Hello,

I hope this is the correct place to ask this sort of question. I am looking at purchasinga 2000 Land Rover Discover Series II from a local dealer. When I test drove it this evening I notice the smell of radiator fluid coming from the engine bay. In addition, I noticed a roaring sound, sort ofsounded like a bad pulley. However, having neverdriven a land rover, I wasnot sure if the engine usually sounded that loud. I was curious what things I should look for and what questions would be good to ask the dealer. Any input would be great! Some pictures of the vehicle are below. I love the color combination on this vehicle. One more question, what sort of gas mileage do Discovery's get on the highway?





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LR's are very quite, you need to have that noise fixed before you buy, and the coolant leak. You should never smell coolant, good nose.
The air ride suspension will go bad around 100k, now this isint just LR's, this is all cars with air suspension.
The front driveshaft has a double cardon joint and it comes non greasable, it needs to be rebuilt so that it can be greased. If you dont and it fails you will need a new transmission at a tune of $7,000.
Do a search on this site for "buying....what to look for", you are not the only person to ask, and we welcome the questions.
The dealer will not rebuild the front driveshaft, but they will fix the noise and the coolant leaks if you ask, if they wont they dont buy this trk.
As for the MPG, you will be looking at 12-13 city and 16+ highway. These trks require premium gas.
You will get the best MPG in the 65mph range.

 

Take the trk to a indepentant shop and have it looked at, do not trust their mechanincs.
Get a estimate on repairs, if the dealer wont fix them then ask them to drop the price by that much AFTER you negotiate your price and then get it fixed yourself.
If they wont budge on any of it then move on to another trk.
You really should test drive at least 6 before you buy one.