RE: Shed of the week: Land Rover Discovery V8
Discussion
My family had two Series I Discos, both secondhand.
The first (bought in 2002) was a 1990 H-reg 3-door 7-seater manual V8i. Nightfire metallic red, 'Compass' side graphics, Freight Rover headlamps in the black 'bow tie' grille, Sonar Blue interior, blue-weave cloth seats, and removable handbag in the centre console, air-con with twin sunroofs, stupid 'five-bar gate' steel bullbar with Cibie spotlamps, metallic grey steel wheels - the platonic ideal of the late-1980s 4x4. Bought with something like 75,000 miles on it and all the dampers and most of the suspension bushes were shot so it pitched, bounced and rolled even more than they're supposed to. But once that work was done we kept it for three years and it was faultless. It was used purely for towing (car trailers, boats and horse boxes) and occasional trips with all seven seats filled if we kids needed hauling somewhere with friends. How a three-door car with seven seats ever became a 'family 4x4' I don't know because most of the seats were inaccesible. But it was a brilliant tow vehicle - absolutely effortless. It replaced an ex-MOD LWB Landy Series III 2.25P and the Disco was not only faster with a couple of tons on the back than the SIII was unladen, but used less petrol. It did about 15mpg. Its only vice was that the Efi system got confused with an engine that was neither hot nor cold - start it from cold and it would fire on the first piston to pass TDC. Reverse it up to a trailer, hitch it up and then switch off while you loaded the horse/car/whatever, come back after 10 minutes and it wouldn't start until it had completely cooled off again. Once it was up to temperature it ran and started perfectly.
The second (bought in 2005) was a 1997 R-reg 5-door 7-seater manual 300Tdi GS in dark metallic grey with alloy wheels. Bought to be both tow vehicle and replacing mum's Renault Scenic as her daily car. Kept that car for 10 years and 125,000 miles (it had 186,000 miles on it when we sold it) and it was absolutely faultless. It lived outside (too tall to fit in a car port) in all weathers, used for mum's 40-mile round trip commute plus towing/carrying duties at the weekend, and long slogs down to the West Country or in France for holidays. Towed classic cars in various states of disrepair all over the UK. It went to the local Landy specialist once a year for a service and the only non-service fixes I can remember it needing were an oil cooler hose and a new evaporator for the air-con. Nothing like as effortless or torquey as the V8 to drive but a brilliantly relaxed long-distance machine once you were up to speed. It did 29mpg consistently, regardless of how it was driven or how much weight was hitched on the back, which would get you 550 miles or so between fill-ups. In the end the rust began getting to it in the boot floor and the rear outriggers (not helped by a wet-acid car battery falling over and spilling its contents all over the rear footwell!), the sunroofs began to leak and it needed welding in its front inner wings. But mechanically an utterly faithful machine despite being driven primarily by someone who was not the most mechanically attuned or sympathetic person (dear old Mum once drove it for 10 miles down the M27 with the diff lock on because it had been icy back at home in the sticks so thought she needed 4WD...)
Land Rover build quality can plumb some truely appalling depths but get a good one (and they did make some!) and they're brilliant cars. Especially Disco Series Is, which are yet another example of the Rover Group coming up with a market-leading vehicle built almost entirely from 20+ year old bits on a budget of a fiver.
The first (bought in 2002) was a 1990 H-reg 3-door 7-seater manual V8i. Nightfire metallic red, 'Compass' side graphics, Freight Rover headlamps in the black 'bow tie' grille, Sonar Blue interior, blue-weave cloth seats, and removable handbag in the centre console, air-con with twin sunroofs, stupid 'five-bar gate' steel bullbar with Cibie spotlamps, metallic grey steel wheels - the platonic ideal of the late-1980s 4x4. Bought with something like 75,000 miles on it and all the dampers and most of the suspension bushes were shot so it pitched, bounced and rolled even more than they're supposed to. But once that work was done we kept it for three years and it was faultless. It was used purely for towing (car trailers, boats and horse boxes) and occasional trips with all seven seats filled if we kids needed hauling somewhere with friends. How a three-door car with seven seats ever became a 'family 4x4' I don't know because most of the seats were inaccesible. But it was a brilliant tow vehicle - absolutely effortless. It replaced an ex-MOD LWB Landy Series III 2.25P and the Disco was not only faster with a couple of tons on the back than the SIII was unladen, but used less petrol. It did about 15mpg. Its only vice was that the Efi system got confused with an engine that was neither hot nor cold - start it from cold and it would fire on the first piston to pass TDC. Reverse it up to a trailer, hitch it up and then switch off while you loaded the horse/car/whatever, come back after 10 minutes and it wouldn't start until it had completely cooled off again. Once it was up to temperature it ran and started perfectly.
