Shed of the Week: Land Rover Discovery V8

Is Shed's Disco a super freak? Or will it have you waking up in a night fever?

The latest Government idea designed to protect us from ourselves is the potential restriction of stakes on fixed-odds betting terminals (or fruit machines, as Shed knows them) from the current £100 to a new limit of £2.

There are two surprises in this for Shed. One is finding out that you can drop a century on one button press - the last time Shed had a go on one of these things, it was sixpence a shot and there was a Jubbly machine next to it. He didn't win and has never been on one since.

The other surprise is that there are no Government plans to limit a much more dangerous gamble, namely the purchase of old Land Rover Discoveries.

Defenders, no problem. The risk factor there has been reduced to less than zero now that even the crumbliest, brush-daubed, moss-infested heap is apparently worth tens of thousands of pounds. Discoveries, however, are not yet hiding under the warm, cosy blanket of buyer madness. You buy one at your peril.

Luckily for Shed, he rarely has to dip his bunioned toe into the murky pond of Discovery because, as you know, he only deals in MOT'd motors, and MOT'd Discos are about as common as honest politicians.

Which makes this Shed of the Week a bit special. Not only is it an MOT'd Discovery that comes to us straight from the mystical land of Part Exchange, it's an apparently rust-free, top-o'-the-range ES one. And it's a V8.

Now, we all know it won't be rust-free. Shed doubts that there is any such thing outside a museum, and even then it would probably have to be a Land Rover-specific museum staffed by doddery but utterly dedicated greyhairs. But have a close look at the pics and see if you can spot any brown anywhere other than in the interior plastics. Shed can't. It's some kind of miracle.

The story is that this car has been in the same ownership for the last 15 years, and careful ownership too by the looks of it. The interior is remarkably clean, with nicely worn-in leather. As already noted, with appropriate amounts of incredulity, there's no obvious sign of rust.

Normally with these, the rust is very obvious indeed. You will usually encounter a lovely collection of it in the tailgate area - and by tailgate we mean the entire floor, starting at the back. For this we can thank the leaky sunroof and the clever-at-the-time-but-also-leaky 'Alpine' windows set into the angle of the roof.

The cautionary words being used by the garage in the ad, plus the tempting price, suggest that a leisurely scope under the carpets would be not only desirable but essential. The good thing about Discoveries is that they have a separate chassis, so a rusty floor might not be that worrisome. A rusty chassis would be though, as would rusty rear seat belt mounts. That's an MOT fail.

The other thing you might notice about the rear end of this motor is the absence of an LPG tank. That means you will be looking at hearty V8 mpg figures of 12-15mpg, and could explain why this Discovery has only covered 5,000 miles in the last five years. Oh, but who cares about that? It's a V8, for Exxon's sake. Even when the body panels turn to dust, any low-mileage Landie V8 motor that remains will have some value. You might struggle to believe the factory claim of 185hp though. It feels more like 85hp.

You might also question the wisdom of whoever designed the door handle, window and lock operating systems, and the parentage of the many other bits and bobs that will try your patience as a Disco owner. But you will be pleasantly surprised by the low cost of spare parts, set aside a nice corner of your garage for a ready supply of those.

Our Shed has five doors and a handy towbar, which all sounds good from a practicality point of view, but if you've ever tried to access the back seat of a five-door Disco you might wish that they'd carried on making a three-door version. This model of Discovery was not designed to have any more than three doors, you see, so when the Midlands engineers were told to 'give it foive' they probably retorted with something along the lines of 'where?'. Check the length of those back door bottoms and imagine getting your shoes in there. This is not a car for transporting clowns.

Here's the ad.

Straight from Part Exchange, the previous keeper has had the vehicle since 2002. In good condition with low mileage, only 105,000. Standard features including: Remote Central Locking, Alloy wheels, Tow Bar, Electric Mirrors, Sunroof, Front and Rear Electric Windows, Air Conditioning, Radio/CD and PAS. Test Drive Today!! We are a Bosch Car Service Centre and this vehicle has MOT till 13th April 2018, Drive Away Today!!! This vehicle is sold as seen/trade sale, No warranty implied. Take a look at our online showroom at www.dwpcarsales.co.uk for many more great deals. *** Please make sure that if you are travelling a distance, to call ahead and check availability and to arrange a viewing to avoid disappointment *** Feel free to contact a member of our sales team for any further information. Air Conditioning, Remote Central Locking, Leather Upholstery, Towbar, Electric Windows,