Thread: looking to buy a dicovery 3. need advice

Originally Posted by Toppers

Gday all,

i'm new to the Land Rover world. My wife and I looking to buy a wagon 4wd (expecting our 2nd bubs in 8 weeks), i was looking at buying an NT Pajero, but saw some reviews and footage about the Discovery 3's. Very impressed i must say. I've checked out a 2008 SE TDV6 in a car yard in Adelaide. I no longer want a Pajero.

I know the Disco will cost a little more but i'm willing to pay that. I love 4wding ( currently driving a kitted out MK Triton) so i'm wondering how the disco 3 goes in the Aussie bush. Is there anything i should know about them when i start looking for one to buy? Any faults etc i should look for? Any advice will kibdly appreciated

Thank you for any help

G'day, I'm a D2 driver so can't advise much on the D3 - other than, I'd def buy one if I had the money.

Check out the D3 section of this website http://www.aulro.com/afvb/d3-d4-rrs/ there's plenty of info there.

Hoping to welcome you to the Green Oval family soon.

Rick

thanks Rick,
I'm hoping i can convince the wife to spend the extra few dollars to get a Disco 3, if not i do know she likes the Defender 110. I've driven the Armys 110 (even though they have a 4.0L Isuzu motor in them) and was amazed where and what they could do.

How do you find the Discovery 2? do you think it could be a car the wife could drive as a daily driver with a couple of rug rats in tow?
Maybe i should look at the Discovery 2 as a cheaper alternative..
What advice could you give me on them to look for when buying one?

Toppers

To be very concise, D2's are great
Caution I may be biased

Seriously, there a few things you need to know, do your research in the D2 forums, then make your mind up.

Yes plenty of topics throughout this sub section of the forum, you can use the "Search" function and also select "Advanced search" and narrow it down to just D3 /D4 / RRS.

Compare a D2 to a D3 and you will find a mammoth difference.

I've had 6 4wd's over 25yrs and the D3 is by far the best I've ever owned.

I have just come back from an amazing trip in the high country doing some of the toughest tracks and the D3 just kept on going, I was continually looking at the kids and saying what does it take to stop this thing. They are amazing off road you just have to get up the courage to test it, my mate who owns a 100 series even though he won't admit it is blown away by how I keep on going.

Cheers
Julian

You really can't find a better combination of on road comfort and awesome off road ability as you find in a D3/D4.

Get it well checked out, look for worn front end components, also should have a timing belt change at I think 160k, also many here recommend a transmission fluid flush and change at anywhere between 60 and 100k.

Our 2007 TDV6 HSE has been fantastic, by far the best all round vehicle we've ever owned. It's only needed three non-service items and two of those were precautionary changes rather than failures. The failure was a blown turbo hose - but we were pulling an offroad camper 5-up in soft sand on the beach near Esperance at the time, so that may have had something to do with it! We kept going for two more days, just pumping out a lot of smoke .... The two other items were a diesel injection pump (it was getting noisy) and the compressor for the air suspension which was responding slowly so I had it changed just ahead of a big trip. I've got 17" OEM wheels from the "S" model with Bridgestone D694 LT tyres in 265/65x17 size which are wearing well and had no punctures, amazingly, and a load of other kit including ARB roo bar, lamps, winch, LR snorkel, dual battery system, Windcheetah roofrack, etc etc. I'd like to fit a long range tank, but Mrs Gaviatrix doesn't hold with the swing-out spare wheel carrier for shopping use. Fuel consumption is good anyway - about mid 10s on the highway when loaded, mid 11s round town and over a few thousand ks round WA recently, including part of the Holland Track and a lot of dirt roads pulling a camper trailer we averaged 13.1 l/100kms which I thought was amazing. I was going to change to the D4 this year but ours is going so well I've decided to keep it for a few more years yet and see what the D5 looks like when it finally comes out. Good luck, and buy one - you'll not regret it!
P.S. - If you want to buy bits for it, look to the UK - I bought my 6 alloys in as-new condition for just over $1,100 including shipping (in two batches to keep under the magic $1k threshold). The local stealer wanted almost that just for one!