2016 Land Rover Discovery: what breaks, and at what mileage
What breaks on the 2016 Land Rover Discovery
On the 2016 Land Rover Discovery, the failure owners report most often is water pump failure, with 3 reports on file. Across every failure mode on this year, half the dated reports were filed before 45,000 miles.
What owners report breaking
Owners have reported 5 named failure modes on the 2016 Land Rover Discovery, and the three most-reported carry 75% of everything filed, so the trouble here is concentrated rather than scattered.
Water pump failure leads with 3 reports and about 0.2 per 1,000 vehicles.
Other powertrain problem follows with 2 reports, median 5,000 miles.
Overheating follows with 1 report, median 95,000 miles.
By system, the reports fall mostly into cooling (4), transmission (2) and steering (1).
The mileage the reports cluster at
8 of the reports on the 2016 Land Rover Discovery came with an odometer reading, and half of those were filed before 45,000 miles.
Cumulatively, 50% by 50,000 miles of the dated reports had been filed.
The busiest stretch is between 0 and 10,000 miles, which alone holds 38% of the dated reports.
50% of the dated reports were filed below 36,000 miles, which is early enough that a fair number of these cars were still under a factory warranty when the owner complained.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
How reports accumulate
Every report with an odometer reading, cumulative, from 0 to 200,000 miles. A curve that climbs early is a car with early problems, whatever its total.
- Line share of reports filed by that mileage
- Dashed the median reported mileage
Severity, and what it costs
Nothing in the reports on the 2016 Land Rover Discovery mentions a crash, a fire or an injury. That is the ordinary case and it is worth stating: most defect complaints are about a car that stopped working, not one that hurt somebody.
The average severity weight across every report on this year is 4.00, where a stalled engine or a failed airbag weighs many times more than a rattling trim panel, and a figure this high means the reports are dominated by failures with safety consequences rather than annoyances. The weighting is set out in full on the methodology page.
What the top failures cost to put right, as editorial estimates for an independent US shop rather than figures from NHTSA: water pump failure at $500–$2,200, other powertrain problem at $400–$4,500, overheating at $400–$3,500 and other steering problem at $350–$2,400. Dealer labour, a seized bolt or a part that is no longer made can push any of these past the top of its range.
75% of the reports on this year sit in the engine, transmission, drivetrain or cooling systems — the four where a repair bill is usually four figures, so more than half of what owners complained about here is expensive.
Every reported failure mode
| Failure mode | System | Reports | With reading | 25th | Median | 75th | Per 1,000 | Typical repair | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Water pump failure | cooling | 3 | 3 | — | 58k | — | 0.2 | $500–$2,200 | High |
| Other powertrain problem | transmission | 2 | 2 | — | 4k | — | 0.1 | $400–$4,500 | High |
| Overheating | cooling | 1 | 1 | — | 96k | — | 0.1 | $400–$3,500 | High |
| Other steering problem | steering | 1 | 1 | — | 31k | — | 0.1 | $350–$2,400 | High |
| Other driver assistance problem | adas | 1 | 1 | — | 7k | — | 0.1 | $250–$1,800 | High |
This year had no usable recall paperwork, so the fleet-size estimate is the median of other years of the same model. Repair costs are typical independent-shop ranges for the failure, not figures from these reports.
How often, against how many were built
Scaled by an estimate of how many of these cars exist, the 2016 Land Rover Discovery draws about 0.6 per 1,000 vehicles, which puts it in the 70th percentile of complaint rates among 2016 vehicles we can rate.
That denominator is the weakest number on the page and it is fair to say so plainly. This year had no usable recall paperwork, so the fleet-size estimate is the median of other years of the same model.
The working figure is 13,936 vehicles. If the true number is twice that, every rate on this page is half what it says; the ranking against other 2016 vehicles, which is what the risk score uses, is far more robust than the rate itself.
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The odometer reading is the one the owner gave.
