Disco 3 Would you buy one?
- Thread starter Dustydog
- Start date
Alan, your link doesn't work, but the short answer is no, I wouldn't, and I'm a dyed-in-the-wool LR fan.
Hi Alan
I've got a Disco 3 , and to be honest its one of the best cars I've had. (I change my car every 12-18 months so I've been through a few in my time) and having had a ML before hand , which was pretty damn good , the D3 had a big act to follow.
All I can say is one mans crusade does not mean that every Landie is rubbish.
If its a car you like then do the research the same as any other model.
try the www.Disco3.co.uk website for a wider view point I found it very useful
I've got a Disco 3 , and to be honest its one of the best cars I've had. (I change my car every 12-18 months so I've been through a few in my time) and having had a ML before hand , which was pretty damn good , the D3 had a big act to follow.
All I can say is one mans crusade does not mean that every Landie is rubbish.
If its a car you like then do the research the same as any other model.
try the www.Disco3.co.uk website for a wider view point I found it very useful
I've made my view clear on the other web site! I would never take the risk again myself.
For a car company to survive it needs a good export market.
The history of Jaguar and LR is the problem when it comes to the choice of the UK government pumping in more cash to save them. Over the past 30 years they've both produced so many unreliable cars it would be difficult to rebuild consumer confidence in other markets. We saw a wonderful ad for LR Disco being used for film location work, friend in the film location business broke down three times in Scotland earlier in the summer with one of his companies new Disco 3's. His company are back using Toyota and Mitsubishi.
For a car company to survive it needs a good export market.
The history of Jaguar and LR is the problem when it comes to the choice of the UK government pumping in more cash to save them. Over the past 30 years they've both produced so many unreliable cars it would be difficult to rebuild consumer confidence in other markets. We saw a wonderful ad for LR Disco being used for film location work, friend in the film location business broke down three times in Scotland earlier in the summer with one of his companies new Disco 3's. His company are back using Toyota and Mitsubishi.
I have had a Disco3 for 18 months now and it has been completely faultless. Fantastic family vehicle and a superb towcar with hi/lo box, adjustable air suspension and four wheel drive, which are all the requiremnets for where we like to take our 'van. It is fantastic to drive and looks great to boot.
Get one with a warranty (for peace of mind) and if pre-owned, a service history, and you won't be disappointed.
All makes of car have problem cases and if you look hard enough you'll see the same kind of negativity about every make.
Get one with a warranty (for peace of mind) and if pre-owned, a service history, and you won't be disappointed.
All makes of car have problem cases and if you look hard enough you'll see the same kind of negativity about every make.
- Mar 14, 2005
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Hello Alan,
Regardless of which make or model of vehicle you choose, you will find a divers set of opinions regarding reliability.
Always bear in mind that it is human nature to shout loudest when something goes wrong, so forums are bound to be biased towards the poor experiences, rather than the good.
Some forums actively encourage people to complain,
You must also bear in mind that you cannot assume a product is generally bad, simply by looking at the number of complaints, you must look at the number of complaints as a percentage of the total population of the product in use.
I do not have the figures, but it may be that the complaints about LR represent a smaller proportion of their total build than say the ML.
Only when armed with this sort of information, can you place any real value on the issues that appear in forums. The JD powers survey is probably the best guide in this area, but do read their notes which qualify some of the statements they make.
Regardless of which make or model of vehicle you choose, you will find a divers set of opinions regarding reliability.
Always bear in mind that it is human nature to shout loudest when something goes wrong, so forums are bound to be biased towards the poor experiences, rather than the good.
Some forums actively encourage people to complain,
You must also bear in mind that you cannot assume a product is generally bad, simply by looking at the number of complaints, you must look at the number of complaints as a percentage of the total population of the product in use.
I do not have the figures, but it may be that the complaints about LR represent a smaller proportion of their total build than say the ML.
Only when armed with this sort of information, can you place any real value on the issues that appear in forums. The JD powers survey is probably the best guide in this area, but do read their notes which qualify some of the statements they make.
Whatever!
