Land Rover Discovery LR4 test drive since 2009 SUV
Duel Sir LR Discovery IV and Herra VW back Touareg
From the outside it looks like the test of our two favorite SUVs. However, we will talk about wipers and weapons of weapons ... The battle of the SUV market giants can be called this test so. Giants are not in size, because there are SUVs are much longer and more voluminous, but in patency, charisma and modern technologies. The fight of the British and Germans, one might say, is historically natural, genetically programmed. And this is far from the first fight of the long -standing world antagonists on the pages of our magazine. One of the battles took place last year between Range Rover and Mercedes GL in snowy groves near Moscow. Then the German soldier shamefully lost to the British artist. In almost all articles. What will happen today?
I immediately relied on the victory of Land Rover Discovery. Remembering how he dealt with Lexus GX in one of the recent comparative tests. I could not believe that after that he would give in to some semicrosword of a non-department, especially to the German. Therefore, I got behind the wheel of Discovery with a good mood and prepared to get pleasure from the trip. Meanwhile, VW Touareg Said Ivan Evdokimov, and we decided to meet in a couple of days to compare the first impressions and start off -road tests.
There are not enough pairs of strokes. Raise the screen to the speedometer level and tighten up the climate control
Climate, navigation and multimedia in LR Discovery is more difficult and not as convenient as in VW Touareg
Kill the janitor
During the two days of communication with Discovery, nothing terrible happened, except that I practically hated the English automotive industry. Because of the janitor. He cleaned all the windshield, except for one strip, a mocking way located opposite the driver's eyes. If you have never tried to ride with such a review at night at least fifty kilometers, then you will never understand me. By the way, I immediately took into account this and decided not to mention this annoying story. But then he changed his mind. Because when the test ended and several days passed, Ivan Evdokimov asked me: did you do something with the janitor? I replied: yes, everything is possible! Soap, warmed, ter, beat and twisted !!! Ivan is not a simple journalist, he is a technical expert. He told me his story. Ivan took off the janitor, carried it home, completely defrosted and lubricated the entire structure. In vain. Then he rearranged the left and right wipers in places. Helped. With the feeling of the duty done, he went to bed, and in the morning he saw the strip right before his eyes again. Ivan surrendered.
Land Rover Discovery has rear seats as a mezzanine in a good theater hall, and VW Touareg is just a convenient and spacious second row and both is infallible
This greatly affects safety, maybe even more than poor handling, but let's get closer to the point, to the constant full drive, I began, but the conversation turned in a completely different direction, namely to the climate, multimedia and navigation. I was also surprised how awkwardly these options work in Discovery, but I decided: what's the difference, we test the SUVs. In vain, Ivan returned me to reality. Touareg heats up quickly, you don’t even notice. Searching for radio stations is easier. Navigation is much more convenient. Again, I wanted to make our expert talk about the work of the suspension, course stability and brakes, but stopped short. In Discovery, the climate tossed with masses of cold air with great difficulty, and the control of the options is confused, and therefore the Touareg is safer, more comfortable, clearer, more convenient. If someone says that these are trifles, let him make a couple of tens of kilometers of the hook past the target in a cold salon with frozen glasses and a shitty review to the scream of a hated radio station.
Discovery trunk is more convenient. It is larger in volume and higher, and the loading height is lower. But the British did not achieve this in the best way the center of gravity of the car raised, but the spare wheel was placed under the bottom
I inserted
Off -road native element for both rivals. True, their designs are completely different. Touareg has a carrier body, and all -wheel drive is implemented using a multi -disc supper. Discovery frame SUV with constant all -wheel drive. Usually I always protect frame cars. I like how they behave in crossed areas. Nice, gently, without sharp shocks and vibrations on the body. And I traditionally praised a permanent all -wheel drive, because the capricious, unreliable and slow multi -term couplings of modern crossovers are mostly good. But this time my ideas about the good SUV were very shaken. The authors of Touareg worked so well on the smoothness of the course and energy intensity that it was not scary to drive through the leales. The ill -fated coupling of the affected all -wheel drive also behaved exemplary. Even more, she washed the traditional differential.
This time, none of the participants in the test buried. However, Touareg performed all the exercises much easier and with some kind of jewelry accuracy. Nobody doubted Discovery’s cross -country ability, but it gave him more difficult and strained compared to Touareg. The same is on the asphalt. The German dynamically cut the cerebrospinal serpentines, Yurko was rebuilt in the stream and easily went into the gap to the straight line. Elegantly slowed down before an unexpected obstacle. Gracefully parked. The Englishman inserted his self into every maneuver. He always made it clear that this is not just a turn, inhibition, acceleration does this sir Discovery, do not forget! Touareg as a transparent glass of the correct shape, and Discovery is like a colored stained -glass window, and even in the form of a cunning polyhedron. Touareg as a person does not exist in principle. Discovery bathes in his ego. If you like things with character, then take the English SUV. The German style for those who love the limiting accuracy of the execution of orders, and no gag.
Caution, technical details
VW Touareg is a modern car with a high road clearance that can be manipulated in a fairly wide range due to a change in the ratio of compression/end of the air suspension. The maximum clearance is impressive 300 mm. The suspension articulation is not so large, but with more than compensated by the electronic anti -circus system, as well as locks of the center and rear inter -normal differentials. The suspension also has the adjustment of the stiffness of three degrees. In the sport position, you can safely play Dakar on country roads, the energy intensity of pendants allows. The body is bearing, but he has enormous stiffness for twisting 24,800 nm/. As practice shows, not a single carrier body is able to painlessly carry out long -term operation on the off -road, but cars of this class for regular hard work are usually not designed.
Land Rover Discovery IV frame SUV, equipped with independent air suspension with a variable clearance that makes up the maximum position of 310 mm. The transmission with electronically selected Terran Response modes is very good, especially in the homeland of these machines. Hard locks could seriously increase the off -road potential of this heavy SUV, but the British deprived Disco IV. Which leads to bad suspicions of traditional, for the first and second series of Disco, the weaknesses of the pennies that are not able to digest a high torque. The suspension does not allow you to quickly drive on uneven surfaces otherwise the car demonstrates vertical buildup and slander until a complete breakdown of the suspensions. If you manage to move slowly, then you are guaranteed comfort. But in terms of the volume of the salon, the Englishman beats a German in all respects. Yes, and according to the convenience of the salon too.
As the razor said
Both cars are equipped with similar engines with three -liter diesel engines with almost the same power. However, Touareg is over to hundreds of two seconds faster. The eight -speed box of the German works wonders. In addition, Discovery is too fat for three hundred kilograms more. Boris razor, or Boris Khres will get (a character from the film Big Kush), playing a heavy gun, loved to say: weight is reliability. And he is right! You can hardly advise people who want to tow yachts and jump along the ruts from the Urals, but Discovery, albeit with a certain stretch, can.
Author: Dmitry Leontyev, photo of Alexander Ortnova-Baranov
A source: Magazine 4x4 [April /2011]
