Disco 3.0 buying advice please.

[Renn Sport]

hi chaps,

As I am need of a second car.. I was hoping to score a nice 3.0 7 seat discovery with aircon. Budget is 2k max.

I just want a truck that I can do everything in. Tow motorbikes, tow my car project, lug tools, lug parts, seat kids, wife and couple of friends in comfort.

Most importantly I want to start laning when the weather isn't nice for being on the motorbike or hooning in the 911. See how I am justifying it!

I have owned a P38 RangeRover in the past, which was a good if not fraught expirience. Air suspension, aircon, remopte keys, oil leaks and possible head gasket failure turned me off a little. Loved driving it though when I could wrestle the keys from the wife that is.

Any tips on disco purchase appreciated.

[normalbloke]

Which 3.0 would that be then??

[Renn Sport]

Sorry.. I was thinking about the 3.0TDI 5 door.

Is that doable for 2k... I have seen some on Auto Trader, but they might be basket cases.

I am concerned with any trouble areas other then the general car stuff to look out for.

Cheers

[OllieWinchester]

There is no 3.0, TDi or otherwise I'm afraid. Diesel wise there are various 2.5s available, 200 + 300 TDi'd, and TD5's. They are a frigging nightmare reliability wise, check for rot everywhere, especially under the boot carpet, check it goes in to low range properly because most cars never see any mud and never use it, check there isn't too much driveline lash or any clunking/knocking on lock. Good luck, you'll need it.

[Renn Sport]

Hey thanks I must have my wires crossed.

WOW are disco's that rubbish in reliability?!?! Perhaps a jeep or Mitsubishi should be on the cards instead.

Hmmnn I have plotting and planning to do.

Cheers

[jesta1865]

some people hate them and repeat all the bad things, i love them and could tell you tons of stories why you shouldn't buy a jeep, toy otter etc, but you get good ones and bad ones.

yes some can have rot problems, but remember that people tend to treat them a bit harder than your average estate car.

i am now on my 3rd land rover in 16 years, i put 120,000 on the clock of the 1st one i had, and only sold it on a whim (2nd biggest mistake i ever made, the biggest was saying i do, but thats sorted now ). i have had a range rover for the last 4 years, i have put over 50,000 miles on that, and she is only going because i use her as a daily commute and petrol is taking over from shopping as the biggest drain on my money.

so i have just bought another discovery, she is 11 years old and only 38,000 miles on the clock, she used to live on the isle of bude in scotland, so a fairly tough environment.

you would never believe it to look at her, the bodywork has the odd knock, but the chassis etc is immaculate. i have done nearly 2000 miles in 3 weeks in her and she has not missed a beat.

so my advice would be to look around, i found mine on one of the land rover forums. but auto trader throws up a few good ones. don't just look at them, i would also consider the toy otters, and mitzys, a nissan patrol is nice, but huge.

i am biased as i like land rovers, but the price of parts on some of the japanese ones put me off a few years back when i heard the price a mate paid for a new cylinder head on his land cruiser.

my only bit of real buying advice is look at loads, soon you will find what to look for, there are buying guides in the magazines, but keep looking till you are happy, you will get some right nails at the same price as some good ones.

while i was looking i also met a guy in yorkshire who has just turned over 400,000 miles on his j plate 200tdi, original engine and gearbox. has it serviced on the dot and changes the oil every 6000 miles. guess what i am now going to do with mine

[normalbloke]

400k miles?

I bet its not on the original boot floorpan??

[jesta1865]

normalbloke said:

400k miles?

I bet its not on the original boot floorpan??

i doubt more for the fact he was in the building trade and had about 200 bricks in there at the time

no they are not perfect but none are, thats half the fun with cars generally

[OnTheOverrun]

Renn Sport said:

Hey thanks I must have my wires crossed.

WOW are disco's that rubbish in reliability?!?! Perhaps a jeep or Mitsubishi should be on the cards instead.

Hmmnn I have plotting and planning to do.

Cheers

I've had 5 Discoverys - a 200TDi, 2 x 300TDi's and 2 x V8's on LPG.

All five were reliable and only one suffered from a bit of rear wheelarch rust, but nothing serious, Between them they did about 300,000 miles with no serious failures, just occasional bearings and the odd viscous fan.

Probably better to listen to people who have owned a few rather than those that have read on the internet they are unreliable.

[leginigel]

I had a 300TDI auto good as gold had 200TDI 90 for ten years and now have a TD5 110 the one not to have (so they say) gets me to work every day.Had a few Range Rovers petrol OK but my 1988 TD a night mare and that was in 1995 with under 70K on the clock.Go for the Disco you can't beat'em.