I have owned an 03 and an 04 both with a host of unique problems. Personally for the money you may want to consider picking up an 05 LR3. The last off roading event I went to the LR3 were much better at steering though tactical manuvers. The overall performance widely varied on driver experience. In our group the seasond disco and RR machines out performed due to skill. The LR3 is a very capable off road vehicle when coupled with an intelligent driver. If your heart is stuck on an 03 or 04 money pit and you like driving with your knees in your chin go for the 04 the CDL as mentioned above makes an incredible difference. I would be more than willing to part with my 04 money pit with a warranty to 100k.

 

Uh what nobody here has mentioned, that I think is VERY VERY important that you know is that the 03's had a problem with oil pumps failing without any warning, thereby cratering your engine, so make sure you check that the vehicle you find and purchase does not fall within the VIN range of the blocks that have this problem.

 

Good call on the oil pump!!!

 

I have to agree on Spike with this. I have a DI and DII, (mostly because I am working on the DI for the owner) and driving both is not the same. In the DI, I can give it a little tiny bit of gas and it effortlessly climbs over this particular area in my yard. Going over the same area with my DII and it sorta wants to rev a little bit higher to accomplish the same task.

I love my DII and wouldn't trade it in for a DI, but every time I drive the DI I want one as a second Rover. I haven't driven the DI seriously off road since it's not my car but i'd like to compare it to mine one day. STOCK vs STOCK.

 

Pipedream, you seem to go against the grain here on 04's.

I was thinking about buying an 04 later down the road, because I just like landrovers and my 96 is getting old and crotchety

Anybody else dislike DII's?

 

Sorry for the negative vibe, I have had a rash of issues lately with it. One difference you will notice between your Disco 1 and Disco 2 that some hard core off roaders didn't like was the extended rear end reduced your decent angele to 30 degrees. With a stock suspension you can still ascend 45 but coming down you can scrape or get hug up on the rear. I genuinely do love my Disco my wife says I obsess over it, but it is high mantainence especialy for someone who is analretentive.

 

Amen to that!

 

I don't think that I have the funds necessary to purchase a newer 05 LR3 but I still have my heart set on getting an 04 Disco 2. Saw one today actually and it only reassured me that I would get a chubby if I was driving one around. Pipedream, What did you mean by drive with my knees and chin? Is there no room on the inside? Maybe just in the front seats its cramped? And did you really mean that you would like to part with your 04 DII that has a warranty to 100k? I hope I understood that correctly haha. Where would I find a list of vehicles that had the issue with the oil pumps? That would be an ultimate dagger, happened to my friends R32 recently womp womp.

 

I have an '03 I'll sell you...

 

Here you go. I've an '04 and it doesn't bother me to drive it- I'm 6'2" and 180lbs.