Comments on Land Rovers

[KillEmAll]

Last winter I traded my '96 Cherokee in and upgraded the family to a mini van... man that's depressing to say... leaving me without a 4x4. The van isn't cuttin' it -just ask acca, they aren't made for hauling bikes and off roading. I'm thinking of picking me up a another car, possibly a '98 Land Rover Discover. Does anyone have experiences with them that they'd like to share? An avid outdoor group like this you think would have a few right? For some reason I'm much more hesitant, yet excited, about getting a Rover rather than another cherokee. I'm a bit worried about the cost of ownership. Also, I'd rather not have 3 vehicles but I commute alot of miles and I'm not sure the rover would be ideal for that. Since the cars paid off I might hang on to it.

[tanya]

Last winter I traded my '96 Cherokee in and upgraded the family to a mini van... man that's depressing to say... leaving me without a 4x4. The van isn't cuttin' it -just ask acca, they aren't made for hauling bikes and off roading. I'm thinking of picking me up a another car, possibly a '98 Land Rover Discover. Does anyone have experiences with them that they'd like to share? An avid outdoor group like this you think would have a few right? For some reason I'm much more hesitant, yet excited, about getting a Rover rather than another cherokee. I'm a bit worried about the cost of ownership. Also, I'd rather not have 3 vehicles but I commute alot of miles and I'm not sure the rover would be ideal for that. Since the cars paid off I might hang on to it.

I have a land rover and I love it! Its pricey to get fixed though! Mine is a 98 that I bought used a couple of years ago. I am not a hard core 4 wheel drive type, but I have to do a lot of it to get to various trailheads... the rover has never failed. There is no one around here that can repair one however and even in St. George there is only one place. If you live in the SLC area you may not have that problem.

[KillEmAll]

Thanks Tanya! You've got exactly the year and model I was looking at.

Its pricey to get fixed though!

That's the only thing that scares me.

So what kind of gas mileage would you say you get?

[tanya]

Thanks Tanya! You've got exactly the year and model I was looking at.

Its pricey to get fixed though!

That's the only thing that scares me.

So what kind of gas mileage would you say you get?

It gets about 15 mpg

There is one more around here and it belongs to Commissioner Habbishaw. We were at the same meeting on night and I was trying to unlock his rover with my key. Then I saw one from out of town just like it but it was decked out llike crazy. Now that rover looked hot!!!

It was leaking power steering fluid and the bill over over $1,000 to fix it. My husband was furious.

As Stefan knows... I like to be different and the rover is just that! That is what I love about it.

[donny h]

I know nothing of Land Rover, but if they're half as capable as the older ones, they look like fun.

[KillEmAll]

Wow! It can do lots of things. I don't think I'll need to carry goats, but at least I know they can do it. One other thing I hope they can do is NOT break down on me.

[JP]

Buy a Grand Cherokee

[scoutabout]

A recent survey showed that Land Rovers experience 538 instances of required service per 100 vehicles. That's a lot of maintenance time. I think they are nice vehicles, but I wouldn't like to deal with that kind of unreliability.

[DiscGo]

I'm about to sell my jeep, but I'll tell you what I sure have loved it. My jeep has been so darn reliable and it has gotten me wherever I have needed to go and lot of places I shouldn't have.

[asdf]

Land Rovers are at the top of the "do not buy used" list. If you have the $ to buy a brand new one go for it.

This is what i have my eye on... 4x4 4-Liter V6 Engine Manual Starting at $23,290.

[Ratman]

I own a 1971 Series IIa 109 Land Rover. This is my second Rover. It

[DiscGo]

Wow. That is very orange. That has to be fun to have a unique land rover.

[Scout Master]

At $58,000.00 for a new Land Rover you could buy a Toyota Cruzer or 4 runner AND a boat AND two 4 wheelers AND a trailer to pull them AND two Snow Mobiles AND still have enough left to take the kids to Disney land.
Your Neighbors will still be just as impressed.

[KillEmAll]

At $58,000.00 for a new Land Rover you could buy a Toyota Cruzer or 4 runner AND a boat AND two 4 wheelers AND a trailer to pull them AND two Snow Mobiles AND still have enough left to take the kids to Disney land.
Your Neighbors will still be just as impressed.

Yeah, I don't have that kind of coin. We're only talking about $6,000 for a '98.

[nosivad_bor]

Here is the deal with buying your used Disco. How handy are you with doing carfixing things.? If you are capable of doing your own maintenence you can enjoy your Discovery.

The fact you are interested in whats known as a Disco1 you are in a good place. The 98 years is one of the best to get. in 1999 they stoped producing the disco1 in and began selling the disco2. I think the disco2 is a great truck but there are jsut too many electronics on it to really be able to maintain yourself.


So lets assume you buy yourself a disco1.

