The Discovery 5.
Modern day Land Rover Discovery 5’s seem to be a bit controversial in the Land Rover world. As each model progresses, the die hard Land Rover fans seem to get more bothered by the modern look and complex electronics. Let me tell you: I do not care. Yes, of course there is a raw appeal to driving an older, manual Discovery, but for long distance Overland trips, this D5 is one of the best Overland vehicles out there.
Interior Quality
When you think of an Overland vehicle, most people think of a Toyota Tacoma or 4Runner or a Jeep Rubicon. Sure, they can be modified to be absolute beasts off road, but on road, they are not so great. The Tacoma and 4Runner interiors seem as though they have not been updated since the early 2000’s. The Jeep? Even worse (although they are progressing better than Toyota). The Discovery has a nicely appointed interior that seems to flow well. The seats are very comfortable with good ergonomics. The sound system is great and the off-road information you can get from the computers is helpful on the trail.
The Highway Driving
There is no doubt in my mind that this is one of the best highway-driving Overland vehicles out there. It has a plush airbag suspension set up and has plenty of power for towing the trailer. The interior is very quiet, which is nice for longer drives.
Off Road Driving
I find myself always trying to find the balance between on- and off-road performance when it comes to an overland vehicle. Let me be clear, the Discovery 5 is not winning any awards for rock crawling. It is not a modified Jeep Rubicon or Toyota Land Cruiser. However, right out of the box, this thing really packs a punch off-road. Throw some air suspension lift rods and better tires and you have a pretty competent off-road rig.
The Aesthetic
I cannot wait for all of the people that will DM me with their thoughts on how bad the Discovery 5 looks. I will just go ahead and say it: I love the look. The body shape is awesome and I even like the offset rear license plate. (Side note: to all you haters who think the license plate offset is ugly, they make conversion kits to center the license plate). Aesthetic is an important thing for me because I am so picky when it comes to cars. The grille and front facia look awesome, especially with the auxiliary lights I added. In my opinion, it is definitely a more refined look than its competitors.
Overall
I am happy with the Discovery 5. It’s on- and off-road performance are a good balance for the type of trips we do and its features make longer trips comfortable. I am, however, afraid that as we keep racking up the mileage, things are going to break. The electronics are complex and can be impossible to fix on trail. The parts are astronomically expensive when compared to Ford and Toyota parts. For now, I just keep telling myself that I got lucky. We have a car that has 70,000 hard miles on it and we have had zero problems.
If you want to follow along on our journeys check out @Dirty_Discovery on Instagram. Since there is so much going on, that is usually where we end up posting the most updated stuff!