Buy the best Disco you can afford and mod it yourself... my last one went from this, rust free, example



To this, which did everything I threw at it....





I do have to say the FF is better in standard form then the Disco was modded, but get an early Disco2 with TC and HDC and do the CDL mod and it should be better than the FF...

The FF is much more comfy though, and I'm getting old and like the creature comforts.... :lol:

Admin note: this post has had its images recovered from a money grabbing photo hosting site and reinstated  Pete

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2014 L405 Autobiography SDV8 4.4 Loire Blue Ebony interior
2011 L322 Vogue SE 4.4 TDV8 Baltic Blue. Parchment over Navy Interior. Sold
2012 L322 Autobiography 5.0 Supercharged Ipanema Sand, Jet Interior. Sold
2002 L322 Vogue 4.4 V8 Epson Green, Ivory over Aspen Interior (Fatty Offroader) Sold
-Click for Project Fatty off roader-

We've had 3 Discovery 2's.

A TD5 Millenium in Oxford Blue
A TD5 ES in Epsom Green
A V8 ES in Oxford Blue

The Discovery 2 in a nutshell is a Defender with a nice interior on it. When driving the Disco 2 back to back with the P38, the P38 is comfier, quieter and just a nicer place to be. They can however be problematic.

The only Discovery on the list that we had problems with was the V8. The block slipped a liner at 83k miles and needed a new engine fitted to it. After this was done the front propshaft snapped in the outside lane of the M6 near Kendal.

After doing a lot of research, it turns out that propshaft failures are a fairly common thing on the V8's. They have what Land Rover call a "Double Cardan" joint which lives right beside the catalyst for the off side bank of cylinders. This heats the joint up and cools it down every time you use the car. The joint is "sealed for life" which means that it dries the grease out and you can't lubricate it.

My car had been serviced about 10 days before this happened, there were no vibrations or warnings that it was about to let go. There was an almighty bang and all of a sudden there was no drive.

It had smashed a hole in the side of the gearbox, smashed a hole in the catalyst and it had dropped the front section of the shaft onto the carriageway. I had a nice friendly traffic cop return it to me

If I was buying another one today, the first thing I would do is remove and inspect the front propshaft very carefully so that I could stop it happening again

Unusually on my car, there were no noises, no vibrations and no warnings before it snapped which from looking on the net does seem a little uncommon

Picture overload for those interested:
















My brother in law had a TD5 ES and at 70k miles we had to weld a patch onto the chassis at the rear. That was after the engine oil pump had failed and seized the engine. The manager at the local groundscare company had a 2003 TD5 ES that on the surface looked mint. He mentioned he was selling it one day and when I enquired he told me it had failed it's MOT as the chassis was rotten. It had only done about 45k miles at the time.

That said, we covered many enjoyable miles in Disco 2's. If P38's weren't so cheap I'd probably be running a Disco 2 V8 as they are nice cars and they do what you want them to very well for the budget you can pick them up for We went to a Disco 2 from a Range Rover Classic as we moved to the TD5. The TD5 at the time was a much better engine then the 2.5 straight 6 in the P38.

David. 2002 4.6 Vogue SE - Alveston Red with Lightstone Leather
2007 Range Rover Supercharged in Java Black with Ivory Leather
2012 Range Rover 5.0 SC Autobiography in Indus Silver with Jet/Ivory Interior
2012 Range Rover 4.4 TDV8 Autobiography in Baltic Blue with Sand Interior

Also, if you buy one without you can easily add cruise control to it, you just need the binacle switch and steering switch, although this is only likely on the TD5's as I believe all the V8's came with cruise as it's the old vacuum system rather then the electronic one.

You can easily add the centre diff lock to them as well.

One other thing I read about when I had the V8 was that the mounting points for the ACE rams can rot and separate from the chassis.

Just seems to be a case of going over it with a tooth comb and making sure you get a good one

David. 2002 4.6 Vogue SE - Alveston Red with Lightstone Leather
2007 Range Rover Supercharged in Java Black with Ivory Leather
2012 Range Rover 5.0 SC Autobiography in Indus Silver with Jet/Ivory Interior
2012 Range Rover 4.4 TDV8 Autobiography in Baltic Blue with Sand Interior

"You can easily add the centre diff lock to them as well."

Depends on the year. Some of the early Facelifts didn't have the gubbins so it would mean changing the transfer box.

