Is the Discovery a 'Proper' Land Rover?

A couple months ago a friend of a friend told me that my Discovery was not a 'proper' land rover. It made my blood boil!!!!!!!!!!!
So i wrote to LRO magazine seeking advice.
See the readers letters pages of the latest issue if your interested in their editors comments on the subject.

RyanP

Series, Defender, Disco 1, RRC are proper.
Gaylander, Disco 2/3, RR P38/L322 aint.

The Defender is The Land Rover but the last of the proper Land Rovers has tobe the Disco 1 with it's Defender construction and exposed steel bumpers etc etc, But after the D1 it all merged (although the Disco series two did escape a bit) into just a big off road/4x4 vehicle the most car manufactures have now. If I had the money, what would I buy a Land Rover Discovery, RR Sport or a BMW X5 or a Jap tank, tuff.

Any chance of a quote from the mag for cheapskates?

Ryan wrote....

"I'm a newcomer t the Land Rover scene. After months of research and looking at various models, I decided to buy a Discovery 300TDI. I would have preferred an ex-military Lightweight but i have a young family and a dog, and the discovery is perfect for my needs.
I'm so proud of it that the wife has started calling me a Land Rover geek. I love driving it; and for a amateur mechanic it is fun and surprisingly easy to work on. I just have one question: I'm becoming increasingly frustrated with people telling me that a discovery is not a "proper" Land Rover. Is this true?"

And the editor bloke wrote...

"Show them the green oval badge, Ryan. The discovery, as many LRO readers already know, is a very capable all-rounder and very much a proper Land Rover - JP"

The Green Oval first appeared on the Discovery, on real Land Rovers (Series motors and earlier 90 & 110s) the Oval was Black.
Ignore the Land Rover PR men who tried to claim the Supercharged Black Oval was something new.

i have owned a disco 300 tdi a freelander and now have a TD5 and am in the military and have driven all sorts of defenders from the 3.5 v8 to td5's and the best of all was the 3.5 v8 for its grunt, but i would not change my TD5 for anything else. The 300 TDi was good and the freelander was as you would expect-absolute rubbish and not even worthy of a LADA badge, struggled towing, handled badly on and off road and then guess what the head gasket went!!! but i have to say yes the disco is a proper landrover

Where's the measure of what is a Land Rover?

If you took a standard disco1 and a standard defender of the same age, with the same tyres and the same engine, you'd struggle to seperate their ability off road... it would be all down to the driver.

If you ignore the horrendous departure angle.

Being a Landy newbie, battenburg's answer seems to make the most sense, I chose the Disco mainly because of price and availability, but originally started looking for Defenders as to me personally they are "proper" Landy's. But due to having kids it was recommended to me that a Disco would suit my needs better. Now that I'm on my 2nd Disco I would'nt swap it for any other car......except a Defender which I'm still hankering for....

Is the Discovery a 'Proper' Land Rover?

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No, It's much better.

chromiumuk said:

No, It's much better.

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agreed!!!

what is the definition of a "proper landrover" can somebody please enlighten me? for me its my V8 disco1 - 7 seats, turns into a small van if needed, pulls anything, good offroad characteristics and quite pokey on road, with my lifestyle and 3 kids + dogs etc i think i chose pretty good. would like a defender but i also like (as does the ball and chain) leather seats, air con, electric everything etc. if i had the cash i would have a V8 defender LPG converted for off roading to go with my lovely duel fuel disco!... and an alfa romeo intergralle, a vw golf g60, an old 911 turbo and a couple of M3s etc etc and the list goes on... but sadly im a bloody carpet fitter and so my budget extends as far as my £1700 disco, still i love it! and i can still dream cant i.

Great comments people, well the positive ones anyway!
My interest in Land Rovers started with my dads series3 but the fact is as a family vehicle the Discovery is the best compromise. A proper Land Rover that is comfortable, safe, looks the part, is very practical and such fun to drive!

well have a disco 2 and wouldnt change it for the world but had a 200tdi 110 for 3 years and every time i got in it it put a smile on my face for me the feeling of bieng in a old smelly landrover apeals to me more than having aircon or ELECTRIC seats old smelly noisy rusty and slow is a real land rover

Erm...
Green Oval....Yep
Solid Beam axles....Yep
Permanent 4x4....Yep... With proper hi/lo range?....yep
Reliable dependable and rugged....Yep
Available in green ....Yep
That'll be a proper Landrover then!

chipv8 said:

Erm...
Green Oval....Yep
Solid Beam axles....Yep
Permanent 4x4....Yep... With proper hi/lo range?....yep
Reliable dependable and rugged....Yep
Available in green ....Yep
That'll be a proper Landrover then!

Click to expand...

need to spend a fookin fortune on it....yep
break's down....yep
leaks oil....yep
fookin love 'em......YYYYYEEEEEEPPPPP

Jesus !!.

Picture the image in your mind of this vehicle............!?,

" my brothers got a landrover ".

I bet this picture is of a Defender !.

I dont think a Disco "IS" a Landrover, a Landrover,s a Landrover !.

I do however feel that the Disco has exactly the same blood pumping round it that the " Landrover " does.

I would describe my TD5 Disco as a Landrover with leather seats and electric windows !.

What do i know !.

Black oval - no
Selectable 4wd - no
Blacksmith repairable springs - no
Flappy, leaky, canvas top - no
Ability to fold the screen flat - no
Sliding windows - no
Split screen (so that in an emergency you cab swap the passenger side screen to the driver's side - no

It's not a proper Land-Rover then

(Note-Vehicles built before 1950 are exempt the first two)

I gota badge on mine n it says its a Land Rover so its a Land Rover