But I think John L's advice is sound and classic!
JD Power rates Land Rover below average on all its four dependabilty scores.
But I think John L's advice is sound and classic!
JD Power rates Land Rover below average on all its four dependabilty scores.
- Nov 11, 2009
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For what I can offer , a better consideration is number of failures against units sold. I'm not allowed to give actual facts due to business confidentiality but LR failure rate is about half that of VW Group products and only marginally more that some Japanese cars which people swoon over. (when I say marginally I mean 0.1 incidents per 1000 units sold)
So you can see that the hype over LR is not always true. Granted the failures can seem more critical but you have to take this on face value as the Disco 3 is a far more sophisticated car than say a Vauxhall Corsa or a Ford Fiesta and some would argue comparative vehicles like the BMW X5
Like any car purchase ensure full service history and a good warranty are provided. Also find a good dealer or independant garage as this is equally as important for just basic servicing let alone major repairs.
If you car is being looked after properly this will reduce long term failures.
Good luck with you ulitmate choice , after all we all like differnet things , which makes life more colourful.
So you can see that the hype over LR is not always true. Granted the failures can seem more critical but you have to take this on face value as the Disco 3 is a far more sophisticated car than say a Vauxhall Corsa or a Ford Fiesta and some would argue comparative vehicles like the BMW X5
Like any car purchase ensure full service history and a good warranty are provided. Also find a good dealer or independant garage as this is equally as important for just basic servicing let alone major repairs.
If you car is being looked after properly this will reduce long term failures.
Good luck with you ulitmate choice , after all we all like differnet things , which makes life more colourful.
- Jun 20, 2005
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Thanks for all your replies.
We have decided to continue with plan A ie run the Sorento ad infinitum.
She's 3.5 years old and touch wood been brilliant.
It's hard to justify capital expenditure in these dark times and teh Sorie does everything we ask of her.
Cheers
Alan
We have decided to continue with plan A ie run the Sorento ad infinitum.
She's 3.5 years old and touch wood been brilliant.
It's hard to justify capital expenditure in these dark times and teh Sorie does everything we ask of her.
Cheers
Alan
Alan, we've had our Disco 3 for two years, and it's been totally reliable - never costs a penny apart from servicing and running costs! :O)
The only hype over Land Rover is the hype from a few people who have drawn a lucky straw and found a reliable one.
As for the hype re other brands. Look at how many variants cars WW, BMW. AUDI, Merc and The Japanese factories build.
BMW something like 26 or so and others 16 , 17 and 20 and more and thats without the wide choice of engine variants in may of the models. Some also build trucks, high performance and racing specs and vans and specialist of road and military vehicles as well.
Yet still LR continue supplying dross to many of their customers, LR fans can say what they want, but why the export market problems? Having owned a number of X5's and Land Rovers. "Sophisticated" and Land Rover are not words I would use in front of many past owners of the marque.
Still no one can expalin as to why on not to frequent visits to the UK and when caravanning LR are probably the most regular break down that we see.
As for the hype re other brands. Look at how many variants cars WW, BMW. AUDI, Merc and The Japanese factories build.
BMW something like 26 or so and others 16 , 17 and 20 and more and thats without the wide choice of engine variants in may of the models. Some also build trucks, high performance and racing specs and vans and specialist of road and military vehicles as well.
Yet still LR continue supplying dross to many of their customers, LR fans can say what they want, but why the export market problems? Having owned a number of X5's and Land Rovers. "Sophisticated" and Land Rover are not words I would use in front of many past owners of the marque.
Still no one can expalin as to why on not to frequent visits to the UK and when caravanning LR are probably the most regular break down that we see.
Oh, here we go again euro, why can't you let people decide for themselves - just because YOU happen to have bad experiences with LR, doesn't mean to say we all have! :O(
- Jun 20, 2005
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Lest we forget it was BMW who bought LR, sucked the engineers brains for the 4x4 technology, developed their own X5 & X3 and then sold LR onto Ford. I suspect Ford did the same and sold them to India.
