Part 2

The onboard connectivity is via ATT cell and supports 3GB per month. All included with no monthly fee for the first 4 years. Plenty for all the live stuff like traffic and fuel prices. Also has Trip Advisor for locations you select and does a Google Street view-style view of locations as you arrive, or you can view maps as satellite view.

Connectivity has been spotty or takes a while to connect though, even in the Chicago area. We hop in the car to take off and it can be a few minutes before we can check traffic.

The app software is what I would call Alpha quality. All the App Store reviews are terrible. Remote start has worked only once so far, and it continually says the car is unlocked when it isn't. As a former software developer, this doesn't bother me as software can be fixed over the air and the car isn't out of service. There is already an update which I haven't tested yet and I'll have fun being an early Beta tester and bugging them. If they don't get it all fixed by winter then I'm sure myself and others will be screaming.

 

Part 3


And weirdly, even though ATT supplies the in-car service, the app is incompatible with an email address of att.net! Took the dealer an hour to figure that out, buried in some fine print.

Many cool features. Awesome storage and cubbyholes. Really good A/C because you can choose how it runs. I have it on Soft and you can't even hear it but it works fine. One hot day I did try Powerful but too much for Chicago. But should be good for places that are really hot. Have the 12 way seats not the 16 way and 12 is plenty. Love the front camera which reads road signs and displays them on the dash. (If it can't find a speed limit sign it then pulls it from the nav database. ). The trailer hitch area is better laid out. Has both 7 and 4 way plugs, easy to access. No crawling on the ground or feeling around blindly to plug in the power as on the TDI. Love the ability to drop the rear headrests to see out the back better by just hitting an option on the screen. I have yet to figure out the use case for being able to raise and lower the rear seats from my phone. I guess I could freak out the mechanics at the dealer by playing with them from my couch as they try to work on the car. Or if my daughter borrows the car and I see the rear seats go down, I could raise them again. Grin

There are tons of cool technology features I'm slowly figuring out. Doesn't support CarPlay or Android Auto but has their own phone app integration method for Spotify or whatever but haven't tried that yet. Seems to have all the high priority technology stuff. (My career has been in advanced vehicle electronics, especially safety, and that was a priority)

Didn't get the exact set of options I wanted but I searched within 500 miles and only found a couple and no one was willing to deal. Didn't want air suspension due to concerns about reliability, but this one had it. Although it may be fun to try roads in Wyoming that I couldn't do in the VW due to clearance. It also has 3rd row seats which i don't need but oh well. And I wanted the more advanced 4 wheel drive with lockable differentials but we will see if I really need that or not. There are a number of settings for Ice, Mud, Ruts, etc. I'm trying to find out what they actually do so if anyone finds out, please post it! I asked them what setting do I use on a muddy, icy road with deep ruts as you see in Wyoming and they didn't know.

Feels much classier inside than the Touareg Lux. Higher grade materials, softer leather. But, I really liked the double sun visors on the TDI, so you can have one in front and the other one the side at the same time. Really miss that already. Such a pain when on a curvy road driving into the sun and having to flip the visor back and forth.

 

Part 4

Something like 6 or 7 USB power plugs throughout the car. The one in the console though automatically connects the phone to the car electronics which I don't always want so I end up using one from the back of the console which just charges. And a nice touch -- a tray to put phones in in the console with space for the charge cord. The TDI console lid would pinch the cord.

Kicking to open the tailgate is nice. But the backup warning system is fooled by a bike carrier. Loud warning tones whenever you back up. The blind side backup warning is excellent. Even when you can't see anything in the image, if something is approaching from the side, it warns.

Has an actual spare tire, which is becoming rare these days. Good for in the middle of nowhere in Wyoming where a space saver spare wouldn't survive. Some vehicles we looked at (Mercedes?) don't even have that and their answer is "just call emergency Mercedes roadside service". Really? From the middle of nowhere with no cell service?

