Land Rover Discovery 4 News

A member of the 2013 Australia's Best Cars judging panel says motorists are spoilt for choice right now. Royal Automobile Club of Tasmania general manager of roadside and technical Darren Moody -- who sits on the panel with judges from motorist clubs around Australia -- says new car buyers have access to record low interest rates and are still getting great value for money, despite a recent dip in the value of the Australian dollar.He and the 11 other judges from around the country had been trying to make life even easier for buyers, testing 50 vehicles in 15 categories for the 2013 best car awards.The awards, run by the Australian Automobile Association, involved all the state auto clubs. In October Mr Moody and the other judges spent six days at the Australian Automobile Research Centre at Anglesea in Victoria testing all the vehicles.The judges' choice this year was the Mazda6 Touring, winner of the category for best medium car under $50,000. "It brings premium features to the category," Mr Moody said. There was no winner in the people mover category this year. AAA chief executive Andrew McKellar said it was the first time in the 13 years of the program that an award has been withheld."It's unfortunate that not one vehicle in that class meets the expectations of an Australia's Best Car," he said.Australia's Best Cars 2013Judges' choice: Mazda6 TouringBest light car: Renault Clio Expression TCe 120Best small car under $35,000: Hyundai i30 ActiveBest small car over $35,000: Audi A3 Sportback TFSI CoDBest medium car under $50,000: Mazda6 TouringBest medium car over $50,000: BMW 320iBest large car under $60,000: Holden Commodore VF SV6Best large car over $60,000: Lexus GS350 F SportBest people mover: Award withheldBest sports car under $50,000: Volkswagen Golf GTIBest sports car $50,000-$100,000: BMW M135iBest SUV under $45,000: Subaru Forester 2.5iBest SUV $45,000-$65,000: Hyundai Santa Fe Highlander CRDiBest Luxury SUV over $65,000: Volkswagen Touareg V6 TDIBest all-terrain 4WD under $100,000: Land Rover Discovery 4 TDV6Best 4x4 Dual Cab Ute: Ford Ranger XLRead the full story here. 

Unlike the 4WD Of The Year contest which is only open to vehicles new that year, these awards are open to any 4WD currently on the market no matter how long ago it was released. With the champion Discovery 3 TDV6 no longer available, the Best Overall and Best Large Diesel Wagon categories were up for grabs. On paper the new Discovery 4 looked the natural candidate to take over from the Discovery 3, but which Discovery 4, given the expanded engine options? And is the Discovery 4 really better than the Discovery 3? And what about the new LandCruiser Prado 150, given the 120 had come close to toppling the Discovery 3 in previous years? What turned out was really a two-part decision. While the Discovery 4 gathered sufficient 'points' to put it in front without too much problem, the decision between the 3.0L TDV6 and the 2.7L TDV6, the pick of the two engine options given the cost and thirst of the new 5.0-litre V8, proved more difficult. The new twin-turbo 180kW/600Nm 3.0L is more costly than the 140kW/440Nm 2.7L but it offers far better performance and at no significant cost in fuel use. In fact, under some circumstances the 3.0L is even more economical than the 2.7L. That would be enough to give victory to the 3.0L, you would think. Except there's a problem. The smallest wheels you can fit to the 3.0L (due to its bigger brakes) are 19s. And that puts a major compromise on tyre selection. In fact, the standard tyres (240km/h rated 255/55R19s) are extremely puncture-prone in off-road conditions. A partial fix is to fit a tyre with a lower speed rating (i.e., heavier construction) or to fit a Light Truck (LT) tyre rather than a Passenger (P) tyre. This can help but it's only a partial solution and both of these 'solutions', especially the LT tyres, come with their own compromise. In the end, this real lack of bush practicality saw the decision go in the way of the 2.7L. Yes, it's not as powerful as the 3.0L but it's cheaper and the fact that you can equip it with 17-inch wheels makes it far more practical. Like the Discovery 3 before it, it's a deserved winner of the Best Overall Award and along the way it also picks up the Best Large Diesel Wagon Award. We gave an honourable mention to the Toyota LandCruiser 200 Series D-4D. It's a  great all rounder but expensive, a little thirsty and not as powerful as it should be. So-so on-road handling doesn't help either. The best value for money 4WD and best Medium Diesel Wagon  award went to the Mitsubishi Pajero Di-D. This is the fifth year it has won the best value category but it's taken a while for the diesel Pajero to take the Best Medium Diesel Wagon crown from Toyota's Prado. The Prado has held this category even since the then-new D-4D engine debuted in 2006. That was in the 120 Series, a vehicle that was replaced late last year by the 150 Series Prado. So why