michollock

Looking for an all wheel drive SUV for the up coming ski season. Am I out of my mind in looking at an early LR Disco? Looks like prices are around 4k for a 94 or 95 model year with around 100k miles. I am not looking to put huge amounts of miles on it. Are these thinks as unreliable as I hear? Am I going to be paying a ton to keep this thing on the road? There has got to be a good reason they are soooo cheap. Anyone ever own one have any experience with one?

newport996

Hmmm...from what I know the disco was not the most reliable car....I have had 2 Range Rovers that never left me stranded, my first was a 95 4.0 SE, my current one a 2003 HSE 4.4. The disco is not nearly as advanced, or refined as the RR...If you can move your price up, you can get a very clean 95 or so Range Rover...Those are very nice...i actually miss my 95 and have always thought I might pick one up just to run around in because they are pretty cheap.

peachboy

HAd an early 90s Range Rover that was beaten up but never let me down. Now have an '05 RR that only let me down once. In between had a 99 Disco that was a total lemon. I'm amaze that I ended up buying another Rover product after the disco. Even the mechanics at the dealer told me that they weren't the most relying thing on the road.

99firehawk

Ive worked on rovers, when their good their great but man they break alot and they are big $$$$ to fix, job security is as a land rover tech

RaceCarDriver

Don't do it. You'll spend more than $4k in repiars. I have three friends that had disco/range rovers, most unreliable cars and cost big $$$ to fix. They are selling for $4k for a reason.

mc_renn

I drive a 2000 Disco II, put on about 79,000 miles on it and is my beater surf mobile. It gets horrible gas mileage--requires premium, it takes forever to stop, it's slow as hell BUT I never had any major issues...no leaks, no electrical problems, no nothing and after driving this thing and getting into my 911 well you appreciate the Porsche so much more. I think if you get a good one your ok but there are some lemons out there...especially pre-1999, when BMW purchased them they switched over a lot of electrial and engine mangement systems to a more reliable unit.

cdodkin

Later is better - depends on budget of course.

Suggest you check out the Discovery version of this forum DISCOWEB

You'll get some excellent input from the forum there, from actual owners, rather than Porsche people who've heard this and that....

Personally - I have an 02 D2 which I use for offroading in AZ, and it's great!



I don't use it as a daily driver, so like you I don't intend to put many miles on it a year.

The 4x4 capabilities are as billed - go anywhere.

DIY lube maintenance is easy enough to do - and essential for long term vehicle health - LR are like watercooled Porsches, they have oil drip issues

Check out DISCOWEB, and I'm sure you'll be able to decide what you want to do.

Chris.

BlackCab996

I leased a 1999 - never again - luckily the vehicle was under warranty, as it was in the shop all the time. Plus, you have to replace the front brake pads every 10,000 miles. I now have a 2003 Chevy Tahe Z71 for these types of trips. It doesn't look as sexy as a LR, but I love it and it has given me zero problems. You can pick one of these up for half the original MSRP, if not less.

joes c4 cab

Check out rangerovers.net - nowhere near the traffic as this site, but some good info in the archives.

I too have a 2003 HSE and we LOVE IT. It has been in the shop once, but it is under warranty so I don't really care as long as they give me a rental car for the day.

I have read a lot about the disco because their owners are like a cult. Kinda like the 996's I guess.

If I had $4K to spend, I don't know what I would buy. A guy who works for me just bought a 96 Blazer for $4K. It is a great truck, full size, large interior, etc. But, it is still a Cheeevy.

searching4996

Don't do it, they recently won yet again as the least reliable brand sold in the US in the JD Powers long term reliability study, In short, they are the "Lexus of Un-reliability"!!

LuisGT3

I have an 03 SE7 that I purchased about 2 years ago with 25,000 miles. It now has 55,000 and it has not given me any problems knock on wood. My parents just sold a 95 with over 300,000 miles on it. They had some head gasket, tranny, electrical and water pump issues over a 10 year run. They beat the crap out of it though.

yumyum1667

It's British.....nuff said.

cdodkin

Oh please!

So is 70% of F1, Cart, etc etc all developed and built in Britain, including many 'American' single seaters, plus Ferrari, Honda, Toyota, BMW, etc etc, not to mention the Prodrive Subarus for WRX.

You'd do well to lay off your jingoistic statements, and get an informed perspective rather than one that could be mistaken for being ignorance.

Chris.

jetskied

If cost of ownership and reliability is an issue and you are looking for something cheap go with a similar year Chevy Tahoe. They are easy and cheap to fix and reliable. Also they are way more powerful then a Disco. Unless your a snob who can't be seen in a Chevy its the smarter buy.

LuisGT3

I bought mine cause I am a snob.