What are the reasons you bought your Disco

In 2000 I was looking for a 4WD to to a trip to Darwin and back via outback queensland pulling a jayco camper. It needed to be a diesel and an auto. Not many of these around at the time, Cruiser, Disco S1, newer S2 and the Prado was due out at the end of the year, but TD5 and Prado to dear and Cruiser (2nd hand) to big.
2 mates and an uncle owned disco's and highly recommended. Found a gold demo wife loved it, enough said.
Towed camper really well 13000klm trip, economical, comfortable and fitted wife and 2 young kids.
I still have it after 165000klm and a 2nd 10000klm trip north last year pulling a pop top this time. I felt it was struggling this trip and getting to small for the teenagers, and was getting disheartened with it.
After chasing around I have found it would cost me twice as much as mine is worth to buy an older model Toyo with more Klm's on the clock.
I don't know why I was unhappy it never ceases to amaze me it goes everywhere even some recent tough 4WD trips to the high country and Big & Little Deserts, it just keeps going where all the other vehicles go and further than some, with supposedly better more aggressive setups and it does it in comfort. It really has only let me down in the long steep sandy hills where it runs out of puff. As I have found 4WD's all have strong points and weak points, It's just that the disco has a lot more strong points.

Build quality only real weakness, Oh and who builds vehicles with the door seals leaving the locks exposed to dust, bloody nuff nuffs

Regards

Why did I buy a disco?
my first car was series IIA shorty, loved it; all bar one of my cars have been 4wd's. After my marrage breakdown I was a single parent driving a ford 2wd, I cant remember the model - hated it, I drove past a used car yard with the disco out the front. I talked to the kids because I really wanted a defender but they said they would rather walk than get in something as uncool as that.

When I took them for a test drive in it they loved it.......... so I bought it, I still love it, it is much modified and when I get around to it will be much more modified.

I cant really ever see myself ever getting rid of it, I guess I have an emotional attachment to it beyond metal and plastic due to the reason why I bought it and it still does what I originally bought it for. :D:D:D

Blythe

Hi Everyone

This thread convinced me to stop reading and start posting...

I was driving around in an '88 Astra (which we still have), things were starting to go downhill as I had a nasty habit of thrashing it. I decided I needed a new car just about the same time as my good friend's dad decided to sell the company's loan car, my '94 TDi, and his '94 Rangie. Once he talked me out of the Rangie, I turned my sights on the Disco. It was a good loan car, ARB roo bar, safari snorkel, Rhino racks, Narva spotties, and a brand spankin headliner (hoodliner? roof? ceiling?), Koni shocks (which no one knew about till I broke one and bought a set of Bilsteins)... I went down there to look at it. How does the saying go? I came, I saw, I... went as quick as I could to the bank. Much to my surprise, the bank said yes, I said YES!!! and next thing I knew I was driving away in my Disco.

I've had her for just over a year now, and yes she's given me some trouble... new turbo a month after I got it... the broken shock... the whole electricity thing... but I can see past all that, so I'll be keeping her for some time yet. I hate to say it, but I think she owns me just as much as I own her...

So far I've given her Bilsteins, Cooper ST's and a whole lot of spare parts. Soon to come are a lift, a new roof rack, something for the back, and a whole lot more spare parts. The back is the only bit I don't like, a little bland for my liking, but fortunately the front looks damn fine so it makes up for it.

Would I buy another Disco? Yes... but a facelifted Td5. Or a Defender. Not so sure about the D3 though...

I bought one today!

A 99 model in green. Its for the missus, replacing her 96 fairmont ghia. We had been looking for a 97 to 99 gls pajero but everything we looked at was a piece of :censored: , scratched, dented, little tears in the interior. Just generally untidy.

Went to a dealer today and the pajero we came to see was sold. I let her loose in the yard to see what she liked. She tried a mazda tribute, holden frontera, some little land rover (freelander I think?), another pajero, a grand cherokee and a prado. She was moving from car to car when I looked towards the gate and saw our 99 Disco. I was pretty taken with it as it was quite striking with its unusual colour (green though seems to have a gold pearl) and late mod Range Rover wheels. When I checked it out I found it was a v8 with only 128 000 kms.

As soon as the dealer fired it up I knew I had to have it. (My project is an XY fairmont with a 351 v8 so the sound was awesome!) I haven't even driven it yet, my girl drove on the test drive as it is primarily a shopping trolley/taxi for her and our child.

