DISCO 4 - Interesting reading

[Graham]

Poor guy,


http://landroverhell.com/article/4010/


Gra.

 

[Gary Stockton]

Shame.

That's all I can say, really - shame for those mis-guided people who insist on buying a vehicle that should tick all the boxes and consistently doesn't.

Much like a 2nd marriage - the triumph of hope over experience

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

That's not good is it, not even an isolated case looking at the comments.

 

[Andrew Prince]

Oh dear! I sometimes wonder whether a newbie coming onto this forum to do some research into reliability and known issues with LCs might get put off because we tend to be quite critical of problems with our trucks. And try and problem-solve for minor issues (is it tinnitus or my front diff whining?) But after having a skim through that site and the horror stories, Toyota reliability gets put back into perspective.

 

[Crispin]

Oh dear! I sometimes wonder whether a newbie coming onto this forum to do some research into reliability and known issues with LCs might get put off because we tend to be quite critical of problems with our trucks.

There was someone a while ago who said he would not go for a 120 because it was a ticking time bomb. IIRC, he was new here and researching his next car.

viewtopic.php?t=12566&p=98903 put issues out of perspective.


Luckily, a search on google for "landcruiser 120 fault" has a top search result of a tongue-in-cheek post by me

The 90's blow up because of a dodgy rad, the 80 has er, bad BIBs, the 100 has a dodgy gearbox (TC Issue?)

/rant.


A guy with a new disco 4 was talking to me a while back. Said he had it back at the dealer plenty times in the 6 months he had it.

I wonder when you can say "It's not fit for purpose, take it back"?

 

[Gary Stockton]

Dunno that those issues were out of perspective - in the end, it seems only you and I have had 'significant' issues - and I'm not sure that we get don't get them because we venture off the tar! Or maybe I have a Friday car and you have a Monday car? Or previous owners didn't maintain them well? But I have to say that I've only had one issue that's left me high and dry, and that was electronic (ride height sensors) - everything else has been manageable. OK - the aircon issue is a real pain, and really weird - I'm not convinced something else is not to blame.

And yours is now 8 years old, and mine is coming up for 7 this year - so not insignificant ages really ....

How do you find out if your vehicle was in a crash before you got it??

 

[Crispin]

Mine is now about to do 110000 standard miles (not nautical) and is 8 year old. It certainly is streaks ahead of other cars I have had which have had less mileage and younger in terms of reliability and creaks and moans.
Do I want to keep it as a daily drive for much longer? I’m loving it less each day for that purpose.
My previous LR freelander was a money pit from the day after I bought it. Final straw was shelling out 1800 for a new head etc within 2 months of buying it. Worst car ever.

As for accident? Overspray? Panels straight? Great big massive dents in the side of the truck?
Would a HPI show it?

 

[Gary Stockton]

doesn't seem to have any of the regular symptoms - and I've spoken to a professional panel beater who has no axe to grind,a nd he reckons nothing obvious. Just kinda hinkey how the aircon magnetic clutch keeps getting fubar'd

Buy a skedonk to commute in and keep the trok for fun

 

[ignat]

I remember picking up my roof tent at Terrain Vehicles in Hastings.

While waiting, they had a customer on the phone about his Disco. IIRC it was a '05 model. They said his best option was to sell up and trade it in for a newer one "because yours is getting old and will continue giving problems, so the best route is to get a newer one." From a LAND ROVER specialist!

I was gobsmacked! And the guy sounded like he was going to go ahead and do it!

 

[Chris]

It would be great to post something pithy here but it's difficult to add to what owners have already said on their own site dedicated to the problems of owning one. I have a very good friend who has had 5 Discos from new starting way back with a J reg IIRC. Pointless listing the faults that he has had in relatively a small number of miles. But I'd add that I never found any of them comfortable either. One day I was struck by the realisation that very often LR were quite often dedicated owners who'd had little else. (No not all I shouldn't generalise, but I do know many who have had virtually nothing but green ovals) and that the problems that they suffer and the service that they received were perceived as normal and the same as everyone else got.

