Basically Im am thinking of getting a land rover discovery , somewhere between the registrations of L reg (1993) and V reg (2000)


What sort of problems will i be buying ,getting one of this age?

Are they any good? , petrol or diesel?

What do i need to be looking out for?

cheers

 

well where do i start ??????????????????????????????

 

www.landrovernet.com

www.landyzone.co.uk

www.lr4x4.com

is about 3 foruns i can think off, theres about 10 Uk ones!

 

Avoid K-series enginned ones due to severe HG issues

 

look for rot around all the body mounts, master cylinder mounting area, and the rear inner arches near the seatbelt mounts

 

I've got a 300tdi i love it for towing my car trailer but watch for rot particularly the boot floor apparantly the alpine windows leak and the water accumilates in the boot under the carpets.avoid sunroofs as well for same reason.if it drives great its been looked after if it drives ok or badly chances are its been neglected.

 

V8s [rover engine] aren't as bad as people think, bit worse on fuel than the derv but not enough to put you off.

Look for rust everywhere, especially boot and in door shuts. Sunroofs leak and are expensive to fix [properly] but a load of silicone normally sorts it. If it's not raining, you can normally tell by looking at the headlining by the sunvisors to see if it's been leaking, the trim will be a different colour. Window switches and central locking rarely work but aren't expensive or difficult to fix.

The 300 derv isn't a bad engine and will do the miles. The TD5s in the later end of your year choice [98/99 onwards] are not as strong ime although they drive a lot better. I wouldn't trust a high mileage one as diesel leaking into the oil is a common fault.

Personally, I prefer auto in a big car and the crap fuel economy on both diesel and petrol has never bothered me.

My choice of that year Disco would be one of the last 300 tdis on an R/S, the ES models have leather.

But stick a few more quid in and get a Mk3 TDV6 and don't look back

They never put a K series engine in the Discovery. They went in the freelanders.

 

Yes they did in 300 shape ones, was the called the 2.0 mpi (owned an 'M' reg red one) and tbh apart from the potential issues and it being a touch underpowered it was very quiet and smooth was a minter and very cheap to buy
- when the head gasket did finaly go i dropped a tdi lump in ended up with a mint 300tdi

look out for:
service history with either a specialist or main dealer, not the local garage as they are fairly complex cars with many grease points etc which need servicing they tend to throw cambelts if the belt and tensioners aren't changed at their interval


leaky PAS boxes
Any ROT especially inside the rear doors where the arch meets the pillar
Clunky gearboxes/transfer cases (stay well away as box's are expensive)
seized up low range/diff lock selector lever (good bargaining point as its an easy fix)

other than that there pretty good tbh and the bits/upgrades are very cheap!!

 

 

I think the 2.0 mpi was a T series engine?

 

Google agrees with you - at me!

 

How do you work for a car magazine. The other week you were talking nonsense about bike throttle bodies. No wonder I am bored with Fast Ford. It has turned shit.

 

Thankfully I don't work on a Land Rover magazine.

I held my hands up about the TBs. I was missinformed by a well respected TB manufacturer.

Jog on.

 

No jogging required thanks.

 

I'd recommend www.lrboards.com as a good starting place.
I think everything has been covered that I know of.. Get a V8 and Gas it!

 

Also check inner wings, and rear body mounts prone to rust, as said before boot floor also bad.

 

I stand corrected on the disco engine! still suffered with a head gasket problem tho
must be a petrol rover thing

 

i have a 95 N as my work bus, towing vehicle. Its done 13k since i've owned it with no problems at all. Its never been welded and is structurally mint. It does its job brilliantly and i wont get rid of it for that reason.

 

No, they didn't.





No need for that, he was trying to help. Shame your post didn't help the OP.

It's not confined to petrol cars, the italian 2.5 diesel and the TD5 also suffer after a few miles.

If you want the best diesel, get a P38 Range Rover with the BMW lump [convert to springs straight away].

 

well i have 2 over here both are v8's, i have a 98 disco 1 and a 2000 disco 2 both are rot free as the weather here is kind to them. for the beach there is fook all between them on ruff roads the disco 1 is smoother due to no ace which is a pain on corrigated roads it just shake's the fook out of you and the disco 1 rides much better without it. the 2 is faster and a bit better on fuel and has the sports auto box. for off road i would take the disco 1 every time for towing and on road the 2 is better but not by much but corners a lot better due to the ace. 4ltr 2 i have done the head gaskets on but the 3.9 has been faultless. it all depends what you want the 2 is better but can have more issue's a good siere's 1 can be off roaded a lot cheaper than a 2 and will be less hassle imo. oh yeah both are auto manual is a pain in the arse in a big car and very little difference will be gained in economy so i will only have auto land pigs.

 

you pays ya money and takes ya choice.
had a petrol 3.9went and sounded great but thirsty around town.tdi does 30 to35 mpg empty and 25 mpg fully laden.
beware gas some 3.9,4.0 and 4.6can have piston liner issues only the ones on gas get reported.

 

YOREVOL you must drive like a saint pal i never got more than 25 mpg out of the 200 or 300 tdi's so i had v8 for the extra grunt. no point in derv over here as fuel is half of the price it is back in the uk

 

i have a 3.9 v8i auto on a m plate, does between 15-17mpg

i like it alot but the running costs hurt.

it drives nicely on the motorway at 70 with the cruise control on, equally it's good at towing and off road.

i quite fancey a td5 as they drive alot better imho. But they seem to have alot the goes wrong, suspension pumps, suspension air bags, ace parts, abs sensers, modules, injectors, fuel pumps! the list of common problems is endless sadly. With the older stuff they either work or don't! i did 250 miles in mine sunday and it didn't miss a beat! thats with 100k miles aswell and not really a minter.

 

Ive got a R plate 3.9v8 es on lpg with full leather twin electric sunroofs n all the other toys thats coming up for sale shortly.....just passed its test and is solid not rust bucket like most...