Hi. I'm looking at buying either a jeep or a 99 discovery 125,000 miles and would like some honest opinions on the pros and cons of each. I have had several jeeps and do quite a lot of mild 4 wheeling, mostly just dirt mountain roads but occassionally a tough jeep path. I am not looking to rock crawl. The jeeps just ride so bad on the road.Is the discovery more civilized? Is it decent in the off road area? I keep hearing how much they break down. I can do most mechanical jobs but still want dependibility. ????? Thoughts ? thanks, Ken

 

Having a 99 D2 and a past member of two different jeep clubs in California, I can tell you at the end of the day, not only did I go where ever the jeeps went but I wasn't anywhere near as tires, sweaty or warn out as they were.
The D2 does great of the road and as long as you are a little mechanical, it shouldn't cost you any more to run the D2 then the jeep with the exception of running premium gas.
If you have any questions give me a shout.
303-862-7680
Colorado between 7 am and 8 pm.

 

Thanks Mike. I thought they must do pretty good to see them running all over the Sahara desert and other such places. I think I saw some in a jeep site keeping up on some major trails in S. California.

 

Having ownedJeeps for the last 21 years, 2 yjs, 1 cherokee XJ, and last was a TJ, all of which were very well intelligently modified.

I can say that the only things that Jeeps have over Discoverys, is reliability and gas mileage. It is true that Discoveries have much more gadgets than the Jeeps, but maybe for this reason, they are nowhere near as reliable as Jeeps.

But in return, everybody and their red fish don't own a Discovery, and discoveries can show up full of mudat an expensive hotel, and look way more in its element than a armor all'd full of chrome Jeep trailer queen. In other words, they carry you in style.

 

The opinion I have heard more than once is you take a STOCK Discovery and a STOCK jeep and the LR will outdo the jeep almost every time. LR combines luxury and the toughness of the outdoors, thats why I love them. You could be sitting in the middle of the forest with a pack of jeeps covered in mud in freezing cold weather and you would be the most comfortable because you have heated seats, a very comfortable interior, heck, you even have wood trim (in most cases). But while you're soaking up all that you may just be leading the pack trough rough trails and icy crossing. You never know! The capabilities of these things is amazing, but you have to decide what you want.

Like Mike said, in a jeep you may be working harder than you would in a disco, LR really has a nice system you have to try it at least once just to see what I mean. And in my opinion these vehicles are pure class, you could go wheeling during the day and pull up to a 5 star restaurant that evening and you would still fit in (as long as you bring a change of clothes of course!).

Mechanically expect to pay around $1000 when you first buy it to get all the kinks the last owner left. Thats what I did and it really has worked out great, the only problems I had came in the first 1-2 months of ownership. Since then I have kept everything up to date and the Disco has not let me down. If you can do simple mechanics you will be in even better shape. Good luck deciding! once you get a disco you will love it, but be sure to do alot of research, if you get one that has been neglected you may not love it as much!

 

Send me your e-mail address and I'll send you some of my truck running trails in Death Valley and the Barstow area.
Mike

 

I just bought a 2001 D2 because I decided to go for the "pure class" & so far am not convinced it is worth it. I've owned countless Jeeps including A Wrangler on 1 ton axles (still own) & 2 Grand Cherokee Limiteds (1999 & 2001). Both Grands were equiped w/ every option that came with the D2 I just bought. The Grand handled much better on-road. I went with the 242 select-trac transfer case in the Jeeps so I had the option of shifting to full time 4wd w/out a shift linkage transplant (as needed in the Land Rover D2). I will say I like the Land Rover andhaveread alot of good points & advice on themso I'm going to give it a chance. As of now my thoughts are, "You never get a second chance to make a first impression"

 

I recently purchased an 03 DII after owning a 99 Jeep Grand Cherokee (WJ) that has been in the family since new. I loved the GC, but it was getting up there in age and I had always wanted a Discovery.

It's too early to tell with the Discovery, but I never had a peep of trouble out of the Jeep drivetrain. They do have their common problems, though. The tail lights and ignition siwtch come to mind right away.