Why on earth couldn't BMW or Ford have done to LR what they do with their own products.
Now the old Morris Oxford is still made in India, granted with a Japanese derived engine and transmission. Maybe this is what will happen to LR?
I'll wait. Just a shame the body style is so old fashioned yet in its own way not unattractive.
Cheers
Alan
Why on earth couldn't BMW or Ford have done to LR what they do with their own products.
Now the old Morris Oxford is still made in India, granted with a Japanese derived engine and transmission. Maybe this is what will happen to LR?
I'll wait. Just a shame the body style is so old fashioned yet in its own way not unattractive.
Cheers
Alan
Euro, your comments are interesting and perhaps you can share with us what type of vehicle you choose to tow with. I'm sure that you have carried out all the valued required research and your findings / decision making factors would be highly useful to other members. I live in the North of Scotland where LR vehicles hugely outnumber other large 4x4s, maybe other marques are more useful where conditions are not so testing (Chelsea?)but there are a lot of happy LR customers up here.
Sorry to hear that you got a bad one, but you've no doubt changed it, so move on and enjoy what you drive.
Sorry to hear that you got a bad one, but you've no doubt changed it, so move on and enjoy what you drive.
ive been more than happy with the disco's that ive had one a tdi 300 the other a disco 3 which was on loan whilst my seat alhambra was in for engine repairs (18 weeks). in the 18 weeks i had the disco 3 i covered 9000 miles using the vehicle for work and towing the van, not once did it falter.
In fairness you will allways get people who have a few faults and claim the world is about to end despite many others who have no problems at all with the same product.
There is another thread on the forum at the moment from a poster who lists a catologue of problems with his ford s max and claims the car is basically a pile of poop, but others who own the car me included have replied that we have had no problems at all with cars of similar age.
I think personally a lot of problems are caused by the driver and owner who cant accept they are at fault and just shout loudly that the car is the culprit, we have 5 nissan mini busses at work, 4 of them have been pretty reliable but one has had 3 clutches in 70.000 miles ! does that mean that vans problems are a result of the particular vehicle being rubbish ? or does it mean that the driver who uses that vehicle is hard on the clutch ?. i would say the driver is hard on the clutch as ive been in the bus when he is driving it, 3 to 4 thousand rpm in first slipping the clutch at junctions, but i bet he thinks he is a good driver and i know he blames the mini bus.
i dont need a discovery or any 4x4 to tow my van but if i did then the disco would be my first choice.
In fairness you will allways get people who have a few faults and claim the world is about to end despite many others who have no problems at all with the same product.
There is another thread on the forum at the moment from a poster who lists a catologue of problems with his ford s max and claims the car is basically a pile of poop, but others who own the car me included have replied that we have had no problems at all with cars of similar age.
I think personally a lot of problems are caused by the driver and owner who cant accept they are at fault and just shout loudly that the car is the culprit, we have 5 nissan mini busses at work, 4 of them have been pretty reliable but one has had 3 clutches in 70.000 miles ! does that mean that vans problems are a result of the particular vehicle being rubbish ? or does it mean that the driver who uses that vehicle is hard on the clutch ?. i would say the driver is hard on the clutch as ive been in the bus when he is driving it, 3 to 4 thousand rpm in first slipping the clutch at junctions, but i bet he thinks he is a good driver and i know he blames the mini bus.
i dont need a discovery or any 4x4 to tow my van but if i did then the disco would be my first choice.
Hi I think I read somewhere that Land Rover are now owner by the same company that made the very cheap Rover City- Tata of India. If so LR seem to have lost their posh image and I have noticed massive discounts on them now, a few years ago it was difficult to get anything off.
They had/have very poor reliability and the Freelander was one of the most unreliable cars in the uk, as proven in numerus reliability studies. I wonder if the components now come from the mother company in India, where they can be manufactured for very low costs, but maybe more reliable?
Very difficult to recommend LR.
Regards
Alan, New Honda CRV owner and very pleased with it after 20,000miles.
