What is it about Discovery's?
#31
09-24-2009, 08:13 PM
Winching
I'm not sure how you'll take this. I asked the same question on my LC forum. There are a lot of Land Rover and former Land Rover owners there. This was by far the most eloquent response I received. Thought you might appreciate it.
"A Land Rover is a super-model that is wildly interesting and gorgeous, but man, she's got issues. Crazy issues. At first the drama is almost charming, the issues are challenging, and when she actually performs, whoa daddy, she's off the chain. But she cries too much. Public breakdowns and bouts of catatonia. You willingly pay through the nose for her psychiatric care and her numerous medications and therapy sessions, to try and help her. She embarrasses you in front of your buddies and co-workers by breaking down at the worst possible times, in the worst possible places--in the middle of nowhere on summer vacation, in a bad neighborhood in the middle of the night, in the driveway the morning of your big meeting with important clients. And all without warning. She just flips a switch, blows a fuse, turns on you, goes to that dark, dark place, and you wonder what you've done to deserve all this.
You think maybe you've asked too much of her, she can't handle the stress of daily use and weekend fun, so you by a reliable little Corolla to relieve her of her daily chores, so she can rest up and save her strength for weekends and a couple weeks a year. You plan big trips, exotic locales where you two can re-connect, where she can be a beautiful gazelle again, where she can remember what it was she was born to do. But she just seems to break down twice as much, her problems compounding exponentially. She needs constant attention now. Days in hospital. You feel like you never see her anymore. She's just a collection of bills now, invoices to remind you of what you've taken on. She's still so pretty, but my God...so empty. So empty.
One day, you realize you've been with the little reliable Corolla ten times as much as your beautiful Rover. You park the car, sob a little, resign yourself to the sad facts. You have to get rid of your Rover. The tears cloud your vision, but as you wipe them away, you see a truck that reminds you a bit of your lovely Landy. She's a wagon, solid front axle, plenty of room, plenty of tire meat. She's pretty, and she looks like she's built. She's got miles on her, she's dusty, but she's not crying, no puddles of tears ring the asphalt below. She looks confident. Reliable. The Corolla points towards her, as if to say "Go. Talk to her."
"I can't."
"Sure you can. See that red sign in the window? She's available. She's looking for someone to take her. It's time to move on with your life. I can't take you all the places you want to go. But she can."
"I couldn't...I couldn't go through this pain again."
"You won't. She's not like that."
"How do you know?"
"She's my sister."
<end quote>
"A Land Rover is a super-model that is wildly interesting and gorgeous, but man, she's got issues. Crazy issues. At first the drama is almost charming, the issues are challenging, and when she actually performs, whoa daddy, she's off the chain. But she cries too much. Public breakdowns and bouts of catatonia. You willingly pay through the nose for her psychiatric care and her numerous medications and therapy sessions, to try and help her. She embarrasses you in front of your buddies and co-workers by breaking down at the worst possible times, in the worst possible places--in the middle of nowhere on summer vacation, in a bad neighborhood in the middle of the night, in the driveway the morning of your big meeting with important clients. And all without warning. She just flips a switch, blows a fuse, turns on you, goes to that dark, dark place, and you wonder what you've done to deserve all this.
You think maybe you've asked too much of her, she can't handle the stress of daily use and weekend fun, so you by a reliable little Corolla to relieve her of her daily chores, so she can rest up and save her strength for weekends and a couple weeks a year. You plan big trips, exotic locales where you two can re-connect, where she can be a beautiful gazelle again, where she can remember what it was she was born to do. But she just seems to break down twice as much, her problems compounding exponentially. She needs constant attention now. Days in hospital. You feel like you never see her anymore. She's just a collection of bills now, invoices to remind you of what you've taken on. She's still so pretty, but my God...so empty. So empty.
One day, you realize you've been with the little reliable Corolla ten times as much as your beautiful Rover. You park the car, sob a little, resign yourself to the sad facts. You have to get rid of your Rover. The tears cloud your vision, but as you wipe them away, you see a truck that reminds you a bit of your lovely Landy. She's a wagon, solid front axle, plenty of room, plenty of tire meat. She's pretty, and she looks like she's built. She's got miles on her, she's dusty, but she's not crying, no puddles of tears ring the asphalt below. She looks confident. Reliable. The Corolla points towards her, as if to say "Go. Talk to her."
