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Discovery desires - rot replacement


dollywobbler

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Mine's still going strong.

 

I have a three-door. It's great for extra shite points but quite impractical. Also, mine is beige/ gold, which is quite repulsive in most people's eyes- I think it suits it perfectly!!

Maintenance is everything on these. You must grease the props regularly, change the oils when necessary (there's a lot to do..) and make sure things like swivel hubs and bearings are tip-top. If all that checks out, they are really comfortable, reliable and cheap.

It doesn't matter what anyone says, but these are literally a third of the price of a Defender, and so much nicer to live with every day. Mine is 200tdi, it does 30mpg everywhere and runs on biodiesel permanently. I'd love a V8 but they a seriously thirsty and not as reliable as the diesels.

Look at as many as you can, good ones are out there but there are fifty hopeless rotters for every honest solid one.. :?

My favourite thing about them is the fact that every single school-run mum in her nasty £30k SUV looks down at you.. while anyone 'in the know' will nod at you while you're running on cheap fuel and parts cost less than a Maccy D's :lol:

 

May2013.jpg[/url]

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Aaaah I have fond memories of cruising around generally stoned in a mates first 300tdi ES, then V8 es. Happy memories of spanking along a private road at a ton watching the fuel needle drop, or bombling along the ridgeway at night when not allowed to doing a bit of greenlaning, then as the track turned from rutty forest to dust roads fucking booting it around being general hooligans!

 

Always was on my list of wants, but having had a close friend own one, I couldn't afford to run it so put it out of my mind for a fair while! Since got into shonky old citroens too, may have something to do it!

 

Forgot what the original question was, but do it!

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IMG_0659.jpg

 

^Son no.2 heading for the wrong door.Love the Disco and I wouldn't discourage anyone from getting one so I say go for it! Electrics are pretty random, one sunroof works, one doesn't, and forget about the cruise control and heated seats. Being handy with a welding torch will help coz it will need some new metal (and maybe a lot) at some point. With the 3.9 V8, we don't see any better than 16mpg in general - a long run on the motorway at 60 might see 20mpg but I wouldn't count on it. We got it to tow the caravan and it'll probably pulling anything you have off a muddy field. The real pay off is the lumpy tickover smoothing out above 1000rpm and being propelled forward on a long surge of torque with a great noise. The recent snow also showed what a capable car it is - I'm not sure I truly 'got it' until then. Pic below is where a Smart with a dodgy handbrake became attracted to the Disco on a hill. Not a mark on ours of course but the tow ball punched straight through the Smart's bumper...

 

IMG_0364.jpg

 

The road manners improved hugely when I ditched the 4 no name tyres in favour of Michelin Latitudes. Far less terrifying in the wet and if you do break something, spares are cheap and plentiful.

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As you know, an early Discovery is on my want list too, but I prefer the 3 door. I don't think there's any substitute for trawling through lots and lots of shit ones to find the one decent car.

 

I believe you can still get the side graphics, the only thing better than driving a cronky old car is driving one that looks like new

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Apart from rust, rust, rust and more rust don't forget to look for headgasket woes

6857118280_56962d3fbb.jpg

the clutch fork can break and the gearbox likes to crunch into gear.Mine's crunched into second and sometimes third for the past 40k miles.

I've retired mine for now as it needs a fair amount of work doing.I fitted an in-line fuel heater and it loved veg.Running a 3 door 300 TDi with 200k

on the clock now.

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Making the seven mile drive from my house to Wycombe, I tried to count how many Disco 1s I saw smoking about, but gave up fairly soon as there were so many of them. Some of them were in right shonky colours as well. Ox and Bucks Borders = Disco Heaven.

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Making the seven mile drive from my house to Wycombe, I tried to count how many Disco 1s I saw smoking about, but gave up fairly soon as there were so many of them. Some of them were in right shonky colours as well. Ox and Bucks Borders = Disco Heaven.

