Hey, what's up!

New to the forum. I've been reading many of your posts about these discoverys. Seems like there's a lot of helpful people on here.

This weekend I'm going to look at an 03 Discovery SE with only 33k miles. It's claimed to be immaculate and the photos sure look good! Is there anything in particular that I should be looking out for when I'm inspecting/test-driving this rover?

From some of the posts on here I've learned about the potential for airpockets in the cooling system that can cause blown head gaskets. The 3 amigos (is this really a serious problem or just annoying?). Door lock actuators. Is there anything else?

This is a lease return from Land Rover Financing, being sold by a used car dealer who specializes in very clean, low milage luxury autos. There will probably not be any detailed maintenance records available.

Thanks guys.

 

Looking at the oil cap and dipstick will tell you a lot. Milky tan foam is a sign of leaking head gaskets. Look for oil leaks. Make sure the transmission shifts smoothly and make sure th ebottom of the truck doesn't show signs of damage from heavy off roading. Look for mismatched paint or signs of overspray in the door jambs from a re-paint job after an accident. Make sure the tires are wearing evenly and that there are no signs of water damage in the interior. If it's a low mileage lease return to a LR dealer, one wonders why the dealer chose to give it to someone else to sell.

Dave

 

Ah, good tips! Thank you.

FWIW: It didn't come from an LR dealer. It came from whatever bank handles LR financing...it's a lease return. If you lease a vehicle, when your lease is up, the bank requires you to return the vehicle to whatever lease return processing company that they contract with. The processing company then sell the vehicles off at wholesale to used car dealers. As far as I know, all lease returns are handled like this...nothing unusual or suspicious about it I think.

 

Just be aware the 03 is the only year without the internals in the transfer case for locking up. I swapped an older case onto mine but there are still things 'missing' in the harness etc. If you do plan on off-roading then take the time to find a nice 04 with or without the CDL Lever installed, you can purchase the lever assembly separately as long as the diff-lock actuator is on the case and you'll want to double check that.

 

Yes, after reading about the 03's lack of a CDL on here I have considered holding out for an 04. But this 03 is going for $14,988 with just 33K miles and what appears to be showroom condition. It's an exceptionally good price I think, and I might even be able to get it down to $14,500. That's about $3k less than what they normally ask for around here. Also I noticed that there's a sizeable jump in price for an 04, around here they're asking between $20,000 and $26,900.

Besides, I'm not a serious off-roader. As long as I can get to the trail head when I go dirt bike riding, or the base lodge when I go skiing, I'm good! But if I buy it I might look into doing a conversion, "Just in case".

 

but the time you do the work you'll have spent as much as the 04... I wish I'd found an 04 in rough body shape, bad bumpers etc, before I started but then I didn't know then what I know now. Could certainly build my rig a lot cheaper now.

 

I have seen equal or lower prices on other 03's. Go for an 04, take advantage of all it's extra features.

 

Just another saying go for an 04. Also, you may want to consider finding one with warranty left that you can extend. The 03's also had a problem in early years with the oil pumps. If you get an 03, try to get the service records and watch your oil pressure.

 

Early 03's had some problems. My firend had one and there were a TON of kinks to work out. Like everyone has said look at the service record and see what been done. If its a late 03' you might be in a little better shape, but it might be worth the waiting a while and saving a little more for an 04'. It could just worth it in the long run! Good luck either way!

 

I appreciate the encouragement to hold out for an 04, but this 03 has everything i'm primarily looking for, just noCDL. Very clean, very low miles, low price,I really like the ext/int color combination, late model styling. I'm a city boy and I like having nice classy wheels around town rather than a well used off-roader.I would be very hesitant and not likely to take it on serious off-roading anyway. Fire roads and moderate trails into off-road camp sites are about as serious as I get...no rock crawling or swamp running for me, not in a nice rig like this. For that I would get a beater with good mechanicals.

One thing I would like though is the rear air suspension option, but I don't know yet if it has this. I carry a 270# dirt bike and occasionally a 470# sport bike on a hitch mounted carrier on the back of my 2000 Grand Cherokee. Had to install the 'Airlift' air spring suspension with onboard compressor and it works like a charm. If the rover does not have the factory option, is there an aftermarket kit available?

You're probably right about that Cameron. In my research I had noticed a few recall problems with the early 03's. I would of course make sure those were fixed or get them fixed by dealer at LR's expense.

Would you recommend an aftermarket extended warranty plan for this rig?