2008 Land Rover Discovery 3 Dune driving on Stockton Beach
17 Nov, 2008
10 Comments 
The self-contained apartment I booked close to Anna Bay slept four, had full kitchen and bathroom facilities, and cost me just $140 for the night. While it wasn’t the cheapest joint on offer, it was quiet, well-maintained, and just two minutes drive down Nelson Bay Road to the Gan Gan Road Beach Access point, perfect.
My folks had still not arrived and daylight was diminishing rapidly, but I still needed to shoot a bunch of photographs before dusk. Problem was, I needed to have a National Parks & Wildlife ‘Beach vehicle three day permit’ before entering the Worimi Conservation Lands, the traditional country of the Worimi people.
Five minutes later and $10 lighter, I was on my way, well almost. Land Rover had kindly equipped me with a hand gauge so that I could accurately lower my tyre pressures to 18psi all round so as to provide a wider footprint and increase traction on the sand.
At this time of the day, you don’t want to be taking any unnecessary risks on the dunes, as I had no assistance, no mobile coverage and darkness was less than 40 minutes away. Nonetheless, I wanted the shots as we only up here for 24 hours.
Tyre pressures sorted, valve caps back on, all I had to do was dial up the Sand setting on Land Rover’s magic Terrain Response. It’s a sophisticated electronic management system, which can instantly retune any number of the vehicle’s features depending on what kind of terrain you intend driving on.
For example, by selecting Sand, Terrain Response will remap the engine management system for maximum throttle response, Traction Control and Dynamic Stability Control for reduced braking intervention, Hill Descent Control is switched off, transmission will hold gears longer and change down early for maximum power to wheels. The electronic differentials and suspension height remains normal in this mode. It’s a remarkable piece of electronic wizardry but you need to read the instructions carefully, as I would find out soon enough.
Even though I knew I should be heading straight for the dunes, the urge to drive down the edge of the surf was overpowering and made all the more special, given there wasn’t another soul to be seen for 32 kilometres.
The wet sand was hard packed and easy going, but after a few minutes I headed back into some low rise dunes to get some nice shots of the Disco at sunset.
No dramas whatsoever in the Land Rover nor did I expect any in what is widely regarded, as one the most capable off-road machines on the planet.
Rather than get eaten alive by the hexam grays (bloody big mossies) during the time it would take me to rig up the battery powered compressor and reinflate the tyres to road going pressures, I voted against that, and drove the 20 odd metres from the Stockton Beach entrance to the local servo and got is done in a few minutes.
My parents had just arrived as I pulled into the apartment complex on dark, after their LPG conversion had played up due to a worn out radiator, which in turn, was not heating the LPG sufficiently and caused the car to stall repeatedly - the joys of 12-year old cars with worn out parts I guess.
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November 17th, 2008 at 10:55 am
Great 4Wd’S! Im not sure of the reliability issues of the past, but my cousin has a TDV6 Disco in Fiji, and that thing is awesome, straight through flood waters, gravel, sand, mud, you name it and its just kept going and never missed a beat after 2 years, and nearly 80K.
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November 17th, 2008 at 11:39 am
Mmmm…damn I miss Stocko Beach! Was out there last year cruising about with my mate with the Pasha Bulka in the background. Made for some pretty cool pics!
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November 17th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
I like Stockton beach, but I don’t think I could bring my self to taking any thing better than an old rust bucket out there- after all the salt is only going to wreck any car that goes on it.
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November 17th, 2008 at 4:40 pm
There’s not much doubt about it; CarAdvice has the best photography in it’s reviews of all the online car sites, I love your work guys.
Oh… and the Disco looks pretty good too!
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November 17th, 2008 at 5:56 pm
avg 10.8l/100km is brilliant for such a large heavy, comfortable 4wd, especially including sand work.. You cant ask for any better than that, and doing it in comfort and style, brilliant..
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November 17th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
With Indian’s money and technology, can they build Discovery lighter?
I read some review from Internet and according to it this car’s weight is 2.7ton. Is it true? If so WTF !!! Why it so heavy?
I hope Discoverry4 use high-tec material and at least half ton lighter than 3.
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November 17th, 2008 at 10:23 pm
Disco is running two chassis. Its got a monocoque and ladder frame. exactly why i dont know but it’s this that accounts for a fair bit of weight difference. The remainder? Disco 3 also did away with the aluminium panels of its predecessor.
Agree with being off the sand for too long. Never really got bogged before but last time I ventured onto the stuff I managed to plant the chassis on the sand not more than 20feet off the tarmac.
A couple of tips. Maxtrax and long handled shovels are brilliant suitably unimpressed girlfriends with nails to file are not.
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November 18th, 2008 at 1:08 am
I reckon I’d be crapping myself all the way driven a £75K wagon capable of sinking to the gunnels in sand.
I wouldn’t question reliability nowadays my boss has a RR sport and a Disco 3. The RR sport is 2yrs old has about 195K on the clock with no problems so far.
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November 18th, 2008 at 1:36 am
I gotta say, one thing a Land Cruiser will always have over a Land Rover is that a Land Rover is too pretty for most people to risk scratching it. A lot of people wouldn’t mind if they scratched their Land Cruiser while off roading but I’m not so sure about this. Still, it is a wonderful car for the job. Trackdaze - The reason for both chassis is that according to Land Rover, one is better for on road and one is better for off road so the one that is needed gets used in the right conditions and it makes for a very good all-round driving experience. I’d much rather one of these over that Land Cruiser you reviewed recently.
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November 30th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
Great Review, the Disco has the ladder frame and the monocoque to gian the best of both world, refine ment while on road and strength and resistance to flex off road.
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