What’s it like?
The Land Rover Discovery ‘5’ was, when it launched in 2017, nothing if not controversial. For it abandoned the boxy, set-square looks of its predecessors for a smoothed-off, sleeker design penned by Jaguar Land Rover’s now-departed chief of design, Gerry McGovern – and adopted an off-set, asymmetrical rear licence plate for no good reason whatsoever. But getting caught up on this one vexatious aesthetic detail is to miss the point of the Discovery 5, which is a properly urbane, luxurious and yet still off-road-capable SUV that takes the fight to the upmarket likes of the Audi Q7, BMW X5, Lexus RX, Porsche Cayenne and Volvo XC90, among more.
Which model to go for?
Throughout its service life, the fifth-gen Land Rover Discovery has used a variety of engines all with either four or six cylinders, the latter in both the V6 and inline-six configurations.
While there’s nothing inherently wrong with the four-cylinder engines, most predominantly found here on the second-hand market as turbodiesels but Land Rover did do a four-cylinder petrol Discovery 5 too, we’d advocate going for one of the stronger six-cylinder powerplants for an SUV this big. They just provide a more effortless and ‘fitting’ driving experience for a seven-seat machine of this size, even if aluminium construction in this generation of Discovery trimmed almost half-a-tonne from the kerb weight.
Land Rover installed a supercharged V6 petrol engine into pre-facelift versions of the Discovery 5, but in Ireland pretty much every single example on the market is diesel-powered. Therefore, prior to a 2021 update, you’re looking for a Discovery badged ‘SDV6’ as the best engine choice.
After a very modest facelift in 2021, all Discovery models – petrol and diesel – became 48-volt mild-hybrids with smoother, silkier straight-six (I6) engines. The absolute pick of the used Discovery 5 scene is the post-facelift I6 turbodiesel, which is called the ‘D300’ to reflect both its fuel type and its peak power output (300hp).
All Land Rover Discovery 5 models were equipped with four-wheel drive and an eight-speed automatic transmission, so it’s really only engine spec and trim level choices you need to make when buying a used example.
Does anything go wrong?
Unfortunately, despite a go-anywhere corporate reputation and its premium market positioning, the Land Rover Discovery 5 is not without a significant number of widely reported issues. The chief engine failures related to the early ‘Si6’ petrol 3.0-litre engines and the 2.0-litre Ingenium four-cylinder turbodiesel, so that’s another good reason to just search out a later D300 Discovery. Furthermore, water leaks from sunroofs and windscreens are common, as are electronic glitches with the onboard systems. In Land Rover’s defence, the Discovery’s reliability rating improved significantly from 2021 onwards, mainly down to those inline engines and the much-better Pivi Pro infotainment within.
This reputation for flakiness is perhaps best embodied by the fact Land Rover issued no less than 12 recalls for this generation of Discovery during its life. As briefly as we can, these were for: a cracked plastic housing on the oil filter; corrosion in the rear door locks which could cause the doors to inadvertently unlock; blockages in the engine cam carrier oil channel presenting a possible fire risk; faulty front seatbelt pre-tensioners; an incorrectly routed fuel feed hose; a missing occupant detection device for the front passenger seat; an insufficient connection in the boot-mounted starter battery ground stud leading to electrical issues; incorrectly fitted gaskets between the exhaust downpipe and catalytic converter; the left-hand seat’s anchorage points in the third row being incorrectly fitted; a possible fracture of the crankshaft pulley bolt; a defective autonomous emergency braking (AEB) feature; and a fuel leak from the fuel return hose.