Disco as first vehicle..??

[BIGdaddy]

sorry dude, I've got three daughters, and there's no way they're getting a land rover when they're 16:

1. they're just learning, and will likely hit things (I'm thinking volvo, 2wd chevy pickup, or old american iron for this purpose..haha)

2. they're gonna flog that sucker, no matter how nicely I THINK they're driving, and as such any vehicle WILL be under the "strenuous/arduous conditions" service schedule.

3. I believe a car is an appliance, not a status symbol

4. If they want to choose 4x4'ing as a hobby, they need to prove to me
they are good drivers, get a job, sell the volvo or honda they are given
and start building/maintaining the jeep//fj80/Disco themselves.

You are obviously teaching your kids something different, but I thought I'd post up my perspective anyways.

-Brian

 

[muskyman]

,My daughter is 12 and one of her goals is to learn to drive the suzuki this summer.

She will be driving in 4 short years and in all likelyhood she will be driving the 95 RRC we have right now as her first car.

It has dual airbags and a full frame as well as a good anti lock and traction control system.

I feel she will be real safe in it and if she was to have a accident they are well known for being able to take a real good ********** and still have everyone walk away.

The gas mileage thing is really not a big issue as teenagers are normally pretty close to home.

Putting her in a honda or some other compact would have me much more worried and I see dead teenagers on the news wrapped around trees in little compacts all the time on the morning news.

I dont care about crash tests I care about what I see when I am walking through junk yards.

The small unibody cars almost always have compromised occupant areas where the full frame suv's have a smashed corner or a crushed A pillar but for the most part are still intact.

People can do what ever they want, I would have no problem picking a cheap DII as a first car for my child. Mine road in a DII from the time she was a toddler every single day of her life, why would I stop trusting one now?

 

[Gore Ranger]

I wouldn't buy it as a first car for a kid due to how expensive it's going to be to maintain. It's not just oil changes that it's going to need. A rover at 90K miles is going to need a lot of routine maintenance, plus probably head gaskets soon. Unless you do ALL the work yourself, you will easily spend more on maintenance than you paid for the truck. Even doing the work yourself isn't cheap since parts are expensive.

I'd get a Subaru (or maybe a Honda/Toyota) if I had a kid, but then again, my wife and I both drive Subarus

 

[muskyman]

I wouldn't buy it as a first car for a kid due to how expensive it's going to be to maintain. It's not just oil changes that it's going to need. A rover at 90K miles is going to need a lot of routine maintenance, plus probably head gaskets soon. Unless you do ALL the work yourself, you will easily spend more on maintenance than you paid for the truck. Even doing the work yourself isn't cheap since parts are expensive.

I'd get a Subaru (or maybe a Honda/Toyota) if I had a kid, but then again, my wife and I both drive Subarus

sounds good but really is not the case.

Lots of Subaru's need head gaskets at about 140000 miles.

If you dont believe me I can show you a shop in wisconsin that does them day in and day out for the US mail subaru's up there. They get a small leak that just keeps dripping. The motor needs to come out to do them as well so often they get a torque convertor as well at the same time because those go bad at about 150K

the parts for them are really pretty similar to rovers.

My parents have driven subaru's for 25 years now and currently have 2. They are far from problem free and infact are very common to develope unexplained rod knocks that drive owners crazy.

Toyota...I will just let people listen to the news.

I do 100% of all my own work and work on rovers all the time. Keeping them running is actually very cheap as far as parts go. The brake parts are dirt cheap. They are actually really easy to work on. They go a long way if taken care of. I know of lots living real happy lifes still near and over 200K.

If you intend to buy one and never pop the hood then yes it would be a bad choice but to start the all to common "land rovers suck" stuff is just garbage and should be left to the toyota forums because its just not the case.

 

[Smksignals]

Check out Grand Cherokee's also. Safe, reliable, and affordable. They are very capable off road. You could add a budget boost and throw on some 31's, and she is good to go. ZJ's are 1993-1998, and the WJ is 1999-2004.

Good luck with whatever you and your daughter choose.

 

[BKCowGod]

I loved my ZJ too - if you can find a 4.0 with the selectable 2wd/AWD transfer case, it's an awesome and simple first car. Similarly, fullsize broncos are invincible and very plentiful on the used market.

One thing I learned, having so recently been 16, is that ANY car you get her is going to be driven badly and sometimes dangerously. Maybe not on purpose, but simply through inexperience. My other first car was a vintage BMW race car - one of the worst decisions my parents ever made. But I once won a race on CA17 (one of the curviest, fastest, and most dangerous routes in CA) in a 1982 Mercedes non-turbo Diesel with all of 60hp. It is possible to be stupid in any vehicle there is - I used to drift that Mercedes!