didn't the 150 take over from where the 120 left off. Well, in a word it's simply not good enough and in many ways a backwards step from the 120. On paper it's slightly bigger inside and marginally more fuel-efficient but neither of these two advantages play a significant role in the real world. The 150 is also slightly heavier than the 120 and with 127kW four-cylinder diesel carried over it's actually a little down on performance and, according to our testing, not quite as good on fuel despite its better ADR fuel figure. In addition, the seating capacity has been reduced from eight to seven and the packaging of the third-row seats under the cargo floor takes up a fair bit of luggage space. In another backwards step, the fuel tank capacity is down from 180 litres to 150 litres. All this was sufficient to see the Pajero, which hadn't changed in the last year and was only a smidge behind the 120, edge ahead of the 150 by a nose. The Pajero in question is the NT model that arrived in late 2008 (for 2009 model year). It came with a heavily revised engine with 147kW and a new five-speed automatic gearbox. These changes were the highlight of the new package but Mitsubishi also worked hard to improve the often-criticised noise deadening and general running refinement of the Pajero. Compared to the Prado 150, the Pajero offers stronger performance, sharper on-road handling and more kit for less money. And while its neither as capable, or as comfortable as the Prado in difficult off-road conditions, it still does an excellent job when the going gets tough. The Pajero also continues as the winner of the Best Value for Money category, which it has dominated for five years now.

The 2010 Overlander Awards Best of the Best category has been taken out by Land Rover Discovery 4, for the third year in a row. The rest of the 2010 Award winners will be announced in the September issue, on sale this week. The Overlander 4WD Awards considers all 4WD vehicles available on the market– no matter how long ago they were released. This provides a broad market review across the full spectrum of 4WD vehicles available at the point in time of judging, not just new vehicles released. "While all the 4WDs tested for the awards this year were of the highest quality, several contenders really stood out and there was very little between them in the overall assessment," Overlander editor Trent Nikolic says.  The category winners are: Best Overall 4WD: Land Rover Discovery 4, 2.7L TDV6Best Large Wagon Diesel: Land Rover Discovery 4, 2.7L TDV6Best Medium Diesel Wagon: Mitsubishi Pajero Di-DBest Large Petrol Wagon: Toyota Land Cruiser 200 Series Best Medium Petrol Wagon: Toyota Land Cruiser Prado 150 V6 4.0LBest Small Wagon: Suzuki Vitara DDiSBest Diesel Ute: Mitsubishi Triton Di-D Double CabBest Petrol Ute: Nissan Nivara D40 4.0L V6 Dual CabBest Luxury: Range Rover Vogue TDV8Best Offroad: Jeep Wrangler RubiconBest Value for Money: Mitsubishi Pajero Di-D

To be eligible for 4WD Of The Year, a vehicle has to be completely new that year, or significantly revised. By 'significantly revised' we mean a major mechanical change like a new engine or drivetrain, or a new body. Styling, equipment or interior facelifts don't cut the mustard.To be eligible, the vehicle in question also has to have a full-size spare wheel either as standard, or available as an option. No full-size spare equals no start. On this count, the Peugeot 4007, Volvo XC60, Audi Q5 and Mitsubishi Outlander were all eliminated automatically.That left a number of other soft-roaders that do come with a full-size spare to consider. These included the Kia Sorento, Hyundai Santa Fe, Lexus RX350, Lexus RX400h and the Nissan Murano. The fact that so many new soft roaders didn't go down the space-saver route is good news but at the end of the day they are still soft roaders and with so many strong candidates among the ranks of the serious 4WDs, we couldn't warrant their inclusion.The new 'serious' 4WDs included the Prado 150 Series, the Land Rover Discovery 4, the Range Rover Sport and Vogue, the new Land Rover Defender variants, the ML Series Triton, and the revised Jeep Wrangler.   Further culling of the numbers saw the Wrangler and the Defender eliminated on the grounds that they are both variations on well-known themes while the Range Rover Vogue, with its new petrol 5.0-litre V8, was deemed to be too expensive in relation to the new Range Rover Sport with its new 3.0-litre TDV6.In the end it came down to the Discovery 4 with its new TDV6 engine (in SE spec), the Range Rover Sport with the same engine (only one spec level), the top-spec ML Triton as this is the only model with all the new features as standard, and the Prado in both petrol and diesel guise. To us, these five vehicles represented an extremely strong field … a classic Land Rover verses Toyota battle with the wildcard Triton thrown in.Find out which vehicle won in Australia’s leading offroad magazine, Overlander, on sale Wednesday Jan 27.

