Thread: Defender V Disco ??

Originally Posted by hillbilliywheelchair

im hopeing to sell my (name removed) ute soon and i was looking at a defa but then thinking a bit more a tdi disco with an auto looked coumfy
now im not sure.
But ill have around the 8g mark and what im looking for is a wagon to use as a daliy driver, must be desiel, in the colder months and for camping trips which will inclued touring plus i want to set it up to sleap inside with all my junk (ie frigex2 and my wheelchair)
so what are your opinions on the two and which is easyer to mod to suit my needs

thanks jono

and sorry for any spelling mistakes

The Defender is great for room as there is heaps of that but they dont come in a auto so maybe a disco is the go for you

The Defender has more room and also is easier to attach things to as it has more straight lines and right angles in the interior. There is also a lot more room. But as you suggest, the Discovery is more comfortable, and may be easier for you to get in and out.

However, if you need to have an automatic, as Rangieman says, this almost excludes the Defender. I say almost, as it has never been sold here with an automatic, but some conversions have been made, and given the mechanical commonality between the drive train of the Discovery 1 and 2 and the Defender, such conversions are not too difficult.

John

Depending on your height, a disco is pretty limited for room in which to sleep. I faced the same quandry of choosing between the two a while back and honestly could not find enough ticks on the Defender's side of the argument to warrant it.
If you go out camping or travelling with some mates with Defenders you will find that it is a bit of a pain to travel with them in a Disco (or vice versa) as the gearing alters the torque range enough to make what is a comfortable speed for one an uncomfortable speed for the other, but that is a fairly minor complaint.
An auto has so many advantages over a manual box in the rough with the only one down side being the lack of engine retardation on steep descents.
A Defender doesnt look so damaged if you wipe out a panel (called a character mark) whereas the same damages tends to mar a Disco a bit more (called an accident)
For the Macho image and sheer internal space its the defender every time, but for creature comforts and more relaxed travel choose the Disco!
Regards
Glen

i have a d1 300tdi auto and i must say i really enjoy the comfort and capabilities, however if your wanting to sleep in it maybe a 110 would suit you a bit better depends how big you are ect ect seen pictures where someone put a hammock in the back that looked good

Go the Defender and convert it to Auto.

Mmmmmm Auto defender...

bit of a long story but I shall cut it short

we were looking at a 90 defender and I took my honey to the local show room to see a 110 and explained that this would be the back of a 90 (obviously minus the rear seats of a 110) whilst looking at it I realised that there wasnt as much space as I expected.

We would be putting two bicycles in there and camping kit and food and spares for 1 week. Also, unless you have rear seats in a 90, its basicly a 2 seat sports car....

in the end we got a TD5 Disco auto, with the seats folded down there is more space than a 90 but still the flexibility of carrying more persons.

This wasnt the main selling point but it did stack up in the favour towards the Disco. Also we had to consider parking space - we dont struggle with a 100" disco but I do think the 110 defer would be a handful in our situation.

hopefully that is some thing helpful for you

Hay Ewe

I think most of the points have been covered here, just need to have a list of what are 'must haves' and what arent. If an auto is a must have, then its basically 99% disco, unless space is a must have and you have the $$ to convert a defer to auto... but you mention 8k price cap.

8k will find you an auto disco tdi much easier than anything defender (defers are about 5k more for the same year disco)

shame on your budget. the tdi disco is a few inches shorter than the td5 disco. i am 6'3' and theres not enough room in the rear of a tdi, so i went to a td5 and is enough room to sleep in the rear. i had much the same decision making argments as you and some of the others and it was disco for me as we are travelling around aus and i dont really see that being all that comfortable in a defa.