I've owned my 1998 D1 for almost 10 years. It's bone stock...clean and almost everything works. It's an extra vehicle but when needed is a daily driver. I will certainly jinx myself by saying this but other than a few minor issues, it has been trouble free. For a number of years, I have joked with my oldest daughter that her first car will be the Rover. Now that the time has come for her to start learning to drive, I am hesitate to hand over the keys probably because I hate to give the car up. My daughter is in love with the Rover. My first car was a 1977 FJ landcruiser so I am big fan of her driving something older and unique. I guess my question is....should I :
1) give her the keys with the hopes that it stays in one piece;
2) Or add an ARB bumper to help keep it in one piece;
3) buy her a toyota camry

Please don't read too much into this post....I love my daughter more than the Disco

 

Are you paying for the gas?

 

My daughter’s first ride will likely be a Rover so I would say go for it

 

Once my daughters get a bit older I'm going to have them outside with me under the hood getting used to changing oil, checking fluids, and certainly how to change a tire and so on. A D1 is fairly easy to work on so I think your daughter should be fine. As long as she drives it like a truck and not a sports car I say go for it!

 

Id be more worried about eventually having to replace the engine due to someone with no mechanical aptitude driving it daily

 

LoL, this is a great thread.

If you don’t care about fuel cost and the cost of maintaining a 20 year old Land Rover motor, go for it. If she drives it daily, you will eventually be spending money on repairs and maintenance. Guaranteed. And then there is the down time without a truck when it is being repaired. The flip side is that you and her can wrench it together when something happens, because it will, because it will now be a daily driver. By a 16 year old. With friends. Who will want to go off road, etc. But it will be some great bonding time together! Her or one of her friends will eventually spill their drink all over the seats and console. It will begin to show signs of wear and tear quickly because it is 20 years old and LR didn’t make quality interior parts. We all know this.

The other option is buy her something newer, more economical and safer that gets better gas mileage. The Series I Discovery’s are not really that safe contrary to what some may believe. There is a Youtube video of one in a crash test that explains it all. There are many other options out there that would be much easier on the wallet.

Lastly, she is 16 years old. How long will the Discovery keep her interest? Will she want something will a screen and a nice radio? Or more power? Or creature comforts? I also have a 1998 Discovery but I’m an enthusiast going on 20 years and drive mine on the weekends only. I’ll never sell it and can afford to keep it because it isn’t my primary vehicle. I have a 15 year old 4Runner with 190k miles that runs like a top and cost me very little to maintain.

Lots to think about. The decision is yours. Good luck! She’s lucky to have a cool dad

 

No vehicle out on the road today is 100% safe. My first LR was a 97 D1 and while the initial accident wasn't a head on it ended by a head on with a tree. My D1 did 2-3 360's spun off the road (after I went off the road into a hidden 3ft ditch trying to go around a deer at 45-60MPH), rolled down an 8ft tall game fence for 50yd then once back onto it's wheels I went back onto the road where it quickly spun 180 and then head first into a 1.5tf thick tree trunk then ir rolled over onto it's side for the last time. I had a fence post with wire on it sticking thru the front sunroof right next to my head. All 5 doors still opened, and it was about 1ft shorter in the front. The frame was bent down over the front axle and none of the air bags ever went off. I did however walk away without a single bit of damage to my body. It gave it's life for me no doubt.

Then fast forward to 2015 when my 98 D1 LSE was rear ended by an F250. I had to slam on the brakes coming over an overpass to find traffic at a complete stand still. I stopped perfectly safe to a complete stop, but the 2014 F250 behind me DID NOT. I heard the tire squeal and I pressed the brake pedal down hard. He nailed me and I skidded at least 1-2 car lengths. I looked over at my wife and we were fine. I immediately put on my flashers and drove forward until I could pull off the road. It took the guy in the F250 nearly 2min to get up to us because the entire front end of his F250 was gone, he had two flats in the front, and every fluid in that thing was pouring out. His first words were OMG how are you still alive??? When I slammed into you guys the speedo was at 45MPH!!!! He said then my hood went up and I couldn't see anything thru the airbag smoke. Then I saw you driving off to the side of the road..... That's when I finally looked back at the D1. The spare tire carrier was pushed in a bit, the cargo door handle assembly had exploded, the bumper was destroyed, and so were the bumper light assemblies, but besides that zero damage to the body. I carefully tried to open the door and it opened like it always did. The guy was amazed and so was I. His truck was totaled and his insurance company tried to total my 98 D1 but I fought em like hell for 2 months straight and I finally settled with them. No salvage title status, and a check. I picked up a new rear bumper, new bumper lights, and a cargo door handle assembly. I then was able to pull the tire carrier out perfectly straight and fix that without an issue.

They're tough vehicles for the most part, but ANYTHING in a head on is NOT going to fair well. I've seen that video along with plenty of much newer SUV's which had even worse crash videos.

 

Teach her how to drive it well and yes. My son now drives to school every day (10 mi each way) and next year my daughter will do the same.

Bad drivers start when they are learning. Teach them to be aware of the road, other cars on the road, and their own car. The noises it makes, the lights on the dash, ALL the gauges, vibrations, squeaks, rattles, etc.

I've fixed a bunch of things on my truck BEFORE they became a problem simply by listening.

 

@Best - Sorry, but I believe most would fully disagree. A Discovery 1 and a modern day SUV are apples to oranges regarding safety. Modern SUV safety standards along with improved airbags, loads of technology, improved safety designs and crumple zones, etc are far superior over a 22 year old Land Rover. That’s just fact, not me trying to get into an argument. Plenty of recent data today backing this up. Every accident is different, yes, but head to head in crash test and results, the 1998 Discovery would lose in every category compared to a modern day SUV or car.

if cool points and uniqueness are the deciding factors, the LR wins hands down. If safety is the concern, then no.

 

I was not comparing it to a new SUV with 30 air bags & electronic gadgets (none of my kids green behind the ears will ever get a brand new vehicle to learn how to drive).

I mean of the same era. Isuzu Rodeo/Honda Passport comes to mind when the front wheels tore into the cabin, A pillars bent, or how about the Ford Explorer of the same era which almost went down the road on it’s roof more than it did on 4 wheels. Heck most SUV’s in the same era as the D1 didn’t even have 4 wheel disc brakes. Mitsubishi Montero’s (Gen II) got a bad wrap for roll overs & we can’t forget how Isuzu took the hit on that with the 96 Trooper.

Teach em how to drive carefully, but honestly most of the time it’s the other people on the road you’ve got to truly worry about!! So teach em to always be aware of what is around you at all times!

P.S. if you owned a crappy D1 that broke down all the time then I would argue it’s the safest vehicle out there because it never hardly leaves the driveway....