"I can't."
"Sure you can. See that red sign in the window? She's available. She's looking for someone to take her. It's time to move on with your life. I can't take you all the places you want to go. But she can."
"I couldn't...I couldn't go through this pain again."
"You won't. She's not like that."
"How do you know?"
"She's my sister."
<end quote>
They're good trucks, and they're cheap. Parts are pretty cheap too, seeing as there's no shortage of trucks being parted out. If you're mechanically inclined, and find the maintenance and repairs equally challenging and rewarding, you will likely have a pleasant ownership experience like many of us here. I won't tell you that I think you'll get 300k out of that engine because I doubt that you will. I hope to get that kind of life out of my truck, but I'm not holding my breath. I think that's a bit optimistic, and more of the exception rather than the norm.
When it really comes down to it, a Land Rover isn't so different from any other truck... it'll run for as long as you're willing to keep throwing money at it.
Good luck to you with whatever you decide, you seem a decent fellow and you're welcome to stick around. (Not that it's up to me, LOL)
Cheers!
#32
09-24-2009, 08:26 PM
TReK
#33
09-24-2009, 08:53 PM
I have an older Toyota 4x4 Hilux that I have owned for years and done many repairs and upgrades to. I have spend a lot of time on the Toyota forums (off-road.com mostly). Toyota owners are fiercely loyal ...blindly loyal I would say. I love my Toyota, it's well-built for what it is, but to me, it doesn't hold a candle to my 1/2 ton Chevy truck in terms of comfort, reliability, hauling capacity, interior space or fuel economy ...let alone towing capacity. It's just a much better truck to drive day in and day out. I'll take the Chevy any day. Land Cruisers are more upscale, better built and engineered than their small trucks. I just mention this because you have to remember where you are getting your LR info from.
I have a 1998 Disco I bought 3 years ago. It's now got 145k on it. When we first bought it I was looking for a 2000-ish Land Cruiser. I bought mine sight unseen half way across the country off Craigs List (yeah it was gutsy). We flew from Chicago to San Fran for vacation and drove her back ...made a 2 week trip out of it. I planned on selling it after the trip. There was a bunch of deferred maintenance when I picked it up but had no problem driving it home 3,600 miles. I went by Moab for some slick-rock off-roading and a few days in the mountains around Ouray over mountain passes.
This summer we went on another long vacation in the Disco out to Yellowstone and parts of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. We really took back roads in Wyoming (hole in the wall - e.g. Butch Cassidy) where you drive for hours on gravel washboard and don't see another vehicle or get a cell phone signal bar. I never once had any doubts about reliability. Another 4,000 mi, never had a single problem.
I might take some flak for saying this on this forum but I don't think the Disco's are as well engineered as the Land Cruisers, or as well built. In fact, if you look them over carefully, you will find that they are positively old school in design and construction. Land Rover struggled financially for years so they just had limited funds. The Toyota guys probably scoff at some of the Land Rover designs. However, if you can look beyond this, what you really get is a rig where the solid construction and 'Beef' hasn't been engineered out (floating rear axles for example), drum brake emergency brake assembly, doors that close like bank vaults, seats that don't flex, heavy dash pad, etc. The old-school construction makes them very easy to work on and positively straight forward.
I do ALL my own maintenance and repairs, always have. The parts for D 1's are generally not unreasonably expensive. Most maintenance items you can get at your local Autozone ..or online. Don't be scared, water pumps are NOT $600 per se'. A new one from roverparts.com is $109. But you should plan on spending $500 in parts on a Disco (or any 4X4) you buy to fix deferred maintenance. If you are the type that relies on a shop to do the work, then it's gonna cost you a lot more obviously. Toyota is the gold standard in terms of parts availability. Seems like you can get almost any OEM Toyota part for a 30 year old Toyota in a couple days. I've bought a lot of hard parts (gears, bearings, trim, misc parts) for early 80's Toyota from the dealer and had them days! Land Rover seems to be very good as well from what I can tell so far. Much better than the domestic mfgrs.
Final thoughts: You're gonna get noticed a lot more in a Disco than a Cruiser. Cruiser styling is nice, but not nearly as distinct. If you are looking for a cheap, safe 4x4 for your daughter, get a Grand Cherokee. We've had such good luck with them and they're cheap (parts are too), or a Montero (good bang for buck). If money isn't a driving force and you like the Cruisers, know them, stick with them. This is a good forum, but the Toyota forums that I've been on are much more populated and active (just being honest guys). Guys here are great with help too!
Good luck,
I have a 1998 Disco I bought 3 years ago. It's now got 145k on it. When we first bought it I was looking for a 2000-ish Land Cruiser. I bought mine sight unseen half way across the country off Craigs List (yeah it was gutsy). We flew from Chicago to San Fran for vacation and drove her back ...made a 2 week trip out of it. I planned on selling it after the trip. There was a bunch of deferred maintenance when I picked it up but had no problem driving it home 3,600 miles. I went by Moab for some slick-rock off-roading and a few days in the mountains around Ouray over mountain passes.
This summer we went on another long vacation in the Disco out to Yellowstone and parts of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. We really took back roads in Wyoming (hole in the wall - e.g. Butch Cassidy) where you drive for hours on gravel washboard and don't see another vehicle or get a cell phone signal bar. I never once had any doubts about reliability. Another 4,000 mi, never had a single problem.
I might take some flak for saying this on this forum but I don't think the Disco's are as well engineered as the Land Cruisers, or as well built. In fact, if you look them over carefully, you will find that they are positively old school in design and construction. Land Rover struggled financially for years so they just had limited funds. The Toyota guys probably scoff at some of the Land Rover designs. However, if you can look beyond this, what you really get is a rig where the solid construction and 'Beef' hasn't been engineered out (floating rear axles for example), drum brake emergency brake assembly, doors that close like bank vaults, seats that don't flex, heavy dash pad, etc. The old-school construction makes them very easy to work on and positively straight forward.
I do ALL my own maintenance and repairs, always have. The parts for D 1's are generally not unreasonably expensive. Most maintenance items you can get at your local Autozone ..or online. Don't be scared, water pumps are NOT $600 per se'. A new one from roverparts.com is $109. But you should plan on spending $500 in parts on a Disco (or any 4X4) you buy to fix deferred maintenance. If you are the type that relies on a shop to do the work, then it's gonna cost you a lot more obviously. Toyota is the gold standard in terms of parts availability. Seems like you can get almost any OEM Toyota part for a 30 year old Toyota in a couple days. I've bought a lot of hard parts (gears, bearings, trim, misc parts) for early 80's Toyota from the dealer and had them days! Land Rover seems to be very good as well from what I can tell so far. Much better than the domestic mfgrs.
Final thoughts: You're gonna get noticed a lot more in a Disco than a Cruiser. Cruiser styling is nice, but not nearly as distinct. If you are looking for a cheap, safe 4x4 for your daughter, get a Grand Cherokee. We've had such good luck with them and they're cheap (parts are too), or a Montero (good bang for buck). If money isn't a driving force and you like the Cruisers, know them, stick with them. This is a good forum, but the Toyota forums that I've been on are much more populated and active (just being honest guys). Guys here are great with help too!
Good luck,
Last edited by Mark G; 09-24-2009 at 09:10 PM.
#34
09-24-2009, 09:41 PM
Join Date: Sep 2009
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"You seem a decent fellow, I hate to die."
Couldn't resist the quote, sorry.
Seems like you've got a great forum here. Folks are good. I'll give the Rover a drive and see what I think. The videos I watched on YouTube show a lot of body roll as they tackle obstacles, and stock suspension doesn't seem to cut it for a lot of obstacles. The vehicle I'm looking at obviously doesn't have the stock suspension. Thanks for the background, Tex599.
