Discovery 3's

[DJC2]

Any of you guys got one of these?

Thinking of trading up from the Patrol to a 2007 TDV6 and I test drove one at the weekend and its a different class to the Patrol. I am very keen but just need to know if there are any common faults appearing at 100k plus

Cheers
Darren

[StuKlose]

My Brother had a 05 TD V6 HSE and was a pile of S*i%.

[DJC2]

My Brother had a 05 TD V6 HSE and was a pile of S*i%.

Thanks for your forthright opinion there!!

Any particular reason? Were the problems from new or once it got a few kms under its belt? Major or minor issues? Any feedback appreciated

[nannat]

my brother had a 2003 diesel expensive to maintain and repair problems as well.he not gettin another.but 2.5 deisel turbo great to drive for a 4x4 and step up in comfort .
i guess if you can afford that level of comfort and time to care for your vehicle you would enjoy.
i certainly i enjoyed driving it and not owning it.
at 130000 it needed internals in the gearbox and new clutch.he bought it with about 90000 on it already.

[Yardi]

I had a V8 Disco top of the line job Leather interior, sunroofs all the fruit.
Best car I have ever driven, extremely comfortable, great for towing, good off road with plenty of grunt but!!!!!!!!! Damn expensive when it came to servicing and repairs

[seamonkey]

The couple of people I know who've had Disco's absolutely loved driving them but hated owning them. Prone to weird failings that prove to be expensive. One had a $2000 dollar gearbox repair...the part was $10.

I had a TDI on loan for a week and loved it and still look at them when I see them for sale but the rational side of me always wins out....so far!

smky

[StuKlose]

My brother owned it from new and paid $105 000. Sold it at 50 000 km and struggled to get $50 000 for it, resale sucks.

At 1o 000km service they found water in both the gearbox and rear diff. He had not done any offroad work at this point. At 23 000km he had the gearbox replaced under warranty.

During our trip on the Canning Stock Route the disco would go into limp home mode with no reason at least twice a day requiring the battery to be disconnected for 30mins before going again. More often than not 3/4 the way up a dune with everyone in front.

He is now silly enough to be buying the Disco 4.

Great car for the city and towing but thats about it.

Stu

[ruski]

He is now silly enough to be buying the Disco 4.




Sounds like he's a glutton for punishment! :eek:

[Alex]

No, he is just a Disco enthusiast...;)

[DJC2]

[QUOTE=StuKlose;290717]My brother owned it from new and paid $105 000. Sold it at 50 000 km and struggled to get $50 000 for it, resale sucks.

At 1o 000km service they found water in both the gearbox and rear diff. He had not done any offroad work at this point. At 23 000km he had the gearbox replaced under warranty.

During our trip on the Canning Stock Route the disco would go into limp home mode with no reason at least twice a day requiring the battery to be disconnected for 30mins before going again. More often than not 3/4 the way up a dune with everyone in front.

He is now silly enough to be buying the Disco 4.

Great car for the city and towing but thats about it.



Thanks Stu - definitley wouldnt go new - thats awful depreciation for 2 years!

Any idea what the cost of the gearbox replacement would have been - i would be picking up a second hander with about 100k on the clock and thats what is concerning me a bit (especially if the new car warranty has run out)

Cheers

[Alex]

Any idea what the cost of the gearbox replacement would have been


It looks like you want it bad.

Do a little bit more research on the net at least. There is a reason they are cheap secondhand.

The earlier models were prone to intermittent electrical problems with looms replacement being a common occurrence (read: high labour cost) as the problem was very difficult to pinpoint.
One of the members of our angling club bought a Disco a couple of years ago (it was his dream car :rolleyes:): went to the maiden voyage through South Australia-lost the driveshaft spent two days waiting for the tow truck taking him back to Melbourne. End of holiday :mad:.

[Dror]

My old man bought a Disco 3 TDV6 SE new in 2005 and still has it. Done 120 000k's now and has never had a mechanical fault. In terms of ride, handling and quietness they are light years in front of Landcruiser, Patrol and pretty much anything else available. The electrics seem to be the main downfall. Dad's had an issue with a warning light to do with the air suspension. It never stranded the car or caused it to go in to limp mode but was just an annoyance that kept happening. It meant that you couldn't raise and lower the car when it came on but that's it. Turned out to be a small part that was at fault but it took Landrover 12 months to find it. Was fixed under warranty so was an inconvenience but didn't cost anything.
The resale generally is nowhere near as bad as Stu's brother experienced, he got seriously ripped off. Take a look at any of the car sales websites, a 2005 HSE fetches around 50k with 100,000k's on the clock now. My old man was offered near 40 for his as a trade on a new Disco 4 and his is the SE and had well over 100,000k's on it.
I think if you were going to own one that was out of warranty you would need to get it checked out really well by someone who knows them and expect that it will cost some money in the long term. I have to admit I would be a bit nervous owning one that had no warranty as the parts are certainly expensive.

