Intro and Disco 4 SDV6 test drive questions

Hi Garry, thanks for your comments,

I'm kind of prepared for the worst, but hoping for the best. All of the horrendous invoices I've viewed so far have been for what I would regard to be fairly routine work, and the price of parts supplied was actually a very small component of the costs. I'll be hoping to do much of the general maintenance and repairs myself especially now that the vehicle has clocked a few kays and has depreciated significantly from new.

I'll be getting all those various oils replaced, and the transmission serviced professionally (as we wish to tow a van). I'll need to get it wired up for a brake controller, a red anderson and a grey anderson, a 12 pin trailer socket, and a UHF too. I want side steps, and the wife wants to toughen the look up a bit with chunkier A/T tyres. Hmmm....the cost of ownership is starting to mount already.

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Originally Posted by garrycol

I Mike and welcome to the LR brand and the forum.

Do not assume cost of ownership is going to be high - certainly when compared to the cost of ownership of equivalent well know Japanese products. Servicing costs overall will work out less. In addition through this forum you will soon learn about the parts infrastructure and where and where not to get parts at good prices.

Look closely at extended warranties - many are not what they seems and my not be "cost effective" - again the forum can provide good advice on this.

Cheers

Garry

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See if there is any record of the gearbox oil having been changed. If not changed by around 80K then by 120K or so then the gearbox will be close to needing a rebuild due to inferior stator bushes wearing badly without regular fresh (clean) oil. This is regardless of whether or not the gearbox / oil has otherwise been looked after.

First,make sure the vehicle has a full service history.
Second,get an Indie to check the vehicle out.Indies are independent guys that work on LR's only,often these guys know them much better than the dealers.
Someone will chime in with one in your area,or do a search on here.

D4's are fantastic vehicles,but they need correct maintenance by someone who knows them,not just the mechanic around the corner.

If it was me buying I wouldn't go ahead with this one. You can see there is a problem, why buy a problem? Wait and see other cars pop up on the market and even look over east.

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Originally Posted by rocket rod

You can see there is a problem, why buy a problem?

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Another way to look at this is; this problem will now be fixed on this vehicle & may occur anyway but after purchase on another similarly aged vehicle. So you could potentially be better off by purchasing this one but it all depends on level of confidence that issue is actually found and fixed. Also depends on how many similarly optioned vehicles in your price range are out there. If there's plenty of fish in the sea that's great, easy to move on.

Scott

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Originally Posted by LRD414

Another way to look at this is; this problem will now be fixed on this vehicle & may occur anyway but after purchase on another similarly aged vehicle. So you could potentially be better off by purchasing this one but it all depends on level of confidence that issue is actually found and fixed. Also depends on how many similarly optioned vehicles in your price range are out there. If there's plenty of fish in the sea that's great, easy to move on.

Scott

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Exactly. Thankfully the previous owner of mine fixed the intake manifold so now I know that won’t be an issue (well not for one of them).

Thanks for all the recent comments. I take on board what has been said. I cannot walk away from the contract I have entered into with the dealer. I spoke with the Manager today about the Special Conditions added to the contract but he reckons if the repairs check out on the test drive, then the deal is done. That's not quite my understanding but I'm not an expert in contract law. It might be interesting to put it to the test. Apparantly, according to the Manager (a man of significant Land Rover dealer/experience), all Discoveries emit copious amounts of smoke routinely, and never need their gearbox oil changed.

But that's jumping the gun anyway. I spoke with one of the "indies" today, he reckons it's not so much about what has and hasn't been done to the car in the past, it's all the condition of the vehicle in the present...and I subscribe to this. I can see an argument opposing this view would/could also be made. I'm looking forward to taking delivery of the vehicle (hopefully on Saturday), but I will be scrutinising it closely on my test drive.

Hoping that it all goes well with the purchase. I've seen vehicles that I definitely would not buy. This one's got potential....and it wears an HSE badge.

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Originally Posted by v8sruleok

Hoping that it all goes well with the purchase. I've seen vehicles that I definitely would not buy. This one's got potential....and it wears an HSE badge.

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We checked out over 8 before we bought the Antichrist. 2 of them at dealers had a HSE badge, but we're certainly not. Incredible what dealers will try and pull.

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Originally Posted by v8sruleok

.... Apparantly, according to the Manager (a man of significant Land Rover dealer/experience), all Discoveries emit copious amounts of smoke routinely, and never need their gearbox oil changed.

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If these ridiculous and incorrect statements were made in seriousness I would be very concerned about the veracity of anything you are told regarding the problem, its rectification and indeed the potential for other existing issues which have not come to light in your test drive.

Scott

After purchase, take the vehicle for an independent check and use the three-month statutory warranty to remediate any issues identified.