Why shouldn't I buy this Disco 3

[markh1973]

Looking for a second car to cart bikes, tents etc with.

So with the brief preamble why shouldn't I buy this one

https://www.stillmansgroup.co.uk/used-cars/land-ro...

[camel_landy]

Make sure it has had a cambelt change and that everything works.

M

[A.J.M]

Because of that fking awful grill…

Check history very carefully.
Look for the belts to have been changed.
Check it’s had the front wheel bearings, front lower and rear upper arms changed.
Make sure the handbrake works, if it does. USE IT!
Lack of use buggers them, and make sure it’s stripped, cleaned and correctly adjusted by someone who knows what they are doing.

Otherwise, check everything, twice.
Lift and lower the suspension and listen for the compressor at the back left wheel. It should stop after 30 seconds unless it’s tired.

[s p a c e m a n]

I've got one. Glow plugs are knackered and broke 2 trying to remove them so now it has an aftermarket kit that remotely turns on the aux heater to warm the engine. Boot lock is temperamental, have to push the boot lid in and then press the button. Auto folding mirrors sometimes won't go out again so don't use them. Roof leaks from shark fin Ariel, got to take whole roof lining out to fix. Electric handbrake sticks. Needs both egr valves replacing. Arm rest broke on drivers seat. Touch screen nav stuff is rubbish, no Bluetooth so fitted one of those pure highway dab things. Random bits of trim go missing, recently a fog light surround and the top trim from the windscreen. Had to change the whole propshaft because the centre bushing disintegrated and the shaft can't be split. Passenger side air con is stuck on cold. Key fob died and the passenger door lock was seized so had to get it recovered as we couldn't get in it, 24 hours of wd40 in the keyhole got us in, bought new key.

Love the thing though. Comfortable, goes anywhere and will drag anything. Strangely I can get slightly more stuff in the back of my ML Merc with all of the seats down despite it looking smaller. I could happily travel in it for hours, never feel out of place in it wherever we are. Wouldn't and didn't pay £10k for one though, and if you take it somewhere to fix every little thing that breaks you'll be skint in a year.

And yeah that grille is fking awful

Edited by s p a c e m a n on Tuesday 22 June 21:34

[A.J.M]

Yeah.
They can be a huffy bd of a car.
It will either bankrupt you, or make you a half decent mechanic.

Just be aware, landys like TLC, hate neglect.
But there’s something about them that gets under the skin.

My D3 has done a superb job of raping my bank balance at times, but truthfully, it’s been a brilliant car that’s done everything I’ve asked of it. Bar do 30mpg unless driving from Glasgow to Wales…
Almost 9 years and counting with it.

[CAPP0]

I’m not up to speed with current prices but that said, to me it looks expensive for the miles and spec? I believe you’d get a similar-age TDV8 FFRR for less?

A friend has a D3 with the same engine, which he’s had from new (57 plate) and it’s the engine itself which has thrown the big bills at him (and left him stranded) over the years.

[s p a c e m a n]

Huffy bd, yeah that describes it perfectly at times

All that stuff I mentioned is over the past 5 years and it's done over 200000 miles so I can't knock it, and it does still look as tidy inside and out as any other I've seen so they wear well cosmetically.

[paul n]

I keep looking at these and I really fancy one but keep getting scared when I read peoples stories of big bills! Have decided that if I get a d3 it will be at the cheaper end of the scale. If it is 10k plus might as well get a D4

Anybody have experience of the d3 v8 ? Seems to be a reliable engine and other than the fuel consumption probably a better buy than the deasil?

Standard 2.7 seems like it might not have enough grunt with only 190 bhp?

Anybody suggest any alternatives? I really want a disco but can’t be having it break down all the time as need it for work!

Cheers paul

[MrNoisy]

I’m no beard but are they the wheels you’d expect on a HSE?

I had an 05 which I upgraded to from various 1’s and 2’s over the years. Really liked it to start with but developed all sorts of problems in quick order making it unworthy of keeper status. Got out via WBAC for little loss when prices went crazy thankfully.

For reference this was less than a year ago, 05, 110k miles HSE (low tax) FSH. Was circa £4k.

I replaced with a private purchase 4.4 2011 TDV8 RR vogue SE for £9.5k with 102k miles.

That disco seems pricey to me?

[markh1973]

It's the potential for big bills that is putting me off - not only off this but similar RRs.

I won't have the space (or probably the ability) to do much myself so probably isn't ideal - either this one or something similar.

[MrNoisy]

People have asked me numerous times over the years if i’d recommend a discovery and my answer is always the same - you’re not buying a car, you’re buying a hobby.

If you don’t want a hobby then imho an older disco/RR would get tiresome quite quickly.

If, and it’s a big IF you have a knowledgable indy close by, get reasonably lucky and have a sense of humour it is maybe possible to have a good experience?

Others will have different opinions/experiences i’m sure.

If you can ‘spanner’, there’s nothing beats em...

