What Disco?

[Oz]

hay peeps
I have a SJ thats well... about dead. Im think about buying a disco any of you guys tell me what i should get and what to look out for... and good price?

[dazzawhipple]

Rust lots of it

look at the following for rust

The boot Floor Lift carpet on a good example you will see small amounts of corrosion on a bad example Tarmac :shock:
Sills inner and outer
Drivers / Passenger Footwell
Inner wings Front
Body mounts Front valence / Bulkhead
Rear Body Cross member / mounts
Rear inner wheel arches

someone else will be be along for the mecahnics

Darren

[Oz]

cheers mate,
keep coming with da info

[freeagent]

what Dazza said...

I'd go for a 300 tdi... (from late 'L' reg onwards) but a basic spec, not an ES model (too much to go wrong) a 3-door will be cheaper than a 5-door, and a 5 seater cheaper than a 7-seater...

look for service history, general condition, and rust.

there are loads out there that have never seen mud, so why buy one from an off-roader?

[Oz]

keep em coming any idea on prices

[Guardian.]

for a 300 tdi you will be from about 1600 for a rough one, 2000 for a good one, and 2500 for a pearler.
dont rush, there are thousands out there, only buy a rough dog if its seriously cheap and youve got a mig welder, loads of sheet steel, and plenty of time.
once you look around a few, especially the older l,m,n,p, you will be amazed at just how rotten most of them are, but there a few half decent ones amongst them.

[Guardian.]

P.S, everyone with a rotten old disco, im not knocking, they are ace!  i have 3 of them, they are fantastic value for money tools. just being straight with our man here.

[muddymart]

well i agree with all of the above,
ive just bought a 'm' plate disco 300 tdi 3dr for £1400, the guys putting a new clutch in it (complete with fork)is got 7 months mot as well,
and its got full service history and loads of receipts,
just goes to show look around,
the car i was originally going to look at was 10 mile away, the  difference nearly cost me an extra £1000

[Oz]

cheers guys.. im new to disco's so is there much diff between a 200 and 300 and series 1 or 2  dont no what the good and bad points of the modles are?

[Rich_P]

200TDi is noisier, tractor-like.  The interior is very boxey and square, and often in a very.... 'odd' blue.  The 300TDi is a lot quieter, and the interior is more modern looking with curves and rounded edges.  The front end between the 200 and 300 are also very different.

The 200 Series front end is an LDV front end basically, while the 300 isn't (IIRC).

Both are just as capable as each other off the tarmac.

A Discovery 2 has the Td5 engine and I believe they retail for around £7,000+ at the moment for a decent one?

200 Series
300 Series
Disco 2

[Oz]

Ah so it a 300 for the win!

[bilge rat]

persnal choice, but think 300's are a little easier to work on engine wise. r 380 box in the 300 slightly better but still check for knotchy change from 1 to 2 and 2 to 3 gears. they mostly are a little notchy but you dont want it to excess. early 300's also had cam belt alignment probs, i would think most have been modified by now though. worth crawling underneath and looking up at the wading hole in the cam cover casing. iff theres loads  of debris and bits of cam belt theres a chance it will need the mod doing. they also had probs with the p gasket leaking, look down from the top between the alternator and cylinder head, iff you see a staining you may have a leak, not bad to do. but left can cause probs. hope this helps a little. ive owned both now and think the 300 was a little more refined to drive , quiter too. but a really good 200 may be  a better buy than a rough 300 depending on your budget. good luck. alan.....

[John T]

If you don't need 5 doors, I would go for 3 door. Easier if you intend to put bigger wheels / arches on, also one of the bad rust spots is inside the rear door shuts.

[Rich_P]

Out of personal taste, I would say go for the 300 Series too.

However, I think the 200 Series looks superb kitted out as an expedition vehicle.  Different body styles suit different 'setups'. :)

[K2]

I agree with all of the above, I own an old rusty 200 tdi and now a 300tdi. I must admit I prefer my old 200tdi but it is like a tractor the 300 is much smoother. The one thing I would also say with the 200 tdi is watch the gear box they were a bad design. We had to replace ours and apparently it is a common problem. The 300 is also more fuel efficient :)

[Oz]

well it be a fuew months saving first any way

[Cal]

Also, don't be fooled by going to an indy dealer and paying more and thinking you will not have to check it's condition as much.

At the end of the day they are just 2nd hand car dealers.

I bought a 300Tdi, paid far too much for it, didn't find out enough about what to look for before I went and got it, then spent 12 months paying for stuff to be sorted and then finally decided I was so skint I had to sell it.

Now back to driving a normal car (2WD!), have no landy, no 4x4 and still no money  :(  and the worst bit is that it's all my own fault for not taking longer to find a peach - they are out there!

Good luck and let us know how you get on  :D

[Range Rover Blues]

300 series, better headlights, better spec, obviously newer, nicer gearbox etc etc.
Don't overlook the V8 id a nice one comes along, but you can't go wrong with a TDi

[chris.hunt22]

You mentioned the difference between a series 1 and series 2 disco, the series 2 is longer overall than the series one and on the exterior shares hardly anty panels with a 300tdi, inside though they are very similar, I was going to p/x my Audi for a td5 and use it daily and for greenlaning, my mate who works for landrover indirectly talked me out of it and in to a £2500 300tdi, this may sound a bit bizaare but there is very little you can do on a td5 engine yourself, you need a laptop, cable and expensive programmes to find out what is wrong with them for example if the injectors go in a 300tdi they are fairly cheap to replace and you could do them in your garage/on the street etc. if they go on a td5 they are a mini fuel pump and injector built into one and computer controlled etc so costs loads for a garage to do it for you.  My 10p's worth anyway, although I would still have a td5 for the road and a 300tdi for the ruff stuff!!

[Little-Green-Machine]

not to put you off a nice quiet 300 but we have a 200tdi and we have heard that they are a lot more reliable.we have been told this by a friend but have not owned one ourselves but we have had no trouble with the 200.

[Steve ray]

I recently swapped my old 90 for a MkI Disco.

Still love the 90's ... but I really enjoy the comfort. I can spend over 14 hrs a day driving up to the Peaks (incl 10hrs+ on the lanes) and back, get out of the Disco and still be OK.

Personal choice really, but I recently brought an R-plate 'base model' - no air con or ABS to go wrong and no sunroof to leak either. Only 5 seats, but hey ..... I dunk it in mud 3 weekends outta 4 most months  :twisted:  :lol:  :lol:


Apart from the 'obvious' rot - watch out for a 'damp' layer of sound deadening material - this means it rots from the inside out - particularly noticable on the boot floor area

[Oz]

Is a 90 not more capable than a diso?

[Skibum346]

Is a 90 not more capable than a diso?

Depends on the driver!   :roll:

 :(biglaugh):

[Rich_P]

Is a 90 not more capable than a diso?

Put the same size tyres on, and they're just about more capable as each other.  They share almost identical drivetrains (depending on the year), furthermore the Disco has the better 'all-rounder' wheelbase too between the advantages and disadvantages of a 90's and 110's wheelbase.

[freeagent]

I reckon that disco's are almost as capable as 90's off road, they are more susceptable to body damage, and suffer from longer overhangs, but if you fit the right tyres, and accept its slight limitstions you'll be amazed what it'll do.....

spend £2000 on a sound 300tdi and you'll enjoy some seriously good off, and on road driving....