They had/have very poor reliability and the Freelander was one of the most unreliable cars in the uk, as proven in numerus reliability studies. I wonder if the components now come from the mother company in India, where they can be manufactured for very low costs, but maybe more reliable?
Very difficult to recommend LR.
Regards
Alan, New Honda CRV owner and very pleased with it after 20,000miles.
Each to their own , clearly theres a few more people saying that their LRs are OK.
For my part I'm on my 4th , my best freind on his 2nd near going into his 3rd and my Brother has a Freebie commercial.
None of us have had any major problems and we're all happy to keep our LRs.
Swings and round abouts - I wouldn't touch a Audi with a barge pole but many people do and say their the dogs doodahs , I know different.
For my part I'm on my 4th , my best freind on his 2nd near going into his 3rd and my Brother has a Freebie commercial.
None of us have had any major problems and we're all happy to keep our LRs.
Swings and round abouts - I wouldn't touch a Audi with a barge pole but many people do and say their the dogs doodahs , I know different.
Roger, I have a Discovery 2 Td5 auto and an Audi A6 1.9 diesel manual. The Discovery has done 90,000 and the Audi 115,000 miles, both without any hassle. You can get rogue cars of any make.
Making a choice of car for many people comes down to partly judging what to buy using others experiences. Wendy can think and say whatever she likes, that still doesn't put right all the problems that many owners of the latest LR cars have or heal the wounds from older Disco, Range Rover or Freelander ownership.
To make a well informed car choice, one needs to be aware that LR lovers or any car brands fanatics are not always the people to get the full picture from.
The ranges have a catalogue of massive catstrophic failures, not niggly annoying small problems and they go back over many years.
Many farming communities where LR was the only car to aspire to have in the main long forgotten LR.
We all take a chance with our auto choices. For many of us the chances of getting a good LR on the full evidence across world markets is that LR is too much of a gamble. To succeed in the auto industry you need a good export market, LR lost much of that on reliability issues.
Break down services across Europe have a high incident rate for LR failures.
Associates in the auto trade saw poor trade in prices for the Ultimate 4x4 before the current credit crunch, and new Freelander owners report poor trade in prices and bad depreciation.
People have the right to say they have had a good car and others have the right to point out that many others still do not get a good LR. User reports and reviews still list far too many problems with the Disco 3
Some current Disco 3 2008 problems
Failing and inept Electrics
Replacement Engine
Suspension failures
Engine management
Parking Brake failures
FWD setup failures
Fluid leaks
These are not one off problems, but occur in numerous cars across many of LR's markets, not just the UK.
My own tow car's now a B&B Q7.
To make a well informed car choice, one needs to be aware that LR lovers or any car brands fanatics are not always the people to get the full picture from.
The ranges have a catalogue of massive catstrophic failures, not niggly annoying small problems and they go back over many years.
Many farming communities where LR was the only car to aspire to have in the main long forgotten LR.
We all take a chance with our auto choices. For many of us the chances of getting a good LR on the full evidence across world markets is that LR is too much of a gamble. To succeed in the auto industry you need a good export market, LR lost much of that on reliability issues.
Break down services across Europe have a high incident rate for LR failures.
Associates in the auto trade saw poor trade in prices for the Ultimate 4x4 before the current credit crunch, and new Freelander owners report poor trade in prices and bad depreciation.
People have the right to say they have had a good car and others have the right to point out that many others still do not get a good LR. User reports and reviews still list far too many problems with the Disco 3
Some current Disco 3 2008 problems
Failing and inept Electrics
Replacement Engine
Suspension failures
Engine management
Parking Brake failures
FWD setup failures
Fluid leaks
These are not one off problems, but occur in numerous cars across many of LR's markets, not just the UK.
My own tow car's now a B&B Q7.
Thankfully I can think and say what I like euro, and so can you, however just because I happen to be female doesn't mean you can try to belittle my views, which you appear to have a habit of doing, not only on this forum, but on others as well!! :O(
Always a winner this one, really gets the LR owners going, the idea that their beloved car is unreliable indeed!
