Mitsubishi Shogun vs Land Rover Discovery 4

Is a simpler car a better car? Depends.

People like simple things for very simple reasons which are; ease to fix, reliability and cost, simply.

That is very true especially of the early 2000’s but in 2022 does this theory work? This brings us to the abstract of this comparison.

The Land Rover Discovery 4 is considered a complicated luxury car at-least in comparison to its competition. This verdict is come to mainly by the use of air suspension and its traction control system but is the Discovery really a luxury car in comparison?

This particular comparison is fair because neither of the vehicles specified are luxuriously equipped which is ideal for family and use when in difficult conditions. The Mitsubishi is the Exceed and the Discovery 4 is the S with the SDV6 engine. I opted to compare the Petrol Mitsubishi because the Diesel is slower, louder and doesn’t have a serious torque advantage. The Petrol one is more suitable for this comparison. I have also kept emotion out of this comparison as logic is a more fair way of making a judgement and verdict.

The Land Rovers interior is very functional. It has huge rubber buttons and its very Land Rover. It’s a well designed interior and some thought has gone into it. The Steering wheel is significantly bigger than the Mitsubishi and the interior is more comparable to a full size SUV rather than a midsize SUV. The Discovery is a bigger car which is the first thing people notice inside and will part explain its 400kg weight disadvantage. Everything is very solid feeling and is like a brick with a sponge casing. Honestly, there’s very little a child can do to harm this interior. If you don’t accelerate hard then you cannot hear the engine. Despite the Refrigerator shape, there isn’t much road noise either.

The Driving position is fantastic and you can see all four corners of the vehicle very easily. You sit so much higher than pretty much every car on the road which makes it very confidence inspiring to drive. The Discovery may be a bigger car but on the road it drives the same size as the Mitsubishi. The road insulation is fantastic.

The Mitsubishi Shogun is slightly different. It has the same colours and the interior is better than you would expect I must admit. The plastics are not hard and the materials age very well. The difference is mainly that the Discovery has that European car feel which is both tangible and intangible. The doors in the Discovery can also genuinely commit a homicide if it slams into someone on the sidewalk.

The shoguns driving position is just as good although it’s a lower car. In difficult driving conditions the shogun feels very comfortable to drive and its further helped by the linear throttle.

The Land Rover has bigger back seats but that’s mainly due to the fact that it’s a bigger car. The back seats are slightly higher than the front seats. The back doors are also just as heavy as the front which is a testament to the quality. One thing that this does that the Mitsubishi doesn’t do in the back is windows that open further down which is something to consider.

The Shogun has a higher floor which means that you’re in a more squatted position although the shogun has a better placement of the A/C vents.

The Discovery is the People carrier of the group. An Adult can fit in the boot seats which is something almost no other SUV in this class can do other than the Audi Q7. If you have a Large family and you intend to carry everyone on a regular basis then you should really consider this! Space behind the seats is minimal but then again, what other SUV’s in this class has a lot more?

The Shogun’s backseats are more suited for children. I tried both but I didn’t fit in the Shogun although the layout does favour more space for things in the boot with the seats up compared to the Disco.

To be fair most of the interior stuff are very negligible differences and isn’t enough for one to justify one over the other especially when price becomes the deciding factor but, road dynamics might be enough.

It really comes down to how you drive them. If you’re just looking for a car for A to B then this won’t matter, but if road dynamics matter then we start with on the road.

On the Road, they are very different. The Steering on the Pajero is lighter and probably more direct than the Discovery when in the Pajero is in 2WD mode but, the Discovery’s engines and road dynamics set it apart. When you drive the Discovery, it feels like its flying over the road compared to all its competitor. The air suspension is fantastic and is so refined. No road vibrations and body roll is very well contained. The ride quality is honestly the best thing about the Land Rover Discovery 4. The Pajero’s throttle is more of a linear throttle but accelerating in the Discovery is honestly like someone has just kicked you in the back. Honestly, the boxy shape deceives you because the Pajero looks like the faster car but ironically the less aero-dynamic Discovery is the more sprightly of the two. The 0-30 is crazy because of the 600nm of low down torque so the car feels much faster than the estimates would suggest. At city speeds(Under 100kph), It actually feels much faster than cars that are faster than it honestly! People get very surprised on how a fridge looking object can shuffle along so energetically!

