Biting The Bullet/Taking The Plunge & other cliches..

Hello all.

Seeing as how I'm now a 'grown up' (cough - 40 - cough) & having already had one early mid-life crisis, I feel it's time for another.

For many years, friends & family have taunted me with their Land Rovers of various flavours & I've always promised myself that one day I'd have one of my own.

Well, as the proud dad of a 3 & a bit y.o. son who goes hyper whenever I even mention the idea of getting a Disco I believe I now have the ideal excuse for chopping in the trusty, fast, reliable (touch wood) Octavia & getting hold of a facelifted Mk2 Discovery (the one with rounded headlights & not the earlier variety with the US style orange DRL-type thingys).

My plan is to get one of the last of the line ES TD5 Autos as a friend had one and loved it & having borrowed it for a couple of weeks, so did we.

I currently commute 60 miles a day (round trip) on mainly motorway/A roads so this would be a commuter car as well as a family vehicle with some weekend off-roading if I'm lucky (why have one otherwise?).

I'd probably only drive it to work 2-3 days if I got one & would take the missus' ever so frugal 307 diesel the rest of the week to keep fuel costs manageable.

I'm under no illusions re comparative servicing/fuelling/reliability with my current VW group 'product' & I know this forum is likely to be just a tad partisan but I'd really like to know whether I am being realistic in thinking that a Disco is going to do the job or whether it's going to bankrupt me & have me becoming best friends with Britannia Rescue?

Any thought & experiences genuinely welcome. I really do want one but if it's going to be a 'mare I'll accept the fact & look for alternatives.
That said, I did drive nothing but Italian cars for the best part of 20 years so I'm not entirely a stranger to masochism..

Very many thanks in advance,

Dave.

I'd look at which disco you like and then look at what road tax band its in!
I got my 1997 300tdi disco import (from japan) road tax is £215 per year, think if its newer than 2001 then its £400 per year and if its newer than 2010 £1000 !!!!

Daz

DISCOVERY1-DAZ said:

I'd look at which disco you like and then look at what road tax band its in!
I got my 1997 300tdi disco import (from japan) road tax is £215 per year, think if its newer than 2001 then its £400 per year and if its newer than 2010 £1000 !!!!

Daz

Click to expand...

Cheers for that - so far as I'm aware, HMG reckon it's £260 a year for the TD5 so that's do-able.

I'm afraid there's no way I'm shelling out £400-plus though, & certainly not a grand.

The Japanese re-import thing is quite a popular option isn't it?
Pardon the ignorance but do you have to get the thing undersealed like you do with most other Japanese imports, or being a Landy (and sort of expected to go off-road a bit) do they get coated before they send them to Japan?

Cheers,

D.

I didn't import it but it was manufactured in 1997 first used in 1999 and registered in the uk in 2005. I would double check that you don't end up in the £400 per year bracket if you don't fancy paying it.

Welcome to the madhouse by the way and a tip for you - search for answers to problems before asking as some on here will give you abuse

Daz

Cheers. I always try & do my homework before launching into a forum but on this occasion just wanted experience & opinions re ownership really..

All the best,

D.

Id say go for it, the auto TD5 can be chipped for more power and economy making it very reasonable for such a heavy powerfull beast.

Post 2001 which is what I presume you want with them being facelifted then you are going for the higher VED tax band.

Thats band M which had the car been manufactured after March 2006 would be subject to a 12 month rate of £460 :O

Happily since you can pick up a tidy 2003 TD5 ES you are placed in band K which is a 12 month rate of £260.

Not a bad deal considering what your paying for. I mean someone with a 1998 Ford Escort 1.6 would only be paying £45 less.

hi dave.
i actually did`nt want a landrover, but the rest of the family did. so we ended up with the same model that you are looking at, except pre face lift.
after a year of ownership, i`m hooked.
i have kept on top of serviceing and touch wood its been a lot more reliable than i thought it would be. did have to do the air bags, very easy if you can wield a spanner.
about 22mpg, thats a mixture of school runs and my wife using it for work as a district nurse. hopefully more on a run.
the only thing i will change are the wheels. its got 18" and after reading reports on this site it seems 16" are better for tyre choice, comfort and steering.
steve

Had my S1 for about 5/6 months now and commute 500 miles per week. So far (touch wood), I've not missed a day or even been late due to car trouble. She's steady, reliably and no thirstier than some of the saloons I've driven over the last 10 years.

Go for it, your kids'll love you even more for it (mine think it's the best car we've ever had).

Thanks for all the sage advice everyone.
I'm going to start looking around for 'the' right one and will bide my time but hopefully I'll be in a Discovery sooner rather than later.
D.

Morning,
I bought first disco (300 tdi) about 6yrs ago, then moved onto a 2001 D2 ES about 4 yrs ago and was hugely impressed. So much so that when I fancied a change this summer, I went out and found the best facelift model D2 ES I could!

Delighted now. With regards to the tax, when you look at what you spend on a vehicle over the year, the difference in tax levels £260 vs £460 is quite minor, I would not be restricted by that if I were you.

Lucky you do not live over here, my tax is €950!

With regards to tax I was looking at a disco 3 tdv6 on 55 plate the tax
on it is £260 for 12 months £143.00 for 6 months
Thats direct from dvla website. There is a place on there to enter number plate which will tell you when the tax is due to run out and how much for renewal. From what I can see the price goes up to the £400 bracket if registered after march 2006.

Here you go: The cost of vehicle tax for cars, motorcycles, light goods vehicles and trade licences : Directgov - Motoring

Daz

This is the one I used DVLA Vehicle Licensing Online

Hiya, yes, so far as I'm aware from looking previously at the DVLA/DirectGov sites I should be safe with an S2 TD5 at £260 py.
I can afford the 400 odd but it's the principle I object to as I'm paying a fortune in tax every time I stick diesel in, so if I can claw a bit back on the tax disc all well & good..