hello from burton on trent

hello from burton on trent (the home of good beer!)

i ve been looking at this forum for a couple of weeks and have just joined today

i am intending to get either a disco or a p38 within the next few weeks but can't really decide which - having read lots of the posts on here i know what to look out for in both models - i am sure you guys (and gals) can help me.

i have looked at a few of each in the last week but not really seen a great one yet - looked at a nice 4.6 hse on monday but both front airbags looked quite perished & it took ages to go upto normal from access (about 2 minutes until the light stopped flashing so i thought it could also be the compressor)

i have always wanted a range rover and am now in the position to afford one but am a little put of by the stories of unreliability so i'm now leaning towards a disco.

my question is - i have a budget of 7/8k and want 4 x 4 for general use and occasionally towing a caravan - i would only do about 7 or 8,000 miles a year and would be happy to work on it myself - should i go for a p38 or a disco?

any advice from owners of both vehicles would be greatly appreciated

many thanks in advance

Hi Burton Boy
Welcome to the land of Land Rover. I have had 5 Classic's 1 P38 (another one on the way) 1 Discovery 200 TDi and a Shogun. The P38 has been an eye opener as to the amount of electrickery that could and has gone wrong. My 1989 Range Rover Vogue SE retro fitted with 300TDi engine and auto box from a Discovery has been the most reliable of all. There are only a few bits which you cannot work on but they are getting on a bit now. I would not swap my P38 HSE for the world but I have had to accept that it will have to go to the garage for repairs to some parts that I cannot understand. Looking back I would have liked a 300TDi Discovery ES auto 7 seater with leather but .......................Mmmmmmm...................

i recently had a discussion with a local independant LR specialist (North East 4x4 in Banchory). i had recently bought a DHSE and was asking about the horror stories of p38's. They said that the petrol models were very problematic and tricky to work on and that the diesel p38's were much better than the petrol for reliability.
I've only been a range rover owner for a few months but friends have had disco's and range rovers for ages. i think there is something special about a range rover that other 4x4's including disco's don't have

CraigP38 said:

Hi Burton Boy
Welcome to the land of Land Rover. I have had 5 Classic's 1 P38 (another one on the way) 1 Discovery 200 TDi and a Shogun. The P38 has been an eye opener as to the amount of electrickery that could and has gone wrong. My 1989 Range Rover Vogue SE retro fitted with 300TDi engine and auto box from a Discovery has been the most reliable of all. There are only a few bits which you cannot work on but they are getting on a bit now. I would not swap my P38 HSE for the world but I have had to accept that it will have to go to the garage for repairs to some parts that I cannot understand. Looking back I would have liked a 300TDi Discovery ES auto 7 seater with leather but .......................Mmmmmmm...................

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thanks for the info - is your p38 hse petrol or gas converted - what sort of mpg do you get ? - I am going to look at a 4.0 hse & a 4.6 hse at the weekend.

burtonboy said:

thanks for the info - is your p38 hse petrol or gas converted - what sort of mpg do you get ? - I am going to look at a 4.0 hse & a 4.6 hse at the weekend.

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My wife is using it at the moment to do the school run and it might do 12 mpg if very very lucky. It is petrol only. I get 18 - 20 when I get a chance to use it for work though 44 miles dual carriageway work. I have just bought a diesel DSE for the wife which needs some work which is supposed to do 28 - 32mpg but we will have to wait and see.

Happy hunting

PS the link below is for a DSE that I was bidding on but got out bid. It has been offered as 2nd chance as highest bidder pulled out. Might be worth a look. Shame that I had allready bought one as this one looks good.

eBay.co.uk: range rover 2.5 dse metallic red (item 140133554675 end time 01-Jul-07 19:31:58 BST)

burtonboy said:

thanks for the info - is your p38 hse petrol or gas converted - what sort of mpg do you get ? - I am going to look at a 4.0 hse & a 4.6 hse at the weekend.

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i have a gas converted 4.6 and i get 180+miles from £25.
im happy with that!

beware of second chance offers also cars relisted described as relisted due to being let down by buyer normally means that the person that came for it knew what they was looking at and found undisclosed problems.my chipped dse stuggles round town to return 19 mpg and this is a pamperd car

My Diesel DHSE gets about 22mpg in town and about 26mpg on open roads.

the dse is lovely to drive but im a little heavy footed so there is nothing better than a v8 on gas

beware of second chance offers

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i agree with this cautious note. it is also worth checking that any 'offer' you receive is genuinely via ebay. make sure it is in your messages received folder accessed via 'my ebay'.
my mate sold a 'cruiser that was hotly bid upon. the winner showed up, paid his money and off he went. 24hrs later one of the losing bidders turns up having answered a second chance offer and paid the money via direct deposit, except it was a spoof offer and he'd sent his money to hong kong. not a happy chappy apparently, having flown 2000km from the northern territory to melbourne too!
a cautionary tale indeed!

i worked it out,
it cost to fill my lpg tank £26 and concidering unleaded is 96p a litre and convert this to gallons and concidering i get 180+miles to a tank of gas this equates in cost to 31.5 miles per gallon if it was petrol, maybe more!!

i usually fill up when the red light on the gas gauge is on, and im guessing we all know these gauges are inherently inacurate, i get another 50/60 miles before running out, any how i fill on red and never usually put in much more than £19.
its on a run i notice the max miles, either way, I LOVE GAS.........

heyup burton boy. Just got back from alrewas having spent a couple of weeks caravanning and having a new engine put in my p38 2002 v8 lpg converted. liner thing on two pots. Hi-range on th A38. This man is the main man on anything rageroverish discoish. Call in and chat to him. He's a hell of a nice bloke. I live 150miles away in anglesey but I'd never go anywhere else. Where's all the proper peddy gone?

supapete said:

heyup burton boy. Just got back from alrewas having spent a couple of weeks caravanning and having a new engine put in my p38 2002 v8 lpg converted. liner thing on two pots. Hi-range on th A38. This man is the main man on anything rageroverish discoish. Call in and chat to him. He's a hell of a nice bloke. I live 150miles away in anglesey but I'd never go anywhere else. Where's all the proper peddy gone?

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hi mate,

i'm only about 3 miles up the road from hi-range,

pedigree's never been the same since Marstons were taken over by wolverhampton & dudley brewery