looking at both discoverys and defenders,, i know they are a world apart but have a few simple questions for mainly people who have had both,, with the same engine either 200 300 or td5 how much worse on fuel is discovery due to extra weight...? and if i dont mind the slowly slowly approch to driving whats the top speed on a n/a 2.5 defender... i really fancy 2.5 n/a ex mod because of the simlpicity of everything,

This has been done a lot Do a search and you will find the grate debate on them.

Discovery is likely to be better on fuel because of the much higher gearing in the transfer box. defender has more low end grunt - good for towing. 2.5na is very slow. can do over 70 with a fair wind but it can't maintain it on even the slightest upward gradient. you'll always be wanting it to go faster. brilliant for off roading at low speed in low box though. they do have problems with piston ring wear.

i own a range rover, owned a disco,and test drove various defenders

advice would eb to drive them, an na defender..sod that, a 200tdi would be much better, bit more power and zippy, i enjoyed the drives in them, na is an old engine , i gave up the search trying to find a nice defender for reasonable money, you can buy a nice disco for 2-2.5k , ES are a nice model, but they are so different...a disco is a road fairing version of a defender with the comfort, do you need that, or do you need the work like use of a defender without the comfort, because defenders are not too comfortable to drive, especialy if your doing a lot of road/motorway miles

if its mainly road, with odd bit of off road, disco
mainly work and off road with bit of road, defender