When it comes to off-road ability there’s not many SUV’s that can compete with a Land Rover Discovery 4 besides the Defender and Wrangler. Because the Discovery is slightly older than the new Defender and is a body on frame, It can now be fitted with accessories such as bull-bars and winches. The Discovery makes off-roading like playing a video game. Its a click of two buttons and just point and shoot. It has 17″ of ground clearance in ‘super super extended mode’ which is a secret mode only available when the car is stuck but that is crazy! The air suspension eats ruts and the traction control will not let you get in trouble. It auto holds on hill and has hill descent control. If you can get this car stuck on a public road, you should be exempt from taxes because the government wouldn’t be putting your taxes to use! In the rain, the Discovery is the kid that didn’t forget their raincoat.

The Mitsubishi has a much lighter steering wheel and has a thinner rim too. It’s easier to drive in town, the sound is also very macho and the ride quality is exceptional on especially for a vehicle that doesn’t have air suspension. The fender mirror is a very underrated feature so parking this vehicle is fantastic. You cannot feel the gearshifts and it feels like much lighter car than the Discovery and that’s mainly due to the light steering. It drives sportier. The engine performance however is questionable. In real world use it gets 12 mpg which even compared to a V8 Discovery is abysmal. Now this would be ignorable back when fuel was cheap but in 2022, you will feel the damage.

In our school use it can cost over $1000 a year from 2022 more to fuel or just over twice the fuel cost of the Discovery over the same commute yet It takes 13.9 seconds to 62 mph which is almost 6 seconds slower than a V6 Diesel Discovery. Do not however opt for the Diesel engine because its not better unless you’re doing long distances. If you drive it on relatively flat roads with little traffic it will be okay on fuel but if you live in a place with a lot of traffic or hills then prepare your bicycle. The good thing at least is that there’s plenty of room for a bicycle in the boot of the Mitsubishi.

The Mitsubishi really depends on specification because the one we have appears to have good clearance but some shoguns with alloy wheels have just 8″. The shogun is a true 4X4 because it has a locking differential. An AWD car with no locking differentials is useless off-road because the moment a wheel loses traction then it becomes 1WD. Considering the shogun has a locking differential means it will get you home. It also has a Low Range transfer case which is impressive especially for a vehicle with less emphasis on off-roadability. It cannot however do Land Rover Discovery like things because the Discovery is just an off-road monster but for most people’s use, its capable enough.

The main argument against the Land Rover Discovery has always been its reliability. I’m not going to pretend like Land Rover is flawless in terms of reliability because I wouldn’t be doing my reputation justice but, It’s not as risky a proposition as you might imagine. You have to however make sure its serviced on time and make sure you have a specialist or someone who can do the maintenance correctly.

The Discovery is like a person with allergies, don’t expect to feed it everything and expect it to survive! You cannot feed it mechanics that don’t know what they are doing because they will kill the car. If you do that then yes, the Land Rover Discovery 4 is no less reliable than most cars in my opinion.

The Shogun is good but good doesn’t mean its immune to abuse and lack of maintenance. Like the Discovery, If maintenance is skipped especially on the diesel one then it will die like a mosquito. The Shogun however is less expensive to fix than the Discovery but does less expensive to fix necessarily mean less expensive to run?

Value Proposition

As part of my University work I study aspects of value proposition especially when writing business plans. A comparable shogun can be had for less than the price of a Land Rover Discovery 4. Shoguns tend to face issues slightly earlier in the mileage than Discoveries surprisingly! So low miles is the key.

People used justify the Shogun over the Discovery by the cost to maintain but in 2022, It’s more complicated than that. The extra cost of extra fuel in 2022 would mean that the Pajero costs over $1000 a year more than a Discovery on a regular commute and school run. A Land Rover Discovery 4 does not cost $1000 more per year in maintenance costs so in ‘reality’ and practice, It’s actually the less expensive vehicle to run. If you’re in the UK make sure you buy a Shogun from 2016 because the pre 2015 ones are not Euro6 ULEZ compliant which means more charges especially in London. So the difference is in the cost to buy in which the Discovery costs more to buy and parts can be more expensive depending on where you buy and your mechanic.

Conclusion

In the end it’s really about preference. There’s nothing particularly wrong with any of them its just, the people that designed the Land Rover Discovery 4 were being slightly more intelligent with their target market in my opinion. Its like a scrambled egg that’s been cooked at low heat as compared to high heat. In the end you still end up with a cooked egg but how do you want your egg done? The Pajero is an egg but the Discovery is an egg that was cooked slower with a teaspoon crème fraîche and salmon bits.

In all fairness I don’t even think they are intended for the same buyer or market. Some people like their eggs runnier than others but if you’re looking for the Michelin Star Quality scrambled egg, Then the Discovery 4 is the one you should buy if you can afford it.

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