Sorry for asking, like others there's load of buying advice on specific issues, my question is a bit more general.

So, I've currently got a 2012 4.4 Westminster, great car, love it but I'm also one who gets bored easily and my eyes wander...

So if I budget £35-40k (Max !!) and I'll be looking for a SE or AB, then is there a year that things got better or worse ? Plenty of 2013 modela about but I read lots of issues, major aned minor. I've read about front suspension issues as well, post Aug2014 ???

If I aim at 2015 or stretch to a 2016 if possible am I getting a better car all round ??

I hope that makes sense and please don't shout at me...

if i were likely to spend that kind of money , i would ask even more questions..

16my started to have ad-blue so they became ulez compliment and it sounds like a lot of city's will require this soon...

the 17my have the better infotainment screen without the 'side buttons' so that should be a consideration...


i had a 4.4 westie and now have a tdv6....its still got a fair smount of power and the fuel mpg is vastly improved... ... - .- -.




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The 17 is possibly the sweet spot before the new front end come in, as it has the better screen etc. But that is probably beyond 40k unless you find one with mega miles.

As Stan said the 16 has the euro6 compliance, which makes that better than the 15 if you want to drive in London or presumably other cities shortly.

The suspension on my 16 still knocks a bit on broken ground so I’m going to get that checked out, I think it falls in the range of the TSB for that tho.

AFAIK it’s only the ones with active roll which have the issues so the 4.4 and the 5.0, so if you go for a v6 diesel then it’s less of a problem.

At the mo your budget tight for an MD car on a 16. And if you are getting a v6 then that’s where I would be looking for belt and braces protection.

In terms of better car all round, I doubt that unless you were paying very close attention and driving a 14 and 16 back to back you would much difference. There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
FFRR 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography Santorini Black.
Fiat 500x 1.4 multiair Lounge 2015
2010 LR D4 Commercial 2.7 TDV6

I’m only interested in a 4.4 V8 so the budget will stretch to a 16 and nothing more. Is adblue a good or bad thing? I’ve never given much thought 🙄

It doesn’t make a lot of difference to the driving and is just something you have to top up from time to time, much like washer fluid, however if you run out them turn the car off it won’t restart until you refill it.

It does make the car Eu6 compliant which is no bad thing. I have a recollection that this makes it cheaper to tax than the previous years. If I remember rightly the 16 plate cars are 219g/km which equates to £330 per year where as the pre ad blue ones are 229g/km which is £565 per year. There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
FFRR 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography Santorini Black.
Fiat 500x 1.4 multiair Lounge 2015
2010 LR D4 Commercial 2.7 TDV6

Ooh now that’s helpful thanks, maybe I might see if the budget can undergo a ‘man value’ review lol Other wise it seems a decent 15-16 will fit the bill. I’ll have a mooch around auto trader.....

If you can possibly stretch to a ‘17, the refresh on the infotainment is well worth it, even if you need to hold off for as short while - it brings everything on by about 10 years!

I too have a 4.4 Westie and, until Covid hit, was likely to be swapping mine for an L405 this year. I have done a lot of research and concluded that, as others have said here, the MY17 with the updated infotainment was the one to go for, and worth waiting a few months if budget doesn't stretch just yet.

I'm hoping I will be in a position to resume my search in a few months and won't bother looking at anything before MY17. If you do end up looking at MY17 be aware that some cars even with a 67 plate are MY16, they were just registered very late.

Good luck  2017 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography
2012 4.4 TDV8 Westminster - Gone, but not forgotten

And if you get a ‘17 from a dealer, make sure that they download the latest infotainment software as part of the deal; the have been about a million infotainment software updates since the car first came out and many of them are worth having! If you pay to have it done afterwards they may attempt to charge 3 hours Labour, even though it takes them half an hour to do the work, with 2 1/2 hours download time on top.

fortunately the incontrol pro software update is free and can be done wirelessly by the customer/owner...

https://www.landrover.co.uk/ownership/inco...index.html ... - .- -.




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Red Merle wrote:

If you can possibly stretch to a ‘17, the refresh on the infotainment is well worth it, even if you need to hold off for as short while - it brings everything on by about 10 years!

I’m asking this from someone who’s 7 year old grandson knows his way around a computer better than I do So please be gentle but what exactly does a newer infotainment system do differently from a MY14?

That's a really good question!

The screen on the pre-2017 car was a slightly larger screen version of the system that I'd been using in my previous Discovery 4's and my Freelander 2's before that. It was a cosmetic reworking of the systems that dated back to at least the launch of the Discovery 3 in 2004. The biggest difference was the addition of the wonderful dual view screen.

The system in 2016 was the first clean sheet design of the whole system (along with a new instrument panel), with a much larger and higher resolution central screen. The first thing that you'd notice would be the substantial improvement in the quality of the images (to full photographic quality) when using the reversing and surround cameras.

The integration between the centre screen and the instrument panel is much better, allowing the driver to exchange the entire instrument display for a display for the satnav, with instrument data compressed to the very edges. Go into off road modes and the speedo changes to one with a 60 mph top speed, with very wide spacing.

The centre console is like moving from Windows 95 to Windows 10 in one step. It's able to do much more, is quicker and it's also easier to navigate and change settings. When I say "do much more", you can insert a SIM card into the car and then have your satnav displayed as a satellite view of your actual surroundings, which can be really helpful in locating somewhere, especially at night, when you can "see" your surroundings in a daylight image! You can even use the centre screen to navigate the web.

The phone is easier to use and a minor thing, when you use voice commands to dictate a phone number, you don't have to wait until the disembodied voice has read it back first, you can press a shortcut to go straight to call. Any information, such as photos of incoming callers are displayed straight to the centre screen.

It gives much better integration with smart phones, using the centre screen to access many of the phone's functions and apps, even when the phone is in your case. If you use your phone for music, then this can all be accessed from the car's screen.

Okay, it's not perfect but, unlike the pre-2017 systems, the software is still in continuous development and updates are regularly available, even being able to update by connecting to Land Rover via the car's SIM card, or by connecting to a WiFi signal. The 2017 system was replaced again in 2018 (not necessarily for the better, it's just different), but the software shares the same updates.

Thanks for the info

Ad Blue can be a pain.
As there are no mechanical symptoms or side effects to the ad blue system not functioning correctly, any issues the vehicle thinks it is having with the system it will out vehicle into limp mode and a count down to non vehicle start.

Still make sure that your infotainment software is updated before the car leaves the dealer, as early software won’t allow remote updates:

Click image to enlarge