Are Disco 2s really that bad ?!
Discussion
Any reviews I find give a trouble review of the Disco 2. Lots of niggles and issues. Is it a vehicle worth considering ? I'd prefer the diesel for *slighty* better fuel consumption. The vehicle would be used for touring/camping trips. I know they are 15+ years old but nowadays you can still buy fairly reliable vehicles of that age.
I was thinking of buying a td5 to replace a freelander 2 in order to get me out and about over the winter as we live in a rural area, I shoot and the good lady needs to tow the dobbin box. For what I wanted to spend 3-4 k they all seemed very tired and rusty. Disco 3 at top end disco 2 5-6K money have massive potential to bankrupt you. Our Freelander 2 has been great, very good off road, reliable quite thirsty though for a small 2.2 non perm 4wd but if you could mange with one of those in terms of size/seats it might be a good call.
Really you need to be a Land Rover enthusiast, who's good with the spanners (and welder!) to run an old one.
I've had a couple of series 1 discos, I don't think I will bother again.
A friend of mine bought a series 2 last year, it recently failed its MOT, the rust alone would take me 2-3 days to sort as it's awkward to get to, and body parts don't unbolt unlike a 90/110/defender.
The failure list for the other items was pretty long too. There was a good day or two there in fixing stuff.
I've had a couple of series 1 discos, I don't think I will bother again.
A friend of mine bought a series 2 last year, it recently failed its MOT, the rust alone would take me 2-3 days to sort as it's awkward to get to, and body parts don't unbolt unlike a 90/110/defender.
The failure list for the other items was pretty long too. There was a good day or two there in fixing stuff.
Answer to your thread title - No, they're not.
The internet wisdom that says Discoveries are all time-bombs waiting to muller your wallet generally comes from people who either a) don't own one and just reproduce second/third-hand information that was heard once in a pub/internet forum or b) genuinely had a stinker of a friday-afternoon car (which can happen with any make/model - especially ones 15-years old) for which they have my sympathy. Take a good look at how many of them are still running around and going strong - if they were that monumentally awful people wouldn't buy them.
First thing to make clear: any vehicle this age will need regular maintenance, 4x4s are especially notable for punishing you with big bills if you don't look after them - brand doesn't come into it. Anything with moving parts has the potential to break/malfunction - Land Rovers and most similar 4x4s have lots of moving parts....
TD5 engines are tough so long as you look after them and/or previous owners have maintained them. If people don't service them, run them on low coolant or generally allow any warning signs to carry on for 1000s of miles before the inevitable breakdown (whereby they go onto an internet forum and voice their surprise at what has happened) - they should frankly not be allowed to own a motor-vehicle in the first place, much less a complex 4x4 with more moving parts than a car of the same age. A basic set of tools and a haynes manual will equip you for 80% of tasks and fixes you may have to do.
Head gaskets can go - the signs are obvious and the fix costs £100 in parts and takes a few hours of spannering to do. The main cause of HG failure is coolant loss + overheating from either a duff hose, expansion tank or water pump/thermostat failure - best to treat the root-cause of the problem rather than the symptom. Cracked cylinder heads can happen - the signs are similar to HG failure but the bill can be £1000 for a new head or a couple of hundred £ for a second-hand tested head. Oil pump bolts used to let go and lunch engines in the process but most of the bad ones have long since gone pop by now. ECUs can be flooded by engine oil via the injector harness - listen for a misfire or the engine running lumpy - a new injector loom and seal costs £35 / takes 30 minutes to fit.
Gearboxes/Transfer Boxes need fluid changes semi-regularly - autos and manuals. Diffs will wear out and whine/howl for donkeys years before they let go - it's around £50 for a scrapyard one and an hour's work to replace. Wheel bearings can go and grumble when they do - these cost a fair amount because they come as a hub assembly (£50 for a cheapo pattern part to £100 plus for a proper one). Suspension gets tired (shocks and springs) - parts aren't too dear but ideally you want to buy one where the previous owner has already done it.
As said, chassis rust on the rear section is the enemy. Catch it early, repair it and then protect it. Mine once failed an MOT on side sill sections - within 30cm of the B pillar - so I welded them up to fix them and am having new ones put on in the summer when the weather is better. Cost around £90 in parts plus a few hours welding/hammering. Not costly but irritating.
If you get a fancy version with ACE and Air Suspension - these can throw up big bills. I intentionally got a poverty-spec 'S' model without these gubbins, many of the older ones running around locally are similar (lots of people having the same idea). Airbags can be swapped for coils if the system is too costly to repair (although you lose SLS functions and some of the ride comfort) - like with P38 Range Rovers. Sunroofs are just a BAAAAD idea in Land Rovers - these leak. Get one without a sunroof and you'll be laughing.