If you'd had Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Mitsi, Landrover - it's unlikely that the next car in the series would be.... another Landrover. But if it was LR LR LR LR the punishment would seem to go on. This is further reinforced buy people who come to us after discovering (no pun) Toyotas and say that they cannot believe that they've wasted all those years! Now I am not going to get into the which is best argument in terms of capability as I have been utterly impressed with some of the most basic Discos that I have seen off road - without lockers etc. They just seem very very good. Until they pack up obviously.

What seems to have been the downfall is that they have become so complicated and clever to overcome the difficulties of not simply having an engine, two big axles and some diffs as they used to have, that the reliability had nose dived. They were never THE most reliable but I blame 70's British Industry mentality (and Lucas) for that. But I do have to ask, if Toyota made a copy, would it be more, or less, reliable?

Name and address withheld (due to previous death threats) (not to me, but from other owners taking their own lives on realisation that they needn't have suffered)

Chris. Oops. Damn.

 

[Gary Stockton]

Always thought that Toyota build up to a quality spec (as do others) and LR build down to a price point .... Sad really

 

[silvercruiser]

One day I was struck by the realisation that very often LR were quite often dedicated owners who'd had little else. (No not all I shouldn't generalise, but I do know many who have had virtually nothing but green ovals) and that the problems that they suffer and the service that they received were perceived as normal and the same as everyone else got.

If you'd had Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Mitsi, Landrover - it's unlikely that the next car in the series would be.... another Landrover. But if it was LR LR LR LR the punishment would seem to go on. Chris. Oops. Damn.

Too true, my parents have had many discoverys the last one cost them 4k in repairs within 6 months,

i am currently looking out for a landcruiser for them so it gets them out of this rut

Joe

 

[Andrew Prince]

It must be hell for the designers and engineers at LR because some of their designs are good but when they're put into practice (i.e. the bean-counters have pared everything down), the final product has a pretty high failure rate apparently.

I mean you can't have an ounce of mechnical nous if you think a plastic sump plug is a good idea On a 4x4 that you advertise as being off-road capable and rugged. The customer service further compounds this - if LR took back the lemons after they'd visited their workshops 4 times in the first 2000 miles and replaced them, then their customers would be singing their praises and not flagging the unreliability of the vehicles. Of course LR might also be bust if that was the case

I recall a story (maybe apocryphal?) about the Merc 6cyl diesels when Merc brought out a new generation and reduced the number of main bearings from 7 to 5 or something to lighten the engine, save costs etc and the new gen engines had problems with the cranks developing fatigue cracks and failure after fairly high miles, i.e. >50k, not breaking as they drove off the showroom floor. Merc apparently cottoned onto the problem and replaced all the engines that died without a murmur. Obviously they fixed the problem for the next generation engine but their customers were kept on-side and didn't make too much fuss and hurt Merc's image.
I may have the details a bit wrong but LR could probably learn something here if they can't make reliable cars

 

[prav]

Ive heard this before also, my friend less than a 1 year old from the dealer had it less than 8 months and spent at least 2months in the garage.Ended up spending thousands on repairs but with the same fault ended up handed the keys back and lost 10 grand YES 10 GRAND ,I worked out owning this car in 8 months cost him 13-15 grand in total. I shouted at him when he told me the story as I saw him when he bought the car and after he got rid.....and he didn't mention it in between. Shame on LR for building such a crap car and losing the trust of many......

 

[Ben]

we all know landrovers are crap, thats why we drive toyota's!

but.............................landrover sell the only commercial 4x4 in the UK that will legally tow 3.5 tonnes!

for this reason my boss has one, as he needs to be able to move are plant from site to site.

it is forever going wrong, and he gladly pays the £800 every year for the extended warranty for the year, because he knows that it will go wrong, and go back to the main dealers and if it wasnt under warranty it would cost a fortune!

i think the last thing that went wrong was the wiring loom for the auto gearbox burnt itself out. had not been under extended warranty he would have had to pay £2500!

if only toyota sold there 70series pick ups over here, or a commercial version of the current cruiser.

 

[Rodger]

Interesting point Ben, particularlly when you read the article about the lack of 200 sales in the USA as in the same article it is stated that the factory can hardly keep pace with the worldwide demand for 70 series trucks... But surely Toyota are missing out on the niche in the UK market. Admittedly it costs to get into a market but is the UK the only exception in the supply of 70 series trucks? Or is this lack of commercial competition a hang-over from the days of protected industry? Or does the MR show it to be too small a market, if so, perhaps they should ask caravan/heavy trailer towing LR owners.