Water pump failure
1.) water pump failed at 21,000 miles causing coolant to leak into the engine and the engine to overheat. 1 year later cylinder #1 lost compression in the engine making the car inoperable at 58,000 miles. Dealer indicates that the only possible repair option is a new engine at the cost of $21k even though they have no idea what is actually broken in the cylinder. Three independent mechanics have all indicated that the water pump is the most likely cause of the fault in the cylinder as it more than likely cracked a cylinder head when the coolant was leaking. My car failed with no warning while making a left hand turn onto a busy street, making this a very dangerous situation. 2.) the internal computer system failed on the car, which would notify the driver regarding service, engine temperatures along with any failures in the car's systems. Dealership used boilerplate paperwork to cover up that the system was not working twice. On the paperwork it specifically states that the "service interval reminders" were reset. I now know it would have been impossible for them to update this as the june 2017 paperwork shows where land rover…
1.) water pump failed at 21,000 miles causing coolant to leak into the engine and the engine to overheat. 1 year later cylinder #1 lost compression in the engine making the car inoperable at 58,000 miles. Dealer indicates that the only possible repair option is a new engine at the cost of $21k even though they have no idea what is actually broken in the cylinder. Three independent mechanics have all indicated that the water pump is the most likely cause of the fault in the cylinder as it more than likely cracked a cylinder head when the coolant was leaking. My car failed with no warning while making a left hand turn onto a busy street, making this a very dangerous situation. 2.) the internal computer system failed on the car, which would notify the driver regarding service, engine temperatures along with any failures in the car's systems. Dealership used boilerplate paperwork to cover up that the system was not working twice. On the paperwork it specifically states that the "service interval reminders" were reset. I now know it would have been impossible for them to update this as the june 2017 paperwork shows where land rover…
Other powertrain problem
The car was purchased new may 2016. In september 2016, warning lights appeared and the gear dial was nonoperational. The issue recurred in november 2016 and again february 2017. February 2017 was extremely alarming as it occurred while I was driving the car to work. I had to coast into a parking space and apply the emergency brakes. The issue just recurred again, today, march 18th while I was driving the car with children in it. I couldn't park and I couldn't reverse. I have to coast to a safe area, turn the car off and apply the emergency brakes.
I have had a 2016 land rover discovery sport for 6 days now. The vehicle has a problem while driving between 30 and 50mph. During this speed, the vehicle seems to be stuck in a higher gear and that results in intermittent jerks. This makes the ride very uneven. The problem goes away when the speed is above 50mph. I took the car to the dealer and the dealer says that the problem with every discovery sport. They should stop selling such vehicles till the problem is fixed or let the buyer know that this is case while selling the vehicle.
How 2016 compares with the other years
Across the 14 model years of this car that carry enough reports to score, 1999 comes out best at 57 and 2018 worst at 78.
Within the 2016–2022 generation specifically, 2022 is the strongest year at 57 and 2018 the weakest at 78.
Scores compare each year against other cars of the same model year, so a low number on an older car is a real result and not an artefact of age.
Shorter is better. Years with too few reports to score are shown without a bar rather than as a zero, because no data is not good news.
Within the 2016-2022 generation, 2022 Land Rover Discovery scores best at 57 and 2018 Land Rover Discovery worst at 78.
What this page cannot tell you
8 owner reports; fleet size borrowed from other years of the same model. Every count on this page is therefore a floor: it is the number of owners who went to the trouble of filing with a federal agency, which is a small and self-selected fraction of the owners who had the fault.
Of those 8 reports, 8 carried an odometer reading, so the mileages here describe 100% of the sample rather than all of it. Owners also round: readings pile up on multiples of ten thousand, which is why this site publishes "about 90,000 miles" and not "91,438".
Named failure modes come from matching phrases in the complaint text, so a badly worded complaint can land in the wrong bucket. The effect washes out across hundreds of reports and does not wash out across five.
And nothing here predicts what one car will do. These are other people's complaints, filed years apart, on cars maintained by strangers. Read the page as a map of where this model year has previously gone wrong, then have the specific car in front of you inspected.
Questions this page answers
What are the most common problems with the 2016 Land Rover Discovery?
The most-reported failures are water pump failure (3 reports, median 60,000 miles), other powertrain problem (2 reports, median 5,000 miles) and overheating (1 report, median 95,000 miles). Counts come from owner complaints filed with NHTSA, which are voluntary, so they show what owners bothered to report rather than every fault that occurred.
Which year of the Land Rover Discovery is best?
Within the 2016–2022 generation, 2022 scores best at 57 out of 100 and 2018 worst at 78. Same body, same engines, different luck.
Where this comes from. Every figure above is computed from NHTSA owner complaints and recall records for this exact make, model and year. Complaints are voluntary and self-selected, so treat counts as a floor. The methodology page writes out each formula, and the same numbers are available as JSON.
What breaks at my mileage Compare with another car
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed