Pajero or Discovery?

Martyn,
Iown a 05DiD Pajero. I have been 4x4 driving for 30 years. If I was in WA I would be saying to you " pick an offroad track of your choice and lets see who who can negotiate it. With a little bet on the side." I have owned a Disco and matched against the DiD Pajero it's a heap of bucket of bolts. Try a Pajero and you will see what I mean.

Bill,
Thanks for your comments, I was giving my opinion, I've also been driving for 30 years and enjoy my off road adventures. My Rangie to me isn't a "bucket of bolts". I don't wish to challenge you to an off road duel, "not my gig", I've taken my Rangie to some pretty exciting places and pushed the envelope and in some cases I've had to get a bigger one. The rear diff lock made the vehicle just that little bit better. I choose to drive a Range Rover, from what I know and my experiences I'll stick with it. This vehicle was the best $5000 I ever spent. If you will sell me your Paj or swap it or the same sort of money I'll take you up on the offer to drive one. It has oil leaks, the electrics aren't the best, the gearbox isn't a Rolls Royce and the spares aren't cheap, but I'm happy, I have a lot of fun and it's never been on the back of a tow truck.
No offence meant or taken.

Hey Billy boy, anytime mate, i got a series 2 Disco :-))

Dunno if this vid will work but here's a little log we did.

Baz.

Ooops don't work oh well

But anytime you wanna tackle Whitemans or slippery rock or the Zig Zag let me know ;-))

Baz.

i own a discovery , have put it alsorts of conditions sand mud and rock , the suspention has much more travel than a pajero especialy when the older models have tortion bar suspention. coil springs al round are the way to go . maintence parts are no more expensive than others if you stay away from the dealers, i have replaced front disc rotors new from repco for $80 each wheel bearings for 65 bucks, oil filter 14 bucks, transmission filter and seal for 18 dolars. i doubt if any one could say the same for a pajero, the pajero has an absolutly shockin gearbox that i have replaced too many times(5 speed) my disco is a 95 model , it has no oil leaks . and i have never done any repairs other than services, i clocked up 30000 last year with out a hick up. the new pajeros have coils in the front but lack the full chassis. disco has been nominated king of the road more times than any other 4x4 to date.

lol, wait for the bites.......at least you didn't mention all the oil leaks the disco will give him .Oops i think i just did :))))

i fix all 4x4s and they all suffer oil leaks , most are caused by lack of service,( not changing oils on time) and actually using it as a 4x4.dirt gets in breathers and stuffs seals, the solution is simple service your vehicle, change all the oils in the drive train each 40000 except engine , do it every 5000 for diesel to stop soot build up, its harsh on seals. so if you are looking for a second hand 4x4 buy one with service history .. all these people that nock the landrovers for oil leaks can blame it on them selves.(or the cars previos owner) if you have your 4x4 in the mud and water the oils need to be changed more often unles you extend the breathers from the diffs all the way back to the aircleaner in the engine bay.any 4x4 can be a good one if you simply maintain it. surly i cant have the only landrover thats done 150000 with out a sign of oilleaks. and its never ever mist a beat, retreived a lot of other 4x4s but . no mater your comfort level just service it and it wil do you justice.

Hi there cookie monster, have you had any head trouble with yours, friend of mine has just sold her pajero due to doing 3 heads within 250k serviced by the book etc so was not a neglected vehicle, also did very little off road use, it was the 2.8 turbo diesel. Regards Steve M

Stephen M,
Interesting. Have heard of vague reports re heads, but never talked to any one who has seen one go. Using the right coolant is the suggested answer by the pajero club.

At 266,000k (1996 model) mine still has the original head. Nothing touched yet on the engine itself except the fuel pump and the usual 100,000k timing belt and injectors/glow plug service. Did have a leaky top tank on the radiator, fixed and still the original radiator.

Cookie Monster, I have a friend with the discovery 300tdi. Good car. But are they the same price for the same year? Little more to maintain, usual rover parts pricing, from what I can work out. Soem one else may be able to confirm costs.
Both cars, being turbo diesel can be slow on initial take off, until the turbo winds up at 1800 rpm. Discovery will be better off road in the extreme conditions, and may have better economy by 5% to 10%.

It comes to personal preference, take both for a good drive. I did look at Discoveries, and our boys tried out the back seat. They hated the slope of the back floor, and the pajero seemed to have a more usable rear cargo area. Ended up going pajero so I could reuse the roof rack, back shelf and long range tank from the 1985 model we had. That and the difference in price saved us a good few thousand $$$.

Hi there Oldplodder, hope I dont jinxe you now with my comment, glad to see you have had such a good run out of it, it's a lot more enjoyable when you havnt got your hands in your pocket all the time fixing some thing. I must say thats why I like the old hilux, its had a few niggly problems of late the main one being the front axle seal but that has been rectified and a certain sqeak that come and goes from outside some where but other than that has been a good old beast, bit underpowered but hey my pumps only $700 for a full rebuild compared to the thousands people are paying these days to have pumps repaired and good thing is I can pick one up from a farm yard some where in the scrub if it decides to go. I was looking at trucksters patrol but have had to put things on hold for a while so unfortunately will miss out on his was a good looking truck with all the required gear. Regards Steve M

Ahhh, rattles and squeaks are some thing else :-)))

Got a few of those. The car that is!
Yep, the pump rebuild cost me $880.00. Mostly seals.
One reason I havn't traded up to something with common rail, cost of repairs.
Plus what happens when the airbag sensors stop working, or the electric thingymigig on the transmission goes. Pajero is bad enough with super select and vacuum control of the front diff engagement.
Electric windows and electric throttles worry me.
Another reason why I may have steared away from the Disco.
I can get a 2.8l engine out of Japan very cheap when I need it.
Gave up on the idea of a 3.2DiD transplant.
Last time I talked to Theo at Birdsville he mentioned that 50% of his work used to be pulling cars out of the Simpson with transmission problems, now it is with the engine management systems (diesel and petrol) gone kaput. They don't seem to climb dunes as well on limp home mode.

Just getting old I suppose. Even the fuel injection system on the MK2 golf GTI in the family is semi mechanical! ( 'K'jetronic I think from memory). Was fiddling with the air sensor the other day. Just a rising disk in the throttle body with a mechanical linkage to the fuel injection system control. Even I can disassemble it and put it together again.

Time will tell. Maybe it is me, trying to keep a car for 10 years or more.

LyalltheCrocodile

THe exact thing happened to my parents when we where young, we had the 2.4 turbo paj, us kids where getting bigger so dad needed to change looked at getting a disco, test drives all the rest of it etc. But realised that a disco is not that big either, and i might add we had owned three landrovers previously. However push came to shuv and he bought a diesel 80 series for the whole family. Why? Well it could still fit us all in 10 years on. Buy a cruiser or a patrol for the long hall, service it regularly and keep it well, it will last you forever.

If you're really concerned about low range capabilities, as mentioned earlier ARB have a front airlocker, and are releasing a rear air locker for some of the NM/NP variants.

The boot space in the Disco just need setting up properly. It is actually bigger than most others, especially with the rear seats flat, just a different shape. With a cargo barrier and shelving it can be quite useful. I used my old Disco on extended self sufficient trips through the Centre.

I don't believe he was asking about the new Paj, but the older 2.8td.

NM Pajero (00-02) came with the 2.8L diesel.

120,000ks on my Disco and never let me down.

Lyall, if you choose the Pajero then go with the petrol one, if your not getting the later DID (current shape) the older Paj diesels don't tow well, the newer ones are a great tow vehicle.

Baz