Cheers, Dror

[Bassifier]

I have a disco td5. Great vehichle, on and off road. Expensive to service and repair though. Www.aulro.com.au for all your land rover info.

[DJC2]

My old man bought a Disco 3 TDV6 SE new in 2005 and still has it. Done 120 000k's now and has never had a mechanical fault. In terms of ride, handling and quietness they are light years in front of Landcruiser, Patrol and pretty much anything else available. The electrics seem to be the main downfall. Dad's had an issue with a warning light to do with the air suspension. It never stranded the car or caused it to go in to limp mode but was just an annoyance that kept happening. It meant that you couldn't raise and lower the car when it came on but that's it. Turned out to be a small part that was at fault but it took Landrover 12 months to find it. Was fixed under warranty so was an inconvenience but didn't cost anything.
The resale generally is nowhere near as bad as Stu's brother experienced, he got seriously ripped off. Take a look at any of the car sales websites, a 2005 HSE fetches around 50k with 100,000k's on the clock now. My old man was offered near 40 for his as a trade on a new Disco 4 and his is the SE and had well over 100,000k's on it.
I think if you were going to own one that was out of warranty you would need to get it checked out really well by someone who knows them and expect that it will cost some money in the long term. I have to admit I would be a bit nervous owning one that had no warranty as the parts are certainly expensive.

Cheers, Dror


Cheers Dror and Alex - thats the sort of info I am after. I was looking at a 2005 SE for 35k, BUT it had 176k on the clock and was obviously out of warranty so too big a risk for me. Will hold on for 2007ish model and pay a but more - only problm is that they are pretty rare at the moment in diesel.....

Thanks
Darren

[Isokaze]

I have been told by the sales rep the earlier model has electrical fault, but mine is 2008 SE late model so it is ok. He seems nice so I have trusted him :) Since new I have done 38,000 km in two years, with no fault what so ever. But this car drinks and the brake pad wears down easily. Next month I have bring the car back so they can replace the pad. Service costs a lot, and parts are expensive, but I have 3 years free servicing so at least not a concern for me now.

I paid $57k on the road brand new for 2008 SE, I was thinking about low milage secondhand, but end up getting a new one because of the warranty . The price difference between a new one and a good 2nd hand is not big enough to justify the risk. I don't know other state, but the resale value for disco 3 is pretty good in Vic

[DJC2]

I have been told by the sales rep the earlier model has electrical fault, but mine is 2008 SE late model so it is ok. He seems nice so I have trusted him :) Since new I have done 38,000 km in two years, with no fault what so ever. But this car drinks and the brake pad wears down easily. Next month I have bring the car back so they can replace the pad. Service costs a lot, and parts are expensive, but I have 3 years free servicing so at least not a concern for me now.

I paid $57k on the road brand new for 2008 SE, I was thinking about low milage secondhand, but end up getting a new one because of the warranty . The price difference between a new one and a good 2nd hand is not big enough to justify the risk. I don't know other state, but the resale value for disco 3 is pretty good in Vic


Mate you must have some great negotiation skills to get a newie for that price - maybe I should fly you over to Perth :D

When you say it drinks a lot - do you have a pertol or diesel? have heard that the diesel is significantly more economical than the petrol

Cheers

[Isokaze]

Mine is Petrol. I think I did pretty well, some of the second hand done maybe around 40,0000 to 50,000km, 3-4 years old, dare to ask for $50k.

[DaiwaFreak]

My dad's got a V8 disco 2 and it still is running fine. But if you are going to buy a land rover, take care of it, service it every 10,000 or even every 5,000.

Cheers,

Daiwafreak

[DrPopper]

Wifey had a Disco 3 for a while ...she hated it. And it suffered constat problems with the electric windows and door locks. She traded it for a BMW X5 after about 12 months.
I had a Range Rover Vogue for a few years a while back ...never had a issue with it and I'm considering a RR Sport V8 Diesel as my new ride but I'll probably just get a Land Cruiser less chance of a hassel with a cruiser.