I can't believe the price. I cant fault it mechanically or cosmetically. It drives, stops and steers beautifully, is luxurious inside and it cost the same as a bunky, untidy pajero gls or base mod prado, both with 2x the km's and 1/10th of the character.

I hope this is the start of a beautiful relationship, although the stories I have heard of the electrical gremlins that landys / rangies are known for does make me a little nervous.

Fingers crossed:thumbsup:

It's been great reading through why everyone chose a Disco. I related to quite a few bits here and there, especially the incredible comfort, the looks and the handling on road and off-road ability out of the box.

I have had the opportunity in a couple of previous jobs to drive just about every 4WD on the market, but my favourite has always been the Disco or Rangie P38.

I know that the Land Rovers were not as well built and have had poorer production engineering than competitors - I have driven them all, repeatedly - but the LRs are much better value buying second-hand as a result.

Their core engineering is outstanding, though - far better, in my opinion, than the Jap stuff - so while I might whinge about the ridiculous things that fall apart on my Disco II V8 and the silly cost to fix it, I still love the damn thing. It's a great vehicle.

Can't improve on 4X4V8's summary. I also love my V8. It's an affliction. Other vehicle owners wouldn't understand.
Terry
99 Series 11 V8 Auto

I was looking for a 4WD, it was always going to be a Landy. I tthink the Discos are just better than the P38, and I wanted newer than a classic.
Would I buy another? Definately, been considering a D2 2003 approx.
Probably will wait till I can get a D3 though I think.

In 1994, I drove my first Disco, a V8 ES and fell in love. It was my then GF's mother's car, they had borrowed my Falcon Panel Van to move some stuff, and left me with the Disco, I wasn't going to complain (well I did a bit, they could have left me with her dad's Bentley Turbo R)!

In 1999, my wife and I drove a friend's manual 300Tdi, my wife decided she liked it, and we had our own, an auto 1995 300Tdi a few months later. Sold it in 2002, when we bought a new Disco Td5, then in 2004 bought a second-hand 1994 V8i as a second car, to replace my series 2a as a daily driver (It sits in the shed awaiting some TLC). I crunched the front end of the V8i recently, insurance wrote it off, so we bought a manual 1997 300Tdi as a replacement.

So 4 Discoverys in 9 years, no major dramas in that time with any of them; would I buy another - hell yes. Why? Because I can drive 1400km in a day and do it again the next. The Wife likes driving them too. The kids love them - they can see out thanks to the high seating position and low window sills in the back. They are not the same as everything else on the road. They have a heritage/pedigree. They are Land Rovers.

Around the same time as we got the Td5, dad bought a Landcruiser 100. There has been some friendly rivalry, stuff like it will break down, it won't tow etc. Until he drove mine. Enough said!

I was after a new 4wd to replace my 92 Navara dual cab, that was capable of towing a Jayco pop top to Darwin and back on out back roads. It had to be a Diesel, Auto, Live axles. I first did not consider the Disco due to the misconception of cost, and fortunately found a good deal on an 01 model, very competive price compared to the other brands, and trim level. First test drive had me hooked. The only other vehicle that came close was a V8 Grand Cherokee - (that was fun dragging and beating HSV's off at the lights) but it was not a diesel and was about $12,000 too much.
It has been the daily driver for my wife, and it has been pretty much trouble free 165,000 k's later. Starting to need a few things - nothing different than any other vehicle with similar age and mileage.

i got a 4wd because I need to tow a horse float and enjoy camping,etc and wanted something with a decent amount of room.

I'm from a family with 6 RRC's a P38A and Defender 110 so wanted something a bit different rather than just buying another P38A

I really like the series Series 2 disco with its ACE and in some ways see it as superior to the P38A in terms of on road manners. I use it as a daily driver as well so on road handling was important, i dont do anything too extreme off road. The disco ES has most of the luxury of the P38A (it doesnt have seat position memeory and dipping side mirrors when you engage reverse) but i can live without them :P I do sometimes miss the extra power of the 4.6 and I think you get the extra power without compromising fuel economy as the 4L in the disco is pretty thirsty!

So far 3 months on and absolutly loving it, big change from a 1996 Honda CRX targa top!.

Andrew