Vehicle usage and history (warning: up too late on the computer...long and boring):
I wheel in Utah and hit southern Utah a couple times a year and the Northern Mountains a few times a year, and the desert occasionally. We take a family vacation to Oregon and wheel there every other year or so. I try to stay away from the crowds, so I like to go places that require an excursion type vehicle. Therefore, the roads are not well travelled or maintained. Often they are not more than a cow or ATV trail. ATV trails suck when you're in a tippy vehicle. A reliably capable vehicle is a must when my family is at stake.
My daughter is still a couple years from getting her license, but I want to have the 3rd vehicle early enough that she doesn't think it's hers, just that I let her drive my toy sometimes. Ultimately we'll take both vehicles on family vacations. Double the fun, right?
My cruiser is a very well engineered vehicle. But, the leather is worn out, and my transmission lines and power steering pump are leaking. It needs a little maintenance. In 4 years and 60,000 miles I've had to replace the brakes, a driveshaft U-joint, and it's started leaking at the windshield gasket. The birfields (universal joints) have had to be repacked...not a small job...and the stereo sucks. It's also too wide for a lot of trails, AND it's the family mall cruiser. In other words, it's been great. Things are wearing at a reasonable pace.
My wife isn't thrilled when I come back from a trip where I acted as the "imperial probe" to determine if the trail was passable or not. What was pristine and never been off road 4 years ago, is now a trail rig. I'd like to clean it up and dedicate something else to the trail, letting her have her mall cruiser back. She loves to drive it and every time I suggest something different or newer she just doesn't want to hear it.
Bottom line:
Thanks for all your help. The guys on the cruiser forum are taking some pretty good jabs, but I posted in chit-chat, so you get the worst of the worst there. I'm sure there are some healthy jabs taken here against the "competition" as well. It's all good. Mark G, and the rest, thanks for your insight. It's good, down to earth feedback. That's what I was hoping for.
#35
09-24-2009, 10:08 PM
5th Gear
Join Date: Jul 2009
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Our other car is also an E46 BMW, AWD of all things. Pretty funny that's such a popular combo. I'm also restoring an E24 M6 which is what actually got me to buy the Discovery, so I could have something else to drive which would be able to tow the M6.
#36
09-24-2009, 10:12 PM
Recovery Vehicle
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Colorado Springs, CO
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I have an older Toyota 4x4 Hilux that I have owned for years and done many repairs and upgrades to. I have spend a lot of time on the Toyota forums (off-road.com mostly). Toyota owners are fiercely loyal ...blindly loyal I would say. I love my Toyota, it's well-built for what it is, but to me, it doesn't hold a candle to my 1/2 ton Chevy truck in terms of comfort, reliability, hauling capacity, interior space or fuel economy ...let alone towing capacity. It's just a much better truck to drive day in and day out. I'll take the Chevy any day. Land Cruisers are more upscale, better built and engineered than their small trucks. I just mention this because you have to remember where you are getting your LR info from.
I have a 1998 Disco I bought 3 years ago. It's now got 145k on it. When we first bought it I was looking for a 2000-ish Land Cruiser. I bought mine sight unseen half way across the country off Craigs List (yeah it was gutsy). We flew from Chicago to San Fran for vacation and drove her back ...made a 2 week trip out of it. I planned on selling it after the trip. There was a bunch of deferred maintenance when I picked it up but had no problem driving it home 3,600 miles. I went by Moab for some slick-rock off-roading and a few days in the mountains around Ouray over mountain passes.
This summer we went on another long vacation in the Disco out to Yellowstone and parts of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. We really took back roads in Wyoming (hole in the wall - e.g. Butch Cassidy) where you drive for hours on gravel washboard and don't see another vehicle or get a cell phone signal bar. I never once had any doubts about reliability. Another 4,000 mi, never had a single problem.
I might take some flak for saying this on this forum but I don't think the Disco's are as well engineered as the Land Cruisers, or as well built. In fact, if you look them over carefully, you will find that they are positively old school in design and construction. Land Rover struggled financially for years so they just had limited funds. The Toyota guys probably scoff at some of the Land Rover designs. However, if you can look beyond this, what you really get is a rig where the solid construction and 'Beef' hasn't been engineered out (floating rear axles for example), drum brake emergency brake assembly, doors that close like bank vaults, seats that don't flex, heavy dash pad, etc. The old-school construction makes them very easy to work on and positively straight forward.
