manwithsupra

manwithsupra

New Member
Hi All,

First of all Hi all this looks like a nice freindly busy forum :D

My name is Richard from Hampshire and I have been looking at getting a 4x4 for a little while now. Initally I was looking at a 4x4 Pickup such as the Navara, L200 and Hiliux etc, but as these dont actually seem to be much good for towing so I am now looking at the Land Rover Disco...and I have ended up here :) Awesome!!

I need to get some tips on purchasing a Disco, which ones to consider, what to look out for, Pitfalls, parts costs, reliability issues etc.

My Payload will be a trailer which will be around 2100kg's (braked)

Now... My budget.. put it bluntly it is not very big! The reason is that its only going to be used for towing the car to tracks (maybe a little green laning in the winter :)) so we are looking between the £3k-5k mark. I am not sure if that is too low but I have seen some sub 90k mile TD Discos for around that price.

I hope that some of you can help me, Hope to be an actual owner soon...;)
Right... off to browse this lovely forum.

Richard..
 
Welcome

You won't get better advice anywhere else.

Mind you, you won't get the **** taken any better anywhere else either.
 
manwithsupra said:
Thank you for the nice welcome :) is there a buying guide on here for the disco?
Click to expand...

firstly :welcome: second the buying guide is fairly defunct for the disco they are all rusty and some of em are broken too, but thats nowt that cant be welded or fixed with some basic knowledge.


I love my rust bucket, once bought you will be hooked, good luck finding one;):)
 
DiscoPol said:
firstly :welcome: second the buying guide is fairly defunct for the disco they are all rusty and some of em are broken too, but thats nowt that cant be welded or fixed with some basic knowledge.


I love my rust bucket, once bought you will be hooked, good luck finding one;):)
Click to expand...

Cheers for the welcome :)
Lol fair enough about a buying guide.

Before I go and look at some is there anything in particular that I should be scouting the history for, like checking to see if the parts that usually go wrong have been replaced etc.

I am not too bothered about condition as it will be workhorse, but I want to make sure I know what areas to check which may have issues as I want a reliable workhorse and not a nag lol
 
manwithsupra said:
Cheers for the welcome :)
Lol fair enough about a buying guide.

Before I go and look at some is there anything in particular that I should be scouting the history for, like checking to see if the parts that usually go wrong have been replaced etc.

I am not too bothered about condition as it will be workhorse, but I want to make sure I know what areas to check which may have issues as I want a reliable workhorse and not a nag lol
Click to expand...

lift the boot carpet and see if its had a new boot floor, what age you looking at? i would recommend a 96-99 300tdi but then i have one and i like it, simpler than the td5 and less prone to engine issues, other than that drive it and listen for clunks from the drive train, make sure it pulls up in a straight line and get it up to cruising speed so you can check out the "death wobble" have a search round this place there is plenty of info, im sure others will be along to give you a bit more info soon enough.
 
Highest spec TD5 you can afford.

Self Leveling Suspension (SLS) can be problematic but worth it.

Active Corner Enhancement (ACE) another pain but makes it drive so much better.

As mentioned look for rust, anywhere and everywhere.

I have a D1 V8 and a D2 TD5.

For towing and road use the TD5 is miles better. If you can find a later model there meant to be better mines an early one and has had its fair share of problems.
 
loudandproud205 said:
Highest spec TD5 you can afford.

Self Leveling Suspension (SLS) can be problematic but worth it.

Active Corner Enhancement (ACE) another pain but makes it drive so much better.

As mentioned look for rust, anywhere and everywhere.

I have a D1 V8 and a D2 TD5.

For towing and road use the TD5 is miles better. If you can find a later model there meant to be better mines an early one and has had its fair share of problems.
Click to expand...

he said he wanted a work horse, surely a Tdeeeee5 would just cost more WHEN it has problems, a good late model 300 tdi is an easy fix and parts are dirt cheap. IMHO
 
His not looking at Defenders so that tells me its going to spend nearly all its life on the road, the extra grunt in a TD5 with the SLS will make it so much better to tow with.

When ever I have to tow anything I pick the TD5 over the D1. Even thou the D1 is a later 3.9 V8 ES so its well specced, the TD5 just does the job so much better.

Yeah they can be problematic but the TD5 does make the D1 feel a bit agricultural in comparison.

History is likely to be better on a D2 and if stuff like the ACE and SLS has already been done then its something that shouldn't need looking in to that soon.
 
loudandproud205 said:
His not looking at Defenders so that tells me its going to spend nearly all its life on the road, the extra grunt in a TD5 with the SLS will make it so much better to tow with.

When ever I have to tow anything I pick the TD5 over the D1. Even thou the D1 is a later 3.9 V8 ES so its well specced, the TD5 just does the job so much better.

Yeah they can be problematic but the TD5 does make the D1 feel a bit agricultural in comparison.

History is likely to be better on a D2 and if stuff like the ACE and SLS has already been done then its something that shouldn't need looking in to that soon.
Click to expand...

I was on about a late D1 300tdi disco, cheap and easy to fix, work horse is the operative word im looking at here, if its gonna be a daily driver and family car too then yes a td5 but as a basic tow car and work horse a cheap 300tdi disco will do the job nicely, the D1 is a decent enough cruiser if you arent looking for stellar speed, but then its a Landy, its not made for stellarspeed, its made to work and pull things whilst having the ability to go just about anywhere.
 
Sorry for the delay on replying.
My broadband is not working at the moment so this is the first time I have managed to get back on here and post.

I am thinking of getting a 300, there seems to be a good number of used ones around the area I live, however some are manual and some are automatic. Is there any reason why you would choose one over the other and are there any inherit issues with using say an Auto over a manual?

For those who wanted to see my Race car here it is...

577786_393885360686113_891796469_n.jpg


578305_438391062902209_1275116864_n.jpg
 
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Hi! That is a loooovely car! I've got a 90 300, had to help my mate out to tow his boat, really did well, needed low box to get up the slipway mind, but the rest was smooth towing! I am thinking of getting a disco now though, i heart the TD5's are rather monstrous once tuned a bit...?? and you look like the kinda guy that dont like things standard...
 
a good disco td5 will be miles better for what you want, my mate has one and its a much more pleasing ride if you like comfort and drivability on the road compared to my stripped out disco 1 which is a bit of a chore on a long journey
 
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