3 Years
In October 2017 it was my D4’s three year anniversary with just on 79,000km travelled and also the end of the warranty so I thought something of a milestone, so I wrote this.
The first year anniversary was spent camping on Moreton Island but the 3 year will only be a mundane commute to work. That’s ok because commuting and general city driving is one of the jobs it performs exceptionally well, along with everything else we use it for. Visibility in traffic is exceptional, which helps read and predict what the gumbies around you may do next. The cabin is quiet and comfortable, the stereo is excellent and the 40 minutes passes without stress. But there’s more to it than that.
Versatility; it is luxury city transport (even in TDV6 guise) and daily driver, occasional mini bus, outback tourer and tow horse, camping base station and 4WD play toy. It is in my view an impressive feat of design and engineering that one vehicle could be all these things without aggressive modification or major compromise. I still have a soft spot for the ’77 Range Rover I had in the 90s but the D4 is by far the best vehicle I’ve owned. Everything driven in between was just a car.
Travelling in Australia hadn’t really been on our radar prior to D4 ownership and the image is a collage of photos from a few of the adventures we’ve had, big and small, that would not have happened without following the impulse to get a Land Rover again. So far we have been on three extended outback travelling holidays to Cape York & Outback Queensland, the Red Centre and the Flinders Ranges. Each trip was away touring and using the D4 daily for a combined total of around 12 weeks and 22,000km. For these trips we towed either a forward-fold camper trailer or small hybrid offroad caravan. We have also taken it on a few shorter getaways such as Moreton Island and the Victorian High Country without the camper and also day trips from home, so now feel pretty happy with using the D4 as a camping/touring base station in both stand-alone and towing configurations. The level of comfort even on the roughest roads makes long days touring a great experience.
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I also like to get out and tackle challenging 4WD tracks just for fun, noting that my baby is not a heavily modified tank on 35” muddies. In some cases driving challenging tracks is combined with touring depending on where you’re travelling but mostly the difficult terrain is attempted just for fun as a weekend hobby. I am prepared to tackle things that push its limits and probably more so my skill level and this entails some risk of damage, which is worth mitigating with quality LT tyres and unobtrusive protection plates. But in general terms it is seriously impressive what a close to stock vehicle can do when pushed and some effort is put into getting the best out of it. Most of these 4WD’ing days are with people who also own D4s that I’ve met through the forum or more so this group and who I now consider mates, which has been an unexpected bonus of D4 ownership.
In the three years there have been a couple of items replaced under warranty; driver seat height mechanism, plastic cowling under the windscreen (uv discolouration), front lower control arm bushes and the recent restricted performance alarm requiring replacement of the intercooler to manifold hose. The relatively short life of the air hose isn’t great but then again I’m not reading of high numbers of premature failures. So I actually think that’s good reliability and I’m prepared to risk running without extended warranty now, bank the $2500 (or more) and report back in two years. I consider the LCA bushes to be in effect a maintenance item if the vehicle sees harsh terrain.
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In the spirit of a long term review I thought about things that annoy me or I’d change. Mostly it was features that you get with higher spec models like electric seats or the front facing cameras but I did come up with a small list of negative things.
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Computer waking up whenever any door is opened; annoying “feature” that really should be a user adjustable setting or at least not active for the rear doors. It’s such a waste of battery capacity and annoying to be leaving a door open all the time in camp. Around 10-20L more usable fuel tank capacity. This would be enough for nearly everywhere. I know some people favour the aux tank/wheel carrier solution but I don’t want the cost/weight penalty for all the times I don’t need them. I’m quite happy planning around jerry can use but I reckon 20L more would really help. Overhead console storage for small things like wallet and sunglasses, there’s plenty of room up there.
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Most mods or accessories are in support of using the D4 as described but a couple shouldn’t be required. The tailgate should have an internal manual release; I have added my own but shouldn’t have to. The spare wheel winder should be readily accessible from above the floor. The jack is not stable enough. Maybe I’ve forgotten some others but really it is that good. The features and attributes that I really like far outweigh any negatives.
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I have followed the so-called Arduous service schedule, which is generally oil and filter changes at twice the standard frequency and have recently also had the diffs, transfer case and transmission drained and refilled. All of this is aimed at what will hopefully be a long and happy life because we intend to keep it for the long run.
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There’s a little charge you get whenever you’re heading towards it to go somewhere. We’ve got plans for lots more adventures and I can’t think of another vehicle I’d rather be in.
