Thread: good idea or am I crazy????

my disco one has been my daily driver for the last five years no problems at all, from a five minute trip down the road to a month long road trip all over the place.
all the power I have ever needed stock standard from towing excavators, car trailers, boats, pulling out bogged toyotas. full history from new 256thou kms, wouldnt ever replace the old girl

You're not crazy at all! A Disco, in this case an auto would be perfect for a daily driver. I have a 300TDI Disco and the only thing that annoys me about city driving is it's a manual. I'm fine with the manual because I do a lot of off roading, but one of the reasons I bought a Disco over a Defender (which is really my dream!) is because it's such an ideal vehicle for both city and off road. The medium size of a Disco is great for around the city, but still has a decent luggage area, etc.

In my opinion, most of the problems of the 300TDI (including all problems I've had) are largely due to poor servicing by previous owner and a lot of 4x4'ing - which in turns requires more servicing. A well serviced 300TDI is great. If you check the highest milage thread, there are a few around 1,000,000kms!! No TD5 or other has made it that far yet. I just think those people are immaculate about their service schedule.

And yes, fuel economy of a Disco TDI around city should be ~10L/100kms imo.

[/QUOTE]You're not crazy at all!

. If you check the highest milage thread, there are a few around 1,000,000kms!! No TD5 or other has made it that far yet. I just think those people are immaculate about their service schedule.

And yes, fuel economy of a Disco TDI around city should be ~10L/100kms imo.[/QUOTE]



thats what I wanted to hear, I'm sure you all knew that already!, The reason I'm after a manual is my daily drive is mostly motorway (or hold ups depending on the day), and personal choice, just prefer to stir the lever myself (Rangie is auto, would love him to be manual), and from what I've read here its easier to get a van up a hill with a manual box.

the longer term plan is for some longer type trips to explore this great country and I don't want to get there and not have a landy to go off road in, the prado's ok, but its a prado!

saw the long lived motor thread, think a million kms should just about see me out, should still do that with a little lift (2" spring) and a couple of lockers (thinking 31" play tyres and standard size for school days),

decent history is a must I think, change turbo hoses for silicon and flush rad, maybe a better intercooler and a pump tweak, what else would be good preventative maintenance, things that might not be on the standard service schedule?

Things that are NOT on the service schedule:
1. Replace radiator expansion tank with new white coloured version (<$100 for part)
2. Consider a new Elring head gasket every 200,000kms. Plenty of people make it past this, but there are also plenty of people recommend it as a precaution if you're doing long/remote trips/towing. (maybe a few hundred for all parts, labour is a large variant. Get a few quotes or DIY).
3. If you're tweaking pump and other mods, an EGT gauge + low coolant alarm would be wise. (est. $150 for parts).

Go for an Auto 300TDi, much better off the mark in traffic and heaps better off-road, manuals would be a PIA in traffic and you would be replacing clutch components regularly, regards Frank.

all for the disco as a daily driver! and I also prefer the manual version, but as you say - personal choice!
really check your cooling system in the 300tdi though and replace thermostat as well as getting an engine saver overheating/low coolant alarm - at least for the disco you're planning to take out of the city! (the standard temp sensor is a joke!)

As others have said. A 300Tdi disco is an economical and practical DD vehicle, if very slow...

Ours is a '97 manual. No problems in traffic with a manual like Frank suggested. We get 8-9 L/100km from ours.

They do blow head gaskets at ~250k km (ours went at 260k km). The temp guage is binary, it only has two settings: "everything's fine" and "your engine is stuffed", so it is a good idea to replace it with an aftermarket one.

I wouldn't expect more than 400k km out of the engine.

The temp guage is binary, it only has two settings: "everything's fine" and "your engine is stuffed", so it is a good idea to replace it with an aftermarket one.

this is pretty true so ASAP FIT AN ENGINE MONITOR !!!!!!!!!! cant stress that enough it can and does save you $1000's.
okay my '95 is a daily driver and is the first landie i have owned or in fact driven and my IMHO is if you get a manual you have to keep the tacho needle between 2000 and 3000 this keeps it on the turbo and going well, off turbo it is sluggish. It will return at least 10l/100klm around town and 8.6l/100klm on the highway at 100 without tweaks