here's a question I thought I'd throw to knowledgeable members of the board.

we've got this crazy love affair with the Discos and have been searching for the right one for several months now. BUT I happend to stop by the most reputable independent dealer/repair facility in the area and was chatting with the most experienced of the mechanics there (he's an excellent mechanic, audi-ceritfied, I think, as this used to be the porsche-audi dealer but the dealership was sold and now they sell Suzik! go figure! but the repair/parts crew is still there and the garage was full of a nice collection of german and british cars... rovers, discos, a jag, couple of porsches... my other car is an old porsche, BTW).

anyway I noticed the discos and said I was pleasantsly surprised to see he worked on them - as the nearest dealer is 1.5 hrs away - and mentioned I was looking for the right Discovery.

well... he looked at me like I had just crapped my pants - or worse!! I kid you not, he was mortified "WHY would you be so stupid as to do that??? HOW much money do you have to throw awaw???"

he acknowledged the discos off-road abilities but said crikey don't do it. very unreliable. very expensive to fix, etc.

my real question is this (and I want to follow-up with him as well): SOME systems apparently are proprietary and can ONLY be repaired/replaced by a dealer. he mentioned the ABS - if that goes out they need to flatbed the truck to the dealer to get fixed so that $1100 later the poor owner can get his truck back!!! can anyone explain what's really going on here? isn't a part a part? what sort of control does Land Rover have over the repair market?

 

I can tell you for a fact that if you talk to other mnufactures or small shops they would also ask you why you would want an Audi. I used to be a service manager for Audi and trust me, they are no walk in the park for their owners, cost of parts and repairs is equalluy as high.
Yes Rovers can be a little quirky but once you have one, you'll never want to get rid of it.
Mike

 

I agree with Mike......you're going to find people who'llhave something to say aboutany make of car you mention. Rover's reputation within the car industry is like adisease......peoplewho don't evenknow anything aboutthem will tell you what junk they are simply because they've heard it from someone, whoheard it from someone, etc., etc.

"Expensive to fix" is also relative. If that shop has done a number of head gasket jobs, etc.....yeah, they're impression is probably that they're expensive to fix. If you're fairly handy, these trucks are pretty easy to work on and parts aren't that much more than any car. The main difference may be that there are less aftermarket parts out there.....so you're sometimes forced to go OEM.

Ultimately, any used car, with fairly high-mileage and a number of years old can be a money pit. All depends on how well it was cared for, how it was driven, etc.

The positive thing about the bad repuation is that you can pick upa nice truck for pretty short money.

 

OK - I'm relieved. A little bit. Especially because you two have the Big Badges "super member" and "moderator"

Two follow-ups if I may:

1 - I take your point about prejudices. I thought this mechanic was fairly level-headed and rational - as opposed to prejudicial. His stock in trade used to be audis, his love is porsche, he drives old audi wagons - services old 928's fercrissakes! So maybe he just doesn't like anything but German. But he should know what he's talking about as he works on quite a few Discos (probably grinding his molars as he does so!) The other reputable independent shop in our town basically said "never get an audi if you care about your wallet" - so there you go.

2 - What about the "proprietary" business. Warranty work would be a dealer-item anyway? Why would LR insist that independent shops not work on certain items? Does this sound right to you?

Thanks!

 

Don't let my "super member" status fool you.....I'm just an opinionated car snob who happens to haveaLR in the stable! Mike's board status is far more legit.

Having said that, I've spent a decent amount of time under my Disco and, in my opinion, they're more basic in design/mechanics than most late-model vehicles. So, maybe there are some special factory tools or training required for a small number of components/repairs (and maybe the ABS is one of them?) but I wouldn't put too much stock in the "proprietary" stuff. You could search this forum and find all sorts of info about work-arounds for ABS issues, etc., etc. Mike would tell you what, if anything, falls under that "has to be done at the dealership" category.

My buying tips would be.....

1) Don't buy a LR if you're not going to do some of the maintenance and repiar work yourself. You'll save yourself a ton of dough and really get to know your truck in the process. If you're going to bring it to a garage/dealer for anything and everything, the cost of ownership will, in fact, be very high.

2) Don't blow you're entire budget on the purchase price unless you find a real cherry of a truck. Otherwise, you want to go into ownership with a stash (call it a grand) for any parts, repairs, etc. that it needs to get up to your standards.....even if it's just an inspection or tune up.

3) Try as hard as you can to find a truckwith a paper trail. When buying one of these trucks, service history is as important as accident history. If, for example, a truck had a head gasket issue that was ignored or allowed to reach an extremebefore it wasrepaired (i.e., overheating), it's possible that irreversible engine damage could have resulted (dropped cylinder liner, cracked block, etc.).

Good luck. If you find a good one, and you don't mind spending a little time under the hood every now and then, you'll enjoy it.

 

once you drive a rover you'll never wont any thing else. i just fill safer and more relaxed in them,than other car i have drove and it makes trips alot better. I will never drive any thing else.