This is a bit obtuse but I thought it was worth sharing. Whenever you feel the maintenance and/or repair on our beloved D2s is getting to a point that it may not be worth it any longer, take a cruise over to the Disco V, Sport or 2020 Defender forums and read some of those topics. I won't bother quoting any of them here but they are downright frightening. I'll keep my D2 issues ANY DAY over some of the ridiculous crap those guys are going through. Yes, I have a garage full of tools and spend more time than I would like using them (actually, I like using them), but I'd much rather be in a place where I have some control over my destiny. Suffering through the mental anguish of sitting by while the unqualified struggling to grapple with the over-complicated and poorly constructed, all for the sake of appearance nonetheless, is actual torture in my book. The Sport forum is especially painful, pages and pages of first time posters with crazy problems that no one ever responds to, except for the occasional 'yeah, me too". The others aren't much better with their tales of woe, it really paints a disheartening picture of what happens when someone else is on the hook for "fixing" some mysterious problem that's never been seen before. Frank Zappa's "Flakes" comes to mind.

 

couldn't agree more.

i was reading on a RR forum the other day about a new 2024 or 2025 RR that had lost all power due to an alternator or battery issue at 70 mph. no power meant no steering and no brakes because both steering and brakes are by wire, not power assisted.

f**k that sh*t. i'll stick with my 20 year old D2.

 

amen!

 

Several years ago I decided I wouldn't buy anything newer than 2006. I've got several D2s, mostly I use GMT800 Chevy's, have a couple first gen Dodge trucks, things along those lines. Mostly stuff that's reliable (Excepting the Disco's), easy to work on, parts are available. The GMT800 platform has the additional benefit of modern conveniences, quiet, comfortable, and lots of aftermarket support for anything you feel they're missing.

Couldn't imagine spending $80k on a new work truck with the issues they're having. New parts failures are common any more, but that's true on newly manufactured vehicles as well as the new replacement parts you get at the auto parts store. If anything I'll keep going further and further back and just modifying in the features I want. Why spend that amount of money when I could spend the same amount or less and have an older chassis restored and modified with all the modern conveniences?

 

As a former owner of and participant in the forums of the RR, Evoque and 2020 Defender... FFS, the level of complexity those cars are built at is stupid. They've all been sold off. And I'll be the first to admit, a big motivator for their original purchase was because they looked cool. Meanwhile our humble Disco 2, Brady, watched all of them come and go and sleeps well knowing he'll be around as long as he wishes.

A few quick takeaways from wrenching on a D2 in addition to those other three...

1. It's a joy to work in an engine bay that has actual airspace. The bays of those aforementioned three are packed so tightly, there's no room for anything.
2. To work on a chassis that uses normal hex fasteners... wow. Seemed like every fastener on the others were some proprietary or E-Torx situation.
3. Not having to dive into tech menus to reset things like oil change intervals, amazing.
4. The RR took something like 9-10 quarts of oil. Absurd amounts for a 3.0 V6.

And ya know what's ironic about the aesthetics thing? We get SO MANY compliments on the looks of the D2 and not even once did someone say something about the others.