possibly a Discovery in the future??

[tinfro]

Hello everyone!

I am new to this forum and this is my first post. I've read a few other posts by newer members

and you seem to be a very helpful community. I am on the market for a used Discovery. I don't

know much about these vehicles, so I am in need of advice, suggestions and information. I don't

want to spend a lot for it (about $10,000-$15,000), but I do want something clean with relatively

low kilos. I live in Japan, so I don't know if they are spec'd very differently. I am curious how they

changed or improved from year to year. Any information would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance,

Martin

[BogMonster]

Welcome

I don't know much about Japanese market vehicles either but I think they tend to be a fairly high spec like the NAS vehicles. I don't know if you will find much information on vehicles in your part of the world as I don't know if they are many (or any) users from Japan on here - most are UK and Europe based.

[steve_a]

I think most discoverys are diesel with some V8 knocking about in your area. Mostly auto.

There is some issue about cars over 10 years old (hence the export of a lot of cars out from Japan at that age) which may be a limiting factor in picking something, the last of the 300tdi motors are coming to 10 years old now, which means you will be looking at TD5 and discovery 2.

Judging from the repatriated discovery I just bought the body work will be fine, which leaves checking for maintence, I just removed a manky looking air and feul filter from mine and have an oil change and cam belt on the list as soon as, and it appears to have a sensible service record ( I only speak a tiny amount of Japanese and read none!).

So basically, you can buy what takes your fancy subject to local issues of age and milage, a 300tdi disco 1 would be my choice if you plan on modifying it, they may have EDC but I guess it will be just as good as a TD5 for reliability and could be converted back to purely mechanical for sensible money.

[tinfro]

Thanks for your input! I am probably going to buy a V8 because there are so many available.

Most of the Discoveries that I've seen have about 30,000-90,000km on them. If very well maintained,

do these vehicles have long lives?

Here's an example:

This one has 88,000km (too high!?) and goes for $10,800.

[steve_a]

I have a disco sat on the drive with 219k MILES, that is about 360,000km in your units isn't it?

Apart from rust (which is a UK thing) the rest is all maintainable and easy to work on, the V8 would probably be good for the same.

Just watch you don't get a D2 as they have different mechanicals, and from what I hear are not as much joy to work on as a D1, someone like bogmonster will confirm or deny that, i only work on my own Defender, D1's and some classic rangies

[sotal]

This one has 88,000km (too high!?) and goes for $10,800.

That's only 55,000 miles - Personally I'd call that low mileage. Average in this country is normally quoted as 10,000 miles / year (or sometimes 12000 miles) You don't say how old that disco is so it's a bit hard to say how low the mileage is but I certainly wouldn't be worried at that mileage

[BogMonster]

If I could get a D2 for £5000 I would probably buy another one

I certainly wouldn't sell mine for that...

88000km is nothing - there are D2s here with 150,000 MILES on with few problems.

[tinfro]

oops, I knew I'd forget some detail about this rig. It's a 2000 Discovery 2. Are the D2's that much more difficult to work on?

Would it be a safer bet to go with a D1? I'm not afraid of doing occasional repairs, I just don't want to do them every weekend.

[BogMonster]

The D2 is probably more reliable as a whole vehicle (certainly mine is compared to my old D1) just that if you get a problem there is a higher chance of it needing specialist attention because there are far more ECU's involved. It is not a reason to be completely put off buying one unless you really WANT something to tinker with on the weekends

[landi41]

The D2 is probably more reliable as a whole vehicle (certainly mine is compared to my old D1) just that if you get a problem there is a higher chance of it needing specialist attention because there are far more ECU's involved. It is not a reason to be completely put off buying one unless you really WANT something to tinker with on the weekends

My two pence worth get a late model 1999 Disco I...all the

bugs were worked out by then ........Alternately get a 2004 Disco II (they reinstalled diff-lock in those ones

[tinfro]

My two pence worth get a late model 1999 Disco I...all the

bugs were worked out by then ........Alternately get a 2004 Disco II (they reinstalled diff-lock in those ones

Of course I'd love to get something newer, but the '02-'04s still cost more than I want to spend. My wife and I

won't use it everyday. We commute by train during the week and would mostly use it on weekends and holidays.

So, if that's true about the late model Discovery 1's, then maybe I'll go that route.