I'm new here, introduced myself in the noob section. In brief, I am new to Rovers but I am not new to 4wd's having owned and wheeled a handful of Land Cruisers, a couple of them heavily modified. Long story short, I became bored with the hard core rock crawling scene quite a few years back and sold all of my Cruisers. I am handy enough with a wrench to take care of my own vehicle and perform mods.

Now, with a moved planned into the Colorado mountains, my family and I are looking to get back into four wheeling and need a 2nd 4wd utility vehicle, my daily driver is a 2005 Xterra.

I don't care for everyday vehicles, like J**ps (and my Xterra). I have thought about another Cruiser, maybe a 80 or 100 but I keep coming back to Rovers as they are cool and competent off road.

I just need to decide what I should buy. My budget, under $10k. Must have, room for my growing family, currently two little monsters plus a third on the way. I need room in back for two booster seats and one standard car seat. Something that I can wheel, modify a little, let the wife keep at the house to get around in crappy weather and explore back roads on her own with. Basically the wife's grocery getter with some fun utility added. I know Rover's are a little higher $$$ maintenance than a Cruiser, I'm cool with that as I will perform most if not all of my own maintenance.

What I am thinking;

1993 - 1995 Range Rover LWB. Competent off road, ABS, enough room for my family (I think). Very cool.

1999+ P38 Range Rover. More civilized then a Classic, 4.6l, lots of creature comforts inside.

Disco I - great off road, a little spartan inside. CDL. Plentiful and inexpensive.

2004 Disco II - nicer inside, CDL. 4.6l. More modern vehicle (traction control, etc) still in my budget.

Any thoughts, warnings or experiences anybody cares to share? I'm going to look at a 2004 Disco and a 1999 RR tomorrow, that may help out with my decision as it has been many years since I have actually driven a Rover, that was a 96' Disco that I almost bought new.

Thank you for your thoughts.

 

I'd personally stay away from the P38 Rangie. I'd go for a D1, D2 (either 2004, or a 1999-2003 that has had CDL added or enabled).

The Land Rover is actually cheaper than the 80 series, at least around here.

 

04 Disco would be my choice given that I have owned both a D1 and a DII. I'm not a off road enthusiast but it doesn't sound like that is too high of a priority. One thing I would be worried about with a Disco is the lack of rear passenger room. As you have probably noticed, the cabins are quite cramped in these things for how large they appear from the outside and 3 child seats would be doable but not ideal unless you get an SE7 or HSE-7 (7 passenger seating).

I would stay away from the RR. The engines in the RR classics are known to be quite finicky (GEMS built, not Bosch), even more so than the 4.6's in later Disco models which also have their issues as well.

The 04's apparently don't have oil pump/front cover issues but some have reported oil pumps failing on their 04's. It's very common on the 03's as most fall within a vin range of almost absolute oil pump failure.

Great cars if you're willing to invest some time and energy to keep it running as they will test your patience. Plan on doing head gaskets for any of the models you're looking at regularly when compared to other car manufacturers. Most go out in the first 70-90k miles so make sure you get an inspection done and if at all possible, maintenance records!!!

To that point, there are some stickies above that will assist you in what preventative repair work is needed to make your Rover "reliable" as well as a used car Rover buying guide. There is a lot more to learn and good luck!

 

I would contest the above post about the 2003 oil pump issue. Just because it is in the vin range does not mean the truck is doomed. I have 139,000 miles in the vin range. He is especially right about head gaskets. Expect to do those if you buy a Land Rover. Unfortunately a lot previous owners neglected the **** out of the Discovery's.

I would go with a Discovery. They are the car that everyone thinks of when they think Land Rover. Honestly I would say just about every Rover you get is going to require you to do a lot of your own maintenance. Unless you've found one that has had major maintenance done. Which would be well worth buying.

A Discovery 1 is probably the most reliable and easiest to fix. These trucks require TLC and you will probably find your Land Cruisers were a dream or at least make much more sense from an engineering stand point.

I am not trying to discourage you as you honestly seem perfect for Disco ownership but I am just letting you know that owning these trucks is like adopting a child. You will need to have your wife understand the potential woes of your vehicle if you plan to have her drive.

But in short a stock Discovery 2, CDL or no CDL would probably suit your needs fine. Plus you can add mods down the road if you want. You will find upgrades are significantly cheaper for pre 2003-2004 model Disco's. If you really invest into the truck and make it project you will love it forever and won't want to give it up.

Since the truck doesn't sound like it will be driven too often or too hard you will have a better experience working on this truck on your own time as a project. Not saying they can't be daily drivers(mine is a daily driver) but it gives you piece of mind to know that you won't have to work on a dead line.

 

I can speak from experience with car seats, I have 4 kids ages 1-7 all are in car seats or booster seats. We have an 2003 hse-7 and easily fit the two booster seats on the third row and the two car seats in the 2nd. The best part about the discovery's is you don't have to fold down seats to get to the third row which would involve removing car seats from 2nd row every time the kids had to get in and out of the back, access through the rear door is great. The older kids love having their own area in the back, with all the glass and stadium seating their spotting deer and other wildlife before I am.

 

2004 Disco 7 seater would suit you well and they are highly capable on and off road. Just try to find a one owner truck with a good history.

 

Thanks for the feedback, it is much appreciated!

I understand the issues with a RR Classic, but but not the P38. In my research it appears that the P38 does not have any more issues than a Disco?

Regarding the 04' Disco, are these plagued with the head gasket issues too? What is the cause of the failure? Any peculiarities to the head gasket replacement or would it be similar to any other modern V8?

On more question on the Disco, I don't think the 04' I'm going to look at today has the third row seats, is it possible to retrofit these to a 5 passenger model without too many modifications?

 

It can be done but it's not a small job. Better to buy one already equipped.

 

With a budget under 10 K, you can get a DII 2004 with decent mileage (under 70K). Or if I were you, I would go with a 2001 / 2002 4.0L DII with low mileage and keep 5 K as an emergency fund to replace the valley pan gasket, drive-shaft and numerous other conditions.

I emphasize low mileage because of the wear & tear on the drive line and the lack of maintenance that the driving public here practices in comparison to how Europeans take car of their vehicles.

Also, don't buy a DII no mater how good it looks until a LR technician checks it out for prior overheating, cylinder compression, leaking head gaskets, leaking trans and transfer case.

Would stay away from the ones with the rear air suspension or you can plan on converting to springs.

Good luck.

 

No, the P38 has way more electronics, and is known for being a very expensive car to own. Someone posted a funny story about one of the computers going bad in a p38 and it caused all of the windows to roll up, all of the doors to lock and then the thing shut off, while driving down the road, trapping the driver inside. I'm not sure if it was true, or just a joke illustrating how bad all of the computer controls are.