Thinking about buying a discovery. What's gives?

[beags86]

Hello all. I will make this short. Long time chevy guy so I know nothing about these things. Wife crashed her car. Got some money to spend. I am finding a ton of discoverys cheap on craigslist. 2500-4500$ for 95's though 05's.
this is intriguing to me. what gives with these prices? They just don't hold there value or what?

Also finding a ton of projects. Are these not reliable or what.
This would be the main daily driver for my wife and need it to run and drive every single day.
I maintain my stuff very well so that's not a issue for me.
But it just seams they have a lot of problems. Am I wrong here or missing something.

Educate me. Thanks.

 

[mpinco]

Hmmmmm ............. Denver hey?

The achilles heal of the Discovery I (95-99)/II was the Buick aluminum block engine. Head gaskets were a common problem. If overheated, slipped liners. Many owners are clueless idiots who drive a vehicle until it leaves then on the side of the road and they wonder why. I suspect low/no maintenance has killed many a Rover.

Some history and a very good source of knowledge and product:

Buick/Olds/Rover 215 cubic-inch (3.5 liters) V-8 motor

Others may disagree but the best year is 97/98. I have a 98 and it is a DD. Did have to tear off front end to replace gasket leaking coolant. Since I had to go that far, did a cam and top end gasket set from DD, with ARP studs. No more issues.

As for axles, if you have ever worked on IH Scouts they are virtually the same, except for swivel.


The biggest challenge is finding one that the DPO hasn't ruined the block.

 

[Drover]

Haha, need it to start everyday and be reliable? Your in the wrong forum. Go to the fj80 land cruiser forum! :-D
I say that in jest. Obviously by my user name , I'm a rover nut. I've completely disassembled the whole vehicle and rebuilt it, including a brand new engine! That way I know everything is a 100%. Mine is a daily driver, and I can't imagine driving anything else!

As the previous post stated, it's prior ownership that is the plague of these vehicles! Remember the demographic! Most were owned by wealthy soccer moms who don't necessarily put preventive vehicle maintenance high on their "to do" list. As you stated maintenance isnt an issue with you , and you seem comfortable under the hood. You should be fine, just be careful when buying.

And to answer your other question, yes they don't hold there value for ********!!! I bought my 04' d2 for $2,800, if that was a Toyota LC it would have been $16,000!!

But to be honest, I have both. I also own a 97' fj80 , and my rover will out wheel it any day!! I trust my rover more than my fj80, mostly because I know that every nut and bolt on the whole vehicle is a 100%

 

[roverrocks]

Hello all. I will make this short. Long time chevy guy so I know nothing about these things. Wife crashed her car. Got some money to spend. I am finding a ton of discoverys cheap on craigslist. 2500-4500$ for 95's though 05's.
this is intriguing to me. what gives with these prices? They just don't hold there value or what?

Also finding a ton of projects. Are these not reliable or what.
This would be the main daily driver for my wife and need it to run and drive every single day.
I maintain my stuff very well so that's not a issue for me.
But it just seams they have a lot of problems. Am I wrong here or missing something.

Educate me. Thanks.

Take two Tylenol and a cold shower. All things pass. This URGE will pass with serious immediate treatment.

 

[454]

Don't be in a hurry. Be picky. Maintenance records are key; the more, the better. None of them like to be run hot. The pre-'03 trucks seem to be better about heads, though. Avoid someone else's project. A genuinely rust-free truck is gold, or more golden anyway.

I'd recommend the cleanest '96-'99 Discovery 1 you can find.

 

[pugslyyy]

As has been said, the heads (and cooling system) are the issue here. The good news is that once you redo the heads you rarely have to mess with it again - the stock engine uses steel shim gaskets, but a rebuild will have composite gaskets that hold up better.

When shopping find out whether the heads have been done, and if not budget accordingly. If you are handy you can do the heads fairly inexpensively - it's not rocket science just a lot of labor bolting and unbolting stuff.

 

[roverandom]

They are so cheap because they are perceived as being "British", Fully loaded with electrics that will fail, have a very poor build quality, questionable reliability, get poor MPG, need expensive parts, be difficult to work on, not old enough to be cool and not new enough to impress the neighbours.

The crappy MPG is true but the rest is really down to the owner. If you can wrench on a Chevy you can wrench on a Land Rover. Basic electronics, pushrod V8, body on frame construction, live axles, disc brakes......simple. and parts don't need to be expensive.

Other than it's all conquering off road abilities the number one best thing about Land Rover ownership is the LR community. Besides all the clubs out there will to lend a hand the internet is full of tips, repairs and solutions for anything that has to do with Land Rovers.......ANYTHING that can go wrong has been identified, solved and documented at least a dozen times.

my 2c

 

[optimusprime]

The biggest problem with Land Rovers is the lack of maintenance from day one.
I've had series, defender 110 and Disco 200tdi, they all had issues, but nothing major,(apart from the Disco, but that was my fault,so i can't blame the truck)

Biggest problem is the 'nut' behind the wheel. ( and the fact Land Rovers entire design budget for the Disco was probably what Toyota spent on designing its interior ...)
Over this side of the pond,they used to have a reputation as being unbreakable and able to go anywhere,so you'd get people buying one, take it straight to an off rd place,point it at the biggest hill/mud hole/rock etc etc ... 'its a land rover it'll do it' type attitude,never maintain it cos ' its an landy' ...... so 2 or 3 owners down the line you've inherited a whole load of issues.

