What're your thoughts/experiences

"roflcopter" (roflroflroflcopter)
04/15/2015 at 09:44 • Filed to: None

With the second generation Land Rover Discovery's? I'm tentatively looking for something practical to replace my Volvo with as my go-to daily driver and have a budget up to about $6,000. One thing that keeps popping up are low mileage Discovery II's and I test drove one years ago and it seemed quite nice. Anyone have any experience with them, or any suggestion of another vehicle to look at?

I'm really not looking at SUVs particularly, but my options are either good gas mileage and decent interior space(hatch or wagon preferably) or something like an SUV or truck where the practicality outweighs the gas mileage issue.

DISCUSSION (24)

SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie > roflcopter
04/15/2015 at 09:49

I love them, but they're not what you'd call reliable.

505Turbeaux > roflcopter
04/15/2015 at 09:54

junk, unless you plan on working on it yourself - including doing the head gaskets at least once, run away.

roflcopter > 505Turbeaux
04/15/2015 at 09:59

The ones I was finding were typically less than 70k miles at that price range which seemed pretty good. And doing my own wrenching isn't the end of the world.

olragnova > roflcopter
04/15/2015 at 10:00

Owned a low mileage 96 (58k) for a year . . . just long enough to fix the A/C and stereo and trade it off. Many, many hours spent cursing Sir Lucas and his electrical demons.

roflcopter > SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie
04/15/2015 at 10:00

To the point of me needing to look for a good example or steering clear as a whole? The ones I've been seeing have typically had less than 70k miles.

roflcopter > olragnova
04/15/2015 at 10:01

That doesn't seem promising. Although electrical is kind of my specialty... I really don't need another project though.

TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. > roflcopter
04/15/2015 at 10:04

Common issues on these trucks:

Head gaskets go around 100k-140k, if it's not stated that the head gasket has been replaced plan on that happening. Around $2000k if you pay someone to do it

U-joints on factory front drive shaft dry out and fail due to their proximity to the exhaust and are not greaseable. Either $130 to rebuild or $200-$300 for a custom made beefier one from a off road supplier.

ABS unit goes wonky - $120 worth of parts and half a day worth of work (stupid easy fix though). You basically fix a grounding fault in the unit and leaky valves.

The rest is just normal wear and tear items.

Source - I own a 04 D2 (also the best year for these vehicles).

SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie > roflcopter
04/15/2015 at 10:05

If you don't want to wrench on it or bring it in to a shop all of the time, steer clear entirely. It's not DD material unless you have a backup.

505Turbeaux > roflcopter
04/15/2015 at 10:17

let me just say that you will feel doing that head gasket job (which will be between 90 and 107K miles - unless you luck out with a good one) for a good 2 weeks after you are done. A big breaker bar and numerous angle torques. Oh my back hurts just thinking about it. Just nightmares - electrically as well

Autophile412 - what's the world got in store? > roflcopter
04/15/2015 at 10:17

Run. Far. Far, far away.

8 MPG (really for real) and maintenance whores. You might as well just wire $4000 to your parts store and have them stock the parts you need in advance.

My stepbrother had one and it was in the shop (because the only thing he can af"fix" is stickers to his windshield) at least once a quarter.

It is a great off roader but if you use it to it's potential you are asking for monthly expensive repairs.

There is a reason you can get them so cheaply now. I was tempted to buy one the other day because the dealership near me has one for $3,800 with 80k miles, then I thought about it and did some rough calculations in my head and decided it would be a massive boondoggle on my part.

Just my humble oppinion.

roflcopter > 505Turbeaux
04/15/2015 at 10:25

Duly noted. That explains why exquisite examples are going for so cheap. I shall turn my attention elsewhere.

roflcopter > Autophile412 - what's the world got in store?
04/15/2015 at 10:26

It seems to be everyone else's opinion as well. I'll start looking for something else that strikes my fancy.

505Turbeaux > roflcopter
04/15/2015 at 10:30

good plan! I would rather have a 90's Land Cruiser with 200K on the clock for my 6 grand!

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > roflcopter
04/15/2015 at 10:33

80-series Land Cruiser. Or if you want to live dangerously, there is a 40-series for sale in Milton in your price range, it doesn't have a top though.

Tinfoil Hat in a thunderstorm, now with added diecast > roflcopter
04/15/2015 at 10:36

Not first hand but had an uncle that had one from new. He kept it for a while after warranty but said he kept it for too long.

First hand; I was at an intersection a couple of years ago and there was a strong smell of petrol(gasoline US) in the air. I was looking around for the source and just noticed a fairly decent stream of liquid running on the road towards our car. It was pissing out of a Disco up ahead. Lights go green and we take off, I can see a stream continuing to pour out below it. We managed to get along side him at the next set of lights and warn him. He says he's nearly home so he'll check it out when he gets there. Off he goes and as soon as he makes a right turn and the petrol caught alight! We turned around and caught up with him, by this time he's pulled up next to a Cyprus hedge(highly flammable) and some one came along with an extinguisher and got the fire out. Apart from that sort of thing I think they are fine.

Textured Soy Protein > roflcopter
04/15/2015 at 10:36

I checked out an '04 before I bought my Grand Cherokee. It is quite possibly the worst vehicle I've ever driven. Surprisingly cramped inside (except for tons of headroom) with a terrible driving position, tips over like crazy from the super high center of gravity, squeaks and rattles galore, can't see out the back at all between the spare tire mounted on the tailgate and the way-too-small side mirrors that are too low to get a good angle on what's behind you.

They look nice though.

roflcopter > 505Turbeaux
04/15/2015 at 11:01

Very true. If I'm making payments on a car I'd like it to be on the south side of about 75k miles though.

roflcopter > Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies
04/15/2015 at 11:01

Link? Haha

roflcopter > Tinfoil Hat in a thunderstorm, now with added diecast
04/15/2015 at 11:06

Sounds about on par with the Volvo!

505Turbeaux > roflcopter
04/15/2015 at 11:06

argh - payments on a 6K whip? Better off socking money under your mattress for some months and just paying cash. Interest is a bitch. Yeah you would be heartbroken having to make payments on a Disco only to see the value continue to drop. Get something right at the bottom of it's depreciation curve.

roflcopter > 505Turbeaux
04/15/2015 at 11:14

Broke college student lyfe.

And I have my 'nice car' being the RX8, but I've been getting heavy into the autocrossing and need something I can drive to keep miles off the nice parts on the 8. And I can't afford to wait the two years it would take me to save the money for a car. I also just got done making payments on the 8 so by keeping my payments the same I can afford about $6k without changing my lifestyle at all.

505Turbeaux > roflcopter
04/15/2015 at 11:25

hopefully you have alot of scholarships and/or grants. That 6 grand gonna be nice to have after you graduate too. Get a $1-2000 banger to rip around in to keep the miles off the RX. Plenty of reliable okay whips for that. Save that 2 decent car lyfe for when you are out of school and not broke.

My 2 cents, been there

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > roflcopter
04/15/2015 at 11:30

Here is the 40: http://pensacola.craigslist.org/cto/4902901940…

I saw it yesterday, it's not in that bad of shape. Pretty solid.

Here's an 80: http://gulfport.craigslist.org/cto/4963447195…

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > 505Turbeaux
04/15/2015 at 11:40

A cheap modernized body on RR Classic running gear? Which then had a whole slate of things changed arbitrarily for the more complex? What could possibly go wrong?