Also - if you're willing to take parenting advice from a 25 year old - make her buy her own gas. This is an amazingly effective way to ensure that she is not always volunteering to drive every single time she and her friends want to go somewhere!

 

[Root Moose]

Personally, I'd make sure whatever vehicle I bought for my child was the most reliable car possible.

To me there is nothing I hate worse than wrenching on a car that I absolutely couldn't give two shakes about.

With that as a backdrop I'm not certain a Disco is a good choice. Maybe a Series rover makes more sense from the simplicity point of view and it can be kind of be like a TJ to meet her desires while keeping in the LR camp?

$0.02

 

[FortyMileDesert]

For a kid - new driver: A used Toyota Camry....

 

[Antichrist]

Also - if you're willing to take parenting advice from a 25 year old - make her buy her own gas. This is an amazingly effective way to ensure that she is not always volunteering to drive every single time she and her friends want to go somewhere!

The first half is right, but not for the reason given. A 16 year old has absolutely no business with friends in her car. I wish more states prohibited it until they have a year or two driving experience.

My oldest is 15 next month, so it won't be long before he's driving. I'll probably give him my Discovery, but the condition is no friends in the car with him, and he does all the repairs and maintenance.

 

[Gore Ranger]

sounds good but really is not the case.

Lots of Subaru's need head gaskets at about 140000 miles.

If you dont believe me I can show you a shop in wisconsin that does them day in and day out for the US mail subaru's up there. They get a small leak that just keeps dripping. The motor needs to come out to do them as well so often they get a torque convertor as well at the same time because those go bad at about 150K

the parts for them are really pretty similar to rovers.

My parents have driven subaru's for 25 years now and currently have 2. They are far from problem free and infact are very common to develope unexplained rod knocks that drive owners crazy.

Toyota...I will just let people listen to the news.

I do 100% of all my own work and work on rovers all the time. Keeping them running is actually very cheap as far as parts go. The brake parts are dirt cheap. They are actually really easy to work on. They go a long way if taken care of. I know of lots living real happy lifes still near and over 200K.

If you intend to buy one and never pop the hood then yes it would be a bad choice but to start the all to common "land rovers suck" stuff is just garbage and should be left to the toyota forums because its just not the case.

Sorry, I didnt mean to turn it into a Subaru thread. I had never heard of the head gasket issues on Subarus, but to be honest, I really dont plan on keeping my everyday cars past 100K, probably much less. To me, the statistics do not lie: 2001 Land Rover Discovery scores pretty low on reliability rankings. Not that he wants a Subaru, but Subaru is much higher. I do not have internet sleuthing abilities to find said rankings but I am confident in stating that.

Sure, for someone with the will and knowledge it can be a great car (like yourself), but probably not for a 16 year old. I think that is what most people are saying in this thread. I love Land Rovers. I wasn't implying that Land Rovers suck. I think if he or his daughter have their hearts set on a land rover, a D1 would be a better choice, or maybe a Range Rover Classic. Still, he should be realistic about maintenance costs.

 

[SeaRubi]

I concur in thinking that a D1 would make an excellent 1st car for all of the aforementioned positive reasons. As for your parental choices and her tastes, that is beyond my ability to make comment!

My 9 year old daughter has already informed me that she will be getting a dark purple TJ with a soft top and 33's. Dad approves :ylsmoke:

 

[salve7]

A couple of opinions on what has been said so far... The high COG worries usually come form those who have never had a Discovery on a steep incline. You have to remember that the frame, axles, and engine are rather low and carry the most weight as the body of the car is aluminum. If you are on something that a Discovery can't handle then you are probably out of your league as a teen and would have problems with any vehicle.
Another point I found troublesome is the statement that at 89,000 miles it is close to its shelf life. I have seen rovers with 300,000 miles and mine are still running strong at nearly 200. Of course this depends on the PO's maintenance but there is a reason that so many Land Rovers are still on the road and not in the junkyards. Just my 2 cents and I am a roverphile but hopefully this will help in your decision.

 

[timmy!!!!!!!]

I gave my 16 year old sister my 97 Discovery as her first car and she seems to enjoy it a lot. I have some more work to do to it when I get back home (like putting the rear swaybar on) but she hasn't flipped it yet.

 

[Christophe Noel]

My 2002 DII has not been the most reliable machine, nor has it been cheap to fuel, insure or maintain. Seems like a tough go for a first car for anyone.

My first car (in 1987) was a 1972 Chevelle SS 454, so I'm not exactly advocating a Civic, but a Civic probably would have been best for me.

 

[Antichrist]

Another advantage of the D1's is that they are cheap enough that really all you need to get is liability and unisured motorists.
Not having collision, if you're very clear with her that if she wrecks it, that's it, not other car until she saves up for one, will encourage her to be more careful. And if she does wreck it, you're not out as much money.