The windshield has a heat shielding component in it which interferes with GPS and toll tags. I knew this before since dashboard products I've been responsible for developing always have issues with Land Rovers, among other cars. There are special places at the top of the windshield for toll tags, but my phone and GPS devices sometimes get lost. They work in clear sky, but any other interference such as rainstorms, trees or urban canyons can make you lose location. Doesn't matter for navigation since the in vehicle one is pretty decent, with the ability to send destinations from your phone to the car easily. The navigation itself though, sure has a bias for major roads. The quickest way between Chicago and Nashville is US 41, which Waze and others find. This nav system kept trying to take us off that and go an extra 60 to 100 miles farther to take I65 or I57.

All in all, very happy with the car so far. Hoping it ends up being as great as the TDI was over time. Purchased extended warranty coverage for the TDI for around $2k from the dealer and never used it. For the Discovery, it would be over $5k but going to wait and see how it goes.

 

A couple more bugs found on this trip so far.

The built in hotspot doesn't work. It can be seen, but then it sends you to a website to log in which is broken. At least on iPhones and iPads which default to safari. My guess is the developers never tested it with Apple products.

The DEF consumption rate is at least double the TDI. That could be a function of the TDI being illegal though. The great news is the DEF filler is under the hood instead of under the spare tire, which would have meant unloading the entire back full of stuff on this trip. The bad news is the manual stipulates special small jugs to refill and specifically has an x through the common refill jug everyone sells. I can't stop the trip in the middle of Wyoming 300 miles from a dealer and go buy special Land Rover jugs. The normal size ones make a mess spilling all over trying to fill but I am managing to get some in so I now get the 1000 mile warning every 200 miles so I stop and make a mess to get some more in each time. Once I'm stopped for a few days I'll research how to make a filler that gets around this problem.

Another feature I like over the TDI is the softer cruise control. If you set the TDI to 71, it would do anything necessary to maintain that up and down hills, changing gears, Reving the engine or whatever it took. I imagine the German in side the engine saying "you asked for 71, you vill get 71". The Land Rover is much more practical in my opinion. When towing, you go down a hill and it goes over 71, but then up the next, it will down shift from 8 to 7 to 6 but then stick with that and let the speed go down to 62 or whatever without flooring it. Much better for mileage and more how a human drives.

But so far, my biggest overall competitive feeling is how easily this thing tows. Ride is great, better than the TDI

 

And a small but cool use for the air suspension. You can lower the rear of the car to help level the trailer if you don't want to unhook for the night. Discovered that last night and it savings 20 minutes of night and morning time not having to unhook.

Dave

 

Wow what a great review! I plan to comment more later but in an effort to try and help you. I found a funnel thing in the rear cargo area under the floor, where the spare tire would have been in the Touareg. I was thinking that might have something to do with helping fill the DEF fluid. Hope that helps! More later...

 

Wait! What! you got 4 years of free service!!!

 

TechDr - I found a funnel thing too, but I've been using it as an adapter for large nozzle (for trucks) diesel pumps. Such a pain to stop for diesel and it is the truck nozzle, but the adapter works. I had one for the TDI too, but think I bought it, VW didn't supply.

Have figured out how to use regular DEF jugs. Have to let the Discovery system burp to let the air out every pint or less. Can't just load an entire jug like on the TDI. But pretty easy now that I've figured it out.

To get up the steep gravel road to my place in Wyoming with the trailer, I used the off road gravel setting and low range for the first time. Made it without issues. Also handled the washboarding much better than the 2004 Ford Bronco I keep there. And, I used the air suspension to lower way down so that the trailer rear end was up higher when I backed in over a big mound. Not sure I would have made it without that capability. The air suspension I didn't originally think I wanted, I'm finding more useful than I thought. Going to do some forest service roads soon and I may really like it there.

And has anyone else noticed that white seems to be the most common color? Mine is too.

 

Yes, the dealer said they come with 4 years included connected services. Didn't appear to be a dealer thing, since I never went into the dealer to negotiate. Just emailed dealers within 500 miles until I got a good price on the vehicle and then went in with a cashiers check for a quick no-fuss transaction.

I am curious if anyone has purchased extended warranty coverage yet and for how much. I haven't since that dealer quoted about $5k, which is more than double the TDI cost, and they said no need now, and it will go up about 10% per year.

 

Great write-up. Thank you!