Thread: Range Rover or Discovery

Same as QLD then, although they give it the fancy 'safety certificate' label. Easy to obtain if you find the right bloke to do it of course

Trav

Thanks guys.
So it isn't as easy a decision as I thought then?

I've driven a 4.0 2001 RR and was pretty dissapointed in the performance to be honest. When driving like a 'normal' person it was fine, but when I smashed the pedal to the firewall there wasn't much else there to be had? Maybe there was something wrong with it? I think my XR8 towing the boat probably had more acceleration than it(I'm not trying to be smart, it is for real), so I wonder how sluggish it will be with the boat behind it? It will make a few trips up to the Murray for a ski (from Melbourne) and I would hate to be doing 60kph up every hill!!! At least my wife likes the look of it - she hates the Disco's 'Rugged beauty'!

I drove a pretty tight 134 000K Disco V8 and that from memory surprised me a bit with how it went. When you dropped the pedal at say 40kph and it kicked back, and did give you a push in your back. Certainly no rocket, but felt like I could handle it without whinging too much (yes, I like fast cars, bikes, boats etc). It definitely wins with the 7 seat option though. Not a 'must have' but it would be pretty handy nevertheless.

I don't know anything about the Defender to be honest, but I want luxury and as many features as my budget can buy. Leather, good stereo's, a bit of plastic wood would be nice (or is it real???), and I'm very fussy so no salty stuff will be going in the back and it wont be dunked in salt water thats for sure! I want something in Immaculate/Excellent condition and it sure wont be treated like a 'paddock basher'.

I was told not to bother looking for a RR with no problems - they dont exist - just find one with the LEAST amount of problems. I figure to get one with all the big stuff recently replaced might be critical?

The hunt goes on - RR HSE 4.6 or DISCO ES7 - they tell me I wont get one for my money under 140000klms, but I hope to prove them wrong.......

do you need 7 seats??
if so strike off any RR.

Originally Posted by DM74

... (yes, I like fast cars, bikes, boats etc). It definitely wins with the 7 seat option though. Not a 'must have' but it would be pretty handy nevertheless.

... I want luxury and as many features as my budget can buy. Leather, good stereo's, a bit of plastic wood would be nice (or is it real???), ... I want something in Immaculate/Excellent condition and it sure wont be treated like a 'paddock basher'.

.......

Then go for a V8 D2a, that's the later one (post 2003 I think), with all the fruit - leather, twin sunroofs, and yes - real wood!

I too'd be saying D2 would be the way to go. See what the wife thinks to the looks of either a high spec D2 with the body coloured bumpers etc or a D2a. They look a bit less agricultural with all the body bits that the higher spec ones came with.

You might get a reasonable condition early D2a with highish k's for the money you're lookin at spending, but I'd be aiming more for one of the last pre-facelift earlier cars to make sure you're getting a top knotch one for the money. Other than the front lights there isn't a huge amout of difference in the areas you've mentioned are important to you I don't think.

Harmon Kardon audio, leather, sunroofs, wood (although i'm not convinced about the realness of it personally). Just make sure that any advertied as ES spec actually are, I've seen a lot of non-ES's with a few ES options added advertised as proper ES's.

Performance wise our v8 D2 is pretty reasonable although it's never going to set the world alight. It's not as quick as our L322 v8 Range Rover but still gives a reasonable bit of shove off the line and although I don't tow with ours regularily it has trailered a BMW 6 series coupe up the freeway a couple of times without struggling too much on hills - notice the cruise control kick down a gear when it's steep but certainly holds 100kph fine. I get quite frustrated with gutless cars and have never been annoyed with the D2 in the way driving 4 cyl Camry rental cars etc irritates the hell out of me.

The D2 still has its own fair share of electrical gremlins but you don't hear so many horror stories about them and things like the 3 amigos (TC, HDC and ABS warning lights) have been discussed and fixed so many times they're a no-brainer nowadays.

If you had a bigger budget I'd be saying L322 Range Rover for all the toys, definately real wood and better performance/reliability from the BMW engine, but they're still starting about $40k for a high km foosty one.

defender