Well just yesterday my son driving our 1995 Discovery was hit by a dumb driver turning his 2003 Civic into its path. Civic is a total loss and unfortunately the Disco suffered enough damage to total it also. We would like to find a replacement Disco. There are a few to choose from eg: 1997 with 179000 Kms, 5 speed ,asking $4900or the other end of the spectrum, a 2004 with 255000 Kms, auto, for $6200.

If maintenance history is about the same, interested in the Members thoughts on what would be the best option; older with less kms or newer with more kms.

Note: Driver of Civic went to hospital for checkup, my son is fine and is very glad he was in the Rover

Thanks

 

Sucks about the accident. If it were me I'd concentrate on low mileage and how well the vehicle was taken care of. I personally like the Discovery 1 better than the Discovery 2 but that's just my opinion. Both are great vehicles and if you are patient and know how to search you can find killer deals on these. I tend to stay away from anything newer than the late 90s due to the affiliation with Ford. Some say it doesnt matter but I own a Volvo (pre Ford) as well and the difference in quality before Ford ownership and after is night and day so I can only assume they hacked Land Rover like they have with every other brand they have acquired. Anyway unfortunatly for sellers (but great for you) the average person is afraid to own one of these so they are not really hot items when they come up for sale so negotiating a lower price is usually very easy.

 

If it is not too much problem to buy one in Washington and bring it north of the border, you might try www.statewidelist.com which will let you find all Rovers in a state, grouped by city. Indexes craigslist. And it also lists a bunch in BC as well.

Being Old Skool, I also favor the later D1 vs the more sophisticated D2.

Glad offspring walked away.

 

i use www.searchtempest.com to search craigslist. when taking all the consideration, just remember. 1) you live in canada where it's freakin cold (which brings me to my second point) 2) the 04 has traction control

 

Thanks for your responses.....which years is the head gasket failure most common?

 

all of them. it's not the year, it's the engine design that has been used for decades. if that worries you then find one where the headgaskets have been done.

 

id go for the 97 5spd as its a vastly more simple truck... but thats personal preference i suppose

 

How significant was the damage to your Disco. It doesn't take much to total a 17 year old car. Maybe you could buy the truck back from the insurance company and do the repairs yourself. Many times the devil you know is far better than the devil you don't.

 

Yep, and a lot of the body work is bolt on. The RAVE has a body and interior manual. And Paul has wings,, err "fenders" and other parts.

 

I'm not suggesting this in the hopes of making a few sales. The cost of getting large items to Canada gets prohibitive. I just think if it's mainly larger body parts, even they can probably been sourced cheaply in his neck of the woods. It would be a shame to see a salvageable truck crushed, especially when it could have easily been saved,