I do ALL my own maintenance and repairs, always have. The parts for D 1's are generally not unreasonably expensive. Most maintenance items you can get at your local Autozone ..or online. Don't be scared, water pumps are NOT $600 per se'. A new one from roverparts.com is $109. But you should plan on spending $500 in parts on a Disco (or any 4X4) you buy to fix deferred maintenance. If you are the type that relies on a shop to do the work, then it's gonna cost you a lot more obviously. Toyota is the gold standard in terms of parts availability. Seems like you can get almost any OEM Toyota part for a 30 year old Toyota in a couple days. I've bought a lot of hard parts (gears, bearings, trim, misc parts) for early 80's Toyota from the dealer and had them days! Land Rover seems to be very good as well from what I can tell so far. Much better than the domestic mfgrs.
Final thoughts: You're gonna get noticed a lot more in a Disco than a Cruiser. Cruiser styling is nice, but not nearly as distinct. If you are looking for a cheap, safe 4x4 for your daughter, get a Grand Cherokee. We've had such good luck with them and they're cheap (parts are too), or a Montero (good bang for buck). If money isn't a driving force and you like the Cruisers, know them, stick with them. This is a good forum, but the Toyota forums that I've been on are much more populated and active (just being honest guys). Guys here are great with help too!
Good luck,
I have a 1998 Disco I bought 3 years ago. It's now got 145k on it. When we first bought it I was looking for a 2000-ish Land Cruiser. I bought mine sight unseen half way across the country off Craigs List (yeah it was gutsy). We flew from Chicago to San Fran for vacation and drove her back ...made a 2 week trip out of it. I planned on selling it after the trip. There was a bunch of deferred maintenance when I picked it up but had no problem driving it home 3,600 miles. I went by Moab for some slick-rock off-roading and a few days in the mountains around Ouray over mountain passes.
This summer we went on another long vacation in the Disco out to Yellowstone and parts of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. We really took back roads in Wyoming (hole in the wall - e.g. Butch Cassidy) where you drive for hours on gravel washboard and don't see another vehicle or get a cell phone signal bar. I never once had any doubts about reliability. Another 4,000 mi, never had a single problem.
I might take some flak for saying this on this forum but I don't think the Disco's are as well engineered as the Land Cruisers, or as well built. In fact, if you look them over carefully, you will find that they are positively old school in design and construction. Land Rover struggled financially for years so they just had limited funds. The Toyota guys probably scoff at some of the Land Rover designs. However, if you can look beyond this, what you really get is a rig where the solid construction and 'Beef' hasn't been engineered out (floating rear axles for example), drum brake emergency brake assembly, doors that close like bank vaults, seats that don't flex, heavy dash pad, etc. The old-school construction makes them very easy to work on and positively straight forward.
I do ALL my own maintenance and repairs, always have. The parts for D 1's are generally not unreasonably expensive. Most maintenance items you can get at your local Autozone ..or online. Don't be scared, water pumps are NOT $600 per se'. A new one from roverparts.com is $109. But you should plan on spending $500 in parts on a Disco (or any 4X4) you buy to fix deferred maintenance. If you are the type that relies on a shop to do the work, then it's gonna cost you a lot more obviously. Toyota is the gold standard in terms of parts availability. Seems like you can get almost any OEM Toyota part for a 30 year old Toyota in a couple days. I've bought a lot of hard parts (gears, bearings, trim, misc parts) for early 80's Toyota from the dealer and had them days! Land Rover seems to be very good as well from what I can tell so far. Much better than the domestic mfgrs.
Final thoughts: You're gonna get noticed a lot more in a Disco than a Cruiser. Cruiser styling is nice, but not nearly as distinct. If you are looking for a cheap, safe 4x4 for your daughter, get a Grand Cherokee. We've had such good luck with them and they're cheap (parts are too), or a Montero (good bang for buck). If money isn't a driving force and you like the Cruisers, know them, stick with them. This is a good forum, but the Toyota forums that I've been on are much more populated and active (just being honest guys). Guys here are great with help too!
