What replacement

Thanks for the reply Assassin, like you say it's probably the rarity that that make it's mentionable.
Im not going to list the problems iv'e heard of with the Discovery

wideformat4x4 wrote:

Thanks for the reply Assassin, like you say it's probably the rarity that that make it's mentionable.
Im not going to list the problems iv'e heard of with the Discovery

Has no one told you of any good experience's with them, or is it just from people who have heard from people (Chinese whispers)
Their are problems with D3-D4, but you only hear the bad experience's
Up here their are quite a lot of D3-D4 s they never seem to go to garages for problems, always see them outside their homes or on the road. Same on D3 forum's a few bad experience's but some good as well.

This is true, there are good and bad with all vehicles, but you can't really argue with all the consumer and trade reports which list LR products as the worst for reliability.

That said you have to balance out how many LR products are sold worldwide when compared to other manufacturers such as Mitsubishi, Toyota, Nissan, etc; and you will see that they actually sell less globally than all the three mentioned, yet have considerably more problems. In addition you have to factor in the amount of people buying such vehicles with the intention of working on themselves and knowing they are unreliable so use them as project vehicles or second vehicles and expect to have to work on them.

Ultimately it comes down to individual choice, but for an everyday vehicle does a LR product perform? in reality the answer is no, but they perform as a work vehicle in hostile conditions because any running cost and breakdowns can be offset as a running cost for a company, but for the private buyer it is different. As a second or project vehicle they perform for a private buyer as they are not relied on and as parts are cheap they are readily converted, here lies the conundrum.

In reality looking around and what I'm likely to have to spend on the vehicle it's going to be a late face lift D2 or a Shogun but

I'm still not 100% sold on the Shogun watching YouTube videos on both vehicles in the sand and rough stuff the Shogun does seem to suffer rear bumper damage due to design and proximity to the ground.

Traction wise there seems to be no problem but the 3 videos I've seen of the Shogun in the sort of terrain I may want it for 2 damaged the rear bumper (it seems to scoop up sand and mud like a Plow) and the 3rd got beached on a not too large rut.

I like the idea of the ultra reliability but will I always be wishing I'd brought the Landy ?

The ML was a fantastic bit of kit but in the back of my mind I always thought I should have bought a Disco, although neither of the above vehicles could hold a candle to the ML on long road trips it was a little bit of a worry off road again down to large plastic bumpers and the lack of diff lock.

These are the compromises we all face, if you decide on a Shogun its got to be the 2000-2007 model with the extra ground clearance or the Disco.

Just found out I maybe able to stretch to a Landcruiser 3.0 VX
Now that may well be the answer to my worries about the Shogun and Disco

Try them all, after all you're the buyer and you have the power in your pound as car sales have slumped.

Very true although you would hardly think it, I looked at a 2001 Disco on Saturday the garage was asking £6995 for it 119k miles which seems to be top whack I asked what he would take cash or a bacs transfer and his answer was that's with 12 months warranty if you had 6 or 3 months I could knock a bit off.

I said the tax disc which is in the windscreen show 08/12 so your not falling over yourself to sell it are you I'll do it for £6499 cash he said which is the top I would expect to pay anyway so I made an offer and left my number.

I think you need to spend a week with me, you will learn to haggle them.

I only ever pay what I think something is worth, if they don't accept I walk away, once gone thats it as there are plenty of everything (except bloody Unimogs) around.

Hmmmmm!!!!! unimog

Forget a unimog if you want a daily driver. Brilliant trucks but set new standards for slow and hellish fuel mileage.

No vehicle will be perfect. Just get something that will make you happy and enjoy driving...and be prepared to work on. A 2001 disco sounds fine. So does a toyota if you can get a solid one.

Unimog: just another one to add to the collection.

Have you considered a VW T25 Syncro?

They are pretty capable and very comfortable if you get the right one. We camped out for a couple of nights over the weekend and it was great, you wil never need a hotel again









Jed

Now those Syncros DO hold their price.

Snow ... what snow? Great nightime shot Jed, very atmospheric.

I'd never even heard of them until your show Tom and must say I was very impressed, but not really a daily driver and I get enough stick from err indoors about having 3 cars if I went out and brought one of these as well

Thanks

I know I am bias because they are my thing, but I really cant think of a better all round 4x4 platform. The Westfalias have a very comfortable interior that sleeps 4 comfortably, four people can sit down and dine inside sat at a table, I fitted a nice compressor fridge, Eberspacher hot air heating, heaps of storage etc. If you fit an upgraded TDI and with standard front and rear diff locks too they are just great. Makes me wonder how I ended up buying a house sometimes.

Jed

Well it looks like my minds made up went to view a 53 plate Discovery 2 face lift model, theres a few little niggles with it but it's a different colour to what iv'e seen before a greenish grey full leather interior which I would describe as sand colour.

The fit and finish is nowhere as good on it as my old ML but with a full service history and well within my budget it the best I have found so far.
Had a good look at 2 Shoguns last week one had had a very hard life and the other was top dollar, the only Shogun I found within my price range and in good condition was a sport model and i'm not that sure on the off road capabilities of those and it has the old 2.5 diesel not the newer 3.2 so left well alone.

I am going to make an offer on it later today or maybe tomorrow morning don't want to appear too keen.
I let you know how I get on.