Prospectiver Buyer

Hi All,

As the subject, I am thinking of purchasing my first Land Rover and in particular a Disco. My head says no as I have heard and read about so many reliability issues, but I just love the look of them and nothing else does it for me which has 7 seats!!

I've got about 11k to spend, but am wondering whether to buy something relatively older and keep a bit of spare cash back in case of any costly mechanical failures......

Is there anything I should particularly look out for on the Y plate onwards, bearing in mind I am no mechanic. Was there any particular year or edition I should steer well clear of? Deffo gonna get a Diesel TD5 and apart from the trim levels (am I right in saying its XS, GS and ES being top model)?

Just looking for some general advice really - got a 2001 Pug 406 HDI at the moment and have had absolutely no problems with it at all which is why even though I really want a Disco I still have this feeling deep down on whether its the right thing to do.

Cheers for any help/advice....oh and can anyone recommend any good dealers (not specifically Land Rover direct) in South Wales/South West region

You want one, get one ,once you have driven one you wont want a car again !!Reliability problems is usually down to knobs that don't look after them.300tdi is brill,no or little electronics,30+mpg,easy to work on.Td5 is all so brill but can suffer from electronic problems and cost's more to fix,does less to the gallon!!

Understand your concerns as I was in the same boat try and get somebody who knows what they are on about to go and have a look with you.Go for full service History and as few owners as possible.

Good luck and keep us posted

Hope you have more luck than me getting a reply to similiar issues. A friend has a disco and has had a number of minor issues, oil leaks from the gearbox I think was one and the diff also I believe. He has also replaced the drop links for the suspension etc. Admittedly he is a fantastic mechanic and does it all in his stride. I have been looking on ebay and just watched a 2001 GS with 150k on the clock go for £4900 which looks like a bargain to me.

Hope you get some information that is useful.

Cheers for that....! Yes electric problems are always that little bit more worrying. Our other family car/van is a Peeugeot 806. The electrics on that are a marvel in themselves - thrown nearly every diagnostic enginer in Swansea

Want a newer one really as dont really want to go down to an older car....apart from electrics are there problems with air suspension etc? A llot of the 300tdi (what does the 300 stand for anyway ??) have Starship Enterprise mileage

chrisfoster1971 said:

Hope you have more luck than me getting a reply to similiar issues. A friend has a disco and has had a number of minor issues, oil leaks from the gearbox I think was one and the diff also I believe. He has also replaced the drop links for the suspension etc. Admittedly he is a fantastic mechanic and does it all in his stride. I have been looking on ebay and just watched a 2001 GS with 150k on the clock go for £4900 which looks like a bargain to me.

Hope you get some information that is useful.

Click to expand...

yeah think its the "bargains" you have to be wary off though.....

WelshBoa said:

Cheers for that....! Yes electric problems are always that little bit more worrying. Our other family car/van is a Peeugeot 806. The electrics on that are a marvel in themselves - thrown nearly every diagnostic enginer in Swansea

Want a newer one really as dont really want to go down to an older car....apart from electrics are there problems with air suspension etc? A llot of the 300tdi (what does the 300 stand for anyway ??) have Starship Enterprise mileage

Click to expand...

Td5's can have a problem with oil leaking into the injection wiring loom & into the ecu,rear air suspension,check that the compressor is'nt working all the time,check for dash warning lights & oh and there was a batch with out locktite on the bolt that holds the cog onto the oil pump (drops off and yeh engines foooooooked)

Cheers for all the advice guys, had a PM pointing me to a similar thread (damn I really should have used that search function) and as far as I can see the 300tdi has less to go wrong with it, but obviously does not have some of the more modern creature comforts.

What was the last year of the 300tdi - 1997?

Are the electrics etc really that bad on the TD5? I need a 7 seater too and from one post I read the air suspension is prone to faults with the 7 seater.

I suppose a low mileage 300tdi on a 97 plate would be ok but how many of those are you going to find these days with genuine mileage.

I have a 1996 300 TDi ES which has all the creature comforts and I would say its pretty good.

If you search hard enough you will find plenty scare stories to put you off, but the same could be said for any car.