You can check if the transfer box has the "knuckle" on it when it has the diff lock. John
2008 Stornoway Grey 3.6 Tdv8 Vogue
2005 TD6 Java Black Vogue - Written off!!
GAP iiD BT
2003 Discovery TD5 Auto, Nanocom Evolution - gone to a new home!
MasseyFerguson 152 - No electronics!! - Sold

Thanks for clarifying that Weegie.

Both of our 2000's had it but we never bothered to add it to the 2003.

David. 2002 4.6 Vogue SE - Alveston Red with Lightstone Leather
2007 Range Rover Supercharged in Java Black with Ivory Leather
2012 Range Rover 5.0 SC Autobiography in Indus Silver with Jet/Ivory Interior
2012 Range Rover 4.4 TDV8 Autobiography in Baltic Blue with Sand Interior

I am just donning my flame suits(!)

If it were me, and yes i am in the same situation almost as you Adam,
i wouldn't go near an LR product.

What i'm looking at and going for is in your budget but is better as standard than the disco's, a decent wedge lighter and upgrade parts as well as parts in general are pretty dam cheap. Also they aren't as stolen as LR's in general, but then i dont think many cars quite rate as highly as a Defender anyway...

The vehicle im looking at has the following,

No traction control,
ABS
full leather with heated front
Climate control
Cruise control
Limited slip front and rear diffs as well as locking centre diff with low range
Automatic
1.7ton weight
decent boot size for shoots and general cr@p
lazy torquey V8 engine
no fancy elelectronics bar a radio with steering wheel controls
much lower CoG compared to the disco's
Hold their value really well

Can you guess what it is yet?
and MR HALWORTH... No hints or such for the others please :p FFRR MY06 facelift With TDV8 Alloys Zeros/ATR's
Mantec Sump Guard, Rigid Load liner, MY10 BT upgrade.

V8 WJ Grand Cherokee ?

That was my 1st thought (given Will likes his Jeep'eez) GONE 2010 Facelifted 3.6 TDV8 - Stornoway Grey + 22" Overfinch Olympus
HAVE 1999 Discovery 2 GS 4.0 V8 - Silver - Off Road Toy
GONE 2013 L405 4.4 SDV8 Vogue. Black with Silver roofline and 22" s
HAVE 2015 Jaguar XF.

I'm quite fancying one. Seems a lot of car for the money, and good off road capabilities.

I've looked at Discos in that price range, maybe I've just been unlucky, but not yet found one with a good rear chassis

Will,

I've said it before and I'll say it again... You need help.

Those Heeps are horrid looking things and are just miserable. 2002 4.6 Vogue SE - Alveston Red with Lightstone Leather
2007 Range Rover Supercharged in Java Black with Ivory Leather
2012 Range Rover 5.0 SC Autobiography in Indus Silver with Jet/Ivory Interior
2012 Range Rover 4.4 TDV8 Autobiography in Baltic Blue with Sand Interior

Indeed but... You need the overland editions not the limiteds as they get the upgraded parts and a better stronger engine, skid plates and even cheap kinda sill plates as well  FFRR MY06 facelift With TDV8 Alloys Zeros/ATR's
Mantec Sump Guard, Rigid Load liner, MY10 BT upgrade.

I don't like them per se, interior is far from what we can luxury in our FF's and they are lower, but bang pee buck and noise... Much much cheapness for them and as numbers of semi decent ones get lower they will hold even more money. FFRR MY06 facelift With TDV8 Alloys Zeros/ATR's
Mantec Sump Guard, Rigid Load liner, MY10 BT upgrade.

I always need help but saying a jeep is ugly compared to a disco1/2... That's a bit like saying a slug is quicker than a snail as it has no shell lol FFRR MY06 facelift With TDV8 Alloys Zeros/ATR's
Mantec Sump Guard, Rigid Load liner, MY10 BT upgrade.

^

Will gets awfully defensive when you say anything bad about a Heep. He's really got the bug badly. He's even selling his FF to replace it with one.  2002 4.6 Vogue SE - Alveston Red with Lightstone Leather
2007 Range Rover Supercharged in Java Black with Ivory Leather
2012 Range Rover 5.0 SC Autobiography in Indus Silver with Jet/Ivory Interior
2012 Range Rover 4.4 TDV8 Autobiography in Baltic Blue with Sand Interior