thinking of getting a disco

had a search about on the forum and they dont seem that reliable (dont shoot me down its just a comment)

we need a 7 seater, we dont need an off roader but i am loathed to buy a people carrier, i think discos look cool abd have a lot more about them, however as it will be our family car i need it to be reliable and not breaking down every week, performance is not an issue as i have a little weekend 2 seater to play with

what should i be looking out for, going to spend around £3000 so a very early 99 spec maybe in reach, my current car is a vw golf so it doesnt break down much (touch wood very rarely)

cheers in advance

mine's older than what you're after (93) but she's great. i drive her everyday, she always starts even when we go up to see the rellies int' north in winter. she's a 7 seater but being older the 2 in boot are sideways dixy seats. i've not got any complaints in over a year and 12 thousand miles. i drive her like i stole her (or so i'm told) and regularly fly up and down motorway. i do take her off-roading but she's standard just with all terrain tyres.
she came in handy dragging crap road cars off of hills they where wheel spinning on on the school run last winter too
have test driven a D3, but mainly just to torment myself as no way i can afford one yet.
i'd never drive anything else given the choice.

Welcome, discos are reliable cars, however you must keep the maintenance up on them.
dont forget most forum questions on any car are because someone has a problem, not how reliable it's been.
Have a good look on here you will find good info on d1 & d2 cars,both are in your budget, wether you buy a late d1 or an early d2 is up to you,in general parts for d1 are cheaper & they are more simple to work on if you do your own work. Do the homework and you will know what to look for when viewing.

search for the word "rust" to get an idea of what to look for initially, that will be the starter and give you the threads for where to look when buying

Once you have bought it OIL - both engine and gearbox etc but WAXOIL
Change it regularly. including filters

Dosco's are reliable, BUT you can't just get in and turn the key without looking after them.
If you are prepared to do the simple stuff there will be no problem
If you like playing with a meccano set and getting the spanners out even better

Parts are cheap, so change any little problems as soon as they occur and don't run around with a problem as it'll escalate to a big bill

So as a simple summary

Before you buy check for rust
Body work

D1 - rear boot floor. rear wheel arches and inner wings
D2 - same but should be better due to rust inhibitor applied and age

chassis
Check full length for rust and off road damage / scrapes

Once you own one

Oils - change regularly
fix any small issues before they get big

Other than that a daily drive and do more than just about any other car will

Check out a back issue of Land Rover Owner International from July 2010, they did a competitive buyer's guide of all 4 Discos. I think this month's had a Disco 2 buyer's guide too. However the above is sound advice.

_Sorry.
i kinda take servicing and changing oil, filters etc as a given to owning any car, same as putting fuel in it.......

i thought that was what everyone does as a general thing? also plugs, leads, pads etc as and when

people don't seriously think you can buy a car and just keep driving it do they???

some do i guess. thanks for all the replies guys

jasongtr when i bought mine had the same thought needed a seven seater.Looked at people carriers just nothing out there i liked.bought a 99 td5 es full service history and luv her to bits.done few jobs on her still afew to go most parts no dearer than any other car the only thing i got caught on was the price of tires ouch! take your time find the right one and you will enjoy it to bits.

Decent all terrain tires last 70,000 miles plus, so they even out over time too.

Some will leave it to the annual service for the mechanic to do no matter how mny miles they do a year

but that will kill a landy engine and reduce its life

change at least 6000 miles, compare that to whats recommended for a VW, skoda, vauxhall, ford, take our pick?

Thats the difference

brake pads and other bits are no different to any other car and people should not be driving on the road if they don't consider them, if you have no pads you will need a flat bed to get you home as you will have stuffed it into some other object car, lamp post or some one

fuel, all vehicles need go juice, they have a tendency to stop if they don't get it replenished, but it won't reduce the engine life if it is not put in, probably extend it time wise

i guess starting my driving life with an ancient austin metro i used to regularly have to put back together, i am just used to getting my hands dirty and fixing things, or doing what needs to be done to prevent further problems.... and you have to look after a car so it does keep going whatever car it is. it's cheaper to do regular servicing and maintenance yourself than run it into the ground and need recovering to a garage and have to pay hefty bill to get it fixed.

Sarahfoxy said:

_Sorry.
i kinda take servicing and changing oil, filters etc as a given to owning any car, same as putting fuel in it.......

i thought that was what everyone does as a general thing? also plugs, leads, pads etc as and when

people don't seriously think you can buy a car and just keep driving it do they???

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Yes they do, there are many people who have absolutely no concept regarding the neccessity for servicing a vehicle, they seem to believe that when the oil light comes on it's time to top it up! Wrong, it means there's no oil pressure. (Before anyone picks me up, I do know that some modern engines also use the light for low level) When you take a drain plug out and nothing but sludge comes out the owner is one of the above.

OldDiscMan

I guess stupid people do stupid things,it's just not what I'm used to. Dean is a transport manager, so is responsible for maintaining the company's fleet of vehicles, and i give him a hand if he's on his own at the unit as I'd sooner delay what I'm doing than him end up squashed under something....although last time he just needed to change a wheel on a van and i ended up doing it. didn't break a nail but did get muddy knees!
I was always told that if i wanted to drive a car i had to be able to look after it too. we're bringing our kids up the same too, girls and boy, no excuses!lol

Sarahfoxy said:

I was always told that if i wanted to drive a car i had to be able to look after it too. we're bringing our kids up the same too, girls and boy, no excuses!lol

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same ere even tho i am just nosiey
soon as i got my litte metro it was a father son, monment... so i had to change wheels... check brake pads ... shown wer the fuses wer and wat they did

AND THE TRIP TO HALFORD FOR THE HAYNES MANUAL

anthony

jasongtr said:

some do i guess. thanks for all the replies guys

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Hi Jason, if you don't like or can't imagine getting into working on cars, don't buy ANY 4x4.

They are heavy, fuel guzzling things by comparison to a modern family car.

I love my Discos but we live in the country, offroad often and tow heavy loads so they are great. I'm always under one or the other but I NEVER have any unreliability problems.

Land Rovers, like all 4x4's need much more looking after - are you repared for that?

Cheers
Dave

bluesticky1 said:

Decent all terrain tires last 70,000 miles plus, so they even out over time too.

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This is intersting,I changed two tyres recently at 65,000 and the tyre guy said they were original tyres,I thought na that aint right 65,000 out of a tyre,could only get max 25.000 for wifes vauxhall.So if you can get this sort of mileage out of a tyre that surly makes em CHEAPER !!in the long run.
Had two perrelies cost £178.00 chuffed !!

other than routine car maintenance what extra is involved with a 4x4 is it just fluid changes on the diffs etc

jasongtr said:

other than routine car maintenance what extra is involved with a 4x4 is it just fluid changes on the diffs etc

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Did ya not read the thread?

clearly not, care to enlighten me then

Not again probably!