Good luck,
#37
09-24-2009, 10:37 PM
TReK
I have an older Toyota 4x4 Hilux that I have owned for years and done many repairs and upgrades to. I have spend a lot of time on the Toyota forums (off-road.com mostly). Toyota owners are fiercely loyal ...blindly loyal I would say. I love my Toyota, it's well-built for what it is, but to me, it doesn't hold a candle to my 1/2 ton Chevy truck in terms of comfort, reliability, hauling capacity, interior space or fuel economy ...let alone towing capacity. It's just a much better truck to drive day in and day out. I'll take the Chevy any day. Land Cruisers are more upscale, better built and engineered than their small trucks. I just mention this because you have to remember where you are getting your LR info from.
I have a 1998 Disco I bought 3 years ago. It's now got 145k on it. When we first bought it I was looking for a 2000-ish Land Cruiser. I bought mine sight unseen half way across the country off Craigs List (yeah it was gutsy). We flew from Chicago to San Fran for vacation and drove her back ...made a 2 week trip out of it. I planned on selling it after the trip. There was a bunch of deferred maintenance when I picked it up but had no problem driving it home 3,600 miles. I went by Moab for some slick-rock off-roading and a few days in the mountains around Ouray over mountain passes.
This summer we went on another long vacation in the Disco out to Yellowstone and parts of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. We really took back roads in Wyoming (hole in the wall - e.g. Butch Cassidy) where you drive for hours on gravel washboard and don't see another vehicle or get a cell phone signal bar. I never once had any doubts about reliability. Another 4,000 mi, never had a single problem.
I might take some flak for saying this on this forum but I don't think the Disco's are as well engineered as the Land Cruisers, or as well built. In fact, if you look them over carefully, you will find that they are positively old school in design and construction. Land Rover struggled financially for years so they just had limited funds. The Toyota guys probably scoff at some of the Land Rover designs. However, if you can look beyond this, what you really get is a rig where the solid construction and 'Beef' hasn't been engineered out (floating rear axles for example), drum brake emergency brake assembly, doors that close like bank vaults, seats that don't flex, heavy dash pad, etc. The old-school construction makes them very easy to work on and positively straight forward.
I do ALL my own maintenance and repairs, always have. The parts for D 1's are generally not unreasonably expensive. Most maintenance items you can get at your local Autozone ..or online. Don't be scared, water pumps are NOT $600 per se'. A new one from roverparts.com is $109. But you should plan on spending $500 in parts on a Disco (or any 4X4) you buy to fix deferred maintenance. If you are the type that relies on a shop to do the work, then it's gonna cost you a lot more obviously. Toyota is the gold standard in terms of parts availability. Seems like you can get almost any OEM Toyota part for a 30 year old Toyota in a couple days. I've bought a lot of hard parts (gears, bearings, trim, misc parts) for early 80's Toyota from the dealer and had them days! Land Rover seems to be very good as well from what I can tell so far. Much better than the domestic mfgrs.
Final thoughts: You're gonna get noticed a lot more in a Disco than a Cruiser. Cruiser styling is nice, but not nearly as distinct. If you are looking for a cheap, safe 4x4 for your daughter, get a Grand Cherokee. We've had such good luck with them and they're cheap (parts are too), or a Montero (good bang for buck). If money isn't a driving force and you like the Cruisers, know them, stick with them. This is a good forum, but the Toyota forums that I've been on are much more populated and active (just being honest guys). Guys here are great with help too!
Good luck,
I have a 1998 Disco I bought 3 years ago. It's now got 145k on it. When we first bought it I was looking for a 2000-ish Land Cruiser. I bought mine sight unseen half way across the country off Craigs List (yeah it was gutsy). We flew from Chicago to San Fran for vacation and drove her back ...made a 2 week trip out of it. I planned on selling it after the trip. There was a bunch of deferred maintenance when I picked it up but had no problem driving it home 3,600 miles. I went by Moab for some slick-rock off-roading and a few days in the mountains around Ouray over mountain passes.
