resto_d1 said:

I think you’ve a scratch to itch. Buy one

Click to expand...

Anaconda said:

To be fair I took a D4 for a test drive once, I didn't really like it much wallowed around too much for me.
Mind you I do suffer from motion sickness a bit, not usually when I am driving myself though. So maybe springs are better.
With regards to people who spend alot on a new car and then look after them, you would be surprised many don't.
Besides rather irrelevant on a 20 year old car with multiple owners.

Click to expand...

gstuart said:

Hiya

Funny enough I noticed that as well when I was looking for one

It was the same when I finally bought my D3 as it was like a boat , then after I virtually rebuilt the suspension and got it perfect the difference was like night and day

All the excessive leaning had gone and remained well planted through A/B roads

Tested a good few others where some people asked for my opinion, also drove one on coils and could really tell the difference , the air system stood out considerably better

Don’t mind admitting i felt the air suspension was very complicated when I first looked at it seeing there was so many errors on it , but after getting a decent diagnostic reader, ( gap iid ), multimeter , made up some testing equipment, gauges etc

I then slowly worked my way through it in stages step by step and at the end of the day it was a really simple system, as I disconnected one line at a time, then pressure tested them to eliminate air leaks

Then vacuum tested all the valve blocks air compressor , etc

Think now with these and other forums there is so much advice that makes ownership considerably easy and cheaper if they are prepared to do the work themselves

Otherwise as we all know they can turn into money pits if garages are involved

Sorry I’m waffling again , lol

Click to expand...

kermit_rr said:

People convert to coils because they 'know' it's too complicated to be fixed, so just put proper coils on. In reality an airbag has likely sprung a small leak

Click to expand...

kermit_rr said:

I like waffles

With maple syrup!!

Click to expand...

LetsHopeItFits said:

I've sold my 3.9L V8 Discovery 1, having owned it for quite a few years, and most of those years its been broken.
I daren't work out how much it's cost me, but if I had to guess, my total spend has to be in the 5-figure region, which is insane given I only managed 6000 miles in it, in the less than 2 year period it was running.
The problem is, I really liked it. I made some friends that I simply wouldn't have met had it not been for that big daft red brick.

A very long time ago, my parents had a manual TDV6 Discovery 3, which my mum won on ebay "by accident" having put in a low bid that happened to win. It was an early 54-plate car, up in Aberdeen if memory serves. Anyway, we kept that for several years, I learnt to drive it around the field as soon as I could see over the steering wheel and reach the pedals, sadly I couldn't drive it at 17 because insurance was £9000. It was sold as spares or repairs with a decently long and expensive MoT fail sheet, including a perpetual ABS warning light, and many other things besides. Every green oval product that any of us have ever owned has left for the last time on a flatbed or a trailer. I looked up the MoT history, and its now on over 220k miles, having done 50k between the 2019 and 2020 MoTs (smells dodgy to me, might be rung)

Anyway - I want another 4x4, something that I can take down the really tough greenlanes on the weekends, and still commute in during the week, but preferably without getting 15mpg, and not something so slow that I've aged 30 years by the time I get to wherever I'm trying to go (so virtually every really old 4x4). I don't NEED an offroader, I have no justification for one, infact, we rented a mini digger not long ago, and I pulled it up and out of the field with my low-slung, sporty Subaru on high performance summer tyres and sporty Bilstein suspension, without low range, - a 750kg twin axle trailer with a 1200kg digger on it - right at the legal limit, but it towed very well. Sure, if it was January and the ground was soaking, it might have been a problem, but then I guess we would have just driven the digger out of the field and pulled the trailer empty. I'm saying this because I'm not really prepared to compromise on the comfort/practicality/economy of running a "normal" car to have an offroader as a toy, but if I can, I'm considering trading the fun of driving very very quickly for going greenlaning.

So, is it possible to buy a Discovery 3, and not end up spending several times the value of the vehicle on repairs? I'd be very happy with the most basic spec, manual, coil springs, no extra gadgets etc. Does the locking rear diff make a big difference offroad? How can I identify if a car that I'm looking at has it fitted? Or am I better off buying a very early Discovery 4, with the 2.7L TDV6 and the manual gearbox? (The 3.0 was only ever sold with an automatic gearbox)

Or am I being daft, and if I want something that'll be reliable and cheap to maintain I should buy a Land Cruiser or a japanese pickup?

Click to expand...