The second (bought in 2005) was a 1997 R-reg 5-door 7-seater manual 300Tdi GS in dark metallic grey with alloy wheels. Bought to be both tow vehicle and replacing mum's Renault Scenic as her daily car. Kept that car for 10 years and 125,000 miles (it had 186,000 miles on it when we sold it) and it was absolutely faultless. It lived outside (too tall to fit in a car port) in all weathers, used for mum's 40-mile round trip commute plus towing/carrying duties at the weekend, and long slogs down to the West Country or in France for holidays. Towed classic cars in various states of disrepair all over the UK. It went to the local Landy specialist once a year for a service and the only non-service fixes I can remember it needing were an oil cooler hose and a new evaporator for the air-con. Nothing like as effortless or torquey as the V8 to drive but a brilliantly relaxed long-distance machine once you were up to speed. It did 29mpg consistently, regardless of how it was driven or how much weight was hitched on the back, which would get you 550 miles or so between fill-ups. In the end the rust began getting to it in the boot floor and the rear outriggers (not helped by a wet-acid car battery falling over and spilling its contents all over the rear footwell!), the sunroofs began to leak and it needed welding in its front inner wings. But mechanically an utterly faithful machine despite being driven primarily by someone who was not the most mechanically attuned or sympathetic person (dear old Mum once drove it for 10 miles down the M27 with the diff lock on because it had been icy back at home in the sticks so thought she needed 4WD...)
Land Rover build quality can plumb some truely appalling depths but get a good one (and they did make some!) and they're brilliant cars. Especially Disco Series Is, which are yet another example of the Rover Group coming up with a market-leading vehicle built almost entirely from 20+ year old bits on a budget of a fiver.
BFleming said:
4 out of the last 5 SOTWs have had 'Made in England' stamped on them, and all have been horrendous, with the possible exception of the Jag. It's worse than those bargain pages of classic car weekly. These are cars that people paid handsomely for when new - the cheapest Discovery was £19249 in 1989. These were cars that people deliberately chose whilst avoiding something much more competent. The Mitsubishi Shogun for example, or even the Isuzu Trooper. I understand that British people buy (or rather bought) British cars to support their domestic industry, in much the same way as French people have allegiance to the majority of domestic dross they produce, the same as the Italians. It must be great being German, getting to both support your own car industry and drive something decent.
This weeks SOTW is a heap, and an even worse heap than when it was new. The engine bay is greasier than a chip pan. The addition of the oversized offroad tyres without the mandatory suspension lift... all a bit half-arsed.
I agree, it’s no BMW 114iThis weeks SOTW is a heap, and an even worse heap than when it was new. The engine bay is greasier than a chip pan. The addition of the oversized offroad tyres without the mandatory suspension lift... all a bit half-arsed.
Dad had a similar TDi until recently, run on as much of a shoestring budget as possible, until rust made it uneconomical to put through the MoT.
I don't know what was going on with the suspension, as anything above about 40 mph it went into a kind of 3D shimmy around it's longitudinal axis. Seems it had a preference for demonstrating its off-road ability over staying on the straight and narrow.
Can't really tarnish the model based on one badly-maintained example, but it goes to show that there is a big gap between something with an MoT and something which is actually safe to drive. A gap that would take a lot of cash to bridge...
I don't know what was going on with the suspension, as anything above about 40 mph it went into a kind of 3D shimmy around it's longitudinal axis. Seems it had a preference for demonstrating its off-road ability over staying on the straight and narrow.
Can't really tarnish the model based on one badly-maintained example, but it goes to show that there is a big gap between something with an MoT and something which is actually safe to drive. A gap that would take a lot of cash to bridge...
s2kjock said:
I understood these were based on the Range Rover at the time, so not so much a Defender with accoutrements, as a Range Rover that visited Top Man after a mid-life crisis?
Underneath they were all largely the same vehicle, albeit with differing chassis lengths. Range Rover and Discovery shared a wheel base (100" or thereabouts). Actually, it's likely they (Disco and Rangie) shared the basic chassis, although I suspect the outriggers and body pick up points were in different locations. I had a three year old Series I facelift TDi in Tokyo in 2002 - loved driving thousands of kilometres around Honshu in that lovely cabin and great driving position. My colleagues with Land Cruisers and Troopers were jealous.
Favourite moment was when a mate who had just left the RAF flying VC10s (now those define bad fueld consumption) flew into Narita as a fresh Cathay pilot. I told him I would pick him up at Shinjuku station - 3 million people per day. Told him he would know me when he saw the car. BRG defender came along he stepped smartly out of the crowd.
Favourite moment was when a mate who had just left the RAF flying VC10s (now those define bad fueld consumption) flew into Narita as a fresh Cathay pilot. I told him I would pick him up at Shinjuku station - 3 million people per day. Told him he would know me when he saw the car. BRG defender came along he stepped smartly out of the crowd.
newoldfart said:
CS Garth said:
Whoever designed it had a picture of a Montego van close at hand. Awful but brilliant. C'est la vie. La vie.
i think you may be thinking of a maestro van as i don,t believe they made a van version of the montego.aaron_2000 said:
I wonder if you could dump a BMW unit in though? The 230bhp 330d engine might be a good one, or even the 184bhp.
