would you purchase a discovery?

[Les Parker]

Just a quick note on the DI, they, as much as Series vehicles and much of the "pysche" of getting into these vehicles, need to be maintained.
The reason most of the vehs. reach 200k, is due to owners taking care of their ride, not just putting air in the tyres and fuel in the tank.

2p

[Limestone]

Here's a guy that has done quite a bit of work on his Range Rover.Ready for the next owner to enjoy!
http://http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotor...fCarsQ5fTrucks

[BDM]

-Last in reliability surveys every year
-very expensive to repair and maintain (When it comes down to it, parts are readily available and there are shops that will take of them.)
-terrible resale values (That's a good thing. The value you get is unmatched)
-use a 40+ year old drivetrain that wasn't even that good then (False to very false)
-awful gas mileage (As good as my 98 Jeep Cherokee 15/19)
-worst fit and finish in the industry (True, but it makes up for that in other areas )
-couldn't rust any faster if they were bare metal (Hmmm, not if properly taken care of, like any other vehicle.)
-a rich history of catching fire and burning to the ground (See below...)

But . . .people love them. There's a lot of them still on the roads. They are cheap to buy, make a fair dual purpose vehicle. They have some character (compared to a minivan). They are fairly comfortable and there are a lot of used parts available.

I frequent these forums b/c I love the old Series and hope to have one in the future. I saw this thread and felt I have to weigh in. I currently own a '99 Discovery I.

First off, I've never heard of Disco's catching on fire like the Defender's. Leafsprung needs to do his homework on the Discovery before he makes generalizations comparing RR and Defenders. Yes, essentially they are the same vehicle within diff skin/frame, but they are different. The Disco's changed over to the 4.0 in 96 which also fixed a lot of these problems.

When not properly maintained, these vehicles will be a nightmare, so when looking for one make sure it has a complete documented history of service work. The biggest is fluids. Rovers leak, oil is the biggest as is power steering. The good thing is that many PO's have addressed these issues by now. If not, look for these when purchasing.

My Disco I has 140k on the odo and I've never had any problems. I did my homework on the vehicle before purchasing and reviewed all the receipts. It does have its leaks but its well maintained history won me over. It's not odd to hear these trucks going 300k or more. It also has all time 4wd which is a comfort in the rain/inclement weather and I can pack the whole family with the rear jump seats. Heated seats, pwr windows, leather, no sunroofs (they can be problematic ie leaks). I wouldn't hesitate to drive it across the country tomorrow. Compare all this to a Grand Cherokee, which is smaller, less cargo/leg room. If you want to talk about high maintenance, check one of these babies out. Windows, transmissions, no AWD, no 3rd row seating in the older ones, and the trim inside/outside will completely fall off while your driving it. I've had Jeeps since I could drive, CJ's, Liberty's, Cherokee's, FSJ Wagoneers...none of them as heavy duty and comfortable as my LR.

So to end this novel, I would suggest the Discovery I, 95-99, 99 being the best year. BMW did a good job of many fixes and updates to the platform by then. Check the history and lastly let us know about a probable purchase!

Cheers,
Brendon

[I Leak Oil]

I have to agree with Leafsprung,

-Parts availability and the fact that someone is willing to work on them doesn't detract from the fact that they are expensive to repair/maintain.
-Low resale value is only good if you're buying, not if you're selling(who keeps a vehicle forever?)
-Similar mileage of a GC at 15-18 mpg just means the GC is bad also.
-Rust? Yes they rust quickly compared to other contemporary vehicles. Pull up the carpets and find out. If properly maintaining your vehicle means cutting and welding in panels after 10 years then, yes, this is the vehicle for you!

I liked my disco but there are some facts that just can't be countered no matter how much emotional attachment you have to it.
Jason T.