Electrical faults and gremlins can happen - mostly the '3-amigos' which can be a duff wheel bearing or a faulty ABS sensor. Not overly awkward or costly to fix - so long as you employ the services of someone familiar with Land Rover's sometimes wacky approach to vehicle electronics.
I work on my own vehicles - so obviously running it is far cheaper for me than if I were taking it to the garage for servicing/repairs each time. Parts are cheap and easy to get hold of, plus there isn't a problem you will have that won't have been raised/discussed/resolved/solved on the internet somewhere - lots of people have run them and the common issues are well-known and understood. If you are happy to take on a vehicle and maintain it yourself - then a Disco is pretty easy/affordable to work on for a DIY mechanic.
I get an average of 28 mpg from mine doing lots of cross-country hops, towing, mud-plugging and munching around town. It hasn't missed a beat in the time I've owned it - the Nissan X-Trail it replaced was far better on fuel but spent more time broken down or being fixed in the workshop than any other vehicle I've owned - so the Discovery has been fantastically reliable and consistent by comparison. Aside from hill-climb racing or flying - I've yet to come across something that it can't do; so is a perfectly capable people carrier, dog carrier, tow-vehicle, off-roader, motorway cruiser, tip-run estate car, uprooter of stubborn trees.... the list goes on.
The main annoying element for me is that the rear doors are comically small compared to the size of the vehicle and don't open particularly wide, and that the windscreen washer tank is in an utterly stupid place requiring the front bumper removing to get to if the pipe has come off the pump. It also has only 4 glow-plugs for a 5 cylinder engine (lumpy cold-starts when it's a few degrees below freezing) - for which I have never managed to get a satisfactory and non-flippant answer from those in the know....
I am biased, obviously. Test drive a few, talk to family/friends who have owned them - people who have actually lived with them and used them daily - then base your conclusions on that.
Source: I've fixed them for a living, I've taken them apart for a living, I've even put them back together on occasion.... Nothing has put me off the one I currently own (1999 TD5 S with 126K on the clock). It isn't the best Land Rover I've had (Defender 200TDI gets that title) but it's currently the most useful and probably the easiest to live with.
The internet wisdom that says Discoveries are all time-bombs waiting to muller your wallet generally comes from people who either a) don't own one and just reproduce second/third-hand information that was heard once in a pub/internet forum or b) genuinely had a stinker of a friday-afternoon car (which can happen with any make/model - especially ones 15-years old) for which they have my sympathy. Take a good look at how many of them are still running around and going strong - if they were that monumentally awful people wouldn't buy them.
First thing to make clear: any vehicle this age will need regular maintenance, 4x4s are especially notable for punishing you with big bills if you don't look after them - brand doesn't come into it. Anything with moving parts has the potential to break/malfunction - Land Rovers and most similar 4x4s have lots of moving parts....
TD5 engines are tough so long as you look after them and/or previous owners have maintained them. If people don't service them, run them on low coolant or generally allow any warning signs to carry on for 1000s of miles before the inevitable breakdown (whereby they go onto an internet forum and voice their surprise at what has happened) - they should frankly not be allowed to own a motor-vehicle in the first place, much less a complex 4x4 with more moving parts than a car of the same age. A basic set of tools and a haynes manual will equip you for 80% of tasks and fixes you may have to do.
Head gaskets can go - the signs are obvious and the fix costs £100 in parts and takes a few hours of spannering to do. The main cause of HG failure is coolant loss + overheating from either a duff hose, expansion tank or water pump/thermostat failure - best to treat the root-cause of the problem rather than the symptom. Cracked cylinder heads can happen - the signs are similar to HG failure but the bill can be £1000 for a new head or a couple of hundred £ for a second-hand tested head. Oil pump bolts used to let go and lunch engines in the process but most of the bad ones have long since gone pop by now. ECUs can be flooded by engine oil via the injector harness - listen for a misfire or the engine running lumpy - a new injector loom and seal costs £35 / takes 30 minutes to fit.
Gearboxes/Transfer Boxes need fluid changes semi-regularly - autos and manuals. Diffs will wear out and whine/howl for donkeys years before they let go - it's around £50 for a scrapyard one and an hour's work to replace. Wheel bearings can go and grumble when they do - these cost a fair amount because they come as a hub assembly (£50 for a cheapo pattern part to £100 plus for a proper one). Suspension gets tired (shocks and springs) - parts aren't too dear but ideally you want to buy one where the previous owner has already done it.
As said, chassis rust on the rear section is the enemy. Catch it early, repair it and then protect it. Mine once failed an MOT on side sill sections - within 30cm of the B pillar - so I welded them up to fix them and am having new ones put on in the summer when the weather is better. Cost around £90 in parts plus a few hours welding/hammering. Not costly but irritating.
