Anyone Have Experience with Discoverys?

People always seem to have quite strong opinions on Land Rovers, certainly the pros and cons between Disco 1's & 2's. My experience of Disco 2's is far better than its predecessor! I had one for towing, and did 100,000 miles in just over ten months, only used for towing, and usually over 3t.

I loved it. It needed a remap, otherwise they're almost as sluggish as a 300tdi. Once mapped though, it returned 28 mpg when towering, and had plenty of power. It's a far more refined drive than the 300, and a lot better for towing with it being heavier and bigger in general. The horror stories of the 3 Amigos, air bags, injector harnesses etc is just scare mongering. A good specialist will have these sorted for not much money at all. The rear chassis splits, and they can split real bad, but its easy to see when looking at one.

In the end, the gearbox went in mine, but apart from two airbags and an injector harness, that's all I spent in the 10 months and 100k of towing. Personally, can't go wrong with that IMHO!

A 300TDi can really shift with a large front mount intercooler instead of the standard one, EGR removed, and fuel pump timing adjusted slightly. Very easy engine to work on.
I've heard a lot of people say that for off-roading an auto is preferable.

Some people I know have had bulletproof ones, but some have had total money pits where there's one massive failure after another.

As with any land rover of its time, you'd need to stay on top of maintenance otherwise it bites you in the bum when it goes wrong.

Thank you all very much indeed for your replies, I am very thankful. I have read them all and I do like to reply individually to each response but I think I will be here until the morning if I did that.

Perhaps I can throw a bit more light on the subject in a way, my intentions with the vehicle and what I would want, perhaps with that some one can give me either the thumbs up or down which ever it may be.

I take a 600 mile round trip across the country every other month or so for a bit of surfing, take the dogs out for a good run and generally have a bit of a chill. With this I would need something that can sit at 70mph comfortably. I want air con for the reason I will have my hounds with me, they deal with the heat a little worse than us. I will be taking some long boards with me at around 10'6" and my kayak.

I need something that is economic fuel wise. I have a 1.9 TDI van at the moment that is returning around about 50mpg on a run. I know Discos don't come near this but the option of veg fuel would bring my Pence Per Mile ratio down to a competitive level with the other competitors I have on the board at the minute.

I need something for my daily run of a minimum of 10 miles, sometime we will pop out in the evening and cover an additional 50miles or so.

I need something which has a large load space in the back for the purposes of hauling all of my curse word around. An estate car would be plenty large enough so I can only imagine with the seats down the disco would be more than enough.

By trade I am a welder, I have 2 classic minis and I like to think that I would be able to tackle any potential rot problems, perhaps this is the forfeit for buying a cheap one, I will end up laid underneath it a few times a year with the welder.

I like to think I maintain my vehicles correctly and to a suitable standard. If they need something they get it and they will not be used if I am cautious that continued use will cause catastrophic problems. How ever I do intend to buy and forget, I want something that I service every 6 months, MOT once a year and other than that I fill it with washer fluid and fuel. Unfortunately with 2 16v classic minis and a 260bhp audi I simply do not have the time to lay under a daily every weekend.

I am always keen to experience a new style of driving, I used to have a 4x4 ranger and me and my better half used to love going out for late night greenlane exploring. Do I need a 4x4 capable of off roading, no, not at all, but I sure would like one. I miss the size of my ranger, I miss its capability, I just generally miss it. I did enquire about a few pay and play days but felt the ranger would have been out of its league. Being able to have a new weekend activity would be excellent but of course, its not necessary. Defeating the dreaded snow we get for 2 days a year is just an excuse for me to get one to be honest.

To be honest, at the moment its between a diesel TDI disco with the option of running it on veggie or an A4 1.9 TDi Estate. A similar engine to what is in my caddy van. 60mpg achievable, 5 large comfy seats with the added bonus of air con but probably not as fun.

If running on veg oil is a strong reason then check out how much you will pay for it as at present pump diesel is 109.9p litre around here yet cheapest fresh veg oil I can find is 99p litre.

