Buying Land Rover Discovery

[MrFluffy]

Ive had my 90 for 15 years now I think, and it replaced a shogun. And I think land rovers are rubbish and everyone should buy a shogun instead.
Everyone except me that is, then I can hoard them myself

 

[Rannsachair]

Some good advice on disco's. I had a D2, but always hankered after a Defender when I had it. I have also tried a Jeep Cherokee 4 litre LTD, quite fun to drive, but expensive, at 60k and under 5 years old, i had to replace all springs, shocks, suspension rubbers, deal with rust holes in the roof and a massive rust hole behind the exhaust through the floor, sort LSD noise and autobox had intermittent faults. Towing my boat I could get 12 mpg too - so never again.

Been driving a TD5 Defender for almost 12 years now, just getting rebuilt with a galvy chassis, bulkhead plus almost everything else that could be galvanised and hope to have it for another 20 years, parts are cheap and fun to work on

 

[Rannsachair]

part of the issue with the XJs here was they weren't sold as long as they were in the states so the part supply was much less, plus they cost about 3 to 6 times more here new

hard on fuel if going round the doors but not overly terrible if your crusing I filled the one I was driving in Canada, went to Toronto and back (return journey at warp speed...someone else driving) (2-3 hours drive each way) and ran to town and back a few times before the red light came on

Aye, I could get near enough 100 ltrs into the tank, which helps the range a bit.....http://go.jeep-xj.info/HowtoFuelTank.htm

 

[HopefullySoon]

Why does land rover do different from the others to have the 3.5ton capacity?

By making the driving position (unless your a midget) as uncomfortable as designably possible .

Malc

 

[owas]

By making the driving position (unless your a midget) as uncomfortable as designably possible .

Malc

Im only 5'8 so i find it ok

 

[MrFluffy]

By making the driving position (unless your a midget) as uncomfortable as designably possible .

Malc

6'3 here. Land rovers are rubbish as stated earlier

 

[Rannsachair]

By making the driving position (unless your a midget) as uncomfortable as designably possible .

Malc

and I am only 6'3 and fit fine in a Defender. Though I learned to drive in a real mini and used to run a Morris 8 then a Minor, so compared to them it is great

 

[HopefullySoon]

Im only 5'8 so i find it ok

I'm 6ft

My mrs always said those four inches make a difference lol

Malc

 

[HopefullySoon]

and I am only 6'3 and fit fine in a Defender. Though I learned to drive in a real mini and used to run a Morris 8 then a Minor, so compared to them it is great

How can I ask

The only position (only ever driven a works defender ) I get semi comfy in is legs akimbo either side of the wheel vitrually where I hold it ... And the drivers window down no matter what the weathers like rain hail or snow as it's the only place for my right elbow to go .

But that said I've come to the conclusion while there may be a sweet spot in welding ... For me and land rovers there isn't ... Aside from me watching ppl weld them ... If we were all the same the world world be a starange place

Malc

 

[Rannsachair]

How can I ask

The only position (only ever driven a works defender ) I get semi comfy in is legs akimbo either side of the wheel vitrually where I hold it ... And the drivers window down no matter what the weathers like rain hail or snow as it's the only place for my right elbow to go .

But that said I've come to the conclusion while there may be a sweet spot in welding ... For me and land rovers there isn't ... Aside from me watching ppl weld them ... If we were all the same the world world be a starange place

Malc

Mine has no bulkhead behind the drivers seat, it has a tubular bar which means you can get a bit more legroom.

 

[julianf]

I'm 6 foot ish. Web have a disco, a defender 110 (that I have driven before I took it apart!) and a 101 fc.

The defender 110s allow the seat to go back, I'm told, further than the 90s. Either way, I find it no less comfortable than the disco.

The 101 was pretty nasty, until I changed the seats. But that's always going to take some, umm, dedication to drive anyhow, so its not really relevant.

 

[reb78]

I'm 6ft and regularly do 500+ miles per week in my 27 year old 110! It does have comfy range rover classic seats fitted though, along with an overdrive.

 

[MrFluffy]

Someone I knew in real life was trotting this line out on facebook a while back and while rubbishing defender's complaining that he could only change gear with the window wound down as they were so tiny for bigger people like him, I pointed out to him he'd only ever driven a defender once about 20 years ago, your gear change arm always points into the interior regardless if its lhd or rhd so having to open the window itself is nonsense and my daily is a 90 and I'm taller than him and built like a 6'3 mountain troll.

As julian says, the 101 is much more compact feeling than a 90 and there's naysayers who say if your over 5'9 you wont be able to drive it, but although I've not had that much chance to actually drive mine, what little I did, I managed by setting the seat as far back as it went. When I was driving it, I was far too occupied with the experience of trying to make it go where I wanted with the worlds silliest grin on my face to worry about if it felt comfy and refined or not, and to be fair, not feeling refined has more than a little to do with its charisma. The fact that I still have it and am rebuilding it even after it tried to bain marie me and I wrecked the cab hitting a concrete pillar should tell you that I enjoyed the experience and plan on repeating it, though maybe not the lobster bit.

Its a landrover thing. You either get it, and moan about the odd thing falling off and rust destroying your disco from the inside out like everyone warns you it would but saving a bunch over buying a defender and get to not feel guilty if you wreck it, find a cheap defender (they do exist, though much rarer nowadays) and grumble about oil leaks, or you get a shogun/landcruiser etc and spend your time between saving up for overpriced parts being anti landrover every time someone mentions them on a forum because you don't understand how so many people could like them so much even though theyre clearly not as good as your perfect marque.

 

[dobbslc]

NOW BREATHE!