 

There are alot around here ain't there! Was driving around a field in Kingston Blount yesterday in one coincidentally!

 

200tdi, mileomiter stopped working last millenium, utterly fooked 3gears etc. Was good fun!

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Mine's still going strong.

May2013.jpg

 

That really is about perfect. I'm trying to think how often I actually need to carry passengers. I know load carrying is made easier by more side doors too, but those graphics just look so right. I've come very, very close to buying a couple, but I'm really not that comfortable buying one of these at distance. I really need to see what I'm buying - unless it's really cheap. Problem is, there is absolutely sod all anywhere near me. Apart from a rusty, MOT fail V8 on LPG of the facelift breed which is 'only' 20 miles away.

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Don't give up DW. Mine cost less than a monkey... and has never been welded or need any yet. There's plenty down here in rural Kent, but an awful lot a bodged up heaps or massively abused green laners :(

Definitely view before you commit, there's bargains out there for sure. The V8 ones are often in better nick and make less than the tdi's but I just can't justify the fuel costs (had a 4.6 V8, still wake up screaming thinking about the fuel bills) :lol:

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I asked at my local old Landy/Rangey specialist, but he has just sold three old Discos, and does not know of any others for sale in this area. He says he will let me know if he comes across one.

 

He has a one owner J reg Range Rover Vogue SE, but that is about 3K. It looks very tidy. Dark green, grey leather, wood, auto. Very sound 3.9 V8, reportedly.

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Somehow I managed to avoid bidding on a rough-looking 3-door Tdi yesterday. It had (some of) the side graphics and was Tahiti blue. Looked ace. Over 200,000 miles and the description was hopeless though. It sold for £560 - which is pretty much scrap money for one these I think. My financial adviser was keeping a VERY close eye on me at the time though, so I watched it make peanuts.

 

Then found a likely candidate on Gumtree. It's black but is proving impossible to view. Why do people advertise cars for sale and then not actually have time for viewings?! I may get to see it on Saturday night. Possibly. It's about two hours away, which is about as close to home as I've managed to get so far.

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That's my current favourite. Well, that and a sludge green one. According to some website I found, I could get to Kent for just £10! But it would take nine hours. On a coach. Ugh.

 

Interestingly, that Disco has a local registration for where I'm currently living.

 

EDIT - the sludge green one has sold. It looked great for the money. Discos that look great for the money don't hang around for long! Mind you, a P38 drove past me earlier and sounded FANTASTIC, so I'm still not entirely ruling out a wallet-emptying petrol...

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Just passed one smouldering on the hard shoulder of the M6 northbound near Garstang... Really? Would you want an obvious deathtrap like that?

 

Buy that 1900 Slushmatic BX instead and pop it in HIGH its just as good* as a Discovery.

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Two possibles identified. One is a three door with graphics AND steel wheels, but it's in Northants, which I no longer live in or anywhere near. Public transport isn't an option - it's absolutely ridiculous. Six hours on train or ten hours by coach! Three hours by car.

 

The other option is a straight swap for a five door in Oxon. The logistics are easier for that one, but it'll apparently need welding before the next MOT (end of July).

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I've decided against this one. It's cheap at £500, missed by most folk as it's in the parts section, but too far away for 'cheap' to really work for me.

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What the photos don't show is that it's had a smack on the rear quarter. The rear lamp is held in with gaffer tape, so it's proper shite-look. It's a three-door with side graphics and the standard steel wheels!

 

Can't really believe that brain has won on this one. Might have had something to do with my wife looking over my shoulder...

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Have you got any other photos of the £500 one there? Nothing on ebay to show the smacked back quarter, a friend is looking for something around that price point to do proper actual off-road work in (so it'll likely get a matching dent on the other side too).

 

Edit: Don't worry, sent a text and got "Would prefer a Defender". As in, a running one, legal, for that price. I've suggested a dented Disco is as good as it gets for £500.

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