Here is what life can me like, a marrige of sorts. You will want to get to know the vehicle. crawl under it, check tosee where its leaking oil, because it will be leaking somewhere. Usually not enought to cause a problem, you need to keep topping it off. but this is where that maintence comes in. after the leak starts you are going to want to fix it if you want to keep the truck reliable. maybe not the instant it starts but start saving up for the gaskets and tools you might need, then goto www.discoweb.org check out the bulliten board and use the search function. this is a salty crowd and they will make fun of you for asking a stupid question. my suggestion is to roll with the razzing or tell them to f off and continue asking questions, people will eventually help. For that matter you could email or pm me I use the same screen name there as here and I'll either know your problem or can get you the answer in a short while.

Anyway back on the subject. after you spend your weekend chasing oil leaks and things like that you ar eeventually going to have to do some preventative maintnence as the truck is getting up there in age. Again, planning this out is the best way. do not let the truck get to the point here things fail, like driveshafts or bearings or things of that nature. get under there learn the car and replace or repair in advance.

i an send you a link to where you can download the factory workshop manual online for free. this will be your guiding light when troublshooting and doing repairs.

aside from tha maintenece. i would not drive any other vehicle. i love land rovers and the heritage. i love the way you sit in the seat with high class surrounding you, i love the stout components the britishness and the community of land rover owners. You should buy this truck if you want more than your average car. If you dont have the love at the begging or dont find it early on, you might hate the truck.

I drive mine all over. its the white one in the picture above. I also own a 1989 range rover classic. they are almot the same vehicle underneath with tons of parts swpping over. i actually prefer the range rover classic in many ways. Picture of my highly tricked green rover is above too. i sold that a whil ago to buy a house.

i can see im rambling a bit and i hope your not too freaked out over the mainanence thing, but if you stay on top of the maintence these trucks are sooooo much nicer to own. that said i am going out to the garage now to work on mine. :)

any questions please feel free to ask. I'm sure Marc Olivares will pop in here to give some sound advice.

_Rob

[DirkHammergate]

A recent survey showed that Land Rovers experience 538 instances of required service per 100 vehicles. That's a lot of maintenance time. I think they are nice vehicles, but I wouldn't like to deal with that kind of unreliability.

I've heard that, I have a 98 disco and have only had to do the breaks over the last 6 years. Its was alot but I found a place to do it for 750. Its been my most reliable car ever, I have 126K on it. Although I'd like to trade it in for a Prius I haven't found anything to complain about it yet.

Tayna, we're soul mates baby...

[tanya]

A recent survey showed that Land Rovers experience 538 instances of required service per 100 vehicles. That's a lot of maintenance time. I think they are nice vehicles, but I wouldn't like to deal with that kind of unreliability.

I've heard that, I have a 98 disco and have only had to do the breaks over the last 6 years. Its was alot but I found a place to do it for 750. Its been my most reliable car ever, I have 126K on it. Although I'd like to trade it in for a Prius I haven't found anything to complain about it yet.

Tanya, we're soul mates baby...

I have felt that Handsome. Love your personality! Characters are great!

[Reedus]

I always wanted one cause they look so awesome, but my friend bought a 98 and had it in the shop every other week for something. He was shelling out a lot of dough to get it constantly fixed. If I had the time, I would still get one and do the repairs myself, but I don't. I bought an Xterra instead and the only maintainance I have had to do is replace the battery when it died after 5 years. I gets around 20 on the highway and it is more or less built for offroad activities. The big thing I love about it is the rear seat cushions come out so the back seats can lay flat. I spent all last summer living in it while I worked out of town. If I had the dough I would trick it out like so:

[KillEmAll]

Thanks for all the info Rob. Nice pics by the way. Most likely this will end up being a secondary vehicle if I were to get it. I could do a lot of the work myself as long as it's nothing major.

Dirk, glad to hear the disco went to the deserving half.

I'm sure Marc Olivares will pop in here to give some sound advice.

I was hoping he'd chime in. I'm sure he's got plenty to say about the subject.

Oh, and it'd be much appreciated if you gave me the link for the manual you mentioned.

[nosivad_bor]

marc's out playing with shane today, not sure when they are getting back.

marc and some others created a website for SLC rovers. not much too it right now but there is a new forum.

www.wasatchrovers.com

if you click on "About" there is a difficult to find link that takes you here.

http://forums.utahrovers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=6

Don't be scared off by the mainentence its not that bad or often.

for instance i could have fixed tanya's PS leak from somewhere in the range of 100-350 bucks in three hours time, depending on why it was leaking. I know this because i've owned 4 differnt land rovers and have tended to the power steering on everone. :)

http://www.landrover.ee/est/varia/downloads/cars.htm

its the last link at the bottom, for 95-96 disco .

a 1998 is the same as the 1996 mechanically.