I'm a long time lurker here....off and on. Mostly in the snowy months. Just as my profile name would suggest, I do need a vehicle I can safely drive in the Indiana winter. I believe this is my fifth winter with my Corvette as my daily driver and I never planned on using it after the first winter with it. My plan was always to buy a beater vehicle, but never found a deal I couldn't pass up. What I really want is an '04 Discovery......I think.

I want a discovery that I can trust. I want a Discovery that pleasantly surprise me in the worst of conditions. I want a discovery that will get me deep into the woods.......and back out of the woods. I'm not afraid to work on the truck. It seems pretty simple. I'm a mechanical engineer and I have a great brother in law with a collection of Snap On tools complete enough that the Snap On salesman need not stop his rolling tool showroom when passing his shop. (He does anyway though.)

I want a Discovery which I can purchase with total confidence and, from what I've read, I think I'm tracking a unicorn. Correct me if I'm wrong, but my best bet is an '04 with as low of miles as possible and as complete a service history as possible. One idea I read on this forum that I thought was pretty good was to plug in and check for codes which might be somehow masked temporarily or with the removal of light bulbs.

Does anyone have any more advice on purchasing the right Discovery? Also, on how the 2004 Discovery might compare in terms of capability to a 2003ish Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland with the Quadradrive I system. I know the Jeep doesn't compare in the looks department (in my opinion I guess and most people on this forum would likely agree), and the interior materials in the Jeep aren't anything to write home about, but I do know that that drivetrain is excellent in tough terrain and parts are cheaper and easier to get for the Jeep. I know that the Jeep would meet my needs but it doesn't excite me like the Land Rover does. I want the Land Rover but I need to be able to rely on it.

Sorry so much in one post and thanks in advance for any feedback.

 

A Rover will outmatch the Jeep off road. I imagine the Discovery will cost quite a bit less, too.

Reliable and high maintenance are two different things. It's very unlikely the Rover will leave you stranded, but it will require careful maintenance.

The big fix you'll face is the head gasket. Ideally you find one thats already had it replaced by a good shop.

From my read, you seem to be a good candidate for a Rover owner.

 

I've had trouble finding much on how the Rover 4 wheel drive system works, but my understanding is that for a few years they did away with the center diff lock and it came back for 03 and 04. However, I would like to know more about the logic of the system. I believe it is basically traction controlled in a way that the vehicle aplies braking to wheels losing traction and therefore distributes power to wheels with traction. The Jeep quadradrive system is basically front and rear limited slip I believe. It "locks" the diffs as needed and has the center locking transfer case.


I'm not afraid to do the head gasket fix, but I would rather do it before it needs it. If I did find one which had already been done, I would wonder if the gasket had failed and the engine had overheated. Then, I would wonder about compression and whatever else might have been affected in the possible failure. I guess what I'm saying is maybe I would rather find one which hadn't already been done. I don't know....?

 

The 04 has the CDL and traction control.

The CDL splits the torque 50/50 front/rear axle. Once that torque hits an axle it goes to the spinning tire like an open diff. Thats when the TC activates to stop the spinning tire and therefore send traction to the other side of the axle. The result is something similar to limited slip.

 

Okay, that's what I thought. I would imagine it sounds interesting when it is at work. I would think there would be a lot of ABS noise.

 

It is quieter than you would imagine. And DII's are more capable hands down. BTDT.

 

I was trying to think of what "BTDT" might mean. I haven't done all that much foruming lately except a little lurking here and there. I obviously want to just go get one because my conclusion, before googling the acronym, was that it must mean "buy the damned thing". lol! I guess I'm just looking for someone to outright tell me to get one!

In all seriousness though, I appreciate the input and I'm pretty sure it's going to be the truck for me. I want the vehicle that I have a passion for even if the maintenance cost is higher. Also, I don't mind a little more maintainance cost on a vehicle with such a reasonable price. An "04 Disco seems like quite a lot of vehicle for $10K - $12K.

I don't mean to conclude the thread with "I think it's going to be the Discovery for me". Anymore words on the Discovery and/or the comparison between the Disco and Jeep would much appreciated. I really enjoy reading people's experiences and impressions of these trucks.

 

I live in Indy, you mensioned you are in Indiana. I have a 2003 and have owned it for 3 yeas now. I have personally maintained it and added a few cool mods. After one nasty trip to the dealer I'll do my best to fix it myself. Your welcome PM and talk about my experience owning my Discovery. These vehicals are reliable, but you have put your time in on the maintainence. I've been lucky so far avoiding the HG job at 93k. But I am prepaired to do it when it arises. Troubleshooting a bad idle twice was my largest obstical own this truck. The forum is great and most folk have been down the road of finiky LR problems.

 

As a former owner of a Heep, I feel justified in stating that the LR is WAY ahead of even a late model Heep Grand Cherokee. I am in Lake Effect territory, and have only once thought I needed the CDL, and that was after we had two 1/4" ice storms back to back.

 

I'm about 15 miles west of Richmond.

I will also try to avoid dealerships when I get one. My inlaws have a 1997 Range Rover and their air suspension failed (for about the third time) on vacation once. They had to have the vehicle fixed in Naples at the dealer. The bill came to approximately what the vehicle was worth at the time. It was terrible. They had been looking at G-wagons and almost just tried to find one down there that they could pull the squatty Rover home with. They decided to have the dealer fix the Range only to have the suspension fail again the following year and replace it with springs. That Range has been very high maintenence, but still is drivable and comfortable with almost a quarter of a million miles on it now. It isn't driven much though as they did get their Mercedes G500 last year.

By the way, many of your mods are just what I plan to do. Mainly the 2" of lift and taller tires. I was looking at a 265/75/16 setup on a truck in the photo album section that looked good.