I have a 97 D1 with 108K and it has been my DD/Road Trip vehicle for 10+ years. The caveat is that my DD miles are ~ 5 given I live on an island and walk on the ferry to Seattle. Even with the small daily miles, I have been wrenching on it non stop for 10 years. I am about to replace the entire exhaust system from the manifolds back because one of the cats is going bad and the resonator is rusted through. Still, I love that truck!

If I had to drive significantly more than 5 miles per day, I would invest in something else.

If you love Rovers, maybe consider a low mileage LR3. They are allegedly much better on-road than the D1.

 

....and off.

It took me two years of non-stop tinkering to un-idiot a previously leased/owned D1 with 98k. I drove it daily for eight years and added another 110k to the odometer. I miss it but it was time to let er rip and I never really got used to looking at it. Once I got in I was ok, by far the best view from the captians chair ever.

 

Oh hell. Ask yourself these questions. If you answer yes to all they get that Disco!

1. Are you mechanically inclined or a recent powerball winner?
2. Do you have the patience rating second ONLY to God?
3. Can you solve puzzles containing solutions that only lead to more puzzles?
4. Is your wife/girlfriend ok with you spending more time with your truck than her?
5. Can you go a month without the truck waiting for a part to come from England?
6. Can you be seen at work with bleeding knuckles and hand wounds on a weekly basis?

If you answered yes to ALL these questions, then buy that BEEEATCHHH and come join the lunatics.
Man, it's a labor of love, or just insanity.

 

He already owns the truck. Which part would he be waiting a month for?
seriously, these are fairly simple vehicles. I fixed the abs using a paperclip and a mallet!

 

These questions are so true! I can truly relate to questions #2, 3, 4, & 6.

 

I'll grant you 4
6 comes with owning any older vehicle though.

 

1. Talent trumps cash, allot more fun.
2. More than God, an idiot he made screwed it up how hard is that?
3. Life, learn it.
4. Learn to balance schedules so they coincide with one another. Do the transmission swap the day BEFORE laundry day.
5. Schedules once more, learn would ya.
6. I get more at work daily than working on any vehicle weekly.

 

Funny and certainly some truth in each of these.

I think it really comes down to these trucks pushing 20+ years, and most (anecdotal guess) people don't drive cars that long before replacing them. And with any vehicle of this vintage, parts/systems begin to outlive their designed lifespan (e.g. my catalytic converters) and need to be swapped out.

Like others have professed, the D1 is a pretty simple machine relevant to most modern vehicles, so wrenching on them is practical for anyone with modest mechanical skills and troubleshooting abilities.

Back to whether one should buy/keep a D1 as a DD, that is entirely up to how much time, money, wrenching one is willing and able to keep up with. Any 20+ year old vehicle will require a similar commitment/vigilance, and more so depending on miles/day driven.

I'll reiterate that if I had to drive a significant distance for my commute, I would not do it in my D1. I would likely (with spousal approval!) keep my D1 for fun trips/putting around town, but would find a younger vehicle for the DD duties.

 

Thanks for all the input. Pretty confident in my abilities in fixing things. Right now Im just gonna drive it and get the odds and ends fixed then if everything turns out ok start upgrading and modifying it.

 

Apologies in advance from a windy ol'fert for this long response..
The movie "The Thomas Crown Affair" has a scene where the rich playboy (Pierce Brosnan) jumps into his "Island Airport Shuttle" car to drive to his beach home.. It is a '67 Shelby 350 convertible with a trunk rack and a roll bar.
God how I thought that would be so cool.

At the time I had a 91 BMW e30 318 (4 cylinder, like the original M3 minus 57 HP) so i was looking for a daily M3 to keep for the rest of my life.

Found several to choose from at $4500.00 (had been raced) to $8000.00 for a showroom version original and garaged.

guessing that was around 2006-2007.. Today, nothing under $30000.00

Last year I sold my PERFECT condition 318 to a collector for $600 less than I paid for it in 1998.

Here is the reason for the rambling.. I have a gut feeling that when these d1 are rusted or crushed, they will be seen as the next Defender and could be very cool to have as that lifetime daily driver.. with a bit of obligatory tooling around.

Last 2 bits.. Google restoring discovery d1 to see what is happening as it seems to be starting now in various locations. Even replacing rusted body parts at whatever cost.. They will be worth it someday.

And THAT cannot be said about to many other vehicles you could be considering.

oh yea.. would be even better as later in life you could have car 2 as a back up.. (rusty old prius with a new battery)