Thread: Disco vs Defender

It's basically horses for courses, mate.
The Disco is the more refined car, more electrical gadgets, the Defender more agricultural and simple. Enginewise no difference at all, if you opt for the Td5 Defender that is. The 110 has also more load space than a Disco.
Use it for cruising or long distance driving the Disco will have the edge, as a workhorse or expedition vehicle the Defender will serve just right.

Don't expect having a Defender will save you from experiencing troubles, though!!!

the disco and the deefer are essentially the same from the chassis down (eng,gearbox,diffs, springs yada yada yada)

The disco has more gumpf bolted into it better radio, better aircon, insulation, carpet, better seats, electronic trickery. Naturally this means there are more things to go wrong with it...

on the other hand Ive always felt that the quality of the build in the bodywork/crew space area has allways been better in the disco so you shouldnt get as many nigglers like the leaking seals, sagging doors, crappy trim and clicking wipers that seem to be the norm for the deefers.

It depends on what Kind of faults your willing to tolerate and whats going to **** you off enough to do something about it..

personally I dont care If I wind up sitting on a milk crate, with doors missing so long as it gets me where I need to go

Either vehicle will do what your going to ask of it but as youve stated the loading of the deefer is easier I would be weighing that off against the following facts.

1. you already have the disco and should by now know its personality (thats important on long trips IMHO)
2. its more comfortable, think of your passangers
3. So long as your willing to live with dents and scratches in it its only a micky hair less capable than a deefer off road.
4. The kids already love the disco and it has their entertainment and safty in hand. (deefers dont do so well in prangs crew wise) While the novilty of the agricultural feel of a deefer is a draw card to kids, it wears really really thin after about the first hour of corrigations.

the correct solution to your problem is to have both...

the disco for the missus and kids and a d90 for yourself

I've been thinking about this one and it seems to me that if you were looking to buy a second hand Discovery or Defender you should probably always buy the Discovery.

Just driving around town, most of the Discoverys I see are driving kids back and forth to school. Most Defenders I see live a much harder life.

So on average, the chance of finding a vehicle that hasn't been thrashed is much greater with a Discovery. I think that second hand Defenders are more likely to have been shaken, which won't necessarily increase mechanical faults, but possibly niggling problems like cracked or rubbed hoses and cracked welds.

I think we should coin a new acronym - SDS - Shaken Defender Syndrome.


Cheers
Simon

Originally Posted by abaddonxi

I think we should coin a new acronym - SDS - Shaken Defender Syndrome.


Cheers
Simon

this would explain the penchant for hosing out car interiors---

Also, as a percentage of their purchase price, discos definitely depreciate faster than defenders. So, as second hand vehicles they offer better value.

Thanks all for the comments, i think i will be persisting with the Disco for a while longer yet. We still love it.

Got to agree Mechanicals there isn't any real difference. Fender is easier to pull apart but will get dust in it. Kids will love it but the missus might not on long trips. Lack of carpets makes cleaning easier. I love hte seats in the defender but they are noisy compared to other vehicles.

Another point worth considering is overall height - although the Defender is not much higher than the Discovery, that "not much" is often the difference between go/no go in car parks.
John