Discovery 3/4 or RR Sport

[vagabond]

In fairness the OP did say the following - which in my mind isn't a clear cut choice between a Disco and RRS as the subject line might suggest......although obviously open to your own interpretation.

Im in the market for a new vehicle and considering any of the above, itll be my fist forray into a 4 wd but keen to hear users feedback . . .

What I'm more surprised about is that so far, no one has mentioned an MX5. ;-)

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OP - have you considered an MX5?

[kungfupanda]

6k a year with £12k-£15k to spend? MPG shouldn't be a concern so perhaps a 4.2 supercharged RRS for shits and giggles?

[Mikee]

Had a brand new xc90 7 months back....horrid unreliable anodyne thing. Sold it back to dealer and good riddance.

[Maysie]

its quite strange for me as I see the very best and worst in this car but weighing everything up on the whole in my opinion there is nothing else that ticks all of the boxes as the D4.
You can pull up to a posh party in your dinner jacket and don't look out of place, you can chuck your kids, dogs, luggage and bog off on holiday, you can throw hay in the back and take your sheep to market (I have seen this) or you can put the seat down and take a wardrobe to the tip.
You can also tow up to 3500kg without even knowing its there.

It's basically horses for courses, you don't go in to the purchase with your eyes wide shut thinking you're going to get 40mpg and believe you're never going to get issues. They are a complicated beast, bolted together in Gaydon that weight nearly 3 tonnes, they're tough on brakes, tough on suspension and just about tough on everything. If you buy one you're in it for the long run.....but, if you're a LR lover it doesn't really bother you.

If you do you're homework, know what to look out for, get a really decent warranty then you SHOULD have one of the best cars you've ever owned. If you don't take that advise then you'll know after a few years what having your pants pulled down feels like.

OP, the advice given above is some of the best I have read.

I have recently sold my Disco (D3) after around 9 years of ownership and it was indeed one of the best and worst cars I have ever owned. You simply cant run these expensive, heavy and technically complicated vehicles on a shoestring budget, but so long as you accept that and get a decent one and don't get too upset when things go wrong every now and again, then they are a superbly competent vehicle. They are expensive to maintain, run and service, but I have never owned another car that I have 'enjoyed being in' more. I sold mine last September to get a brand new Totoya HiLux for the dogs/horses etc, but I still miss the Disco every day.

My Audi A4 has now done 160k miles and virtually nothing has ever gone wrong with it in the entire time I have owned it. The D3 on the other hand gave me repair bills with 3 zeros on every single year it went in for a service.

The D4's are better than the D3's in virtually every respect, but they still do have well documented issues. Check out the Disco3 forum if you want some more detailed info.