The TD5 can be and generally is reliable, last months Land Rover Owner mag did a detailed article on the TD5 and reckoned it was Landrovers best diesel engine. Its problem is that, should something go wrong, you need to plug it into a diagnostic machine to see what is wrong but this is the same for any modern car.

As said above, some did have problems with oil getting into the wiring loom but its more on the earlier models. Full details of this and other TD5 info at -
Web Rover

Not all models have the air suspension, I have a 2001 GS which has normal coils so if you are worried about the complication of this, go for one without air!

Go for one that has been looked after with a decent history and it should give you good service. I was a bit apprehensive before buying mine over 3 years ago now, but I am glad I did, its excellent. I bought mine from a Landrover dealer, it was a 1 owner car traded in for a new Disco, I figured that if it had been a bad car, the previous owner would not have gone and bought another.

To avoid yet another "300tdi/TD5" debate you can easily sum it up with
What do you really want?????
Do you prefer the TD5 shape?
Are you worried about mileage?
If you want a more refined version of the 300tdi and are prepared to pay for it, get a TD5.
If you hate garages and can do your own mechanics get a good seconhand tdi and you can always get a Td5 afterwards.

Personally I would love a TD5 but as I do all my own mucky bits am sticking to a tdi for the time being as I'm sick of silly warning lights that can only be corrected by garages with all the kit (on all recent cars in general)!!!!!!!!!!!

I've got a 94 200Tdi 150k and I think it's great. It's a bit low on creature comforts though and has some rusty bits I need to fix.

If I had to replace it, personally I'd go for a late 300Tdi with all the trimmings. I think the latest I've seen was on a T plate.

Whatever you get, I don't think overall you'll be disappointed with it, unless you get an Mpi of course. Don't do that.

Cheers guys and thanks for all the input. Booked a test drive for tomorrow on a stunning TD5 on a 53 plate - not going to purchase it but just wanna have a go behind the wheel

Wait for my cheque to come through and then the decisions start....!!

Got another question for you knowledgale lot. Looking online at cars now and I notice a few TD5 GS's listing they have cruise control. I thought only the ES had this....so does that mean its an aftermarket fix or was it something when originally purchased you could upgrade too??

Took one for a test drive today which was an automatic - are these the better of the two gear boxes? The landrover guy said the clutch on the manuals was pretty heavy - no bother for me but if my wife is driving it dont want anything too strenuous!!

Driving an auto is a bit wierd, not sure when the gears go up and down if there is anything I should be listening out for as not used to driving them

Auto or Manual???

dont forget the auto is heavier on fuel. good luck.Beni.

my missus drives my manual 300tdi at any oportunity, prefering it to her French euro box, BUT SHE CAN'T HAVE IT!!! A mate of mine has a manual TD5 on Motability, his problem is in his left knee and hip and he can manage the clutch no problem.

Clutch is not to bad on a TD5 manual (I have one myself) but if you are going to be doing lots of city driving sitting in traffic queues and on and off the clutch all the time, get the auto version.

I have driven a couple of TD5 autos and find there is always a very slight delay between pressing the accelerator and anything happening, you soon get used to it but its a bit odd.

IIRC the TD5 GS auto has cruise as standard but the manual does not, its easy fitted though for around £30.

Having said that, when I bought mine if there had been a choice of manual or auto, I would have had the auto.

I have 1993 200tdi discovery and a 1999 P38 Range Rover DSE so repair it myself and a plug it in to a computer types of Land Rovers. Everybody likes to give horror stories about P38s but mine has been great.
If i lisened to all the horror stories about Land Rovers i would be toyota driver now and where would be the fun in that!

i got a 300tdi auto had it for about a year got a prob with abs light sometimes stays on just got round to putting it in garage cos the dredded mot is due seems tobe common prob with series 1 disco, i swapped a 406 for my disco and absolutly love it and i love the auto box, as i was fed up when in traffic with the manual box, although i miss my 406 as it was a good car i definatly think i am going to stay with my 300 tdi as it is very diy friendly and sevice parts are cheap there are lot of dogs out there but you can get some good low millage ones mine has only done less than 75000 on a 97 p plate, just check the tranni gears are not stiff and give the shocks and radius arms a good shake and if possible make sure it hasent towed much. i looked for one that hadent had a towbar fitted at all so i know it hasent towed anything