If you get a fancy version with ACE and Air Suspension - these can throw up big bills. I intentionally got a poverty-spec 'S' model without these gubbins, many of the older ones running around locally are similar (lots of people having the same idea). Airbags can be swapped for coils if the system is too costly to repair (although you lose SLS functions and some of the ride comfort) - like with P38 Range Rovers. Sunroofs are just a BAAAAD idea in Land Rovers - these leak. Get one without a sunroof and you'll be laughing.
Electrical faults and gremlins can happen - mostly the '3-amigos' which can be a duff wheel bearing or a faulty ABS sensor. Not overly awkward or costly to fix - so long as you employ the services of someone familiar with Land Rover's sometimes wacky approach to vehicle electronics.
I work on my own vehicles - so obviously running it is far cheaper for me than if I were taking it to the garage for servicing/repairs each time. Parts are cheap and easy to get hold of, plus there isn't a problem you will have that won't have been raised/discussed/resolved/solved on the internet somewhere - lots of people have run them and the common issues are well-known and understood. If you are happy to take on a vehicle and maintain it yourself - then a Disco is pretty easy/affordable to work on for a DIY mechanic.
I get an average of 28 mpg from mine doing lots of cross-country hops, towing, mud-plugging and munching around town. It hasn't missed a beat in the time I've owned it - the Nissan X-Trail it replaced was far better on fuel but spent more time broken down or being fixed in the workshop than any other vehicle I've owned - so the Discovery has been fantastically reliable and consistent by comparison. Aside from hill-climb racing or flying - I've yet to come across something that it can't do; so is a perfectly capable people carrier, dog carrier, tow-vehicle, off-roader, motorway cruiser, tip-run estate car, uprooter of stubborn trees.... the list goes on.
The main annoying element for me is that the rear doors are comically small compared to the size of the vehicle and don't open particularly wide, and that the windscreen washer tank is in an utterly stupid place requiring the front bumper removing to get to if the pipe has come off the pump. It also has only 4 glow-plugs for a 5 cylinder engine (lumpy cold-starts when it's a few degrees below freezing) - for which I have never managed to get a satisfactory and non-flippant answer from those in the know....
I am biased, obviously. Test drive a few, talk to family/friends who have owned them - people who have actually lived with them and used them daily - then base your conclusions on that.
Source: I've fixed them for a living, I've taken them apart for a living, I've even put them back together on occasion.... Nothing has put me off the one I currently own (1999 TD5 S with 126K on the clock). It isn't the best Land Rover I've had (Defender 200TDI gets that title) but it's currently the most useful and probably the easiest to live with.
Crossflow Kid said:
No they're not.
Comparing a D2 TD5 with a 110 TD5 what's better about a Defender?A Disco
Costs 25% as much
Quieter
More comfortable
Better load access
Can be had in auto
Faster
Handles better
Better turning circle
Rear passengers can see forward
Air con works (not just on the knees)
Cruise control (ok you can add this)
Change of tyres and the Disco can match a Defender off road.
Room for right elbow.
Doors don't open at random scaring passengers (not sure that maybe a minus)
You can hear the radio (again could be a minus)
Defender pluses?
Not sure but I'd have another tomorrow.
Just to add a little extra to my previous comment, my mates one also is very heavily rusted on the inner front wings; the holes are huge. They will also be a bit of a pain to fix as loads of stuff is bolted to them.
Also, drive shaft universal joints can fail as they were not fitted with grease nipples from new. This also happened to my mates, the front driveshaft came off and vanished, leaving him stranded with no drive.
It was an easy enough repair, and easily prevented in the first place by retrofitting grease nipples in the appropriate places.
Also, drive shaft universal joints can fail as they were not fitted with grease nipples from new. This also happened to my mates, the front driveshaft came off and vanished, leaving him stranded with no drive.
It was an easy enough repair, and easily prevented in the first place by retrofitting grease nipples in the appropriate places.
It's apples and oranges - why people seem to try to paint them as direct competitors I don't know. Defenders, Discoveries and Range Rovers of that age all account for different types of customer - the Defender is the more utilitarian, agricultural end of the spectrum while the RR is an upmarket executive vehicle.
The Discovery sits very happily in between the two as a compromise - being about 7/10 as comfortable/user-friendly as a Range Rover P38 of the same age while retaining 7/10 of a Defender's off-road/utility/outdoorsy capabilities.
The Discovery sits very happily in between the two as a compromise - being about 7/10 as comfortable/user-friendly as a Range Rover P38 of the same age while retaining 7/10 of a Defender's off-road/utility/outdoorsy capabilities.
Gassing Station | Land Rover | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff