land rover discovery 02

[chumba1]

any help and advice on a disco bad or good ?????????????????

recently went to look at a 03 2.7 diesal terrano as we`d had one of these before and it was a good towcar.at the sellers he was also selling a 02 disco serengeti.its done 135.000 but has a list of receipts 2inch thick etc all from main dealer fsh and is very clean and well looked after(it has the bmw engine).we thought it looked great till i went on the what car website to do a bit of research and read owners reviews and it really dissappointed me as it looks a great car.

aare they really that bad ????

 

[emmerson2]

No lee, they're not! The trouble is that we don't get to here about the good ones. After all, good news doesn't sell newspapers, does it? Yes, they've had problems, but so does every other make, but Land Rovers are 4x4, and we all know what the do-gooders want to do with them! (no, Moddy, I don't want to rekindle the 4x4 debate); just stating facts.

 

[emmerson2]

Just another point, lee, would the Disco have done that huge mileage if it had been a bad one?

 

[cliff_5040076]

Unfortunately you cannot tell a great car by its looks.

135,000 miles is a high mileage in 4 years, someone else has had the best of the vehicle and you will most likely get the worst and all the bills that go with it.

Personally I wouldn't even consider a vehicle with that high a mileage, its just asking for trouble.

As emmerson said, they have had their problems and your research has forewarned you.

I can't remember reading such negative comments about the Terrano.

Stick with the Nissan, they have a reputation for reliability.

 

[Allyson]

Hi Lee

We have the Serengeti 03 Td4, excellant in towing our new Bailey series 6 Burgundy, we don't know it's on the back.

However do not touch the petrol version.

I read up about these 4x4's before I bought this one and they said that they blow the head gaskets.

~Even the guy who fitted our tow bar said it's a diesel it will pull anything. He hates to put tow bars on the petrol because people are asking for trouble.

 

[cris_408518]

What were the receipts for? If it wa sjust normal servicing it may be a good one.

135000 miles is not actually that great a mileage compared to a lot of working cars. If it has anything bar normal servicing parts it's not that clever.

 

[sparkes]

Lee

Its just run in and is good for that amount of miles again. AS LONG as it has had regular services.

Couple of suggestions.

If it has not got ACE it will wallow a bit around corners

IT WILL pull anything you stick behind it

Mine is good on fuel when towing and is over 80,000 miles

It will be reliable as long as you service it regulary

Over 70% of all landrovers ever built are still on the road today...

Also

Its big, Comphy and winds up the green brigade. What more do you want??

 

[Stephen_5122599]

Hi Lee,

Talk to anyone in the trade and you will get a mixed reply, a good disco is hard to beat, unfortunately there are a lot of not so good ones around. Last Summer i seriously considered buying a series 2 Disco but a quick look at the Auto trader website showed an unusual amount of them with new engines, new cylider heads, new gearboxes and new transfer boxes. There is a whole industry of Land Rover specialists in this country who appear to make a good living maintaining these vehicles. How many dedicated Japanese 4x4 specialists are there? not so many I suspect as they do not create as much work. When I posed a similar question on this website it drew a raft of replies and I must say the majority were not in favour of the Disco due to reliabilty.

I ended up buying a 2001 Shogun 3.2 did, it's an awsome towcar, very reliable and more economical than the Terrano which I also considered.

I must admit I do love the look of the Discovery and would love to be patriotic, but I could not live with the fact that an expensive failure could be waiting to happen .

 

[chumba1]

thanks everyone for your advice

 

[clivea]

Hi,

I hada 2000 TD5 XS manual diesel but at 76000 miles in 4 years I had to let it go. It had several problems which were quite serious and too many niggles. The main problems were cylinder head gasket leak requiring head machining, power steering cylinder replaced, radiator replaced, (probaly due to over pressuer from the leaking head gasket) alternator replaced, heated screen replaced and synchro went on 2nd and 3rd gears. It was a lovely car and a great tug with FLRSH, but eventually I could not see the sense of paying out for repairs when I could not see the end of it. It was the most unreliable car I have had. I then bought a 2004 Sorento diesel auto which is a good tow car and has given no trouble at all, but its load capacity is less than the Disco.

The choice is yours.

Other Clive