New Discovery earning its keep.

Bought my Discovery II facelift Td5 two weeks ago as a workhorse for my events business and my wife's laundry business.

Did some research on here before taking the plunge and the car has blown me away, I am totally converted, Discos are great!

In two weeks and 1,000 miles, no problems so far (touch wood), it has been running between London and the NEC completely laden with gear, plus in between times being used as a delivery/ collection vehicle for the laundry business. Great capacity and it pulls like a train.

Managed some light off road in between, a lot of fun.

It has even rained and the sunroofs don't leak!

BigRedBus said:

It has even rained and the sunroofs don't leak!

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don't worry - plenty of time for that to happen yet!

Seriously though - glad you're enjoying it & welcome to the madhouse

I've had mine 3 months now & I'm still finding new reasons why I like it so much.

BigRedBus said:

It has even rained and the sunroofs don't leak!

Click to expand...

The sunroof in my 90 didn't leak when I bought it... Whatever you do don't open it or take it out, mine now has more leaks than a St. Davids day parade!

Quick word of warning, if your using your Disco for business use, and it has a towbar fitted, you could get yourself in deep water with VOSA, as the overall towing weight/combined weight excees 3.5 tonnes, so your vehicle would need to be fitted with a tachograph.
Normally, I'd say bugger it, but one of our lads has just been pulled and they are doing him for it.... great eh?

Rob

RobCSH said:

Quick word of warning, if your using your Disco for business use, and it has a towbar fitted, you could get yourself in deep water with VOSA, as the overall towing weight/combined weight excees 3.5 tonnes, so your vehicle would need to be fitted with a tachograph.
Normally, I'd say bugger it, but one of our lads has just been pulled and they are doing him for it.... great eh?

Rob

Click to expand...

Wow! My Disco does have a tow bar fitted, does that count even of your not pulling a trailer?
I have been loading it from floor to ceiling and planned to hire a trailer when I needed it.
There is always a catch...

Yep, doesn't even have to have the trailer on it, it's got the capacity to do it. This lad's crapping himself over the possible fine and points now.

Shame they don't put the same effort into catching thieves, granny bashers and kiddy fiddlers ain't it?

Rob

Thought I would look into this a bit more and found the following on the VOSA website, could be helpful:

(Pasted from VOSA website)
Landrover Discovery gross weight 2.5 tonnes, train weight 4 tonnes, towing a
trailer with gross weight of 1 tonne.

Exempt from EC rules because sum of maximum permissible gross weights of
vehicle and trailer is 3.5 tonnes. Again it would be illegal to operate at the 4
tonne train weight of the vehicle with this trailer.

I am not sure I understand this, can anyone shed any light?

hi all i hope this helps.


Towing trailers or caravans with vehicles up to 3.5 tonnes
In this article reference is made to the maximum authorised mass (MAM) of vehicles and trailers. This should be taken to mean the permissible maximum weight, also known as the gross vehicle weight.
Category B: Vehicles up to 3.5 tonnes MAM and with up to eight passenger seats
Category B vehicles may be coupled with a trailer up to 750kgs MAM (allowing a combined weight up to 4.25 tonnes MAM) or a trailer over 750kgs MAM provided the MAM of the trailer does not exceed the unladen weight of the towing vehicle, and the combination does not exceed 3.5 tonnes MAM.

For example:

a vehicle with an unladen weight of 1.25 tonnes and a MAM of 2 tonnes coupled with a trailer with a MAM of 1.25 tonnes could be driven by the holder of a category B entitlement. This is because the MAM of the combination does not exceed 3.5 tonnes and also the MAM of the trailer does not exceed the unladen weight of the drawing vehicle
Whereas

the same vehicle with an unladen weight of 1.25 tonnes and a MAM of 2 tonnes when coupled with a trailer with a MAM of 1.5 tonnes would fall within category B+E. This is because although the combined weight of the vehicle and trailer is within the 3.5 tonnes MAM limit, the MAM of the trailer is more than the unladen weight of the drawing vehicle
Vehicle manufacturers normally recommend a maximum weight of trailer appropriate to their vehicle. Details can usually be found in the vehicle's handbook or obtained from car dealerships. The size of the trailer recommended for an average family car with an unladen weight of around 1 tonne would be well within the new category B threshold.
Towing caravans
As for towing caravans, existing general guidance recommends that the laden weight of the caravan does not exceed 85% of the unladen weight of the car. In the majority of cases, caravans and small trailers towed by cars should be within the new category B threshold.

An exemption from the driver licensing trailer limit allows a category B licence holder to tow a broken down vehicle from a position where it would otherwise cause danger or obstruction to other road users.

By passing a category B test national categories F (tractor), K (pedestrian controlled vehicle) and P (moped) continue to be added automatically.
Category B+E: Vehicles up to 3.5 tonnes MAM towing trailers over 750kgs MAM
Category B+E allows vehicles up to 3.5 tonnes MAM to be combined with trailers in excess of 750kgs MAM. In order to gain this entitlement new category B licence holders have to pass a further practical test for category B+E. There is no category B+E theory test. For driver licensing purposes there are no vehicle/trailer weight ratio limits for category B+E.