Honestly save your money and buy a Td5, you will be under the bonnet at least once a month. Land Rovers have a loyal following and die hard fans because its one of those vehicles you bond with as your forever tinkering.

I never much liked my 300 down the motorway, even with my 200tdi Range Rover wasn't something I liked doing often. Td5 on the other hand just ate up miles.
Its one reason the 3.9 V8 still sold well as it way better motorway cruiser than the 300tdi and again even that isn't great but the LPG conversions make it viable options with an added noise that sounds amazing.

IMO look for something Japanese like a Delica, Shogun. I would have said Toyota but the range goes from one extreme to the other with the Rav4 being cheap but rather meh to the Land Cruiser which is what we all really want as it will go anywhere and is comfy and reliable but cost a fortune to buy and keep.

I also agree.

Even as a die hard green oval fan, i looked at all the other brands before getting my td5 .... i looked at Landcruisers and Hiluxes, but the decent ones were well out of my budget.

Buying a landrover is a commitment to maintenance maintenance and maintenance!

Ford explorer on lpg is going to be a less rotten thing at £1000 than a disco

welding rot, welding rot, welding rot, unreliable diesels unbelievable petrol consumption on V8's.
The early TD5 (BMW) engine occasionally go awol as well.

When sorted are really good for a short time before they go wrong again.

I've had an itch to own a big 4x4 for years and finally gave in to temptation 14months ago and haven't regretted it once so far. I was lucky to stumble across a very good car at a bargain price where the owner had passed away and the family were selling it, otherwise i might still be itching as i wasn't really actively looking.

Most 300tdi engines are very reliable, its just you only hear/read in forums about the ones who have had issues. People always tell others about the issues they've had with a car (we're british we love to complain!) but are less likely to go out of their way to tell how good a car was if not asked about it.
Remember there are a huge amount of them out there still, and while there are a lot of horror stories online that's a small percentage of them.

The Autos and post 95 cars had fly by wire throttles which can be temperamental. All of them have the immobilizer (spider unit) that has issues with the solder joints inside breaking, but landrover do a bypass plug for it that's only a few quid to fit.
Lift pumps weaken over time but are very cheap and easy to swap, in fact everything for them is cheap. Have a look at some Landy specialist and see what prices are like. I've just put a full exhaust on mine for £70 (and its a big bit of exhaust)

Yes they rust because they leak from the sunroofs, alpine windows and various other places over time and people don't spot it and fix it early enough. But also they rust from underneath because people who owned them in the early years did not wash them underneath, EVER!
Landrover underseal isn't the best and their rust proofing was poor as well so if you find one that looks rusty it will probably be very rusty in the places you can't see. If it looks solid there will likely be a little rust hiding away but not as much. But as has been said if the chassis is holed or has been welded walk away.
However there are good ones out there you just need to look at quite a few (or be lucky) to find one.

The load area in the back is big on volume due to the height but not that long really.
I run my 300tdi without back seats and the load area is 140long (that's with the seat all the way back as i'm tall) and 130 at the widest down to 105 between the wheel tubs. Great for a tat hauler and tip run vehicle, not so great for carrying long things inside. But just use roof bars or a trailer as towing is something they do very well.

They are slow as standard, but remove the EGR, remove the CAT and rotate the fuel pump diaphragm and you get a huge improvement. Still not a race car off the line but it does weigh 2 tons, but once its into boost it hauls along well.
Mine has all that as well as a small tweak to the injection pump timing and will pull into 3 figures (just) but happily sit at 80 on the motorway.

I run mine on derv/veg oil mix, 50/50 in the cooler months and more towards pure in summer and it loves the stuff.
Did a run down to south wales and back in it recently and averaged almost 30 but i was moving along with the fast lane most of the time. If you sit at 70 its better than that.
With veg oil at 60p/liter from the cash and carry in 20l drums that's like a derv car running 50+mpg so can't complain really.