It seems that there is often confusion between the year a Discovery 2 was built and it's Model Year. I've compiled some information that hopefully clears up the difference.
Model Year
Land Rover build vehicles to Model Years rather than calendar years. The Model Year starts approximately June-July and runs through to roughly the same time the following year.
Model Year changes usually saw the introduction of minor feature changes and upgrades, with major interior trim and paint option updates occurring every 2 years.
Carsales.com.au uses a rather unique system for identifying model years, which are noted at the end of each Model Year listing below. Note that D2's listed on Carsales often have incorrect information for Model Year and Build Year, so you need to check the VIN to verify this information is correct.
Build Date
Each vehicle has a build date which represents the day that the body and chassis were joined on the production line.
This is directly related to the VIN.
VIN
The vehicles VIN is the most useful identifier for most purposes.
Changes in parts specifications or design were sometimes made during the course of a model year production run, so the changes are always identified by the VIN at which the change was implemented.
The VIN is also the most reliable way to check the Model Year of a vehicle.
VIN Decoding
A Discovery Series II VIN has the following format:
SALLTGM874A870200
SA : Rover Group
L: Land Rover
LT: Discovery Series II
G: Standard Wheelbase (100")
M: Body Type 5 Door
8: Engine Code;
1 = 4.0 V8 Low comp w/CAT, 2 = 4.0 V8 High Comp w/CAT, 3 = 4.0 V8 low comp w/o CAT, 7 = Td5 EGR w/o CAT, 8 = Td5 EGR w/o CAT (EU3?), 9 = Td5 EGR w/o CAT for Aus, EEC, Japan (EU2?)
7: Steering and Transmission Code;
3 = RHD automatic, 7 = RHD 5-speed manual
4: Model Year;
X = 1999, Y = 2000, 1 = 2001, 2 = 2002, 3 = 2003, 4 = 2004
A: Build Location; A = Solihull
870200: Serial Number
Discovery Series II Model Years
1999MY
VIN: SALLTGMxxXA2000457 to SALLTGMxxXA233197
Build Dates: Late September/October 1998 to 13 July 1999
Carsales Series: II
2000MY
VIN: SALLTGMxxYA233209 to SALLTGMxxYA290235
Build Dates: 13 July 1999 to 28 June 2000
Carsales Series: II 00.05MY
---- Paint and Trim revision ----
2001MY
VIN: SALLTGMxx1A290240 to SALLTGMxx1A736339
Build Dates: 28 June 2000 to 3 July 2001
Carsales Series: 01MY
Note: On 8 September 2000 serial numbers rolled over from 1A299996 to 1A700000.
Note: Transfer case CDL internals dropped from 2001MY production vehicles at some point between VINs SALLTGMxx1A726682 and SALLTGMxx1A732059.
2002MY
VIN: SALLGMxx2A736340 to SALLTGMxx2A771051
Build Dates: 3 July 2001 to 26 April 2002
Carsales Series: 02MY
Note: Change to the EU3 Td5 motor occurred at start of 2002MY production.
Note: Transfer case CDL internals not fitted to 2002MY vehicles.
Note: Rear axle breather repositioned to above passenger side tail light from SALLTGMxx2A755881
-------- D2a Face Lift --------
2003MY
VIN: SALLTGMxx3A771268 to SALLTGMxx3A828645
Build Dates: 29 April 2002 to 16 July 2003
Carsales Series: 03MY
2004MY
VIN: SALLTGMxx4A828649 to SALLTGMxx4A870200
Build Dates: 16 July 2003 to 25 May 2004
Carsales Series: 03MY
No Discovery Series II was produced after the end of May 2004. D2's which are claimed to be late 2004 or even 2005 have proved to be built prior to the end of May 2004, but were delivered to owners later in 2004 or 2005 as dealers cleared out remaining stock.
Note: The above VIN information and dates was extracted from the Microcat VIN database, and covers only RHD vehicles.
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