As i understand, 95 was the last year for the distributor based ignition.

What's the good/bad of said system? Any common issues?

 

Only major downfall is that it doesnt like water so if you are going to be off roading in some water holes you may run into issues

 

Damn. No snorkel for me

 

There's a lot more to the differences between the '94/'95 DI's and the later models than just the distributor. The models with the distributor came with the 3.9L engine. The real important difference is the EFI management system. The '94/'95's used a Lucas 14CUX system for EFI. It was OBDI compatible. By 1996 or '97 all vehicles needed to be OBDII compatible so the change occurred in the DI in '96. That's when the displacement was "changed" to 4.0L (mainly to differentiate it from the 14CUX 3.9L)

With the change to OBDII the EFI system developed a more sophisticated fuel management system (hence, you typically see OBDII trucks get better mileage and feel a little more powerful). For the first time, in addition to the MAF, fuel temp sensor, coolant temp sensors, stepper, TPS and two Lambda sensors there were cam, crank and NOX sensors. There were also four Lambda sensors, upstream and downstream of the cats. These new sensors gave the EFI system a superior means for management. In addition, the distributor was done away with as a relic with the addition of a coil pack made up of four individual coils. This was a major change.

Now, of course with all these updates came a loss of diagnostic ability for the shade tree mechanic. It also introduced Rover owners, for the first time to the need for a dealer specific computer to do certain diagnostics. While there were computers that would help diagnostics in the 14CUX system, certain roundabouts available to the not so well equipped mechanic were lost in the move to the GEMS or Generic Engine Management System found in the OBDII 4.0L DI's.

I currently drive a '94 DI and I love it's simplicity. I've owned just about every Rover model made from the mid 1970's through the end of the millennium and this truck works for me. It's slower and less efficient than a DI from '96 or later but I don't really mind. I'm not concerned with plunging into deep water holes, I did that when I was younger. I appreciate that will a Rover repair manual I am able to conduct just about any test I need to without any special tools or unique computer knowledge. That doesn't mean that there weren't distinct improvements with the move to GEMS and even on to the Bosch EFI systems but I'll happily keep plodding along in my old DI. I drove a carburetted Range Rover up until a few years ago so I guess I'm just a fan of the KISS principle.

 

What Paul said. Having driven a '95 for years then bought a '97 for my wife, I can say that I'll never buy another newer than '95.
The added benefit of a <= 95 is that in many places engine conversions, particularly to diesel, are a lot more permissible/easier.

 

Diesel conversion part is very true however thats not a benefit of having a dizzy engine

 

GREAT info guys, thank you! I may be relying on this forum a lot soon - I've had the Disco disease since I was a kid and now is the time to self medicate (I'm 31 and recently single so I've got some free time).

 

don't plan on being single long driving one of these sexy beasts hahaha as long as it doesn't die on your way to take her out girls don't like that

 

Yeah, but when you tally up the other crap on a >=96 that can disable you, or is just annoying, for me there's no desire for anything newer than '95.

 

But, let's say you live in a state like CT where I do. When you go for emissions testing they don't even bother to lift the hood. They stick the sniffer in the exhaust pipe. If you can lean out the truck enough, you pass. That's it. It's how I used to get my grey market Range Rover to pass. However, drive into a testing facility with an OBDII truck and they want to plug in their test equipment to the OBD port. It's a lot trickier to get the computer to give a passing reading through an OBDII equipped truck than it is on earlier trucks.