Tundra? Titan? or Land Rover?

How reliable is the Discovery? Has it left you stranded? I have had Discovery and several Range Rover and various Defenders over the years and the only time that I was actually stranded was by a V8 Range Rover that would not start in dense fog. My Toyota Land Cruiser has never faultered..... yet. My 18 month old BMW had to be carted back to sick bay last night for the second time in three months! First time it left my wife stranded at a railway station but this time the engine sounds like a bag of nails but it does 'limp' :-((

Huw

Hi Huw, are you the same Huw that frequents alt.fan.landrover? The Disco seems to be developing a few unsettling quirks. Specifically sometimes on start it runs like a dog, almost stalling. Other times nothing happens when I turn the key, I then wait turn the key again and it goes. There are some other small annoyances such as leaky sunroofs, front sunroof doesn't open anymore, and a gas smell from the rear. otherwise it runs fine. Cheers

stranded

Off and on :-) But you will have observed that I am not biased in any way.

Specifically

Sounds like my 'new' BMW with only 22000 road miles and one careful lady driver.... well mostly.

Other times

Nearly perfect then :-) Even a percentage brand new vehicles can have niggly little faults such as you describe. Except Toyota, where the vast majority of vehicles do seem to be as nearly perfect as one can get . No, I am not being sarcastic. I do believe it.

Huw

I have 2004 Discovery (wife's vehicle) and a 2004 Tundra and love them both. I would say that the Toyota is more reliable but I have driven the Disco places that I would never, ever try with my truck. I had a Nissan truck before my Toyota, it was a fine, reliable vehicle, but I would choose the Tundra (or a newer Discovery) over the Titan any day.

-Rob

appreciable

Yes I agree that the Land Rover is likely to be superior off road. The Land Rover is the best off roader I have driven. (I have driven many: jeeps, Dodge, Ford, Chevy pickups and suburbans etc. the only vehicle that came close was the 81 SWB or the 86 LWB Land Cruiser) I have almost decided to go with the Tundra.

Now, Double cab or Access Cab? TRD off road package or not? Cheers

appreciable

Good to hear from someone else that isn't sold on the Rover. I have a 95 Discovery and an 86 4Runner. The Discovery in my opinion is a piece of junk, high maintenance and to much maintenance are it's downfall. The aluminum engine is also the weak link in the chain if you're in the US. They don't seem to last long and try to find a rebuilt for it, imposible.

As to the Discovery being a superior off road vehicle, I don't buy that. It's a yuppie vehicle plain and simple.

I'd pick the Toyota every time, it'll last longer then a Rover.

Joe

They chose Land Rovers to drive to one of the poles, I forget which one. That must say something for their reliability.

: >

: Good to hear from someone else that isn't sold on the Rover. I have a 95 : Discovery and an 86 4Runner. The Discovery in my opinion is a piece of : junk, high maintenance and to much maintenance are it's downfall. The : aluminum engine is also the weak link in the chain if you're in the US. : They don't seem to last long and try to find a rebuilt for it, imposible. : : As to the Discovery being a superior off road vehicle, I don't buy that. : It's a yuppie vehicle plain and simple. : : I'd pick the Toyota every time, it'll last longer then a Rover. : : Joe : The Rover is an exceptional offroader at least in my experience. It does seem to be lacking in some key areas though. Mine has 130000 Km (~80k miles) on it and seems to be developing some reliability issues. I feel a vehicle should be able to go much further than that without developing any serious reliability issues. And yes it does like expensive maintenance. I guess I have lost confidence in the engineering and overall mechanical quality of the vehicle. I agree too that the use of aluminum engine blocks is dumb, Aluminum is soft and creates a condition of potential oil leaks when butted up against iron components. Time for a Toyota truck.

I wonder how many they started with and how many finished. Also my gripe isn't with a new Rover, just about any vehicle is good while new. But put some miles on it and that will tell the story. Owning one with 120k miles on it has made me think they are not tough at all.

Joe

Mine is OK off road but I don't think it's superior to any other 4 wheel vehicle I've owned. I too just don't think of it as a reliable vehicle. The engine has cost a small fortune with oil leaks and maintenance. The valves are the noiseist of any vehicle I've owned too.

I wanted to replace the engine when I had problems with the heads but you can't even find a rebuilt engine in the US. My Discovery has been for sale for about a month and I pity the person that gets it next.

Joe

Gee, didn't Rover Group buy that Aluminum V8 engine design lock stock and manufacturing tooling from General Motors? I seem to recall it was a Buick V8 and once GM got the aluminum block bugs out everyone wanted bigger motors, so they sold off the design.

Meaning that if it blows up, parts like manifolds and heads might fit from US junkyard Buick engines. (Check first - someone will have tried it before and know...) Being an older motor they would be a bit rare and hard to find, but may be cheaper than air-freighting all your spares from Britain.

I'm keeping my 88 FJ-62 LandCruiser. ;-) With it's 2F-E that's a shameless knockoff of the Chevrolet Stovebolt Six.

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They had 2. The program was on National Geographic. If they ever rerun it, it is definitely worth watching. Especially the part how they re-inflated the tires when the seal with the rim broke. They ran like 2-4lbs of pressure in them, so it happened quite often.

Dummies. ;-P If you're going to run low pressures like that for long periods, you will be fighting with popped beads daily. If you are going to spend days in the sand or snow with 4 PSI in the tires, you need to buy beadlock rims that literally clamp the tire beads to the rims with a ring and a bunch of bolts.

Also makes fixing a puncture properly (from the inside) by hand far easier without fighting with tire irons, since there are no Coats

20-20 tire machines on the Antarctica tundra. And no fighting to get the bead seated again, either. (If you don't have a tire machine, you certainly don't have a "Cheetah" bead-blaster air bottle either.)

It's as simple as getting out a socket wrench and unbolting the 15 or 20 bolts holding the clamp ring, the tire falls right off the rim. Then you have easy access to the inside to clean, abrade, apply cement and a patch. Bolt the rings back on, and air it up.

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: I wonder how many they started with and how many finished. Also my gripe : isn't with a new Rover, just about any vehicle is good while new. But put : some miles on it and that will tell the story. Owning one with 120k miles : on it has made me think they are not tough at all. : : Joe : My Land Rover has been okay. Just okay though, I had higher hopes for it when I bought it. I have had quite a few issues with electronic components such as abs wheel sensors 2 of those went at $430CDN a pop. I have also had one wheel bearing go, A drive shaft coupler was shagged, cruise control vacuum hose was shagged. More things than you would expect to be wrong with a vehicle with only 130000Km on the clock. I have gotten to the point where I wonder what will go next. Time to let it go.. Anyone wanna buy a 97 Disco in Vancouver :) J/K I looked at the Tundra double cab today.... NICE!!!