I knew every nut and bolt on my old 110,it was uncomfortable to do long distances in,turning circle to rival a tanker and noisy,the disco was comfortable,easier to drive and had decent heating and cooling ....... but guess which i preferred to own ..... yep the 110 any day.
Land Rover ownership is heart ruling over head.

Maintenance Maintenance Maintenance. Its all about Maintenance.

 

[Colorado David]

One thing to keep in mind is that most Discoveries are now worked on by their owners and those owners go to the internet forums to find answers. So, when you look at a Land Rover forum, you find discussions about problems. One could get the idea that Discoveries are nothing but problems. They do require maintenance and attention, but so do other vehicles. Discovery I vehicles are now all between 15 and 20 years old. All Discovery II vehicles are all between 10 and 15 years old. There are bound to be some mechanical issues that should be dealt with. That doesn't mean they are all as bad as pop culture would have you believe. If you want to buy a car that you can drive without thinking much about, buy a Toyota or a Honda. But if you want a tremendous off-road capable vehicle and can do some work and research, don't be afraid of the Rover. Flush the cooling system regularly and use the green antifreeze. Replace the thermostat with the 180 degree t-stat. Change the oil religiously on schedule. Rebuild the front prop shaft with greaseable u-joints and keep up with them. Don't let it overheat. Watch the brittle old plastic lines in the vacuum system and the cooling system and fix them as soon as you discover a problem. There are a lot of good internet resources when you do run into a problem.

 

[roverandom]

20 year old Honda and Toyota vehicles have the same issues. I don't know why everyone thinks they are so great. The only difference is the Japanese units rust away faster.
The best built import 4wd were the second gen Isuzu Troopers, but they rust badly as well.

You pays your money you takes your choice.


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[sedat]

Pick the problems you want to deal with.
I've owned 57 cars. they all break. even the newest being an 07' model.

I stick to rovers for a reason.

 

[beags86]

Thanks for the input guys. Pretty much the answers I thought I was going to get. Mind you my daily drive truck is 20 plus years old. my normal trail only wheeler is 30 plus years old. I have completely restored a number of cars and trucks over my day. I am a standard issue "car guy" none of this scares me. Just looking for some of the known issues to go shopping. As far as the PO things. Yeah I get that. Currently my oldest car is a 49' lol you never know what you will find with this stuff. Thanks.

 

[Rubicon John]

As the OP, I've been researching and looking at a Discovery for a 3rd vehicle project to my jeeps. I've always wanted a Land Rover and will have one hopefully before I kick it!

I've been to the plate to buy a LR 3 times in 20 years, and for one reason or another, I ended up not getting one. They were incredible too--I nearly bought a white D90 back in 1997 before prices went nuts (would have been an even-up trade for my then brand new 97 TJ Sport--still kicking myself over this one!!!), I came close to going home with an old military Series truck (cool canvas tops front and back with the tire mounted on the hood--just not practical for DD), and then a late 80's Classic RR in white (I have a thing for white safari style vehicles, it's really more of an illness). :snorkel::safari-rig:

As I do all of my own work and refuse to give up my keys to any other "mechanic" (with the exception of the annual inspection here in PA), I'm sure that maintaining one wouldn't be an issue for me. However, I'm still wary about buying someone else's project that went off the rails.

From reading earlier posts about original owners not wrenching and ignoring maintenance, it makes a lot of sense. The typical first time LR buyer (not you guys) are like BMW/Lexus SUV soccer moms. When one little gizmo acts up, they freak out and it's now the worst vehicle they've ever owned. It's not like the truck left them stranded in the mall parking lot or at Starbucks. I see this all the time in the jeep world too. These same clowns buy a JKU and whine that it's not comfortable, it's too noisy, there's no latte warmer. :coffeedrink:

I will ask you about the 2002 model, tonight's search on Cars, Autotrader, and Craigslist (especially in the Allentown / Philly area) showed that people are ditching their 2002 Discos at an alarming rate--what's up with this???

 

[pugslyyy]

I will ask you about the 2002 model, tonight's search on Cars, Autotrader, and Craigslist (especially in the Allentown / Philly area) showed that people are ditching their 2002 Discos at an alarming rate--what's up with this???

No idea - but if I were to buy a late model Disco 2 it would have to be the 2004.

 

[Rovertrader]

some of the '02s don't have the T-case nipple for CDL, and the '03-'04 got 4.6, though avoid '03 for sure. "04 D-II got 4.6, new headlights, and above all- CDL.