Hello All,

I'm not an owner yet but have been bitten by the LR bug and am shopping for the right one. I will be replacing a Mitsu Montero. Looks like a Discovery II is the model that best fits my price range. Any tips on finding the right car are appreciated. I've been doing some research and learned to avoid the '03s within a praticular VIN range. Thanks in advance for all the info and help.

MDWMAN
'01 Mitsu Montero
'07 Mitsu Endeavor
'01 BMW Z3
'60 VW Beetle

 

Hey there

I just got my 02 Disco from the dealership in Brentwood, those guys are pretty good. Im from clarksville and it was worth the trip to go check out what they had to offer. I dont know exactly what your looking for but they have a pretty good used section, and you will get to check out the off road course they have there.

 

Welcome aboard. Read often and jump in and ask questions before you spend money like you just did. These guys are very helpful and knowledgeable.

AGAIN, good to have you !!

And another thing, I bought my '01 D2 in 2007 and it came from Nashville LR and spent the first 80K in Nashville area, now it is a little further north, but not a whole lot.

In regard to models, the CDL function that gives you more versatile 4x4 has the guts of the CDL in the transfer case on the '99 thru mid year '01, but no lever to activate it, but at lever can be added. In mid '01 thru '03 LR took that function out completely, so you cannot even activate it by adding a shifter or other mechanism, but you would have to replace the entire transfer case $$. Now, LR put it back in '04 with a multi-function lever that does HI-LO and turns the CDL on & off like in the older D1, but the actual shifting mechanism is improved over the D1. So, if you can find a nice '04 in your price range you pretty much get all the goodies on the D2, as well as the newer headlights, 4.6 L engine, and the CDL fully functional, and it is the last year of the model so seems they gave you the best of all they had for the D2 in this last model.

The 7-passenger model will give you the rear jump seats that some like, but most people take them out. You also get rear A/C. The 7 passenger model also gives you the air adjustable suspension with air bags rather than coils on the rear, again some like it, some wish they had coils on the back, and replace them with coils when they start to have problems. Air on the back is nice to adjust for loads to leveling. This control is next to the power mirror switch, with a blank in its place if no present.

If you choose to go with an earlier model due to price or availability, I would recommend '99-'mid '01 so you can add the CDL function easier and cheaper if/when you choose. I got lucky and found that my '01 D2 does have the nipple on the transfer case that can be turned to activate the CDL, and I am preparing to figure which route I want to go to be able to activate it from within the passenger compartment. Do a search on CDL and you will find a lot more detail on what it is and how you can make it work on the early D2s.

You will also want to read up on the ABS, Traction Control and Down Hill Descent functions and make sure they are working on one you get. You will want to have the OBD-II codes read to see if there are any other issues you need to be aware of. Local parts stores will usually read these for you and see if there are any trouble codes present, they just plug a reader device into the plug under the dash.

Also, you are in a good area of the country to get rovers that have not seen harsher weather, but you want to make sure you do a CarFax or Autocheck and see where you D2 has spent its previous life. A local one to you would be good, that is why I got mine in TN. You will want to get one that has not been off road and primarily serviced by the dealer or a local mechanic you can confirm knows what he was doing and the more records the better. A D2 in your area should not have much if any rust under it. The closer it is to stock with no major previous owner modifications the better chance you have of getting a good one. I would also recommend looking for the SE or SE7 models which are the higher level trim lines, in used is does not really cost any more to get the model the the best options, so you might as well get all the options you can on your LR like the heated seats.