This is where i got it from


The driving licence you need to tow a caravan or trailer : Directgov - Motoring

I guess this covers us old farts who passed their test more than 10 years ago!

All drivers who passed a car test before 1 January 1997 retain their existing entitlement to tow trailers until their licence expires. This means they are generally entitled to drive a vehicle and trailer combination up to 8.25 tonnes MAM. They also have entitlement to drive a minibus with a trailer over 750kgs MAM.

Ye i've recently had to do my B+E, to tow a horse trailer. pretty pants really but it's all done and haven't got to worry about it now. It takes quite abit to get your head round it all!

If you need any info on tachographs and the law, give Cannock Tachograph a call 01543 379901, they've fitted a few of these now and know what they are doing. It's a real mine field mate! The chap at our place is looking at a £5000 fine if found guilty.

Rob

The problem raised in this threads was using a landy for WORK, and the need to have a TACHOGRAPH fitted.

Let's explore more - who knows the position?

CharlesY

CharlesY said:

Let's explore more - who knows the position?

CharlesY

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ffs charles yer sound like my old physics teacher

You only need a tacho fitted if the gross train weight of the vehicle+trailer+load exceeds 3.5 tons.

example1. Disco 2ton, trailer 0.5ton, load 0.5ton, no tacho required.

example2. disco 2ton, trailer 1ton, load 2.5ton, tacho required.

You'll be ok with one of those trailers from halfords that you can put in your back pocket but VOSA are clamping down on builders/farmers that are using the big Ifor Williams ones in my area.

You can fill a disco up to the gunnels whether or not it has a tow bar on it you only come under regulations when you hook the trailer up.

Ian

so yer saying robsch is talking out his arse ?

CharlesY said:

The problem raised in this threads was using a landy for WORK, and the need to have a TACHOGRAPH fitted.

Let's explore more - who knows the position?

CharlesY

Click to expand...

That might be the question, but the regulations are to do with COMMERCIAL vehicles or PASSENGER vehicles.

If you've got van sides then you need to watch the tacho regs. If you've got station wagon sides, less than 10 seats and you're not operating as a PSV (Public Service Vehicle) you don't as such vehicles are exempt from tachograph rules, regardless of what they're towing.

Some links for you:
http://www.vosa.gov.uk/vosacorp/repository/Drivers%20Hours%20and%20Tachograph%20Rules%20for%20Goods%20Vehicles%20in%20the%20UK%20and%20Europe%20(GV%20262).pdf
Commercial/Goods vehicles
http://www.vosa.gov.uk/vosacorp/repository/Drivers%20Hours%20and%20Tachograph%20Rules%20for%20Road%20Passenger%20Vehicles%20in%20the%20UK%20and%20Europe%20(PSV%20375).pdf
Passenger vehicles

Should clear things up a bit

Adz they've changed the regulations since then mate I think it's all vehicles exceeding 3.5 tons, My misses works with VOSA so I'll try and get a link with the new regs put up later, I'm trying to get this clear myself as I've ordered a new 24ft ifor Williams trailer for carrying cardboard with but will only be moving it 8 miles so I don't think I'll be under the regs, but then again VOSA never make things straight forward and will probably end up having to fit one anyway.

Those links are dated as Effective from December 2006 - they ain't changed 'em since then.

Highly, highly unlikely that a government agency would disseminate innacurate information about a point of law - I'm not saying it can't happen - just that it's extremely unlikely.

The only change to the regs I can find was on the 13th Feb 2007 and that was to do with new reg vehicles and the requirement to fit a digital tacho instead of an analogue one and one change to use for internation journeys for passenger vehicles with more than 10 seats.

http://www.vosa.gov.uk/SCRIPTS/texi...ecial%20Notice%201-2006%20-%20July%202006.doc

I'm going to phone VOSA next week and not hang up until I have a definitive answer as I use my 90CSW to transport tools and materials. It has a tow bar fitted and I definitely don't need a £2,500 min fine... I'll let you know what I find out.

Cheers,

According to LRO October 2006 issue where they did an article on fitting a tacho to their Defender the situation regarding needing a tacho is as follows.
Driving a vehicle for commercial purposes with the gross permissable weight of said vehicle (or vehicle trailer combo) being over 3.5 tonnes you need a tacho.
Therefore if you drive a disco without a trailer then you have a max permissable weight of 2.5t so you don't need a tacho.
If you tow a trailer with a max gross weight of 750kg then you have a total gross permissable weight of 3.25t so you don't need a tacho.
If you tow a trailer with a gross permissable weight of 1400kg you have a max possible weight of 3.9t thus you need a tacho. This applies even if the trailer is not loaded to full capacity because you have that capability.
However if you are towing for private use not business then non of this applies as it's only if it is for commercial use.
That's how they presented it anyway.
I'd be interested to know if others agree with this as I have a disco for my landscaping business and often tow a small Ifor Williams trailer with a gross weight of 1400kg so I far as I can tell I need to get a tacho fitted pronto before I get caught.

Hope that helps