Greetings. Long time LRForum lurker, only recently joined. If you read my New Member Intro (couple of days ago), You'll note that I have a 96 Toyota Land Cruiser with 170k+ miles on it. I want to replace it, but the cost to do so is just ridiculous. I know that they are a very capable vehicle, but it kills me to pay almost $20,000 for a vehicle with 100,000 miles on it. On the other hand, I know that the Discovery is also a very capable vehicle but is similar to dating a supermodel: it's freaking awesome sometimes, but other times it's a royal pain in the ****.
I have literally gone back-and-forth numerous times on the decision to get a Discovery. I'm pretty certain that I would get a 2004 model, but then I'll find a thread where someone has had terrible luck with it. Although I know that the D1 is very capable, I would probably prefer the newer version with CDL. I'm certain that I can get a very nice 2004 model for probably less than $9000.
I understand the driveshaft issue and that's not a big deal. However, the head gasket issue is probably the main thing that keeps me from pulling the trigger. So let me ask: is it a virtual certainty that almost every head gasket would have to be replaced on Discoveries? I'm only a moderate wrencher and don't mind doing the work as long as I have good instructions. I understand that the rave manual makes it pretty simple. But I would never consider a head gasket replacement on any vehicle unless the manual spells out step-by-step instructions, and even then, I'm not sure that I would do it myself.
I have a good mechanic locally whom I would trust doing the job, but what's a typical Indy cost for HG job? $2k? $3.5k?
I understand the costs, etc (premium gas, etc). In fact, I have a Jaguar which requires that also. The funny thing is, just like a LR, most people advise against buying a used Jaguar. It has certainly cost some maintenance and repair dollars, but it's a very nice car to have. 2 years & 30k miles & I don't regret the Jaguar yet. Would it be the same way with the Disco?

 

Welcome Jim, I too am new to this site and was going through the same questions you were just 2 months ago. I finally came to the realization that every Disco I was looking at would need or needs the Head Gasket job done. So I pulled the trigger on a 04 D2 which I picked up for under $5k. It was a single owner and he had every receipt of work that was done. He had done the gaskets at 65k.
So far I have put $2200 into the car (this includes cosmetics such as a rear ladder and front bar and replacing a cracked front fog light and some other minor things).
As per the gaskets, they did a block test and it looks like the head gaskets need to be done. I was able to find a rover specialist to do the job for $1500, so the car is there now.
As far as the car itself, it was meant to be a weekend car for the dessert and mountains, I actually enjoy driving it way more than I thought, my current daily driver is an '07 911S. So I am willing to put the effort into the D2.
Hope I've helped

 

FYI all the D1s had CDL, do you mean T/C?

 

The only newer version with cdl is 04.

 

Inline six cylinder land cruisers blow head gaskets too.

 

Welcome to the board!

I had a budget of $9K spent $3600 on a 2000 Discovery SE7 that had decent maintainence record and about 110K miles. My vehicle was maintained by an indpendent LR mechanic so that gave me some added assurance that I wasn't getting something that was totally neglected.

If having a Disco with a CDL is a sticking point, you don't have to be resigned to an 04. Model year 99, 00 and some early 01 disco II models were manufactured with the internal hardware and it is a relatively simple upgrade to install a CDL shifter assembly. My CDL shifter came off an acutal 04 disco and I got it for $350 from Roverlandparts.com (when they have it in stock). This is an updgrade that has some very good how to instructions/videos on the web, though I haven't actually installed it myself yet as I am in the middle of patching my sunroof leak.

I would have loved an 04 with CDL but I opted for a cheaper price of vehicle and used the balance of my budget to take care of likely major problem areas -- such as headgaskets, drive shaft, but also used the blance of my budget to update air suspension, OME front suspension, 16 inch wheels and tires, etc.

You will find discoveries for sale on this board that have been kept and maintained by enthusiasts. This is something I think I should have considred when I bought my disco a year ago. Often, they have done a ton of these updgrades and have a pretty decent selling price too boot.

 

Guys thanks for the good info. And Jafir, I would agree that "some" 6-cylinder LC's blow head gaskets, but 1.) they usually have well over 120k miles on them, unlike Discos, and 2.) they don't do it with the alarming regularity that Discos do.
ZG- I was actually referring to the CDL. My Cruiser does not have that, and I got stuck one time where I almost knew for certain that CDL would have saved me a 2-mile walk. Lol. However, I must confess that I'm not schooled on the T/C. Can you guys give me the details on that? Pros/cons?
Keep the advice coming guys. Many thanks.

 

CDL is great, for sure. CDL + T/C is even better. Traction control is a system that applies braking force to wheels that are spinning without traction.

 

Since we are talking Head gaskets, 2001 Disco, 120k , steady but minor coolant leak, only went through a bottle of Dex for the first year, finally blows the seal and springs a serious leak. Quoted ead gasket replacement in Northern Cal priced out at 2k. Does 2k sound in-line for the repair? 3k into the car, almost doubling my investment overnight.

 

Yessir, $2k sounds about right depending on what they're doing.