Land Rover Discovery 98-04 - bad idea?
Discussion
For a 'reliable' load lugger, twin and wife transporter, fun car for me, and maybe the odd bit of off-roading?
Do they have to be expensive to run? Looking at the TDV5, more worried about parts / servicing costs. What should I look out for? I have little knowledge of Landies.
Will need to lose the MX5 and fancy something different - don't think you can get much different!
Looking to spend around £6-7k.
Cheers!
Do they have to be expensive to run? Looking at the TDV5, more worried about parts / servicing costs. What should I look out for? I have little knowledge of Landies.
Will need to lose the MX5 and fancy something different - don't think you can get much different!
Looking to spend around £6-7k.
Cheers!
Legend83 said:
For a 'reliable' load lugger, twin and wife transporter, fun car for me, and maybe the odd bit of off-roading?
Do they have to be expensive to run? Looking at the TDV5, more worried about parts / servicing costs. What should I look out for? I have little knowledge of Landies.
Will need to lose the MX5 and fancy something different - don't think you can get much different!
Looking to spend around £6-7k.
Cheers!
I love Landies. Great vehicles and very fun.Do they have to be expensive to run? Looking at the TDV5, more worried about parts / servicing costs. What should I look out for? I have little knowledge of Landies.
Will need to lose the MX5 and fancy something different - don't think you can get much different!
Looking to spend around £6-7k.
Cheers!
As a rule they are quite reliable, but do like TLC (often confused with unreliability) and will likely always have niggles. They won't be perfect and there will always be something to do on them. But it won't normally stop you using the vehicle or failing to get you home.
The Td5 (inline not Vee) is a very good modernish diesel, although still quite noisy. The stock LR tune on them is pretty poor though in terms of fuel economy, power and power delivery. A visit to Twisited Performance or Allisport for a remap is highly advised.
This engine is only available on the D2. D2's are good, but a bit more complex than the D1.
So more electronics to mess about with, air rear suspension and ACE (active cornering enhancement) as well as TCS.
Air suspension is fine, but it's one of the scare stories for uninformed folk. Basically they can and do leak. Rear airbags really aren't all that bad to replace either, but people don't. They let it leak. This in turn knackers the pump, which is more costly to sort. Pumps also have silly shutoff points from heat, so can appear to stop working when they are actually fine.
Make sure everything works and just do normal checks.
Not all have air suspension or ACE as it was model specific, some have standard coils at the back.
As the D2 has TCS most don't have a centre diff lock. Not really a problem and you can buy kits to refit it, but its worth knowing.
The D1 is older and more prone to rust. But it's more rugged. A Tdi engine is noisy, but they drive nice. A few tweaks (injector pump settings and intercooler) and a Tdi will easily out perform a stock Td5.
D1's also have different axles. Which are generally cheaper to maintain.
Yep, check for air springs leaking (or factor in replacing them on purchase), which causes failure of the compressor.
Also check for oil in the red plug on the ECU, £40ish replacement for the Injector Loom.
Diesel leak at the back of the engine - Fuel Pressure Regulator at £130ish (Though I'm doing a repair kit for that one for a fiver that fixes 90%+ of faults there)
Sunroofs leak, best to check the drain tubes are clear and everything is clean up there.
Autos are slower than Manuals, but with tuning this isn't too bad.
As others have said, they're cheap to repair and work on, and with ACE there's less body roll over the standard vehicles (as well as better axle articulation).
Also check for oil in the red plug on the ECU, £40ish replacement for the Injector Loom.
Diesel leak at the back of the engine - Fuel Pressure Regulator at £130ish (Though I'm doing a repair kit for that one for a fiver that fixes 90%+ of faults there)
Sunroofs leak, best to check the drain tubes are clear and everything is clean up there.
Autos are slower than Manuals, but with tuning this isn't too bad.
As others have said, they're cheap to repair and work on, and with ACE there's less body roll over the standard vehicles (as well as better axle articulation).
Make sure you get a good one! I had a 94 reg, then a 2001 reg. Had the first one, usual consumables spent, then just after I sold it, the gearbox went bang. The second one I sold a year ago as the chassis was as rotten as a peach, could stick my finger through the main rail, eek. All plated up and would probably go on for ages but I sold it and now run a Nissan Pathfinder.
Far superior in performance, better ride quality, doesnt rattle and shake, good space for luggage, bad points, no locking centre diff, adults dont have the same legroom in the rear as in the disco.
