Landrover dscovery 4x4 opinions on reliability

What model, year, engine, transmission? Too many variables to answer

I had a Series I 300 Tdi auto and a Series II Td5 manual. No problems with either, towing a Jayco Swan. Brilliant long distance cruiser.

The TD5 I owned from new and did 190000 km with a grand total of $360 spent on it other than normal servicing and consumables.

What is more; they have a soul.

Join some of the LandRover forums for better information on specific models

hard to believe that landrover and reliability can be used in the same sentence
?????
mechpete

My 2c

All cars break down every now and then. An important question is can it be fixed in or near where you will be travelling. eg. Dealer network, parts availability, certified mechanics with training on your vehicle etc.

IMHO you should check these things out too. No good having a breakdown and having to tow the car 600ks to the nearest capital city... or having to wait for 2 months for a part.

D

Hi Dennis
not sure which discovery model u are looking @.
ignore the knockers, i traded my D4D prado in on the last D3 TDv6
& it's a great vehicle as my every day driver & as a tourer.
have not had a problem, although I have only done 45,000km
in a year.
good luck Tom

I towed a 25 Ft caravan 20,000 miles in the US with a 2001 Disco II. It was extreemly impresive offroad using the ABS to put power to slipping wheels. Also depending on the model you can do a mod to get manual center diff lock. Lots of problems with availability of parts and everyone Disco owner I talked to had problems with the '3 amigos' which is basically the brake modulator or speed sensors in the wheels. I got frustrated with needing to pay $150 every time a code came up to get it read at a dealer / mechanic so I bought my own computer for US$600 called Hawkeye. AWSOME because it saved me a few times picking up faults before more damage was done. I sold it all returned to Australia and gave the computer to my dad who has a Disco 3.

Bottom line, I believe they are have an awsome capabilitty, very comfortable, however you need a computer reader (like Hawkeye) and parts can be an issue.

Occa

See if you can find the 2 blokes left in Camooweal they were trying to get somebody to take the cars to Alice Springs as that is the nearest dealer they both had caravans one had big problems they wernt impressed .It was a couple of months ago they came from Adelaide

I usually stay away from these threads as they tend to degenerate into a ‘Landy’ kicking contest, so if you are looking for sensible advice on Landrover’s head to the Australian Landrover site. There is plenty of good information contained there, warts and all.

But as a general comment; whatever vehicle you choose to drive make sure you have a good understanding of any faults or short-comings, and that applies to all makes of vehicles, and monitor these potential problems and ensure your vehicle is well prepared before any major trip. Without intending to be pointed, just take a look at the exploding Nissan engines as an example.

I think you’ll find if you apply that process to any vehicle it will go a long way to ensuring relatively trouble free travel and reliability.

As for Landrover’s I have two Defenders, one a TDi300 and the other a TDi200. The twin cab TDi300 has been completely overhauled for long-range remote travel and I have never had any issues in terms of reliability. In fact one of the reasons I have chosen this vehicle is because of its reliability and utility…..

In terms of ‘modern’ day vehicles with all the computer technology, I think you will find that most are very reliable, but don’t kid yourself that if you ever have a problem that the local mechanic in Camooweal or the back of Bourke will be able to fix/work on it, more than likely they won’t be able to regardless of the brand/badge on the front of the vehicle.

Good luck with your choice…….

Cheer, The Landy

Hi there Dennis and Liz,

We have a Disco 97 3.9l v8 that tows our 19ft van. We did rebuild the motor in 2008. Our fuel economy pulling the van is 22litres per 100k. We also have LPG as a sub tank kinda thing. With the petrol engines you won't get the fuel economy like you do out of the TD5's but then again there isn't the same frequency in servicing either. When on the road we just take our time we are in no rush. I love the Discovery it is true they do have a heart as someone above stated. But just like any make of 4wd once you get to know your vehicle then you know it's quirks. We haven't had a problem since the rebuild and the car goes like a dream. My husband says he would not hesitate taking it into remote parts of the country and we infact took it across the Savannah way with out a hitch.....So from our point of view even after the rebuild we would go Landrover again......

Best of Luck
Andrea

I am one of those people who would love to own a Disco.

Last year the Australian Auto Clubs (in my case the RAA), did a comparison of various 4X4s. The Disco scored 8-9 out of 10 for most things.

However for maintenance costs and resale value it scored only around 2-3. That was enough to put me off.

I guess horses for courses.

Good luck for your purchase.

Hi Dennis

I'm afraid our interaction with them (mostly series 2) has all been very negative of our 2 immediate friends with them - one went to a Patrol and the other went to a range rover (on gas think 2002). We have only had to tow it twice.

I won't catalogue the series of issues , but beyond them when we considered the (series 3) it did go really well , looked good on paper , and towed quite well. Noise was lower than expected also.

Reliability , lack of dealers etc were a big issue in our summation but beyond that we have have some experience with the resolving of there issues and we have found that there is very little you can do to them without dealer interface , under the bonnet is filled with stuff and hard to work on.

We have seen there traction control system used in anger and it was (series 3 only) pretty good but in the end limited wheel travel is an issue , and I couldn't come at the exhaust under the fixed suspension member.

We see a lot smoking and its not a good look.

I'm pretty confident they do tow well and if maintence issues are better in your area then they could be considered.