With enough money, time and expertise I'm sure it would. This is very much a Rover Group car rather than a BMW-Rover one though so it would take quite a bit greenarrow said:
Although I agree with you on the Mk1 Disco, hateful things....Just don't bash all the British built cars from the 90s and 2000s.
Fair point. The 70's & 80's were the main target of my rant. You get into the 90's and there are some British built cars that I respect (as opposed to 'lust to own'), such as the Rover 75 and the Jag XK8. I'm struggling beyond those two though.Remember taking delivery of ‘our’ fully liveried Police-spec Disco 2
My oppo and I hopped in and took it for a spin, and at the very first junction we knew that the stars hadn’t aligned
Turning right, the vehicle made some weird jerking motions as the CATS suspension tried to work out what to do
This happened at the next 2 junctions so hopping out we opened the bonnet
Only to be faced with a CATS reservoir that was not only devoid of fluid but had patently NEVER had any fluid in it.
A week later, we get it back and on patrol we get deployed to a 999 incident
Barrelling down a hill, we braked quite hard and were amused / astonished / frightened when all of the windows started to go up and down AND every light on the instrument panel decided to have an epileptic fit...
As an aside, a near neighbour of mine has a Disco 1, and last summer I saw him under it doing some welding
Moseying over I asked him how it was going and he prudglt showed me the now vacant space where he boot floor had been
The seatbelt anchor points had already been done and I helpfully pointed out the obvious rot around the rear crossmember. And the wheel arches. And the front inner wings. And the front passenger footwell. And the.... you get the picture.
It now sits on his grass verge with the running gear removed awaiting its fate
My oppo and I hopped in and took it for a spin, and at the very first junction we knew that the stars hadn’t aligned
Turning right, the vehicle made some weird jerking motions as the CATS suspension tried to work out what to do
This happened at the next 2 junctions so hopping out we opened the bonnet
Only to be faced with a CATS reservoir that was not only devoid of fluid but had patently NEVER had any fluid in it.
A week later, we get it back and on patrol we get deployed to a 999 incident
Barrelling down a hill, we braked quite hard and were amused / astonished / frightened when all of the windows started to go up and down AND every light on the instrument panel decided to have an epileptic fit...
As an aside, a near neighbour of mine has a Disco 1, and last summer I saw him under it doing some welding
Moseying over I asked him how it was going and he prudglt showed me the now vacant space where he boot floor had been
The seatbelt anchor points had already been done and I helpfully pointed out the obvious rot around the rear crossmember. And the wheel arches. And the front inner wings. And the front passenger footwell. And the.... you get the picture.
It now sits on his grass verge with the running gear removed awaiting its fate
rtz62 said:
Remember taking delivery of ‘our’ fully liveried Police-spec Disco 2
My oppo and I hopped in and took it for a spin, and at the very first junction we knew that the stars hadn’t aligned
Turning right, the vehicle made some weird jerking motions as the CATS suspension tried to work out what to do
This happened at the next 2 junctions so hopping out we opened the bonnet
Only to be faced with a CATS reservoir that was not only devoid of fluid but had patently NEVER had any fluid in it.
A week later, we get it back and on patrol we get deployed to a 999 incident
Barrelling down a hill, we braked quite hard and were amused / astonished / frightened when all of the windows started to go up and down AND every light on the instrument panel decided to have an epileptic fit...
As an aside, a near neighbour of mine has a Disco 1, and last summer I saw him under it doing some welding
Moseying over I asked him how it was going and he prudglt showed me the now vacant space where he boot floor had been
The seatbelt anchor points had already been done and I helpfully pointed out the obvious rot around the rear crossmember. And the wheel arches. And the front inner wings. And the front passenger footwell. And the.... you get the picture.
It now sits on his grass verge with the running gear removed awaiting its fate
Wasn't CATS an alarm system on the Disco 1?My oppo and I hopped in and took it for a spin, and at the very first junction we knew that the stars hadn’t aligned
Turning right, the vehicle made some weird jerking motions as the CATS suspension tried to work out what to do
This happened at the next 2 junctions so hopping out we opened the bonnet
Only to be faced with a CATS reservoir that was not only devoid of fluid but had patently NEVER had any fluid in it.
A week later, we get it back and on patrol we get deployed to a 999 incident
Barrelling down a hill, we braked quite hard and were amused / astonished / frightened when all of the windows started to go up and down AND every light on the instrument panel decided to have an epileptic fit...
As an aside, a near neighbour of mine has a Disco 1, and last summer I saw him under it doing some welding
Moseying over I asked him how it was going and he prudglt showed me the now vacant space where he boot floor had been
The seatbelt anchor points had already been done and I helpfully pointed out the obvious rot around the rear crossmember. And the wheel arches. And the front inner wings. And the front passenger footwell. And the.... you get the picture.
It now sits on his grass verge with the running gear removed awaiting its fate
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