[leafsprung]

Leafsprung needs to do his homework on the Discovery

yeah, what would I know

[JimCT]

Unless you have owned a RR classic or disco your comments are based on second hand knowledge. Our series is our daily driver and my favorite, but our classic RR will do everything the series can and more and you are sitting in leather luxury, listening to music and no shifting into 4wd. They are different but the reasons you were dissing them where pretty lame. The RR is a really good and capable truck. Deal with it.

[leafsprung]

They are different but the reasons you were dissing them where pretty lame.

Can you think of better reasons? cost of ownership and reliability seem like reasonable things to pick on. Ive never owned one but dealt with many. Out of four coilsprung rovers in our family i think the longest lived was 67K miles before a major repair was needed. I will happily concede that some people like them and have good experiences with them. I will even go so far as to say good examples exist; but the vast majority are trash. The local charities have had several RRCs and Discos recently. Apparently they are so hard to sell right now that people are literally giving them away.

[Mercedesrover]

Sorry, but Ike is right on here. Arguing reliability when you're talking about most any coil-sprung Land Rover is a bit like shoveling crap against tide. There's just to much history there. Sure, there are good ones out there. Sure lots of guys have good luck with them. But, the vast majority of them are unreliable and troublesome. And yes, I've owned one. What a great feeling seeing the tail lights of that truck heading to New Jersey.

Jeff, you're up in Plattsburg so anything you find up there is going to be a rot-box. Maybe if you find one down south....

If you buy one with 100k on the clock (that's probably low mileage for one of these things at this point) expect to spend a couple grand in parts alone in the next couple years. It's just gonna happen. Fuel pump, ignition parts, water pump, brake calipers, radiator, etc., etc. These trucks seem to like getting new parts thrown at them.

And yes, you'll need to change the tranny cooling lines. They will burst. That's a fact. I just helped a buddy patch his up on the side of the road Saturday. Whether they break in a place that sprays oil on the manifold and burns the truck up is just a matter of chance. Yes, these trucks burn up because of this. It happens and pretty often.

And don't expect 15-18 mpg, especially in the winter. Up where you are, More like 12mpg. Maybe 14 if you burn two-star.


I work in the auto industry and have cars given to me quite often. Since scrap isn't worth anything these days, I don't take these things anymore. Go out and buy her a Subaru. Not as romantic is your spiffy, Disco but it'll get her home at night.

[109 Pretender]

I agree w/Ike and Mercedesrover on this one 100%. Go back and read some of the literature on Disco's written over the years - it's not good. I seem to remember everyone being truly dismayed when the Disco first came out - and much moreso when the horror stories started coming from the owners.
Check the used value of the Disco and Classic RR (which I truly want to like - just can't get past all the problems...) Value is always based around supply and demand. There's a lot of classic RR and Disco's on the market and they can all be had for 1-2K all day long. Nobody wants to mess with the problems and expense of putting them back in drivable/reliable shape.
However, with enough time and money you could do it - just don't expect anyone to reimburse you when you decide to sell - it'll still be worth next to nothing (and I don't expect the Discovery series to ever be 'collectible' in the same sense as the LR series/Defender). Do what I did and get a reliable Toy FJ Cruiser for a daily driver
Cheers!

[graniterover]

I wrote this as advice for someone else in another forum a few years ago, but I think you might find it useful.

For the record, I did own one, and have been driving a borrowed one for the past two months. In that past two months I've been locked out, locked in, had a tire blow, the hood won't pop, the electric seat only goes in one direction.... I can go on. And both my truck and the one I'm driving had regular maint.

***************************************


If you had read the checkin, you'd realize your ****box does not have a factory locker when you read your manual.

Next, using your post, someone would need ****ing esp to figure out what your shifting question is, as you left out 90% of the detail.

Finally, let me give you some realistic advice about the oil pissing money pit you just bought. Although this is a hackneyed statement:

the day you bought that thing and the day you sell it will be your two favorite days.

Here's what's going to happen:

Since you bought it at a million miles, **** is going to break left and right. Even if some dbag who owned it before had some **** like 'one owner, dealer serviced' in the ad when he posted it for sale, it's still going to break. Even if the only off road it saw was when the ******* who owned it before you was when his wife backed it out of the garage and hit a rhododendron, it's going to break.

