My better half is absolutely begging for a D2, she's wanted one for about 10 years now. I'm 31, frankly a little tired of saying no to the topic so I'm entertaining this.

I've looked around craiglist, I see many for around 2000 bucks. Well, after a phone call or two many owners mention "a little water consumption". By the amount the explain its more like a LOT of water consumption. Generally I'd say it sounds like headgaskets that are gone or worse.

I see the 03+ seems to have nicer lights, probably a few other things we'd enjoy. I have a fully built a 786whp honda S2000 engine that I built the head on and installed so I've learned what was needed to do the job, can do some work without specialty tools. I'm fairly handy with a wrench but have no pro background in mechanical workings though I comprehend it well and know what feeler gauges are lol. I usually cringe when I get to the level of things that involve a Dial-indicator gauge.

That all said, am I even going to come across a reliable D2 for $4000 or less? What kind of mileage is expected of these things?
What engines options came,
What ones should I avoid,
Are HG a nightmare to replace if need?
Rear suspension is air? yikes?
Are there any diesel options like I see in Europe so I can have something reliable?

What else should I be wary of and what should I be looking for, or am I just buying a ongoing money pit that my wife won't be able to rely on? She does about 50 miles a week of driving, however if I need this thing to drive.... I need it to drive, not fail. I'm a working man.

Many thanks in advance,
-Greg

 

Hi

Firstly you'll need a lot of time on the wrenches with maintenance of any LR. The D2 engine options are 4.0 and 4.6 petrol and a 2.5 TD5 diesel but it depends where you live in the US whether they permit diesel.

TBH you will be buying a money pit whatever you buy unless it's a one/two owner with less than 100K miles and well maintained with a full verifiable history. It is unlikely, unless you get lucky, you'll find too much for $2000 unless it's a 6th hand soccer moms truck and well abused by all previous owners.

IMO unless you really need a 4x4 LR for whatever reason or you are happy doing repairs and maintenance it would be better looking at other cars like a VW. Sorry to appear so negative but I've seen lots of people buy 4x4's who don't really need them and spend their life either maintaining them or complaining bitterly about them and the costs involved unless you are a true enthusiast with a bottomless money pit.

 

General rules of thumb;

1. buy a 2004. don't settle for anything older, they are less equipped and uglier.

2. buy low mileage and with documented maintenance.

3. be prepared to install head gaskets and a large portion of the cooling system immediately after taking possession.

4. be prepared to do all maintenance and repairs yourself. this is the difference between going upside down on a discovery 2 and having a vehicle that you can potentially make money on or at least come out even



It sounds like you are well off, being mechanically inclined. These are really very simple vehicles mechanically (the gas engines are anyways) and barring some of the computer related issues, there isn't anything terribly difficult to fix or maintain. I would say a $5000 minimum total investment is what you are looking at to have a reliable discovery 2. This is implying that you buy one for $3000 and will need to spend another $2000 to get it to an acceptable level.

 

As a minimum requirement, you also need to install some kind of auxiliary gauge for coolant temperature, if not oil pressure as well. If your wife is not the type of person that will pay attention to these gauges, and know what to do when they are out of whack, then this isn't the vehicle for her

 

For a little extra info, read the thread about four down from here with three pages of similar advise. Title is "Help with buying a Discovery 2"

 

Well, yes we NEED a 4x4, in the past we were serious trail runners and had to have locking differentials etc but these days most any 4x4 would fit the bill.

I appreciate your honest and realistic feedback. I too see 99% of 4x4's being unneeded. The chances of a good first owner with long records of work done to the vehicle sounds hard to come by and unrealistic for us. Everywhere in the USA permits diesel, they'd have a revolutionary war if they tried to change that, unless you're speaking about the diesel version not being imported or something of that nature.

Is the 4.0 or 4.6 a better motor than the other? Seems both are quite terrible.

 

Sounds much like I was expecting, good info on the later years, I usually try to do that with any model as the quirks have been worked out later on. I hope the head gasket isn't a nightmare of a job to do, if I can bang that out on a Saturday 10hr day even I'd be fine with it.

 

She's incredibly keen on noting issues, from a smell to a lag in throttle response etc. We're good there.

I suppose I could easily install some gauges and wire in dummy lights on them as well.

 

An 'ultragauge' plugs into the obdII port and reports everything you would need, plus reads codes. Like $60

 

I've got an app called "Torque" It will tap every single sensor an ODBII vehicle has and customize your own guages etc all kinds of bar graphs and data logging on your phone or tablet. Does codes as well.

With that I've a bluetooth ODBII reader/sender that speaks to the phone/tablet.

Sounds a lot like what you're describing. However..both demand actually LOOKING at the gauges you setup and USING the app. Which I'd do on any long drive but perhaps not on a quick grocery run. I'll check out the ultragauge for the hell of it. Not a bad idea have a master gauge that does a few in one and is installed to the car.