You'd think some one had slandered their mother or commited some equally dastardly offence; it's only a car folks.
Funny though, there's never any angry posts on here about Mercs,Beemers,Toyotas or Hondas messing up; wonder why that is?
But seriously, give em a break, be nice to Landy owners in 2009, they are vanners too.
You'd think some one had slandered their mother or commited some equally dastardly offence; it's only a car folks.
Funny though, there's never any angry posts on here about Mercs,Beemers,Toyotas or Hondas messing up; wonder why that is?
But seriously, give em a break, be nice to Landy owners in 2009, they are vanners too.
Glenns comments are very right , you can get rogue cars in any brand.
I happen to disagree with euro because I deal with cars when they breakdown and my knowledge of 20+ years in my job simply says they are no worse than any other brand.
I'm not a landrover fanatic , in fact I would say I'm a Merc nut , and I would have pawned the dog for a Merc. At the momnent my LR fits my needs and does the job I need it to do and reliably.
I've had no faults on 4 LRs in the last 3 or 4 years and know of at least 5 other people who are the same. If that means we're lucky then we're lucky and I'll take that.
I happen to disagree with euro because I deal with cars when they breakdown and my knowledge of 20+ years in my job simply says they are no worse than any other brand.
I'm not a landrover fanatic , in fact I would say I'm a Merc nut , and I would have pawned the dog for a Merc. At the momnent my LR fits my needs and does the job I need it to do and reliably.
I've had no faults on 4 LRs in the last 3 or 4 years and know of at least 5 other people who are the same. If that means we're lucky then we're lucky and I'll take that.
With respect Wendy, but you try to say that I'm trying to stop people making there own choice.
What I'm saying is, look at the reliablity and build quality history of Land Rover and take a look at the wider reports on current Land Rovers.
Yes "you can say what you want" and I'm VERY pleased that you do, but please don't deny the facts from across Land Rovers markets that they still turn out plenty of problem cars. If all the cars were as good as you report, they would have 4x4 markets sewn up and trade in prices would be top dollar and they would not now be in the hands of Tata after years of rocky performance and being off loaded by both Ford and BMW
What I and others have experienced from Land Rover and many still experience has nothing to do with you being a Lady.
We also have the first hand experience of a new Disco 3 on hire here in the UK.
What I'm saying is, look at the reliablity and build quality history of Land Rover and take a look at the wider reports on current Land Rovers.
Yes "you can say what you want" and I'm VERY pleased that you do, but please don't deny the facts from across Land Rovers markets that they still turn out plenty of problem cars. If all the cars were as good as you report, they would have 4x4 markets sewn up and trade in prices would be top dollar and they would not now be in the hands of Tata after years of rocky performance and being off loaded by both Ford and BMW
What I and others have experienced from Land Rover and many still experience has nothing to do with you being a Lady.
We also have the first hand experience of a new Disco 3 on hire here in the UK.
Sorry but the breakdown History of LR is one of the worst, especially as it only has a smallish slice of the car market.
A UK associate in a large car hire business looked at LR for his companies hire fleet.
Reliability and Running Costs/Resale Values did not stack up when they scrutinised Disco 3 and RR.
One of our UK associates ran Disco TDI's and then a TD5 all had a string of major failures despite being kept to service schedules.
He gave up 4 years ago and changed to a trouble free Toyota for towing and then a Subaru when they stopped towing. December 2007 he took delivery of a new TD3 to use with a new caravan.
The suspension failed at the dealers on collection, and had to have a hurried reprogramming job. The car was replaced in May 2008 as it had so many problems and had to be trailerd back from near Dijon. The replacement Disco 3 got a bad trade in price against a Merc but after dealing with LR for nearly a year they had had enough.
When the Disco3 was loaded on to the break down vehicle in France the recovery driver said LR caravanners were his favourites as he gets most of his work from them.
But I should add that we do have a friend of UK family who has no trouble with Land Rover relability issues. When his Disco or Range Rover go wrong he just takes another out of stock, and he loves Land Rovers ;0(
At his Florida holiday home he has a BMW.
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