Disco 1 - Disco 2 differences

seriously looking at getting a disco, upped budget a little form the last post i made, prob would spend £3-£3.5k now, looks like i could get an early disco 2, but whats the differences in the series

Dont mind if its petrol/diesel/ or petrol/lpg. i would though now prefer to avoid straight petrol as 16mpg will hurt (even on the few miles i do) unless its lots cheaper than the others.

high mileages to be avoided?

thanks

Lots of differences!

Aside from the obvious re-skin and other visual changes, the Disco2 has a longer rear overhang to give more bootspace (not so great off road). The rear lights are mounted higher up in the rear quarters.

The later V8 models in the Disco2 (badged 4.0l but still 3946cc) produced 188hp and 250 torques - more torque than the V8 in the Disco1. The old 300tdi unit was dropped and the TD5 came in.

The rest of the changes were effectively trim upgrades.... nicer interior, better finishing with the plastic trim around the arches as opposed to bare metal finishing of the Disco1.

Things to look for are the same for the 1 & 2... rust around the rear quarter panels (especially low down) and rust on the tailgate. Check the electrics work, they were still a bit iffy. If its a 7 seater it might still have the air suspension on the rear, if its still running on air check when the 'airbags' were last done. There are a lot of cars out there, so take your time.

Pretty much comes down to wether you like to fix your car yourself or wether you like to take it to a garage and have them plug it into their computer. Disco 1 has the old but robust tdi engine which can be easily serviced and/or repaired at home.Very little in the way of electronics. It will also be at least 12 years old now and very probably harbouring some expensive, awkward to repair body corrosion. Disco 2 is said to fare better on the corrosion front however they're not as old yet so we'll see. The td5 engine is controlled by electronics as are stff like abs, traction control etc which when it's all working make for a capable, pleasant to drive vehicle. It's when it all goes wrong that the fun starts. Dunno much about the v8's but the level of sophistication is commensurate with the age of the vehicle.

an fix at home but cant be arsed most of the time, is there a diagnostic software package that plugs in to the disco, like i had on my golf? thats where the money is and the difficult part - working out what thye problem is, if it turns out to be a sensor of one or another description chnaging them is easy when you know what it is