JB1

All, I am starting a new thread on this site as well as posting on all Discovery forums across the net. Please read and possibly help if you can... I purchased the 2017 Land Rover Discovery in the Southwest section of the USA. Because there was a "backlog" of orders, I purchased the demo model on the first day of sale in the US. The demo was a HSE model with about 1/2 of the options installed on the car. After about a day of driving it, I started to notice several software bugs along with a problem with the auto climate control functionality. I took it back to the dealer to fix these items. For the most part, the bugs were fixed. But, the climate control was still not functioning correctly. So, I took it back to the dealer again to fix the problem. After the second time, the service manager explained he tested the climate controls against another Discovery and it was functioning the same as my car. So, getting it home, I started to test the climate functions again and read the entire owner's manual to make sure I am working the controls correctly. I was, but there are still several issues with the climate control that still wasn't working correctly (or like any other SUV on the market). 1) In the SE and HSE models, LR removed multiple vents in the 2nd and 3rd row of the car. As standard on these two models, there are 4 vents in the dash, 2 under the front seats, and 2 on the frame near the door in the 2nd row - none in the 3rd row, 2) for the HSE, it is equipped with a "3 zone climate control" as standard with no option for 4 zone (only HSE luxury). I am not sure about the SE model because you can't find the information on their website (but I think it is either 2 zone or 3). The theory of a 3 zone climate control is that the passenger(s) in each of the zones should be able to adjust the air flow and temperature to meet the desired climate independently. This function does not work at all for all three zones because there is only one blower motor for the car. So, if you set zone 1 at 70 degrees, zone 2 at 65 degrees and zone 3 at hi (heat), you will get fast, cold air out the front dash vents and hot air through the floor vents under the front seats and no air from the door vents in the 2nd row. 3) In the SE and HSE models, there are no vents in the ceiling or center console in the 2nd row (only two small door vents) and no vents in the 3rd row. For the two small vents at the doors in the 2nd row, they barely blow out any air. 4) due to having only two hardly working vents in the 2nd row and no vents in the 3rd row, there is no way to provide warm or cool air for anyone in the 3rd row. If it is hot outside, the 3rd row is miserable and you can barely breathe (an animal would die of heat exhaustion). If it is cold outside, the passengers are freezing. 5) in my case, it is 100+ degrees outside daily for 6 months. So, I am having to leave the auto climate set to LO/MAX the entire time I drive the car. The two reasons for this is because I have to point the 2 middle dash vents to the middle to help with the 2nd row and, here is the kicker, the thermometer for zone 1 and 2 is located somewhere in the center console or dash. So, if you turn the auto climate to 68, the cold still comes out of the front four vents, but the volume of air is almost nothing. So, the 2nd row is miserable and the 3rd row is impossible to stay in for any length of time. 6) in hot weather and having to keep the climate control (synced) in LO/MAX, the gas mileage ranges between 9 and 11 MPG. 9 if you are in stop and go traffic and 10-11 if you are cruising and stopping occasionally. The MPG advertised is 16 city. Overall, if it wasn't for this severe design issue, the car would be great. But, in order to get your money's worth and feel like you made the right decision on the purchase, you would need to live in San Diego where the weather doesn't go over 80 degrees or under 40 degrees. I have all the documents from the 3 trips to the service center and all email correspondence with the dealer. I have filed a claim with the DMV (motor vehicles department) about selling a defective car and filed a claim with Land Rover Corp (NJ) about the serious safety issue. I would not have said anything more on these boards if Land Rover would have said they would help me by switching out my car with more vents (only in HSE Luxury with 4 zone climate option). But, I received the phone call today (6-30-17) stating that management has reviewed the situation and found there is no design issue. So, there is nothing they can do (and basically I am stuck with a $70k car I can't drive) and case is closed. At this point, I would like to ask the community for help with the following: - are there any attorney's that you know that could provide some guidance as to how to move forward in interacting with LR to get them to have the necessary ventilation in this car? - if you have purchased this car, can you please email me at 2017LRDiscoverydesigndefect@gmail.com so we can start gathering people's information to exchange information offline? - if you have not purchased this car yet, but have one on order, maybe you should test the 3 zone climate model before taking possession? - at the above email, any other tips for my (our) plight would be helpful. If Land Rover corporate people read this, I have in no way told anyone not to purchase this car. I am only pointing out a clear design issue in high and low climates. I encourage anyone from Land Rover and potential owners to test all of this out for themselves as well. Only 4 dash vents, one blower motor and having the thermometer in the front of the car is not enough to have a comfortable inside environment for anyone. Thank you for reading this.