Range Rover v Discovery-thoughts/clarifying
Hi,
Toying with the idea of swapping my Santa Fe for a nearly new RR or Discovery. I’m well aware that many folk (on this forum and elsewhere) will say ‘once a RR/Disco, always a RR/Disco’, but I’d still be interested in hearing what you have to say. I’ll be towing a new Adria Adora Isonzo MTPLM 1800kg, and one of the factors in buying this van is to potentially consider making use of the longer A-frame to carry cycles on it. Clearly, therefore, noseweight and tow car ball capacity is a factor.
So opinions on RR v Discovery please, as a whole, but specifically on towing.
Also, below is an extract from the LR website for the 3.0 Discovery diesel auto, yet elsewhere on the website it quotes 150.
Maximum coupling point/nose weight (kg) 350
As that seems an unbelievably high rating, what do owners and other knowledgable folk understand from this?
thanks
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LR says ***Towing nose weight varies by powertrain and wheels fitted. I believe the 350kg is only for the multi height towbar as normally fitted to the commercial Discovery.
The Discovery will easily handle the standard noseweight, but if you use the A-frame for your cycles then it will be the ALKO or Winterhoff towhitch that will be your limitation.
My Winterhoff has a 150kg limit, as does my cars noseweight limit, most if not all ALKO hitches are 100kg limit, maybe newer ones are higher I don't know.
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Ian, I have never gone up scale from my Freelander2 - and it's maximum nose weight is definitely 150 kg. If I wanted advice on the maximum nose weight of the two bigger models you mention I would go straight down the road to the local JLR main dealer here and talk to the service manager - who really does know the answer to that sort of question. Can you do that in your area?
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Maximum coupling point/nose weight (kg) 350
As that seems an unbelievably high rating, what do owners and other knowledgable folk understand from this?
I would think it far higher than what the caravan noseweight is specified for if the bikes are on the A frame but have not checked..
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With the Discovery 3 & 4 the noseweigth maximum figure was market dependant, here and throughout Europe they are specified at 150 kgs.
For Australia and North America much higher values are allowed, but the kit fitted is not the same as in a UK spec vehicle.
My German Hymer is fitted with a 150 Kg Al-Ko hitch, not the normal 100 kgs, BUT the chassis is only rated at 100 kgs "S" value [noseweight] despite it being a 1900 kg van. Check carefully that your Adria really has the chassis for 150 kgs, even if a 150 hitch is fitted, as few have and the heavier duty hitch is used because of the van's weight, not because you can load the noseweight up to 150 Kgs.
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But I use an old bike rack from Towsure which is mounted on a plate behind the bolt on tow ball - so with that bike rack the weight of my bikes is on the tow ball but not on the caravan hitch.
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The OP's statement was about carrying the bikes very specifically on the "A" frame.
"buying this van is to potentially consider making use of the longer A-frame to carry cycles on it."
To keep within the chassis rating, which most probably is going to be 100kgs, becomes quite a challenge as the bikes and rack are positioned so close to the towball most of their weight acts directly on it.
The longer "A" frame does better facilitate "eurotraveller's" solution as get the bikes high enough to avoid fouling the jockey wheel stem, it affords a decent clearance from them jack knifing into the van's front. This is most critical when reversing, as going ahead the vehicle's steering lock rarely is sufficiently tight to have jack knife issues.
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Thanks all, my pondering continues. We should collect new caravan next week, so I’ll be able to check coupling Weight capacity and then over next few weeks, experiment with load distribution (including bikes on A frame).
Thanks Metheven for the 350kg explanation. You’ve told me something that even the LR sales person couldn’t!
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Posted on 14/07/2020 16:36 by Metheven
"LR says ***Towing nose weight varies by powertrain and wheels fitted. I believe the 350kg is only for the multi height towbar as normally fitted to the commercial Discovery".
Not according to the weight chart in the Discovery manual that I provided in my previous post.
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Having had a D3, D4 and now D5, I can confirm that the Discovery will tow 3500kg with originally 350kg nose weight on the D3 & D4, which was reduced when they started having issues with the removable towbars, but remained 350kg with the fixed towbar (which I always use as I carry 3 bikes on a flange mounted maxxraxx whilst towing).
The D5 remains at 3500kg / 350kg with either the electrically deployed towbar or the fixed tow bar, but reduces to 195kg on the manual removable.
....but as has been said, that is pretty academic, because unless you are towing a 3500kg Ifor (which I also do), then the nose weight is constrained by the caravan chassis.
...nice to know you are never going to stress the car though!
Official D5 tech spec can be found here:
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Well, I did consider such, and also did so on current Swift van. But I have a logistical conundrum, in that we store our van in private undercover premises about 7-8 miles away from our home. There isn’t room in the storage garage to leave a cycle rack on the rear of the van, whereas of course, on the A-frame, it takes up no extra length.
In fact, we’re considering buying extra bikes, so as to leave them mounted on the van. It’s not practical to bring van home, so however we carry bikes, getting them from house to storage is an issue. Up until now, I’ve carried them on a car roof rack for caravan trips but I find that a pain to fit on car (when needed) and hassle to get bikes on/off.
