I have read a little bit about the Discovery's in the last few months that I have been looking for one but I wanted to get an opinion from you guys before I dove into this because its a hard decision for me as I am kind of looking for something Semi-Reliable. I am currently looking at a 1994 (Which I would think is good because it should not be equipped with the GEMS system), Discovery with a manual transmission (Hard to find where I live). The only issue I have with the vehicle is that it has 162,300 miles on it. Do you think this would still be worth buying?

 

It all depends on a couple of things.
First, are you mechanically inclined? Unless you have deep pockets to pay someone else to do servicing, you should be competent with a wrench. And a multimeter.
Second, has the vehicle you are considering been serviced properly? A lot of these old trucks have had "deferred" maintenance, and that's where a lot of the reliability issues come from. The only really major item on ours was a bad transfer case, the fluid that came out looked like crude oil, had the viscosity of water, and was infused with shiny metal flakes. We've put over 25k on ours in a little over a year, and it has been great. Sure once in a while it gets a little flaky, but it is Brittish, so what can you expect?
The GEMS motors aren't bad, it's the later Bosch equipped ones that can be a real headache. And the '96+ have OBD II, so you can just plug in a code reader like an Ultra Gauge to pull the inevitable codes.
Good luck!

 

You should not pay any more than $1500, and that is high.

Expect to spend a minimum of $2-3k the first year catching up on general maintenance, and start saving for a motor rebuild at 180-220k miles.

My opinion.

 

In my opinion the GEMS are far better for reliability, no ignition consumable wear other than plug wires and plugs. No caps, rotors and overheating ignition amps nor clutch replacement, flywheel resurfacing. I'd rather top up an automatic and bang off a brace to change filters. I'm still getting 18mpg at 192k, no need to rebuild a motor.......and my truck was leased five times in it's early life, I'm the seventh owner. Blows that theory up. I've owned mine for six years, has been my daily and survived harsh winters without needs. YMMV.

 

Well that's one of the things that's bothering me about it. The guy is asking $4,500 for it. I was going to offer him $3,000 even because I though his price was too high anyways but it does have a 12k winch, HD bumper, OME lift and wheels and tires on it but I still don't think he understands that you never get back what you put into a modified vehicle. And also, yes I went to school for two years to study auto mechanics. Turning a wrench is definitely not an issue. I thought that there were problems with the ECU in the GEMS equipped vehicles?

 

The accessories change things slightly.

12k winch- what brand? Check the new price for the model and brand. If it's a major name brand like Warn, I would value it at 50% of its new cost(based on good working condition). If it's s harbor freight winch, $100 max.

HD bumper- take the new price and reduce by 50%.

OME lift- how many miles? If it had more than 50k on it, probably needs replacing. If it's 20k or less I would say it's worth $400 for springs and shocks.

Wheels and tires- depends, are the tires newish? I would throw out 30-40% of the new cost for value if they have less than 20k miles.

All of these prices are based on what I think you could sell the parts for if you parted the rover out.

I have only owned 1 14CUX vehicle and not long enough to comment on reliability. I have owned several GEMS vehicles, one of them for 11 years and have no complaints about the ECU. The only issue I can see is the ECU is in the engine bay and is exposed to the elements more than compared to the Bosch ECU that is in the cab of the vehicle.

The 5 speed can get a little tiresome after a while if you plan on doing any road driving especially in traffic.

Don't be in a rush to buy. There is always another deal around the corner.

 

The dizzy equipped NAS Disco's sold for two model years, the GEMS equipped for 4 1/2. In simple math there are over twice as many GEMS running around than 14CUX equipped. So the forums will be loaded with more GEMS posts than 14CUX.

I agree with abran on the stick, tiresome. I had use of one for almost a year. I can shift my auto tranny manually, I cannot make a manual automatic. I had an option of buying a 97 with manual and let it go.