Greetings,

I just joined this forum, but I haven't purchased a Disco yet. I have the option of buying my nieces 2001 Disco 2 with 104,000 miles on it for $5,500. I don't know much about the history of the car, but after reading a lot on this forum, I'm more than a little worried about head gaskets, ABS system and general maintenance.

I have been drivning Nissans for years and currently have a 92 Pathfinder 4x4 and a 2000 Nissan Frontier 4x4, both of which are bullet proof and very reliable. I do my own maintenance and the Disco would be used only off-road and a winter driver. I would be getting rid of the 92 Pathfinder, hopefully getting something with more power and a little larger interior.

I know that a lot of what you read on these boards is negative, but are LR's really any more of a money pit than Japanese SUV's and do head gaskets fail if you change the coolant and thermostat's on a regular schedule?

Big Jim Swade

 

read all you can on here, especially the sticky threads...as the price of gas goes up the price of rovers will go down so you don't need to be in any hurry to buy one.

 

My plan is to wait for $4-5 gas prices. Disco's will drop 20-40% at that time. I hope to find a bargain.

 

I wouldn't buy from a relative.

Headgaskets on DII's is "not IF is happens" but "when" it happens.
With those miles on it they have been done already.
Dex-Cool is the #1 culprit for gasket failure on DII's.
Dont use Dex-Cool, if you buy this truck and it has orange coolant, flush it out and change it to anything else.
Read up about the front driveshaft.
That truck has 188 horse power and weighs 4500lbs, so if you want more power you are looking in the wrong place.
You MUST use premium gas.
It is full time four wheel drive, NOT all wheel drive so dont let anyone tell you different.
It does not have the CDL (center locking differential) lever, so for a offroad rig you will want to add that.
Bottom line...dont talk politics, religion or buy cars from friends or relatives.

 

If you are mechanical and don't mind working on cars then go for it. If you have to go to a shop for everything, then pass. I've had mine for a few years and a little over 20k miles. I was pretty paranoid when I got it. I have done a fair amount of 'maintenance' stuff to it to get it where I want (plan on maybe $1000) but I've done nothing but change the oil lately - ok maybe some other minor things. The only things that have failed on me are the maf and crank sensor (pretty common, the crank sensor should be replaced regularly). I did replace the head gaskets, but only because I had the intake pulled off. For just off-road and winter driving, you can't beat it. I'm tempted to buy another one, I ain't scared.