This is what happens when you are cut loose in the Land Rover Heritage Collection, which contains the most significant and best-known vehicles to wear the famous badge of the brand since the 1940s.You can live your fantasies as a reality behind the wheels of the cars which actually did the job, from one of the very first Land Rovers through to Lara Croft's movie star machine and even an SAS fighting truck which saw active service in the Middle East.The extra-special Land Rovers are lined up at Eastnor Castle, which has been the test base for the off-road icon brand since the 1960s, as part of a money-cannot-buy driving experience.The history cars are ready for an hour of action, but only after a hectic half day of the toughest off-road driving I have ever experienced in a group of shiny new Discovery 3 escape machines.It's the best fun I've had in a mud puddle since I was five, and this giant puddle takes up more than a little of the 5000-acre estate at Eastnor Castle with roads which are always special and sometimes named after members of Britain's royal family. And not because they liked the scenery . . .It's cool and slightly foggy as we troop out of Eastnor - which was built in the early 1800s despite styling which would be fine for King Arthur - and slide into the seats of the Discovery fleet.My day gets better, much much better, when a man called Roger Crathorne slides into the back and introduces himself. He is known inside the company as 'Mr Range Rover' and has been a driving force across the Land Rover family for more 40 years since joining the company as an engineering apprentice.Crathorne was the man who led Land Rover to Eastnor, after a golfing friend suggested it might be a good place to do some testing on the 'upcoming' Range Rover in 1962."We've been here ever since. And the conditions are some of the toughest we have found," says Crathorne as we begin the day.He is proved right within 30 minutes when I get our Discovery lightly bogged. It takes a few goes, but eventually I pull free of the sucking mud which has infested the deep ruts which set out our route.It's typical of Eastnor, which is tackled with the car's Terrain Assistance four-wheel drive system set to 'mud and ruts', with occasional tweaking of the ride height, the downhill assist and all the other stuff you never worry about in Toorak or Double Bay.This is serious off-road work and, less than an hour later, it gets much worse. The ruts get deeper, the conditions get even more slimy, and Roger is bounding out of the back seat like a 20-something fun runner - not a 60-something retired executive - to lead the winch and recovery work.He does it again a little later when an assault on the 'American Dips', dug deep through a stream to impress a group of American dealers, turns into a major recovery job for all of the Discoverys."This is what it's all about," he says.And it is. It is also the proof that a Land Rover in the 21st century is just as capable as the 1940s original which was developed from the wartime Willys Jeep.After using a Jeep to tackle the famed Rubicon Trail in the USA, where it's all about slow-speed crawling over giant boulders, I am convinced the Eastnor test is much tougher. And I would also give the Discovery a tick ahead of the American off-roaders, although it would be fantastic to put them head-to-head at Eastnor.After a break for tea and a talk, and more advice from our guides and advisors, we move into muddy ruts which are even more worrying than before and then a final test through obstacles hung over a stream. But the Discoverys wade through the deep sucking muck, and breath cleanly in deep water, as they take us on a tour that includes some incredible British scenery - also used by, whisper it, the SAS for training work - and then rise easily to the creek challenge.At the end they are as dirty as any four-wheel drives I have seen, with mud caked over almost every surface, yet they have been light and easy and luxurious to drive. Particularly with Roger to do the heavy lifting on the winch work.It's already been a memorable day, but after a barbecue lunch beside the Eastnor lake, it's time for the heritage cars.I cannot help myself as I jump straight into the Lara Croft-mobile. This is the very same vehicle driven by Angelina Jolie, down to the rumbling V8 exhaust and a body tweaked with all sorts of adventure gear. It's a fun drive and a smile-a-mile experience, even if the movie makers insisted on an automatic gearbox for their star . . .The Judge Dredd machine is a disappointment after the Croft car, and just getting into the driving seat is a