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Thanks for further responses. I did test drive a 2018 Discovery this week, but, as stated, I’m only thinking at the moment. Lot to like about it though, although I found seats a bit firm, and OH baulked at sheer size of vehicle!
Jaguar F pace also on list to try, but they too seem to issue conflicting info re tow ball capacity, depending on where in brochure/on website/who you ask. But in any case, thanks to this forum, I am now clearer about Alko coupling limits, which may dilute the issue of car towball weight anyway.
Until I juggle with weight distribution in the new van, I won’t really know what’s what. I already have a A-frame cycle carrier, snapped up at a bargain price off EBay, so the idea is easy/cheap to experiment.
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I have owned 6 Discoveries since the early 90s and just changed to a R.R. Sport. I found the Discovery Sport was well able to tow a Hymer Nova with a max weight of 2000kgs both hill climbing and handling were excellent. I then moved back to a full size 3-0 litre Discovery and found perhaps the auto gear changes were a little smoother although the Sport was perfectly fine. Having just changed to the R.R Sport it too is effortless. The Sport is a little more car like when solo and can be pushed round corners a little easier than the full sized Discovery. The R.R. Evoque has less towing weight allowance than the Discovery Sport which also benefits from more boot room so I would prefer the D/Sport over the Evoque for an 1800 kg caravan. I always tow with a 100kg nose weight (the max for an AlKo chassis) but well under the max for Landrover and Range Rovers.
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A further update...
we have the new Adria van, and the max coupling capacity on the Alko hitch is 150kg. We haven’t yet fitted the already acquired A-frame cycle rack so still to check out impact on nose weight.
Have test driven Discovery and Discovery Sport (although the latter is limited to 100kg towball weight according to LR spec), as well as Audi Q7 and Mercedes GLE 400d. At the moment, the latter ticks most of my boxes. Have to say that it is starting to worry me as to how many people (Not necessarily experts but perception) mention RR unreliability, although I still plan to test a RR Sport.
A fellow caravanner with a RR Sport on one site said “ I love it, but I’d never buy one for reliability!”0 -
Well lornalou1, here's another long standing member that is on my seventh Land Rover and none of them have been unreliable. I must admit prior to getting my first RR Sport I heard what people were saying and wondered if there was some much technology in the vehicle that they may have a point, how glad am I that I ignored them, a superb all round vehicle and to cap it all they all came with properly wired tow bar electrics without having to beg.
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Totally agree in 27 years of Discovery and Range Rover towing and ownership I have never had any problems or bills other than the normal tyres, brake discs etc. I have read a lot of posts here from owners with other brands asking for solutions to tow bar electric issues, auto gear boxes needing coolers fitted etc whereas LR/RR are made to tow and have generous hitch limits far exceeding that required by even the heaviest of caravans. I find towing with Discoveries or Range Rovers is effortless and relaxing.
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Just thought I’d finish this topic off, in the sense that I ended up with a final decision to go for a BMW X5. Having test drove most of the contenders (x5, LR Discovery, LR Discovery Sport, Mercedes GLE, Audi Q7), spec reviewed others (F Pace) and rebalanced the price v spec v age conundrum of yet more (RR), I found that the X5 Best met my needs.
I prefer to buy vehicles just a few months old, to avoid the big VAT/depreciation hit in year 1) some were just not available at the price I wanted, particularly getting a factory fit Towbar.Haven't collected X5 until later this week but happy with my choice, and hopefully will continue to be into the future.
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According to spec on our new Adria (different Alko chassis to most UK brands, apparently), it is 150kg.
that said, with appropriate weight distribution, I hope not to need anything like that. (Now got cycle rack on A-frame, but not yet had chance to it bikes on to test it).
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For me, one of the issues, these days is space in the car. With the poor user paid of many Van's, w need to carry so much stuff in the car instead of the caravan. Not only do I look for towing capability but also boot space. For this reason I go for a Discovery 3/4.
David
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I simply dont buy into this myth of roomy SUV’s. To get decent boot space with an SUV you need to drive a tank sized vehicle. I had an FL2 for a year and it was a good tow car. However the boot space was poor, the build quality in terms of fit and finish were no where near that of VW or similar and it was unreliable. My son has a new RR sport, fabulous car in many respects but his wife's Beemer 2 series Active Tourer has more rear passenger leg room by a country mile, possibly better ride and in practice is as roomy. My current tow car is a previous generation Volvo V60 and whilst it will be my first and last Volvo (utterly cr8p dealers and appalling customer service support from Volvo UK) I can get more in the boot than i could the Freelander, it is 4wd, much more economical and tows extremely well. If you must have height then buy an MPV and if you must have 4wd there are 4wd estate cars available.
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For boot space (whether SUV or any hatchback or estate) I guess much depends On whether one caravans as a couple or more passengers. Whilst I agree that there is always much to put in the tow car, as we are always only a couple, I count the usable space with back seats flat, which gives not only plenty of area, but also height.
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