Hey guys, I am looking into Discos 1990-1998 and was wondering what to look for in them. Which is the better model of those years? This will be my first landy and no I don't mind working on vehicles. I will add that I don't do much serious off roading but I do need it from time to time to do off roading ( not climbing 80 degree mountains but muddy areas and pasture )

 

US market Discovery 1= 94-99.5. From 99.5-04= d2
The d1 is solid off road choice. You have to decide obdII or pre...dizzy/no dizzy. 94&95 are pre
Personally if I was going d1 route, I would go pre as it would be easier to do an engine swap if needed/desired

 

There's significant differences between a D1 and a D2, things you can't practically change. I recommend the D1 or RRC for more serious offroad use, but you indicated it would be mostly for the street. The D2 is probably nicer on the street but I am not that familiar with them. The issues with them look intimidating compared to the D1, and I can definitely attest to the fact that the D1 is not for the faint of heart. At least with the D1, I am satisfied with what it is for what it has cost me in time and money. I would not be so happy with a D2 myself, I just don't care for softer atmosphere they provide, but whatever you will be happy with is what to look for.

There are other forum sections/posts that compare D1 and D2 differences, but for me there are several things. I don't like the changes they made to the front axle. The radius arms on the rear axle limit flex, and there's a longer body in the way. These would be serious issues with my driving. The D2 is more refined, like newer cars, especially the interior, but it will cost more. Whatever you do, plan on it costing twice or three times as much as you thought. I'm not exaggerating. If you don't plan on putting double the purchase price into it in the first couple years, then you're not planning realistically, or your plan is to defer all the things it needs to the end and then sell it (like the guy you bought it from did).

If you're decided on a D1, then I would just look for one in good condition. They're all 15 to 20 years old now and it's not so easy to find one that hasn't been rusted out, thrashed, beaten, or just left to rot. Rust is something you have to check carefully for. The other issues will be more evident. If you can find one that is relatively rust-free and doesn't need an entirely new interior, then you can just plan on rebuilding the axles, hubs, bearings, the brakes on four wheels, replacing the tie-rod ends, and the suspension (springs, shocks, and bushings), replacing the fan clutch, water pump, rodding out the radiator, replacing all the cooling hoses, changing all the fluids, filters, and the window and door seals. If the head gaskets aren't already replaced recently, plan on that and factor in that you could need to swap the transmission within the first 3 years. This is not a restoration. These are NORMAL MAINTENANCE ITEMS on a Land Rover.

Besides the head gaskets, which are regular maintenance items, there is a chance your engine block will be cracked behind the cylinder liner. The only practical way to tell is to drive it for long enough to notice how fast it is losing coolant. The coolant goes out the exhaust so you will not find it in the oil (until it is leaking so much it blows the head gasket), and you will not find it under the car. Cracked blocks require swapping the engine or a rebuild with top-hat/flange liners to resolve. The chances of this issue existing is either high or very high with D2's or P38's. It is probably lower with older engines. The problem can just manifest as gradual coolant loss and remain only that severe for a long time and many owners will ignore it and just keep topping off. This an the oil pump issue on a certain VIN range of D2's are the most serious defects with some Rover V8's. Otherwise they're very nice engines for their era.

 

It's actually sounds like a fun vehicle to have I enjoy learning about new vehicles. And the amount of replacement would mean having to know the vehicle in and out. I do have a question thought I always wondered why people never took care of them? Also why are rovers so needy? If they are built for hardcore offloading wouldn't reliability be number 1 on the list?

 

Also why are rovers so needy?
if you want to pay 100k+ for a new one they are great, was 4 wheel drive SUV of the year 2014.

most were leased or bought and changed out every 4-5 years so people don't worry about them.
Lease company's don't care they are just going to send it back to the leasing dealer.

but if your buy a 10-20 year old truck and go beat the snot out of it then, you probably would want to make sure everything is up to snuff.

your original quest for a D1 is smart as they have much less as far as electronics

 

They are fun. The two situations where people fail to have fun with them is when they cannot afford them, or they must depend on them for transportation. A lot of people are attracted to the low purchase price, not realizing that the cost of ownership is often double or triple. They may have another few thousand dollars they plan to spend on upgrades or offroad modifications, not realizing they will need all that just to maintain it.

They're hobby vehicles. They might cost you $4000 to buy, but if costing you $14,000 after the first year is going to create a crisis for you, then it's not the right hobby. I'm not saying it has to cost that much, but if this creates a major problem for a person, they should consider a different hobby. It is not fun when you just keep getting one expense after another that you cannot afford, and the Rover just sits there because you cannot.