snake-and-squeeze test. The body might be fantastically futuristic, but the cabin is straight from the 1940s.And so is one of the very first Land Rovers. I find it easy to drive, and much more luxurious than an original Jeep, but you have to concentrate on a low-powered engine and a difficult gearbox and brakes which need planning."I think more people should drive cars like this. They would learn what motoring is really about," says Roger, who is again along for the ride.I take a lap in the SAS machine and wonder what stories it could tell, clamber into an early Land Rover truck, and then fall deeply into a Crathorne trap."Why don't you have a drive of this? We'll see what your muscles are like," he says, pointing to a machine with tracks instead of wheels for a polar expedition.It goes well at first but when I have to turn . . . it is impossible. There is no give in the tracks and it takes be about 57 goes - well, maybe not that many - to make a simple 90-degree turn."It's a lot easier on the grass, isn't it?," Roger says with one of those Yoda-style smiles.And that is typical of everything about the day with Land Rover. What looks easy is very tough, but incredibly educational and enlightening.It's a history lesson in a day, as well as a course in engineering and driving, and chance to see what four-wheel-drive development is really all about.We are about to see the 2010 models of the Range Rover, Range Rover Sport and Discovery 4, which will be shiny and new and luxurious and ideal for cashed-up Australian families.But they can also do the sort of work which has made Land Rover so successful for more than 60 years.At the end of the day, I find myself on top of one of the towering battlements of Eastnor Castle. I am strapped to the third-longest flying fox in Europe, nearly 10 stories above the ground and facing a 300-metre run out across an icy-cold lake.How did I get here? Why? These are two of the questions which spark through my head as I prepare to throw myself off a perfectly good castle to overcome a lifelong fear of heights.Eventually, after three failed attempts, I slide over the edge and scream like a child. Lara Croft? Maybe not today after allFollow Paul Gover on Twitter!

And the biggest changes in a generation have totally renewed and revitalised the heartland models of the Land Rover range.There are body bits, more luxury and more technology for the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport, while the Discovery has been altered so much it is now officially the fourth model to wear the badge.The cars will not be ready for driving for several months, and there is no news on Australian pricing, but they are being previewed today at the New York Motor Show.The Big Apple appearance is a big deal for a carmaker which is being attacked on all fronts by a range or new rivals, as every major prestige and luxury brand gets serious about SUVs. Even Aston Martin is planning an all-wheel drive newcomer as a way of bringing its Lagonda brand back from the dead.All three Land Rovers now have an Audi-style LED light array to move them out the pack in daytime traffic, but the body changes are very different across the line. The Range Rover has been smoothed and made more elegant, the Sport looks more hunkered-down, and the Discovery has lost the confrontational Judge Dredd-style nose.Inside, there is a world-first TFT display screen in the Range Rover that gives a different view - satnav for the driver or a movie for the passenger - to the front seats, with an all-new and cleaner dash in the Sport and Discovery.There are also two new V8 engines, one with a supercharger and 380kW, which will soon be shared with new Jaguar models. And there are 360-degree cameras to help with everything from parking to tight four-wheel drive situations."Land Rover is very much alive and kicking despite the current global recession. We're going to invest very heavily in new products," says Phil Popham, head of Land Rover, at a press preview of the new models in Britain."We are very optimistic for the second half of this year with the new products. Land Rover will be in a great position when the world comes out of its current economic recession."The company has spent something more than $1 billion on the changes, which run right to the core of the brand.The Discovery 4 has an improved Terrain Response four-wheel drive system intended to keep it at the head of its class, the Range Rover even gets a full leather headliner to force the pace with its opposition, and the Sport is the only one to get both V8s plus a 3- litre sports diesel.FULL DETALS: Carsguide print, Friday.