The ride on the GC was a little soupy for my taste. I like the tighter feel of the Disco. The turning radius on the GC trumps the Disco, hands down. This has been hard for me to get used to. The GC's stereo is way better as well.

Since I've only had the Disco for not even a month, I can't pass judgement on it. The GC has been a great vehicle, though and I hope the Disco stays comparable.

PS: As an added bonus, I pick up a lot more girls in the Disco than I ever did in the GC. Even my friends have taken note, and dubbed my Disco the "P Wagon." I'll let you sort out the meaning of "P."

 

First off, your question is too vague, you're asking for a comparision of Brand vs. model. The same question could have been "should I get a Land Rover Discovery or a Ford?" Ford what? Jeep what? Jeep has several off road vehicles in their current lineup and some they no longer offer. You are looking at a 99' Disco, so I'm assuming you're also looking at non-new Jeeps. Before I go into detail with my opinion, I guess I should illustrate where it comes from. I currently own a Jeep Wrangler, Jeep Cherokee and a Land Rover Discovery and I have taken them all off road. I used to write for Rockcrawler and I have been in and around the four wheeling industry for 13 years as a writer, photographer, product testor and engineer. My Wrangler is sprung over on 35"s with a dana 44 and dana 60 as well as detroit lockers, the Cherokee sits on a stock axles and a 3" lift with 31" tires.

Now I cannot voice an opinion on anything other than the Jeep YJ, XJ, ZJ and WJ series as those are the only models I have personal experience with. I realize that there are the JK, Liberty, TJ, "Rubicon", Commander and other models out there, but as your question is extremely vague I cannot guess as to which you are comparing to. But narrowing it down to a direct comparison of vechicles I am familiar with, I can offer my somewhat experienced opinion.

The Jeep Wrangler with the 4.0L engine is the most capable off road vehicle ever developed, period. Off road it is second to none and it traces its roots directly back to the military version. It is the perfect combination of overall size, power and wheelbase after spending many years being refined into the perfect off road vehicle. The CJ7 also falls into this category, however the CJ5 with its shorter wheelbase and the CJ8 with its longer one unfortunately do not. Unmodified the stock Wrangler is capable of absolutely amazing feats and has an offroad prowess that is unrivaled by anything in existence. You quite simply cannot compare the Wrangler and the Discovery, they are apples and oranges.

A more direct comparison would be the Jeep Cherokee or the Jeep Grand Cherokee (the 6 or 8) and to be even more specific the Grand Cherokee, as the Cherokee would more of Jeep's direct counterpart to the Freelander and I won't start that discussion as Land Rover would lose in a landslide. As far as the Grand Cherokee vs. the Discovery, well let's take a look at them and see. The GC has coils all around as does the Disco and really, they have both similar on and off road handling. They both offer a full time 4WD system, however the Jeep has a far superior advantage. Being a domestic, parts are easy to obtain, cheaper and substantially easier to replace. But as mentioned, you won't pull in the same ooh's and ah's at the local bar/casino/whatever, when you roll up in you Jeep as you will in your Rover. The question to you is, are you in it for the style? Jeep parts are easier and cheaper to get and it is something you can work on in your driveway. The rover in this area is a toss up, ask anyone that has ever had to change the plug wires. That and the turning radius on the Disco is a JOKE compared to any Jeep. I understand why this is, with regard to the higher center of gravity due to the roof, but still...

My Wrangler can go places a Discovery cannot. My Cherokee can go places only a very modified Discovery could attempt. My Discovery lets me do light duty trails and roll around in style when I'm not and honestly, that's why I got it and it does it well.

So the question to you is, are you in it for the looks or the reliability?

 

Thanks for all the good info. I meant to say a 99 Jeep Grand Cherokee 125,000 miles. I have driven cjs andyjs but never spent much time ih the G.C. and never in a Discovery. I liked the look of them and the times I have seen them on TV they were in some very remote places so I figured they must be tough. Ken