My wife and I are the proud owners of a 2002 Freelander. We've enjoyed the vehicle greatly, but since acquiring it, we've also acquired two children. Well, not really acquired. More like produced. Anyway, we're in the market for a larger car and have eyes only for the Discovery II. But I'm scared to death. I see those EPA numbers, and keep reading you have to use Premium fuel. Can anyone tell me what will happen if I run plain old regular unleaded in a Disco? We've lookingat a couple of 2004 models.The reviews I'm reading are all pretty harsh (basically 50-50 on the model). I figure current / past owners can give me the true skinny better than someone who's had a model for a week or two for review. Many thanks.

 

youll lose power, carbon up the engine and eventually damage it

 

O2 sensors, Build up, loss of power, poormileage.Basically risk outweighs reward $4-5 a fill up.

 

That engine is designed, and must run on premium gas. As far as mileage oes, if you maintane the truck you could average around 14 MPG while getting 18 MPG on the road.
They are not the best vehicle for mileage because of the weight but they far offset the mileage issue with all their other features. They make a great family vehicle, they are very safe and will take you everywhere you want to go. Hey, after a Freelander, you'll be glad to spend an extra buck for gas for the differences in the vehicle.
Good luck.

 

I don't know about the rest of you, but i have tried to run 89 in my disco II and there is a noticable difference in both economy and performance. it's a little sluggish and when it downshifts while accelerating it knocks (only for a short period and the engine will adjust it's self out), i switched back to 91 no problem and better milage.
use 91 octane, like tailchaser0527 said to much risk to save a buck.

 

If you are ever able to find 93 octane, boy is there a difference from the 91. The higher the octane the happier the Rover

 

so would you say a bottle of octane booster with every tank would be a good thing?

 

No, I believe you will develop many different deposits on the valves over time.
I think if you are going to paly hard once in awhile off road, can't hurt.
You might try a bottle or two of the Lucas octane booster, I had great results using it.

 

I literally just changed over from regular to premium a few weeks ago, I put in a can of sea foam and I can already tell a difference in gas mileage and the way the engine runs. It's completely worth the extra charge and it only adds on a few bucks every time. In the long run it saves money because if your engine carbons up.... well thats a whole different story!!

 

Once you have gotten better mileage, you should decarbon the engine and flush it once to get rid of alot of old build up.