The idler for the serpentine belt is going to seize when the bearing heats up with no grease in it. If you're lucky, this will happen when you're driving into your driveway. I say lucky as when it goes, you no longer have power steering (probably doesn't work anyway, but I'll get to that later), and you also no longer have a working alternator. Oh, btw, the alternator is going to start squealing at some point, so you're going to have to replace that. Might as well get that while you're replacing the idler. OH! And grab a new belt while you're at it. Ok, back to the steering. The power steering pump is going to leak from every seal, pipe, cap, bolt, etc. Don't bother trying to fix it, just keep fluid with you and top it off when you get gas. You'll be doing that all the time since the pig gets like 12 mpg. Oh! and you're supposed to put hi octane in it, so be prepared to bend over once or twice a week when you fill it up. When you're ordering the parts above, might as well order the oil cooler pipes that pass by the radiator on the drivers side as they are going to rust through and piss oil everywhere on your way to work. Oh, another thing to add to the list. Replace all the wheel bearings unless you want them to suddenly fail on the highway and weld themselves to the spindle, while yanking the steering wheel out of your hand. It will be so sudden that you may think that you jerked the steering wheel while waking up after passing out while driving. It's great that you got the disco with two sunroofs since one or both is going to fail. Save up for some steel wheels because the alloy wheels on it are going to be useless after a few trips off road. Oh, more stuff to order - diff protectors since the paper ones that came with this beautiful truck are likely to piss like a scared little girl when the first stick pokes at them. Steering protection for the pencil thin tie rods. Oh! Almost forgot, the rattling you hear is the cats that have **** the bed. Order those. Oh! Might as well order some exhaust manifolds and gaskets since those are either cracked or about to crack. Do you have a dog? Do yourself a favor and order new hinges for the rear door. If not, it's going to break when you're on your way to get coffee at 5:30 in the morning while fido is in the way back. You'll hear a little squeak from the canine and look in your rear view mirror. For a second, you're brain is going to process what it's seeing. Yes, it's seeing your dog sitting in the back while the door is wide open, hanging on one hinge. BTW, the heavy duty hinges from Atlantic British are $150 bucks. I almost wrote 'probably worth it', but 150 bucks for ****ing hinges! Are you kidding me! Since you're into the tune up and other crap up above for a couple k, might as well get the checkbook out for a few more things. Get a snorkle. It's like 400 of the best dollars you'll ever spend. (I'm kidding about that one, almost no one NEEDS a snorkle). Order the 100 dollar lift kit from ebay. You can put that on when you're fixing the hole in the diff because you decided to buy that snorkle instead of diff covers. Oh! back to your question. That hard shift is one of about 10 things. Get the checkbook out again and order a front driveshaft, that's probably gone, even if it's not the source of the hard shifting. Forgive me for forgetting what this piece is called, but there is some stupid flex disk somewhere in the rear driveshaft near the ujoints - that' s probably gone. Oh! Order u joints and put those on when you're under there putting the ebay 100 dollar lift in. Oh, one more thing for the checkbook while it's jacked up - order 4 new rotors and pads. Maybe you can make it a weekend and do the uj's, lift, wheel bearings, rotors, and pads. And steel wheels. OOh! You can spend an hour or so playing 'find the rust'. It's on the rear wheelwell inside the door, a lot hidden in the front fenders - not the fender part, the inner fenders. Doors probably have some rust too. Just get some por 15 in the color of your choice and spread it on. Don't forget to peel up the carpet as all that sound deadening material rover put on there to make you think the truck is 'quiet' actually trapped ever molecule of moisture that ever went in the truck since the day it came off the build line.

Just wanted you to know what you're in for. FWIW, I LOVED my disco, and unfortunately sold it to someone local so my kids have to tell me 'daddy, we saw your truck, someone else was driving it'.