Looks like you guys have a great forum here, hoping you guys can give me some feedback on whether or not a disco is right for me.

Looking for an awd vehicle with decent cargo space to drive in the winter months and when hauling people, dogs, and ski gear.

Although I have a set of snow tires for my 03 M3, I've modified it to the point where I would rather not drive it in winter & bad weather. This will not be a daily driver, and I will most likely not put more than 5k miles or so on it a year. At this point I do not plan on taking it off road at all.

I've always loved the look of Discoverys so I'm quite tempted to jump into one as opposed to a Subaru or something similar. I'm looking to spend $8-$10k up front (whether it is all purchase price or purchase price plus the cost to fix deferred maintenance) which looks like a decent target number when looking at 00-02 IIs with around 70k miles (let me know if I'm wrong about that).

I've heard all the anecdotal horror stories about rover maintenance and parts but I'm also reading some posts on this forum that suggests that these cars can be reliable if you adhere to a strict regular and preventitive maintenance regimen. As a long time bmw owner, I'm accustomed to this.

So based on my intended use, expected annual mileage and tolerance for expensive preventative and regular maintenance maintenance, do you think I'll be happy with a Disco?

Should I be looking at different years or a different mileage benchmark?

Thanks in advance

 

I think it sounds perfect for you. I just got mine a couple of months ago and that is the range I was looking for as far as year/mileage/price. With that mileage any problems it could have had should have shown up already, but it still has a lot of life left in it. Mine had no service history at all, but I bought it cheap enough so that I was willing to spend some money fixing it. Turns out that it was well maintained and I don't have to though.
I think that people are selling them because of the fuel economy andthat they haveto takeit to the dealer every time the engine light comes on. It doesn't sound like those will be issues for you though. I haven't used it in the snow yet, but it seems like the perfect winter vehicle. I was patient and found the right one that appeared to be in very good condition. I passed up a few that I think I may have had problems with... If you're familiar with any vehicle mechanics, you should be able to tell. Try to find one that has had the full 60k mile service on it, that could save you a lot of time and money.

 

Thanks JKid... appreciate the response.

 

I see you're from NYC. There seemed to be a lot of Landrovers down there in that area when I was looking. Iwouldn't think that you should have a problem finding a decent one.

 

I think you have the right mindset for it to work out well for you. To the other good comments here, I'll add that the Discoveryis anexcellent winter car.It's tight and well insulated, and with the rear seat heat ducts, climate control and heated front seats, it is a very comfortable ride in the cold weather.

We hit 9F here a few nights ago and I had 4 people in the Discovery, including my 72 year old mom in the back seat, and she remarked about how warm and comfy she was. No comparison with our '99 Rodeo. The Land Roveris a superb ski vehicle.

Dave

 

Just an FYI, if you get an early 01 or something older, it should have a lockable transfer case that can be modified for under $200. These trucks are AWD, but the diffs are open and the transfer case acts like an open diff when not locked. The only year you can lock after 99 is the 04. The late 99, 00, and early 01's have the same Tcase as the early models, but you have to buy parts to be able to lock it.

The bonus to having this is being able to lock the front and rear driveshafts together. The later Discovery's have traction control, but have problems with the ABS. If you get a wheel sensor dirty, you loose traction control. If you can lock your t-case, you don't have to worry about getting stuck so much. This is more important if you are planning on really getting out in the bad weather, but I know I like to.

Read through the buying posts on here and see the little differences....

Cheers

 

This is why I love forums, never would have known about the lockable transfer case on the earlier models and the ability to mod up to 01.

Looks like I'm going to take the plunge... now to find the right one!

Cheers guys

 

Welcome!

 

Hey Okdiscoguy...
I'm a new 2000 Disco II owner. I'd love to hear about this modification for adding a locking t-case. I'm fairly close to you, I'm in northwest AR.
Thanks,
Jason

 

I went to a few different forums and did a search for "cdl linkage" try this....you'll me amazed at how much the subject has been flogged to death. I rigged up my own "ghetto lever" for now but plan on installing the solenoidwhen my wallet allows.
try lrrforums, discoweb and landroversonly. use the search engine within those web sites.
wow, landroversonly must be a cuss word on this site as it got bleeped.
l a n d r o v e r s o n l y is what got bleeped.
dk

[IMG]local://upfiles/8453/20C32EEC9A6C416B8995198E109F8AEA.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/8453/D13B149410E04EEF820B6F952E2D70EB.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/8453/6E71F78B32234E0EAF0CD7D61B2FF6F6.jpg[/IMG]