Back diff locks, so please explain how it will keep on going as long as one wheel has traction??
traction control my dear Tomas79.
btw: you can option a rear electronic diff lock.
flexi
there was no spinifex under the car that was the first thing my dad looked for…
he knows a fair bit about cars and has helped every one in my family with there cars (including cousins aunts uncles and granparents) so its not like he doesnt know a thing about cars
when the car went back to range rover in perth they straight away replaced the car with no questions asked and didnt tell my parents the cause so im not sure why it burnt down