What part of the country are you in? I'd have to agree with MC04DII, But I would be running away from both of those as fast as I could. Anybody can say they will warranty anything, but getting them to honor it is another story. What would you do if they refused to honor it? Get a lawyer, spend a bunch of money trying to collect, and then they declare bankruptcy and open up the next week with a new name. Happens all the time. Think of it this way, if they are showing a vehicle with all those problems, do you really think they care? Around here a perfect 04 goes for a max of $8500 from a private party and about 3k more at a used car lot. The reason the private party is so much cheaper is that the trade in value of one of these is about $3500-5000. It might be worth it to broaden you search area and invest some money in travel to find the right one. There are good ones out there, but unfortunately there are more abused/neglected ones.

 

I live in Northern New Jersey. The first car I went to go see was in PA, north of Philly and the other two cars were in Clifton and Paterson NJ, respectively. It seems like my area is known for high prices and problem cars. The three cars that I've gone to see have been the "cream of the crop" from what I've found online through searching Craigslist, eBay, CarGurus, and Autotrader. Every other car I've found has either been high mileage (120k+) or has listed problems (engine issues/flood damage/etc) that I don't want to deal with.

I have no problem traveling to find a nice price/quality used Disco but I don't want to waste time and money traveling to find out it has issues the seller didn't mention.

 

Too bad you're about as far away as one could get and still be in the same country This is pretty typical out here 2003 Land Rover Discovery I paid 4700 for mine and put a couple of G into it and the only thing that doesn't work now is the heated seats (which I don't care about anyway) 04's are a bit more but nothing in the over 10K range (except at the dealer)

 

Wow, there's been a lot of ups and downs within the past month looking for a Discovery. Three trucks I've come close to buying have been bought by someone else while I was in talks with the dealership. These were trucks listed Sunday night/Monday morning and gone by Monday night. Dammmn.

Today I stumbled across a G4 edition which I saw in person this afternoon. It looks decent but there are some big tears on the driver's side seat.

I'm thinking of pulling the trigger on this one, but I'd like to get the seat fixed myself after purchase. From googling, I see the G4 edition uses “Black Mogul technical fabric" but I can't find any information about the material or anyone selling it.

Does anyone have any experience getting original fabric for the G4 edition and how much it would cost to cover the seat? Just the bottom portion--not the entire seat.

 

The G4 Ed is usually waaaaay overpriced. The only differences are cosmetic, but some like having something of limited availability which drives the price up. Personally, I wouldn't pay more than a couple hundred extra for it, but to each his own.

Honestly, there's a lot of problems that are common (slipped sleeves, window/sun roof motors, driveshaft...). Personally, I wouldn't buy one unless you can't imagine yourself happy with anything else. Get a 4-Runner, FJ Cruiser, Jeep Grand Cherokee or old XJ...all of which are more reliable and most are cheaper to fix. If, like many of us, you just have to have one, TAKE YOUR TIME! Nothing worse than rushing into a Land Rover buy. Check this forum for vehicles for sale. I would say fewer owners is more important than mileage. Check the driveshaft for # of greaseable zerks. Pull codes. I wonder if that first one you looked at had flood damage...that would explain most of the problems. Pull the carpet liner back in the front footwell if you can.

GOOD LUCK!

 

The bottom seat cushion comes off very easily and you would not have much trouble taking it to a upholstery shop and having them fix it for you from matching the material to recovering the thing and then you pick it up and reinstall in your truck! How many miles and how much? Also this may have been asked but where are you located ? It seems from what your saying that dealers cant keep them on the lot.

 

I ended up buying the 04 HSE7 in Clifton that you went to see. It drives great, does not overheat. But it does have a coolant leak. I told the kid that the headgaskets are about to go and i wouldnt give him more that 5K for it. We went back and forth a few times and he took the 5K. My mechanic pressure tested the cooling system and confirmed that the headgasket was leaking, so thats getting replaced right now. I know what i got into since i know how to wrench so i cant wait to get it back and do the other maintenance stuff it needs. But defenately take your time and make room on the budget for maintenance cause its gonna need it. Good luck.

 

You paid 5k for a disco that had bad head gaskets? The seller seen you coming.

 

Glad to hear it worked out for you! I'm kicking myself for not taking the risk with that one but I just didn't know what to look for.

The current one I'm looking at has 63k miles for $12k. The three cars that I talked about that were bought within the same day were from all over the place: Massachusetts, Texas, and South Carolina.

 

Wont find an 04 good or bad for that price around my way.