looking into a td5,

im looking at selling my much loved 110csw tdi. im not doing it lightly! but due to a new job i have to get something a bit better suited for a long commute, as its got to also be able to tow decent weights and cope with offroad work im looking at a td5 discovery, now iv had a few tdi disco's but never a series 2. id like something as young as possible so not a tdi.
whats the general opinion amongst owners? any major issues ? mileage related faults etc.
any help apprieciated like i say i love my 110 but i do fancy a d2

cheers. j

IMHO, very good if you don`t work them too hard.

I bought a 51 plate D2 ES last December, and have done 65k towing miles in her upto now. It`s a comfortable place to be, easy to drive and pretty good on fuel (25mpg when towing).

having said this, they certainly do have niggles. In my 10 months of ownership, I`ve changed the rear airbags, clutch (the spigot bearing is a known fault too, even when replaced), 2 injectors, water pipes and it`s just failied an MOT on 5 x ball joints, bushes, 3 amigos, brake discs and few more small items. Oh, and the gearbox has also just gone! Last night, I had an issue with the BCU too, which I somehow managed to sort out.

All in all, would I buy another D2 to use as a workhorse; NO! I`d stick to a jap 4X4 instead. Would I own one as an everyday car, with odd bits of work, pretty sure I would.

I also failed to mention, it had the ACE pipes done this time last year too, at a cost of £850.

From my experience, opinion on the D2 is split between "great workhorse" and "brave man running one of these,how often is it actually on the road"

Hope this helps.......

65k in 10 months how many oil changes in transmission in that time

I've had my 04 plate D2 for 4 years now, got it with 46k on the clock and it now has 127k. It is used for the daily commute, towing and ferrying kit back and forth accross Scout camps. In the time that I've had it I've changed:
Injector harness
Fuel regulator
Fuel pump
Fuel Pipes
1 bush on the Watts linkage
Brake Disc and Pads all round
Rear brake caliper

As you will see on my sig it has been modded to make driving and towing more comfortable (3 ton of Champ and trailer and now it doesn't notice it).

I've got a new set of Terrafirm HD shocks to go on to it and I know it'll need some of the bushes replaced before it's next MOT but other than that it's been fine, far better than the french piece of crap I had before with brake disc's costing £150 a pair.

Famous last words now I've said this I'll break down on the way home.

They're a great car but need that regular maintenance. The older ones are old enough to have rust problems now, chassis and pipework as mentioned above.

Buy one and expect the worst but own a Land Rover and be proud, or buy a jap 4x4 and never repair it but be bored at weekends and sneered at by LR owners.

I rate d2 generally, the tired ones can be knackered though, and because there's more to go wrong they can get costly, whereas a knackered d1 needs a bit of welding and a few bushes etc and you're good to go again...

Hth, cheers

cheers guys, very much apprieciate the honest responses. have to admit my biggest worry was the electronics, but sounds like thats not the big problem.
so in general not bad as long as you keep on top of servicing? and pamper them a bit. just like any landy realy
the main reason i own a defender is as much to do with simple engineering as anything else so techy nature of the d2 was a worry.
what sort of mileage should i watch out for? obviously the lower the better, but i know a tdi can go on and on with servicing , but how does the td5 compare?

cheers. j

Get yourself a Landcruiser 3 or 4, far more reliable,
but don't have the looks, i only keep mine as it's worth more to me than to sell it
1 owner 98K and its cost me well over a grand in the last 12 months other than that it's been bullet proof, but when your asked to pay 36K and trade your car for a new one!
er!!!!! you sit and think twice,
so i have an Hiace van, never cost me a penny, but the amount of times i've been stuck

We have had d2s td5s at work with 160k auto, 112k auto and 130k manual.

Both autos were identical, the manual had noisy spigot bush but clutch felt fine.

The electronics aren't even THAT hard to sort out if and when they do go wrong IMO mate...

Cheers

land cruiser!!!! id rather die mate!! done the jap thing and felt dirty before

i have to admit it all sounds fairly reasuring and just like any other landrover, bit of care and attention and they keep on going, neglect at your peril.

any of the older disco's rust problems to look out for??? or they pretty good on that front.

got a couple to go see this weekend, any particular bits to check over??

cheers guys. j

CompassVL said:

IMHO, very good if you don`t work them too hard.

I bought a 51 plate D2 ES last December, and have done 65k towing miles in her upto now. It`s a comfortable place to be, easy to drive and pretty good on fuel (25mpg when towing).

having said this, they certainly do have niggles. In my 10 months of ownership, I`ve changed the rear airbags, clutch (the spigot bearing is a known fault too, even when replaced), 2 injectors, water pipes and it`s just failied an MOT on 5 x ball joints, bushes, 3 amigos, brake discs and few more small items. Oh, and the gearbox has also just gone! Last night, I had an issue with the BCU too, which I somehow managed to sort out.

All in all, would I buy another D2 to use as a workhorse; NO! I`d stick to a jap 4X4 instead.

Click to expand...

Is that cos the landrover didn't break enough times for you? I go out to far more L200's, shoguns and hi-lux's than I do TD5 disco's.

jamesmartin said:

65k in 10 months how many oil changes in transmission in that time

Click to expand...

must be about due number 11.

Think there like most landys to be honest if you can keep on top of things and do most things your self then you'll be fine... if you have to run off to the garage everytime a bulb goes then your in for a rough ride and a expensive one at that...

Ive just brought a 2001 TD5 disco. had to swap my beloved defender due to the mrs getting pregnant again!!! had a couple of bits to do like had to replace a ride height sensor because it kept dropping on the back no way was i going to change the bags just because it dropped unless 100% sure... looked on hear at the all faults to check first and asked questions and hey presto cost £30 quid instead £300...

I loved my Defender but i must say the Disco is growing on me....

airbags are 60 quid a side mate, just for reference!