[Bill]

You've got to really want one. After my D2 experience I got a Subaru Tribeca. But that had a load of issues too so I got rid after a year. I still couldn't face a D3 so 3 years ago got a 2010 D4 that's been fine apart from the electric handbrake unit.

ETA and a sticky gear selector linkage.

Edited by Bill on Wednesday 23 June 16:34

[paul n]

So is general consensus that it is worth paying more and getting a D4? I hear they can have engine issues also?

Cheers paul

[s p a c e m a n]

Personally if I were to buy another I'd just be looking for a petrol one. All of the things that have gone wrong with ours I would just class as wear and tear on a 200k car, in fact it's in much better condition than our 100k ml, it's just the hateful black smoke machine under the bonnet that is it's downfall.

They're at an age now where every time something engine related needs replacing you break two other things fixing it. Everything is a pig to get to, I'll happily start doing work on our other cars after lunchtime with no plan and a vague idea of what I'm doing knowing that the thing will probably still be driveable no matter what crops up. I was watching YouTube videos the day before and going out with my breakfast in hand to do anything on the disco, figuring that it probably wouldn't be driveable until the next weekend after I'd ordered more parts. It now goes to our local indy for engine bits, we wait until there's a few things wrong and get them all done at once

Half of my problems are that I don't do diesel. If it was a V8 petrol I wouldn't be googling diagrams and scratching my head as much, there would probably be more love and a lot less hate in the relationship.

[bakerstreet]

markh1973 said:

Looking for a second car to cart bikes, tents etc with.

So with the brief preamble why shouldn't I buy this one

https://www.stillmansgroup.co.uk/used-cars/land-ro...

Overpriced IMO, but not by much. The colour coding is quite desirable as it makes it much more modern. Seats were also updated in the last of the D3s too. As others have said that grill is awful and that would be straigt in the bin if I bought that.

Whats funny is I think prices are on the rise as people are getting priced out of 110 and the 2.7 engine doesn't have the same known crank issues as the 3.0 in the D4. The 2.7 can also be easily mapped to about 230bhp. Its a bit gutless in its standard 190bhp guise. Don't expect anything over 25mpg average and even worse in snow or if you do a lot of round town work.

What will probably be knackered already:
Torque converter. Just walk away if the revs fluctuate at motorway speeds

Glow Plugs:
Garages are getting much better at this, but many now fit an FBH timer, but you have to remember to use it when it gets cold and thats a PITA. Kits are available from £130 DIY or £400 for a App version.

Suspension:
The air suspension is very good. Expect sensors, wiring, airlines, air tank, valve blocks and compressors to all cause issues. Arms last five years and are roughly £500 a pair.

Parking sensors
Its not the sensors that faul, ist the wiring to the sensors which decays with age or gets trapped by people refitting the bumper incorrectly.

Leaks
Its a Land Rover so expect it to leak. Whats commical is they are still making cars that leak in 2021

Engine
All the usual modern diesel foibles. EGRs, injectors, turbos. Nasty sting in the tail for the D3 is the crossover pipe linking the turbo to both manifolds. Gearbox out job to replaces and if the garage screws it up and doesn't botl it to the gearbox, then expect it to break again and the garage will deny all knowledge and you will have no proof either.

I changed the oil and filters on mine every year. It had no bearing on its reliability at all.

Rust
Something to consider on early cars now.

EPB
Its s#'%t. Simple as. Get it serviced and aligned each year and there is no guarantee that it won't go wrong at the worst possible time. As others have said, use it all the time. I reached a point of dreading turning it on because of the fear of the squeal of death or the light on the dash.

Don't get me wrong, they are amazing machines, but don't expect an easy ride reliability wise. My wife and i loved ours, but eventually I just got fed up with it after 2 1/2 years. It was almost every 6 months something went wrong and this was on top of having brakes and new tyres.

You really need to check these cars very carefully if you are buying one. Chances are the owner has got rid of it because of a big issue. In fact you can almost guarantee it.

[A.J.M]

A D4 is a D3 with some faults fixed and some new ones added.

Biggest issue on the 3.0 is the cranks snap.
Some can run forever, a mates 2016 D4 with only 44k and FLRSH snapped. Fortunately he has a good dealer so it’s getting 100% covered. Others aren’t as lucky.
£5k plus vat from QP Online for a rebuilt engine.

The EPB and air suspension are the 2 most reliable bits on my D3.

That D3 is the last of the line so they were colour coded from the factory and those are the correct D3 HSE alloys for an 08-09 model.
Rather cruelly, they then became the D4 GS base model spec wheels.

Discos are great cars, but I’ll repeat, they can be huffy bds.

Also, not all LR specialists are good.
Mine is on SORN till time and funds allow due to one specialist making a howling arse of repairs and charging a fortune for the privilege.

There are good ones though.

[Deranged Rover]

markh1973 said:

So with the brief preamble why shouldn't I buy this one

https://www.stillmansgroup.co.uk/used-cars/land-ro...

It's a diesel, the grille is minging and it has a full set of chav tints.

Nice colour, though!