I will explain why Rovers are often not taken care of. In the US they were initially sold as a luxury lifestyle accessory. They were sold at premium prices during the 1990's luxury-SUV fad. The Range Rovers were at the forefront of that fad, and the only way Land Rover NA could move Discovery's at a profit was to position them as slightly more affordable Range Rovers. That's why they were all equipped with leather, V8's and Automatics. They sold not to hardcore offroaders, but people that could afford and wanted a luxury SUV. A new Discovery in the late 90's sold for what would be close to $50,000 in today's dollars. They were snatched up by yuppies.

The Discovery was not designed or built as a luxury SUV. It was designed on the same chassis as the original Range Rover, and oriented toward lower cost and more utility. The Range Rover itself was not designed for luxury either. It was designed to offer a superior suspension and engine to the Series, and enough practical comfort that it could be used for all purposes, essentially replacing a sedan. The same chassis, suspension, powertrain and axles also replaced the Series, and with the Series body, became known as the 90 and 110, later called Defender.

Needless to say, this vehicle sorely disappointed the yuppies who had come from beemers and Lexus. They were real Land Rovers, that took grit to drive and maintain. Land Rover dealers couldn't afford to import parts from Britain and maintain them cheaply. They were sold as premium vehicles, and the maintenance came at premium prices. Initial buyers dropped them as the warranties expired, and resale values plummeted. The second buyers saw them as bargains. They could finally afford those status symbols that were so coveted only a few years prior when they were new. They were buying them just out of warranty for less than $20,000. But there were serious quality defects, and maintenance items that would soon come due. There were major issues like engine blocks with casting defects, oil pump issues, cylinder cracking that lead to coolant loss, and engines that were accumulating damage from overheating. And there were minor things like window rollers that would break, solder on window ECU's that would crack, sun-roof seals that would leak, cruise controls that would fail, ABS that worked oddly. And if that wasn't enough, the fuel economy was abysmal. Needless to say, second-owners were sorely disappointed. Many of them balked at the cost of fixing and maintaining a vehicle they expected to be a fun bargain. They were expecting something more desirable than another boring Toyota, but decided they weren't willing to put up with the demands. So the deferment of repair and maintenance began. They'd try to get as much fun out of it as they could, and defer as many of the expenses to the next owner as possible. If they were fortunate, they would pass them off to the next buyer before a costly issue became unavoidable. The less fortunate were forced to sell them at steep losses.

Resale prices plunged further. The next generation of buyers found Land Rovers for sale at prices that were hard to pass up. They were starting to see Land Rovers that originally sold at Corvette prices, available for only a few thousand dollars. When they thought they would be needing another beater, they discovered they could afford a Land Rover. Who wouldn't rather have a Land Rover than a used mini-truck or an older Camry?

For this generation of buyers, there were those who just hoped to have a usable vehicle that did a little something for their image, and there were others who paid so little they were not afraid to take the vehicles offroad -- seriously. The first type struggled to maintain them and either sold them again or neglected them while they rotted away. The second type beat them badly, and often used ghetto fab to keep them going in order to subject them to further punishment.

And that's where we are today. The good news is there's plenty of parts cars. The bad news is they're getting worse.

Now as for being built for hardcore offroading, it depends on what you mean. There aren't really any stock street cars that are built for hardcore offroading. Nobody does hardcore offroading in a stock Land Rover or Jeep or anything. Land Rovers can be a platform for building a hardcore offroad vehicle, but it will be up to the builder to make it meet the criteria.

For a custom project builder, Land Rovers have fairly significant limitations. They tend to work better as a medium-core, sport utility 4x4.

They do not have the reliability of a Land Cruiser or Hi-Lux from the factory. They were replaced for serious/work-related 4x4 use worldwide since the late 80's. They hung on to their position as formidable offroad work vehicles due to the image that had been formed in the public's eye from film and television in the 60's and 70's. The Series body will probably always have that image. It's iconic. But Land Rovers have been forgotten for decades by anyone with serious work to do. In North America, people use 1 ton work trucks and ATV's. In the rest of the world, they use a Hi-Lux or HZJ-70. There are others, Mitsubishi, Isuzu, Chinese Hi-Lux copies... but anyone would buy those for their workers before they considered sending them out with Defenders, unless they were making a movie and had to have the look just right.

But plenty of people still enjoy them for themselves. They're willing to pay what it takes, and they're not turned on by a Toyota, so they get a Land Rover and they love it. I'm one of those. I think they're great, but I've tried to be honest with you about what they are and aren't.