Regards

 

[Crispin]

Dare I say it's because of lack of appeal? (ducks in fear of a beating) but the 70 looks dated? Mr-T has to appease the wags and "people who have made it" which is what the disco and range rover do so very well. Stroke the ego. The UK is probably the least 4x4 requiring country. The 70 would fail at that IMO.

It would be good for where it is meant - farmers and "hard working" vehicles but the defaco seems to be defender defender defender. As Chris pointed out, if all you have known is that and your farmer father also only ever had defenders, it would be a touch thing to crack?

 

[chugga90]

I have only ever had one Landcruiser, which was brilliant and I am planning another one very soon.
Have had more Land Rovers than I can remember, lots of other Japanese 4x4's and many other commercial vehicles for businesses I have run or as present own.
The three best tow cars I have had are a Discovery 2 commercial 2002, Isuzu trooper Lwb 3.1 1993 & LC 100 V8 1998.
The discovery was the newest of them I owned, did around 60000 miles with me in the three years I had it, was just great at what I needed as a tow car and also carry my tools of the trade, we sold it at around 130,000 miles because in the 3 months prior to that it cost 2500.00 to keep on the road due to bits breaking or falling apart after it hit 100k. Cannot recall the mileage of the Trooper, it was the most amazing tow car would pull anything, was just let down by the bodywork slowly rotting away around it.
So far my best tow car, the 100LC, I cannot fault its ability to drag huge loaded trailers. It had niggles, the LPG converter did not do well and I had two different set ups on it, the first an egas one parts were just not up to the job and would fail regularly, but never stopped it working. The second one Tartarini, did not like working with the power of the engine flat out and would switch back to petrol and make daft noises, or just stall when you least need it. I think that is why I lost confidence in it and sold it. The other issue I had was with the active suspension and fixed that with airlift bags in the rear springs. This leads me onto Land Rover's, we swapped this one for a Freelander 2 i6 57 plate, with its lovely 3.2 straight six petrol engine. This is now my wifes car and is just great, does all she needs in a car and is not too much trouble. It has had a few trips to the dealer. These are because they are never very good at fixing it first time, just throw parts at them until its fixed as the warranty covers that! In all my years with LR's have always found dealers to be looking down on me as I do not fit the type they expect, but found the best way to deal with that is keep throwing the troubles back at them. Not had much to do with Toyota dealers as the age of the car I had was 9yrs and good independants serviced it.
I do think I have my last Land Rover in the i6 and will not be in the market in future for such new cars so will not have the issues Discovery 4 owners have, watch this space for anothe V8 100 very very soon!

 

[AndrewT]

I have new found respect for the discos after seeing a disco 3 on road tyres complete the onelifeadventure.co.uk Wales explorer trip. It went everywhere where my LC went with no problem.

That said, they are basically fly by wire. The terrain response selector, re maps the whole vehicle for each selection, ie throttle response, suspension height, Trac control etc. etc. Which makes you worry about river crossings....

The other point is that all those useful storage areas on the LC are packed with electronics on the Disco, so for me it comes down to where do you want to buy your electronics from ? Is it as simple as Sony Vs Amstrad ?

Shame though, because nobody needs that level of hassle.

 

[Philip A]

I own and have owned LRs and LCs, and have owned G Wagen, and Range Rovers.

I live in Africa and use the cars as working tools in the bush, offroad, at times spending weeks away from any real road.

1) Land Rover does not produce at this time ANY vehicle that is bush-worty, i.e. reliable enough to be taken in hostile environment, and they have not done so in years. OLd SII-SIII and early Defenders were not reliable, but they were fixable. Now they are even more unreliable, and absolutely unfixable in the bush - or even in a third world country.

2) Land Cruisers are far more reliable and solidly built than any LR ever produced. Toyota took over the African market for a good reason...

But at the end of the day, I have yet to drive a LC that feels better than a Classic Rangie on bad roads and in the bush... The only problem is that you have to have your toolbox with you, and to know your car to the last bolt or nut.

So, although I do have and will have Cruisers, there will most probably always be a LR-badged vehicle in my yard...