Land Rover Discovery running costs and reliability

2017 onwards (change model)

Running costs rating: 4 out of 54.0

Land Rover Discovery boot with two front seats in place

Written by Murray Scullion Published: 12 August 2021 Updated: 22 February 2023

Miles per pound (mpp) ⓘ

Low figures relate to the least economical version; high to the most economical. Based on WLTP combined fuel economy for versions of this car made since September 2017 only, and typical current fuel or electricity costs.

Petrol engines	3.4 - 4.0 mpp
Diesel engines	3.6 - 4.5 mpp

What is miles per pound?

Fuel economy ⓘ

Low figures relate to the least economical version; high to the most economical. Based on WLTP combined fuel economy for versions of this car made since September 2017 only.

Petrol engines	23 - 27.5 mpg
Diesel engines	28.3 - 35.1 mpg

View mpg & specs for any version

Not particularly economical
Diesel versions are the best of the bunch
Up-front servicing plans available

What are the running costs?

No versions of this large, heavy and powerful SUV are particularly economical. Officially on the WLTP score, the D250 uses the least fuel. According to the test, it will do 33.5-33.8mpg, and we reckon that those figures are nearly achievable, although in real-life it’s probably more like 31-32mpg. The more powerful D300 scores similarly on the official rating, but in our testing we rarely saw as high as 30mpg. Certainly if you don’t do a lot of motorway driving you can expect more like 25-27mpg.

The P360’s representative figures suggest it can do 26.5mpg, but we think you’ll struggle to get much more than 25mpg.

No getting round it, at nearly five metres long, the Discovery is massive

Servicing and warranty

Land Rover offers a number of service plans, which are designed for cost-effective maintenance of new and approved-used vehicles up to 10 years old with fixed up-front payments. You can make a one-off payment or spread the cost with monthly payments. Service plans are transferable between owners as long as the schedule is adhered to via Land Rover dealers.

The Defender comes with Land Rover’s standard three-year/60,000-mile warranty. This is the same as the Audi Q7, while the BMW X7 comes with an unlimited mileage warranty.

Reliability

Discovery reliability is not a strong point
Owners complain about tech
Feels well screwed together though

The Land Rover Discovery’s reliability doesn’t have a stellar reputation. Land Rover’s build quality has improved in recent years, but it lags behind the best Japanese opposition, and is on a par with the more complex Germans.

The company has some way to go in customer satisfaction surveys and it didn’t make it into our most reliable (new and used) cars list.

The car has been subject to several recalls and while our owners’ reviews are mainly positive, several people complain about the reliability of the technology.