This summer we went on another long vacation in the Disco out to Yellowstone and parts of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. We really took back roads in Wyoming (hole in the wall - e.g. Butch Cassidy) where you drive for hours on gravel washboard and don't see another vehicle or get a cell phone signal bar. I never once had any doubts about reliability. Another 4,000 mi, never had a single problem.
I might take some flak for saying this on this forum but I don't think the Disco's are as well engineered as the Land Cruisers, or as well built. In fact, if you look them over carefully, you will find that they are positively old school in design and construction. Land Rover struggled financially for years so they just had limited funds. The Toyota guys probably scoff at some of the Land Rover designs. However, if you can look beyond this, what you really get is a rig where the solid construction and 'Beef' hasn't been engineered out (floating rear axles for example), drum brake emergency brake assembly, doors that close like bank vaults, seats that don't flex, heavy dash pad, etc. The old-school construction makes them very easy to work on and positively straight forward.
I do ALL my own maintenance and repairs, always have. The parts for D 1's are generally not unreasonably expensive. Most maintenance items you can get at your local Autozone ..or online. Don't be scared, water pumps are NOT $600 per se'. A new one from roverparts.com is $109. But you should plan on spending $500 in parts on a Disco (or any 4X4) you buy to fix deferred maintenance. If you are the type that relies on a shop to do the work, then it's gonna cost you a lot more obviously. Toyota is the gold standard in terms of parts availability. Seems like you can get almost any OEM Toyota part for a 30 year old Toyota in a couple days. I've bought a lot of hard parts (gears, bearings, trim, misc parts) for early 80's Toyota from the dealer and had them days! Land Rover seems to be very good as well from what I can tell so far. Much better than the domestic mfgrs.
Final thoughts: You're gonna get noticed a lot more in a Disco than a Cruiser. Cruiser styling is nice, but not nearly as distinct. If you are looking for a cheap, safe 4x4 for your daughter, get a Grand Cherokee. We've had such good luck with them and they're cheap (parts are too), or a Montero (good bang for buck). If money isn't a driving force and you like the Cruisers, know them, stick with them. This is a good forum, but the Toyota forums that I've been on are much more populated and active (just being honest guys). Guys here are great with help too!
Good luck,
The only thing I disagree with is the forum comment. We may not have 1000's of members, but its pretty active here. Also, this is by FAR the friendliest forum ive ever been apart of. My guess is, when the OP asked a question about LR's on the Cruiser forum they probably could only come up with answers like "Souped up fords" (thats a common one), "They're for girls and the Pope", "The owners suck", then they probably posted come clever pictures of stuck rovers, or something anti rover. Thats my experience with Cruiser and Jeep owners.
BTW, if you want a really active forum, check out D-web. Not as friendly, and you'll probably get bashed, but there is always a ton of people on. But I'd stay here, much more helpful, we are a virtual family.
#38
09-25-2009, 12:09 AM
I'm of the opinion that MOST who sour on Land Rover Disco's do so AFTER they fall out of warranty. If you're not handy with a wrench, then the cost of dealing with a Disco repair is just nonsensical once the vehicle is out of warranty. If you are willing to become handy with a wrench, then an out of warranty Disco is a great treat. NO WAY on EARTH would I ever consider owning an out of warranty Disco if I was not handy with a wrench and unwilling to become handy. Out of warranty mechanic visits simply aren't worth it in the final analysis - imo. The good news is, it's one of the easiest vehicles to learn to become handy with a wrench with...
#39
09-25-2009, 12:18 AM
Rock Crawling
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Let me start off by saying Toys are great. Dad has a T100 that has been all over the country at least three times. Parts are there if you can wait and have the cash. The same foes for LR. Toyota's have their problems (Birfields) and LR's have theirs (Dexcool) but both are great trucks. I wanted the looks and comfort and the price was very attractive. The folks on this site are absolutely the best, and seem to know as much about the trucks as the engineers who designed them, maybe more.
#40
09-25-2009, 08:36 AM
Winching