Is there a practical alternative?

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M

m500dpp

Active Member
Posts
282
Location
East Sussex
We have a TD5 Manual, with 145k miles, which does us nicely for our purpose which is towing a trailer with 1 or 2 horses, and getting us to and from the stables in poor weather. We dont want two sunroofs, front and rear climate control, heated seats or any of the other superflous stuff that is just there to go wrong!

Question is as and when time comes to replace it what are the alternatives?

- Defender would do but prices are crazy
- Disco 3 /4 are far too complex and expensive to maintain
- Disco 2's are going up in price it seems

Only thing I can find that would be suitable is an Xtrail or Touran, but these havnt really got the size to manage a heavy trailer as well.

I am seriously thinking the best thing is to keep the TD5 going, even a change of chassis (around £4k) looks viable when the alternatives are considered.

Anyone else any thoughts on this I think Land Rover have gone far to far up market and the Disco's etc are much more a luxuary than a working vehicle.
 
I'm on my 3rd discovery worked my way thru the 200, 300 and have had the TD5 for 7 years now.
Toyed with the idea of a disco 3 two years ago but think it looks a bit like a transit and dont really want to have to put it into the garage for even the smallest repair.
The fuel consumption was another factor.
Decided now to keep my existing disco, removed the ACE system whem it went on the blink and touch wood haven't had anything major for a while.
I really dont see anything out there to match or better the disco for me.
Throw the dog in the boot and tow a boat with it.
Im keeping mine
 
m500dpp said:
We have a TD5 Manual, with 145k miles, which does us nicely for our purpose which is towing a trailer with 1 or 2 horses, and getting us to and from the stables in poor weather. We dont want two sunroofs, front and rear climate control, heated seats or any of the other superflous stuff that is just there to go wrong!

Question is as and when time comes to replace it what are the alternatives?

- Defender would do but prices are crazy
- Disco 3 /4 are far too complex and expensive to maintain
- Disco 2's are going up in price it seems

Only thing I can find that would be suitable is an Xtrail or Touran, but these havnt really got the size to manage a heavy trailer as well.

I am seriously thinking the best thing is to keep the TD5 going, even a change of chassis (around £4k) looks viable when the alternatives are considered.

Anyone else any thoughts on this I think Land Rover have gone far to far up market and the Disco's etc are much more a luxuary than a working vehicle.
Click to expand...
Use mine for the same reasons so its staying.had a navara,l200,terrano and out of the 3 the terrano was the best tug.the navara ended up in a ditch in the snow.as they are selectable 4wd one wheel has to be slipping to stop tranny winding up they wander a bit. as for chassis replacement i bought a set of replacement rear chassis rails and a rear xmember. bit cheaper than a full chassis.
 
We are the same have to tow our horse trailer with 2 nags in it and our 26ft caravan , and so that's why I keep ours going , things do go wrong with the d2 but they are easy to work , I've had an outlander and a xtrail , but found the disco the best tower off road
 
To tow a trailer with two horses you need a select group of vehicles. LR do most of them! Any Disco, Range Rover or Defender all pull the same.
There's no ordinary pickup that'll do the same and you're looking at the TOP model of each manufacturer to get the match.
IMO the best alternative is the Toyota Landcruiser, BUT to match the D2 you'd have to get the Amazon version to tow the same weight. Problem is they're rarer, don't change hands as much and are far more expensive than a TD5. Also their mpg isn't great! Although they P all over us for reliability and no ex owner has a bad word to say generally.
But I'm sticking with my 11yo, 124,000 mile TD5 that I've had since it did 4000 miles!

Dave
 
Keep what you have !! As and when it breaks get it fixed !! Better the devil you know etc !!
It's not massive miles realy ,I regularly work on these vehicles with 300k on them !!!
It's just a machine properly maintained it will outlive all those Japanese things by miles !!!
 
The Defender will do what you want, but the prices are silly and if it doubles as an everyday car, they're a bit agricultural. The Disco 3 will do it, but as you say, if things go wrong, things get expensive. Far east pickups of any make will do it at the edge of their ability only, I fear and big far east 4X4's will do it but again, at a premium price.

If I were you, I'd either stick with what you've got and budget for those things that'll go wrong as it gets even older. Or perhaps look for a newer TD5 without the ACE, without sunroofs and with springs at the rear (heavy duty ones I guess you'll need), so there's less to go Pete Tong. But of course I'm not you...
 
shogun DID 3.2 is a good alternative not to bad on fuel , better reliability than a TD5 more space and the rear load bay is huge as the rear seats fold into the floor ..

I had a disco ES 2004 premium and it almost turned me off Land Rover for life ,,,
 
scoobystu said:
shogun DID 3.2 is a good alternative not to bad on fuel , better reliability than a TD5 more space and the rear load bay is huge as the rear seats fold into the floor ..

I had a disco ES 2004 premium and it almost turned me off Land Rover for life ,,,
Click to expand...
still **** though ,i never driven any jap 4x4 and enjoyed it
 
bin looking at kia sorrento as alternative to tow our 26ft caravan. 2007 on is 168 bhp so plenty of horses. dont know what its like off road or if the luggage area is
big enough to take wife's disability chair, scooter etc.
lookes a nice motor
 
I had a 3.0 litre Isuzi Trooper, pulled 3.5 tons no problem, has more power than a td5, not many gizmo's in them, but has a handy lsd locker in the rear axle as standard,
id get one of those instead of a disco
 
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