Thanks guys for all the info and input... I guess I just got a little ahead of myself, and being the trusting person that I am, got taken. Anyway, with the price of gas so high right now, I am seeing a lot more Discovery's out there right now. I am currently looking at an 03 (not in the bad oil pump vin range). Anyway, I will take that check-list with me this time and be a little more careful when inspecting...

Thanks again!!

 

Dealerships and car sales people are never fun to deal with, but in the future you may want to try reaching out to boards like this one for advice prior to going to see a car, especially one so far away. What you can do is ask if anyone on here or any other car or Rover board if they live in or near the city where the car is and if they wouldn't mind going to see it for you. Most of the time you will find someone that is willing to do this for you. If they have enough knowledge about the model they can ask the right questions or you can ask them specifics to bring up with the dealer. This will give you a good first report of what you will be traveling for and gives you the opportunity to pass on even traveling.

I've done it for others regarding BMW's and a couple of race cars. Just a thought....

Speed

 

There is a guy who had a post on here about his '03 oil pump failing, he drove it until the engine seized, you might beable to buy his trk for dirt cheap and then put a new engine in it.

If you buy from a dealer stay away from the guy with all the awards on the wall. You can buy safely from a used car lot, you just have to know what you are doing, all they do is detail the car and change the oil. If it isint a LR dealer odds are that they know nothing about the trk, nor do they care.
Just take your time, you'll find the right trk.

 

doc1976,
Sucks about your ordeal with that stealership but you might have avoided it based on the price. That truck NADA's for $15K and change retail so the $10.5K price you were getting was a tell tale sign that it had issues. Given the current fuel prices and economy, NADA might be off $1K or so based on demand for these vehicles but not that far off. I agree with the other poster who mentioned picking one up at a LR dealership. They will cost you more but some of the gremlins like what you dealt with will likely be taken care of. I'm in the market for a Disco like yourself and I have done what some of the others have suggested. Read as much info on this site as possible before I buy b/c I am finding that certain model years and certain options are not ideal to have and so my search has changed b/c of what I've read and I'm glad I've been informed. From what I've read, the 03s are not a good year to own, in general. Set the oil pump failure issue aside, the 03s were the first year of both a new engine and slightly updated body and the rule of thumb is you should stay away from the models that were part of substantial changes like the 03s went through. You are right in that there are lots of 03s for sale right now ...these are the reasons. Too many problems to deal with and from my searches, 70% of the ones I'm finding are in the VIN range of the oil pump problem. The other 30% probably fall in the category of things like what you're dealing with with a few stragglers that have no known issues. There are always exceptions to the rule so I know there are a few good 03s out there with little problems but in general, this is probably not the case. I have focused my searches on an 04' now + the 04s have the CDL. Granted, I will need to spend $2-3K more probably.

Oh, and about the Durango, no offense to Chrysler owners out there but anyone would be a fool to buy any Chrysler product. Complete junk ...I have owned a few and paid the price for a pile of crap (my current SUV is an 05' Grand Cherokee and it has had too many problems to list here ..it's gone in 2 months). I know LRs are not the most reliable SUVs out there but they are built with much higher quality. You get what you pay for ...Chrysler offers attractive deals but you end up with junk. Just my 2 cents worth ...I'm sure I have ticked off someone on this site by saying that but I really don't care.

Pads Fan