Misadventures in trying to buy a Land Rover Discovery

"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
11/24/2013 at 11:37 • Filed to: None

The !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! was sold before I ever called the dealer about it.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

The sales dude who told me it was in stock, didn't know it had sold earlier that day.

I found another '04 Discovery at a different local dealer, which is no small feat when you're looking for specific used cars in Madison, WI. This one had more options (heated seats, 3rd row) and 88k miles instead of 125k on the sold one. So I drove it.

My reaction: I was prepared for some quirky Britishness but this was in many ways not a good vehicle.

Not roomy at all, squeaks and rattles like crazy including the HVAC fan, the coin tray on the dash was stuck open, the tailgate latch was all messed up, and it was impossible to see the cars behind me due to a combination of small, awkwardly placed side mirrors, the spare tire mounted on the tailgate, and the head rests for the back seat.

I told the sales guy if they could fix the HVAC fan, tailgate and coin tray, I might still be interested. He called me back the next day and said that the problems I mentioned, the mechanics were aware of when they first inspected the car, and because they're selling it as-is, that's why the price is "so low at $11,995."

Edmunds says the thing's worth $5500 with those kinds of issues.

DISCUSSION (6)

TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. > Textured Soy Protein
11/24/2013 at 11:42

$11,995!?! Craaaaaaaack Pipe (this coming from a 04 Discovery Owner), I've been meaning to do buyers guide write up on these trucks so I looks like I have to get off my arse and start working on it.

Textured Soy Protein > TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts.
11/24/2013 at 11:51

I agree that price is nuts. I mostly went to look at it because it was here in town, and so far most of the other trucks I've found with the stuff I want in the price range I want have been like 100 miles away.

If I'm gonna stretch my budget to almost $11k, there's an '05 Grand Cherokee with the Hemi, Quadra-Drive (all 3 diffs are LSD) & heated seats with 115k miles on it where the dealer came down to $10,700 out the door. But aside from the fancy badge it's in a whole nother league from the Disco.

KB Garage > Textured Soy Protein
11/24/2013 at 13:20

"Come on down! We've got great a sale on all our vehicles, including this lovely discovery! That's right folks, only six grand about blue book value! You'll never find a deal like this!"

Oh dear.

TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. > Textured Soy Protein
11/24/2013 at 18:35

There, finally got around to it:

http://oppositelock.jalopnik.com/land-rover-dii…

Der Käfer > Textured Soy Protein
11/25/2013 at 08:19

DON'T BUY ONE. I just sold mine with 89k miles and it was nothing but trouble.... I basically rebuilt the engine, new everything under the hood, brakes and lines, coolant sysytems, ECU twice, roof leakes, quirky electrical issues, the check egine light never would go off and it would throw random codes at least every other drive and land rover finally came to the solution of... there's no solution. They gave up....

I loved it to death but ended up selling it for a FRACTION of what I had into it.

R Saldana [|Oo|======|oO|] - BTC/ETH/LTC Prophet > TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts.
12/06/2013 at 16:09

Wait until they hit you with the "We are gonna need 5k down payment." They will lie and blame your credit, but in reality no bank will loan 11,999 for a used Landie. Bought mine cash, in 2008 with 48k miles; the ole girl has had her issues but there is no reason on Earth for me to get rid of her.