Buying a disco - year recommendation?

I'm looking for a used Disco with 30-40K miles. I'm expecting to spend less than $20K and am looking for recommendations for year, model, etc., and anything to look for. I intend to use the car for commuting, packing up the family for light traveling, and lots of skiing. Thanks!

Reply to
feynman
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On or around Mon, 7 Mar 2005 08:04:54 -0800, "feynman" enlightened us thusly:

I reckon you'd do better to stick with skis, for skiing, but your choice...

My personal thought is a good late disco I, 300 TDi or 3.9 V8 (your choice) with LPG. Not too much to choose on the fuel costs, but to get decent range on a converted V8 requires a lot of expensive tankage. 'course, if you can afford the petrol, you just run on petrol anyway :-)

If you intend significant mileage on the continent, a diesel probably makes much sense, seeing as the diesel tends to be cheaper over there.

Since the advent of the Disco III, there's a knock-on effect on SH prices for the earlier ones - there are some VERY tidy fully-loaded disco Is out there at very reasonable money. Disco I goes up to 98/99 or thereabouts. The advantage of this is the money you save with which to buy fuel and other toys.

It's reckoned that you're better off avoiding early TD5s, and TBH, the only TD5 that appeals to me is the face-lifted one with the snazzy headlamps. I forget when they start, might be about 2003, but someone will know.

Reply to
Austin Shackles

Austin, I suspect the OP is from Merika. The use of $, going skiing a lot, and traveling; sort of leads me to think in a left pondian way.

So, get the biggest V8, and floor it baby, yeah. How much is 'gas' a US gallon now I wonder?

Reply to
Colonel Tupperware

On or around Tue, 08 Mar 2005 18:18:44 +0000, Colonel Tupperware enlightened us thusly:

oops. good point. in that case, avoid the engines which are known to have porosity problems. Naturally, I forget which are the most prone.

Reply to
Austin Shackles

Range Rover ones...

I know a bloke who had a 3.9 Rangie engine replaced due to this, and plenty of stories of dead 4.6's. Never heard of a Disco engine going porous, though ICBW of course.

Reply to
Tim Hobbs

On or around Wed, 09 Mar 2005 10:25:26 +0000, Tim Hobbs enlightened us thusly:

seems odd, they're the same engines, n'est-ce pas?

Reply to
Austin Shackles

My recollection is that it was partly when they were made -- perhaps some change in process -- and partly the cylinder bore.

Reply to
David G. Bell

So Austin Shackles was, like

I heard it was 3.5, 3.9/4.0, 4.6, in that order. Something to do with the thickness of the casting between the liners and the water passages - the more they took away, the worse it got.

Reply to
Richard Brookman

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