New to all this

Hello to all,

I have had a pajero 3.5v6 for about a year when the darn thing went all pete tong on me i have now given up, I am however in need of a new 4x4 i need 7 seats as well, but i know nothing about discoverys so thought someone could point me in the right direction as i have only heard that they are unreliable, only have about £2,000 to spend having thrown away the best part of 5,500 on the crap pajero and lots of mechanics who said they could fix it? So if someone could let me know whats the best way to go. Thankyou.xx

Helen.xx

Hi and welcome to the Loony Zone (you'll find out why I call it that in due course)
I have a 7 seat Disco, albeit a newish one ('04 reg) but it is nothing less than superb, a briliiant family car, great fun on/off road and very capable if you want to venture into the mud and ruts.

have a look on e-bay or auto trader, there are plenty about, good (and bad) so look at several before you buy, and read the threads on here to learn what to look out for.

But briefly, look out for rotton rear floors, rear wheel arches and inner wings, teh deisels (200 and 300 TDi's) are very good, quite economic and will usually plod on past 250k miles if serviced.

The series II (2) is a lot better than the 1's, which significantly improved suspension, and several other enhancements.
If you can budget up to a TD5 then these are very good, smoother and quieter, and better performance all round.

Hello Comroy young man/woman (delete as appropriate)

I have a SII disco which is in pieces, not a good advert I know but it is a fantastic thing. learn to fix it yourself, as I'm about to do or be prepared to spend some money as everythin is computer controlled, even the sunroofs?

My other bus is simplicity itself, a 1994 200Tdi Defender 110; more iron mongery than engineering. its cold; you more heat from a mouse fart than from the heater, its noisy, the steering appears to attached to someone else vehicle and the brakes; don't. you can however fix it with a £20 note and a large hammer. I love it

Thankyou for that i will do some research, and its female Helen Comoy, x

Hi Helen, welcome to the looney bin. Can't go far wrong with a 110 SW if it's space yer need, easy and cheap to fix if yer get it right from the start.

Cheers
OD

Sorry but what the 110? I only know what the discovery tdi look like is it similar to the td90 i know that one? gosh must sound well thick, i can practically rebuild a pajero though so hoping to adapt to this landrover stuff!!

It's a LWB defender - 12 seats (or 6 and a load of boot!)

O yep i know now mm don't mean to be rudde im sure the space is great but bit safari for me.x

comoy said:

O yep i know now mm don't mean to be rudde im sure the space is great but bit safari for me.x

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Ok so it sounds like the Discovery is the one for you.

Within your budget of £ 2000 you will be looking at Tdi 200 and Tdi 300.

From the outside they look very similar. Tdi200 started in '89 and Tdi300 started in '93 approximately.

Both are very competant and economical (for a 4x4!!).

You don't say what you need out of this vehicle or your preferences eg gearbox - choice of manual or auto, would you plan to do work yourself? Can you weld as a lot of these vehicles at this age will need it.

Classic places to look for rust when inspecting Disco's are:
1. Front inner wings, look in the engine bay;
2. Sills;
3. Rear inner wings and passenger door closing posts;
4. Boot floor (I've just done mine!!);

Mechanically they are strong, the Tdi 200 gearbox is a bit notchy, a lot will smoke on start-up but this in itself is not a problem.

I just bought a '98 Tdi 300 auto with 75k mls and full service history for £2200 if that gives you a feel for the market.

Dealers are still asking daft money for older Disco's but the market has fallen out of love with them so bargain hard and good luck.

Let us know how you get on, cheers
Dave

auto trader online usually has the best deals found the mag is crap, go for 300 tdi if you want cheaper running costs, v8 is abit costly on running unless you get it gassed you can do most of the work yourself if you want to go down that road, my advice is if you don't mind getting your hands dirty the disco is perfect and you will love it but unless you have enough money to keep your local mechanic happy get a people carrier a land rover is a hobbie not a car they are not any worse than anything else on the road for reliability you just need to find the right one i've had mine for 2 yrs and love it

slither22 said:

auto trader online usually has the best deals found the mag is crap, go for 300 tdi if you want cheaper running costs, v8 is abit costly on running unless you get it gassed you can do most of the work yourself if you want to go down that road, my advice is if you don't mind getting your hands dirty the disco is perfect and you will love it but unless you have enough money to keep your local mechanic happy get a people carrier a land rover is a hobbie not a car they are not any worse than anything else on the road for reliability you just need to find the right one i've had mine for 2 yrs and love it

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yep slither gotta agree with you mate'
landys aint just cars, they are a hobby
i'm always workin on mine, and not coz it keeps breakin,
but what the hell i fookin love it
it's me baby

Thankyou most helpfull, auto or manual doesn't matter and i only need it for towing m/cross trailer horsebox and because i love big 4x4 there is no way i could drive a people carrier!! Although at the moment through pure bad luck im driving a renault 5!!! A mate of a mate is selling a 1995 m reg 300tdi 5dr 11months mot and tax for 2,250 i don't know mileage or history yet but ow does the price sound its supposed to be in good nick and well looked after.x

about £1k too much

O that much crikey what would i be looking at paying then there seems to be huge variations?

price can only go on individual vehicle not all. i paid a bit over the odds for my 300tdi but so far it has proved to be a good buy (will be keepin it for a long time)

You can get a decent M/N reg disco 300tdi for about £1200 Just check for rot especially under the carpet in behind the back seats. and round the wheel arches if it's a 5 door. oh and if you can get one without sunroofs so much the better.

Well I paid a whopping £3500 for my 96 300TDi ES a year ago and its been pretty good. Only problems were a steering column ignition switch, head gasket, radiator, water pump, P gasket, diff lock switch, exhaust, brakes all round, lift pump, rocker cover gasket. Apart from that its been 100% reliable!

revjames said:

Well I paid a whopping £3500 for my 96 300TDi ES a year ago and its been pretty good. Only problems were a steering column ignition switch, head gasket, radiator, water pump, P gasket, diff lock switch, exhaust, brakes all round, lift pump, rocker cover gasket. Apart from that its been 100% reliable!

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Ouch !! That really was a good buy then.

Well, I am still very happy with it. The onlyn thing that bit be was the head gasket, but that was my fault for not checking the water and not noticing the P gasket leak that led to the HGF. The other items like the ignition switch and exhaust etc are just wear and tear, the exhaust was the original and had lasted 10 years! most items I replaced because I felt they needed doing. You have to remember a 12 year old car is going to have things go wrong.

Mine is the top of the range ES and is fully loaded. I dont think I paid too much. Recent tax hikes and fuel increases and bad press have hammered resale values so bargains are there to be had. Saying that I entered my details into webuyanycar.com (or something like that) and was offered £2000 without them even seeing it so even if I wanted to sell (which I dont) its probably still likely to fetch £3000 so havent lost too much really.

nah pkey, m reg is fetchin between 1500 and 2k depending on its nick