My, how time flies. I posted 7-8 years ago about wanting a Discovery. Have owned 96 and 2000 Toyota Land Cruisers. They were great, amazing vehicles. Then, as now, it really pained me to pay the “Toyota tax,” (the super-high premium that Cruisers bring.) I still lurked on this board over the years. My situation has changed regarding career, and kids are older (as am I) and I bit the bullet and bought a ‘13 LR3 w/79k miles on it. Really good shape, paint has a few imperfections which don’t bother me. The underside is in very good shape. Traded the ‘00 Cruiser in on it. Unfortunately the frame had significant rust on it; the dealer called a friend who offered to buy it. Needed several thousand dollars to be brought back up, so I said goodbye to it. Great memories - my son and I made an epic voyage out west when he graduated from high school in ‘14.

The LR is a beast. Love it so far. Have put about 200 miles on it. We are talking about another trip out west this summer which would be 3000-4000 miles.

The air suspension concerns me. Is an 8 year-old LR4 trustworthy for a trip like this? Big question: 2 of the shocks say “FIRESTONE” on them. Have they been replaced? I had a 2005 Jaguar Vanden Plas and changed the air shocks over to Arnott springs at the first failure. But I really, really like the air suspension on the LR. How are these air systems holding up over the years?

Thanks for your time.

 

I think most of us high mileage LR4 owners have replaced the suspension air compressor by around 100K miles. Mine still ran but it was slow and really loud when I replaced it. I'm on the original air springs at 130K miles. The name on the OE air springs is some British name, not Firestone so I suspect yours were already replaced.