gavbriggs
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I'm looking at a dec 2004 disco 3. Any buying advice?
Early disco 3 buying any advice
- Thread starter gavbriggs
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BonesIII
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Just out of interest how much are the very earliest ones going for now mate?
Datatek
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+1 on that from what I've read. Better off back with your P38
eightinavee
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If you do decide to buy it,just make sure you have funds for large repair bills.And don't expect an insurance company warranty to pay...
They are expensive cars to repair,most common issues are suspension bushes,(Often only noticed when the tyres wear badly on the inside edges - beware of a car with new,cheap tyres fitted) air suspension compressors,water ingress etc,etc. The engines seem to either last well or trash themselves at random mileages with no prior warning.
Clutches and the dual mass flywheels on manuals are not tolerant to any kind of abuse,dont have a particularly long service life,are expensive and labour intensive to replace.The 6 speed autoboxes are not without fault either,needing expensive repair or replacement.
Not forgetting turbo's,with that stupid electronic wastegate actuator... Again,expensive/difficult to replace.
Nice car to drive,granted,but early ones are also seeing body rust,rusty brake pipes etc.Do you really want to fund all those repairs on a car in its twilight years ?
They are expensive cars to repair,most common issues are suspension bushes,(Often only noticed when the tyres wear badly on the inside edges - beware of a car with new,cheap tyres fitted) air suspension compressors,water ingress etc,etc. The engines seem to either last well or trash themselves at random mileages with no prior warning.
Clutches and the dual mass flywheels on manuals are not tolerant to any kind of abuse,dont have a particularly long service life,are expensive and labour intensive to replace.The 6 speed autoboxes are not without fault either,needing expensive repair or replacement.
Not forgetting turbo's,with that stupid electronic wastegate actuator... Again,expensive/difficult to replace.
Nice car to drive,granted,but early ones are also seeing body rust,rusty brake pipes etc.Do you really want to fund all those repairs on a car in its twilight years ?
If it's tdv6 check the cambelt has been changed if it's due, it's meant to be a body off jobby = expensive (£1,000)
HTH.
I saw one, not much more than my D2, but I was too worried about things going wrong.
eightinavee
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Nah,the timing belt is easy,its the fuel pump belt on the rear of the LH head that's more difficult... I have smallish hands and can just do them,with skin loss and bruising.I have heard of some main dealers taking the body off,but there is no need really,just runs the bill up.
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From what I've seen myself and talking to a couple of Indies, the Discovery 3 really needs a fair bit of work doing within 50K miles from new. Suspension bushes as already mentioned, clutches on the manuals ditto, plus spares are not available for major assemblies. Electronics on the EGR are flaky and there's the well know issues of parking brake seizure and the spare wheel winch jamming.
I understand that most engine parts are not available, or parts for the transfer box or diffs, it's all complete assembly changes if something goes south. Happy to be corrected if that isn't the case, but that's what I have heard.
Not quite sure why LR (under Ford ownership) went this way, but bearing in mind that almost every part is currently available for D1 and D2, I'd be staying with my D2 V8 as long as I can.
The D4 is much better, D3 prices reflect their issues.
Peter
I understand that most engine parts are not available, or parts for the transfer box or diffs, it's all complete assembly changes if something goes south. Happy to be corrected if that isn't the case, but that's what I have heard.
Not quite sure why LR (under Ford ownership) went this way, but bearing in mind that almost every part is currently available for D1 and D2, I'd be staying with my D2 V8 as long as I can.
The D4 is much better, D3 prices reflect their issues.
Peter
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ifloochies
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When someone decides to take one of those vehicles home, then its best they open a separate bank account for it as well as making friends at the local LR dealership.
You know how you could fix everything on your old disco 200? With this one you cant!
LR3 ownership has meant visiting the dealership twice in as many months to check out even the smallest niggles that always turn out to cost you more than you would have expected....the latest drain being preparing to shell out for a diagnosis into the cause of start-up problems from cold.
Pop open the hood of a TDV6 and you would almost forget you were looking at a land rover... you wouldn't know where to start in the maze of diagnosing whatever problem that you might have.
Aside the leaky sunroofs and tail gate seal that I was never really able to fix, everything else that broke on my old d2 had been sorted out on the driveway.
Over the years, I have had defenders, classics, and a d2 with all the usual issues that come built-in with LR products. One thing is for certain, and that is when the LR3 is sold on in the not so distant future, I wont be upgrading to an LR4. Nooo, I'll be 'downgrading' to another defender 90 or another d2....anything that can be worked on with tools at home.