I need a working vehicle, towing sheep and horses about,and a two ton tipper, the new disco I was going to buy but I was very dissapointed, whoever decided to put in the rear split door with the bottom opening out has never loaded anything into it or tried to retrieve it from the back seat, I can have the kids pram, collie dogs, and two bales of hay in the back!
The Nissan is great, the discovery is great too, just be very cautious, there are loads out there, its a buyers market, anything out off the ordinary, noises, whines then walk away. Air suspension can be a b
h, gearboxes can just go bang, diffs and gearboxes can be very noisy, chassis are weak, get under it, or up on a ramp, prod and poke looking for rot, cleaner the better.
I would have another one, but I would look at loads before making the choice. Cheers, hope that helps.
Far superior in performance, better ride quality, doesnt rattle and shake, good space for luggage, bad points, no locking centre diff, adults dont have the same legroom in the rear as in the disco.
I need a working vehicle, towing sheep and horses about,and a two ton tipper, the new disco I was going to buy but I was very dissapointed, whoever decided to put in the rear split door with the bottom opening out has never loaded anything into it or tried to retrieve it from the back seat, I can have the kids pram, collie dogs, and two bales of hay in the back!
The Nissan is great, the discovery is great too, just be very cautious, there are loads out there, its a buyers market, anything out off the ordinary, noises, whines then walk away. Air suspension can be a b
h, gearboxes can just go bang, diffs and gearboxes can be very noisy, chassis are weak, get under it, or up on a ramp, prod and poke looking for rot, cleaner the better.I would have another one, but I would look at loads before making the choice. Cheers, hope that helps.
Windscreen leaks on missus parents 53 plate TD5. Been back a few times and land rover said it was circa £700 i think, and if they smash the windscreen whilst taking it out, the customer has to pay on top! Absolute joke. He got a indy to do it for a £150 with years garrantee. Sun roof aswell i think.
Its a shame really as my old 1992 200 tdi use to leak in the same areas. You think they would have fixed them by 2004!
Its a shame really as my old 1992 200 tdi use to leak in the same areas. You think they would have fixed them by 2004!
300bhp/ton said:
As the D2 has TCS most don't have a centre diff lock. Not really a problem and you can buy kits to refit it, but its worth knowing.
For the OP's benefit, any D2a, i.e post 2003 with the later headlights, will have the centre diff lock refitted exactly as per the DefenderWe have an 03, albeit a v8 and its pretty good.
One other thing to keep an eye on is the front propshaft DC joint. They have a habit of failing.
Legend83 said:
Cheers for the useful info guys, I am definitely interested. My boss has one so might have a snoop around it - the only experience I have of them is feeling very car sick in my Uncle's Discovery when I was a nipper!
How much are consumables typically? Tyres, clutches, brake pads etc?
Depends where you buy from and who you get to fit bits.How much are consumables typically? Tyres, clutches, brake pads etc?
LR stealerships are hugely expensive. But there are literally 1000's of independent specialists.
Lots of pattern parts too. Or cheaper ways of buying genuine parts.
Tyres - depends what you want them for. Remoulds are cheap and big mud tyres from people like Simex or Interco are vastly expensive.
Great things when they work with most of the ability of the defender, a bit of extra comfort and fairly hard wearing.
As 300BHP says though they are not without their niggles and the one I had was a 2000 model that in just over a year needed a new sunroof and about £1000 worth of brake and suspension related work (though that was done at a fairly pricey indi). People talk about electrical problems etc but it was used fairly hard as a work vehicle and the biggest fault was the sub-woofer broke making the stereo too annoying to use.
The engine made it a great workhorse though and it was as happy cruising at 70 with 2 people in as it was cruising at 70 with a 2 ton trailer and 4 people.
Tyres and other regular running costs are on a par with other big 4x4s, i.e. not cheap but the options available mean you can shop around, though some specialists tend to be a bit more pricey than some landy dealers (that is certainly the case local to me).
As 300BHP says though they are not without their niggles and the one I had was a 2000 model that in just over a year needed a new sunroof and about £1000 worth of brake and suspension related work (though that was done at a fairly pricey indi). People talk about electrical problems etc but it was used fairly hard as a work vehicle and the biggest fault was the sub-woofer broke making the stereo too annoying to use.
The engine made it a great workhorse though and it was as happy cruising at 70 with 2 people in as it was cruising at 70 with a 2 ton trailer and 4 people.
Tyres and other regular running costs are on a par with other big 4x4s, i.e. not cheap but the options available mean you can shop around, though some specialists tend to be a bit more pricey than some landy dealers (that is certainly the case local to me).
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