Landrover Discovery help

[Kiwi Carguy]

I have a mate that is looking at possibly buying a Discovery similar to one like this http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motors/Cars/Land...

Can any of you Pommies give any advice or experience about them. Are they are lemon? Whats the engines like? Preferred models or ones to avoid etc?

Cheers

[Jem Thompson]

A freind of mines dad had one for a few years. It started to get a bit unreliable, and engine would stall very often when manouvering. But I think was fairly reliable until it got to that point, and was good for towing. He replaced it with a Disco 3, and is now onto another Discovery.

[Fraster]

...let me correct your punctuation: I believe it's: "Landrover Discovery? HELP!!!!" (I'll get my coat...)

[petsar68]

I previously had a V8 Disco - 1995 with no issues and no rust, not unusual for a car over here in Otago. Now on to a Disco 3 which has been fantastic.
I would buy another one without a doubt.

[Kiwi Carguy]

Thanks for all the responses so far guys. Sounds like there are good ones and bad ones and the UK ones have more problems than the Kiwi ones. I'm guessing the salt on the roads over there doesn't help?

He's spoken to one guy who he knows that is onto his third so that say something for them. We agree that the Nissan and Toyota would be the safer more reliable pick but that also comes at a greater cost for similar year, condition, mileage etc.

I also spoken to a mechanic (pommie) at a garage I used to spanner at and he said RUN FOREST RUN. Said they have been chasing electrical problems on one customers Disco for the last 3 months (off the road). The one in the link above was sold last week. It was the same as the model mentioned above.

[jamieheasman]

It really is a matter of luck I'm afraid. My wife's uncle has a 200TDI manual and I must say I was really surprised how much grunt it's got. OK, it's not a fast vehicle but I was expecting it to be dog slow.

The paintwork is ste (clear-coat rapidly disapearing) but there's not a hint of rust anywhere that I could see and we had it up on a hoist and gave it a good look over.

Once thing I will say is that the drivetrain is complex and there are many couplings. As a general rule there will be at least a tiny bit of play in each. When you add these up the whole thing can get very agricultural and feel like it's going to fall apart. The auto V8s don't seem to suffer as much from this trait.

I guess it all depends what you want it for and how much it costs to buy (apart from the condition of individual motors). If you want serious off-road ability with some level of comfort a Disco is or can be a good choice. If you want to tow a boat I would chose an old Diesel Nissan Patrol every time - they'll pull a house up a cliff! If you want a reliable, all-round capable 4wd that won't lose a huge amount of money I'd buy a Landcruiser. If you want a 4wd with moderate towing capacity, reasonable off-road ability and stonking on-road performance track down a Mitsi' SWB Pajero EVO - fantastic piece of kit.