i am looking into buying a discovery, but i hear that the old style (90s) have a lot of downsides to it.
im still not a discovery-buff person, so i don't know a lot about them.
if anyone can give me like an overlook at their pros and cons. it be much appriciated.

 

1994 TO 1999 1/2 best years for DIY'ers better off road was made by Rover
problems with DiscoI fixed by the Disco II.

1999 1/2 to 2004 was made by BMW nicer on road with lots of extras,, 3 amigos
problems with Disco II fixed by the LR3.

LR3 made by Ford lots more on road stuff.

So it depends on what you call problems.
There a lot of posts about this once every other day or so.
We need to have this in FAQ's in Disco forum.

 

http://www.robisonservice.com/servic...er_advice1.asp
Alittle reading to help you get educated.
I think that the DI's are the best bescause of fewer electronics. Those with DII's think that they are the best.
If you will be off roading at all and you want simple, go with a DI.
If you will never take it off road and want a mall crawler go with a DII as they handle better than a DI on road.
DII's are also good off road, but they have have to many not off road friendly things to go wrong in my humble opinion.
The DII is bigger than the DI. Both require premium gas. The DII has more that needs to be taken care of to prevent catostrofic failer. Once those things are taken care of then no problems.
It all boils down to what you are going to do with it.

 

I'm still waiting for someone to provide incontrovertible proof of engine damage from running other than premium fuel. Yes, higher octane fuel is better, but I would not go so far as to say "Required". All of my Rovers have mor ethan 100K and only one has less than 150K and they have ha dnothing but cheap fuel as long as I have owned them, with the exception of the occasional half tank of E-85.

Any Disco made before 1999 1/2 is better than any Disco built after the DII came into being.

It is not uncommon to encounter a DI with more than 200K miles, it is very rare to encounter a DII with the the same mileage, even considering the relative younger age.

The DIIs are a crap shoot, either you get a good one, or you get a bad one. I see far more bad ones than good ones.

Expense of servicing the DII is far and away higher than the DI, far more electrickery to go wrong and a trouble prone ABS system (unlike the DI where if you're patient, it will eventually fail and then, the bulb will finally burn out).

That said, if you're in the market, I have a very nice 2000 on consignment.

 

wait a minute, did you just talk about how bad the DIIs are and then try to sell him one? lol. sorry, couldnt help but laugh at that.

I agree the DIIs have a lot more things to go wrong, but they haven't been around as long as the DIs so of course you're not going to see as many with 200K miles. The first year of the DII is '99 so it would of had to be driven 22K miles/year..thats 7K more miles than the average driver puts on a vehicle.

 

I love my DII, very few problems.

 

I can't blame you for laughing, but I also can't refuse to take a vehilce on consignment. If a person wants a DII, this is a nice one,

When I worked for the dealer in Portland, we had a client who owned a 4.4 Range Rover that was quickly approaching the half million mark. This was in '06!

 

Theres probably some traveling salesman out there with an '08 that has 200K miles but its very rare. The vast majority of all vehicles only average around 15K miles/year.

 

96, 97, 98, and the first half of 99 is where it's at.

These Discos are the best off road, the easiest to repair/modify, and they have OBD-II which is often convenient.

Although i can't say for a fact the DII's look significantly longer so that would make for a more comfortable back seat (the D1's is pathetic.) but who cares, as the car owner you'll never sit back there anyway.


the 03-04 ones are the prettiest IMO, but i'd feel bad taking one of those through the dirt.

 

It only hurts the First time.