The discovery is an excellent choice in my opinion. I'd suggest maybe looking at a late model 2 with the TD5 engine with reasonable mileage for about £7k and buy a good warranty, ( the one I have on my P reg disco is excellent ) and keep the £3k for fuel, insurance and maybe the odd part not covered under warranty.
As for consumption my P reg disco 300tdi auto will easily get 30+ mpg if driven carefully ( not like a Sunday pork pie hat driver just carefully ) and it averaged about 24/26mpg whilst towing a 3500 kg boat from Hull to Middlesbrough.
I have to add I am slightly biased as I am a stone mad green oval fan and would have any green oval vehicle in preference to any of the do called supercars such as BMW, Ferrari, etc etc etc.
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Driving a Disco after a SAAB is for masochists only.
Horrible , slow noisy..and unreliable with designed in faults..
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Like Tony G,my vote goes to the Galaxy. After retiring from my previous job I found myself getting bored stiff. Luckily,I got a job driving a schools taxi.The car I use for this is indeed a Galaxy.Despite having over 150k. up it starts on the button in all weathers,is reasonably economical and parts are easy to find and ,being a Ford,reasonably priced. I regularily carry up to 5 passengers with no problem. The seats that aren`t needed fold up easily and the drivers seat is very comfy with a high driving position. I`m suprised at the high quality of the reats given the mileage. OK,the handling is not up to car standards,but what does one expect in such a high vehicle? Try one out!
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As for consumption my P reg disco 300tdi auto will easily get 30+ mpg if driven carefully ( not like a Sunday pork pie hat driver just carefully ) and it averaged about 24/26mpg whilst towing a 3500 kg boat from Hull to Middlesbrough.
Pulling one and a half times its own weight, fuel economy only drops by 15-20%?
Brim to brim, you'd average about 24-26-without towing.
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Having has the dubious pleasure of long-term experience of both vehicles, there's no comparison.
In my experience both were fairly unreliable[1], but at least the Land Rover lads were a sight better at fixing their product than the incompetants at Fords were[2]. Couple that with the fact that the Disco is a limousine on steroids, while the Galaxy is a very ordinary repmobile in an oversized frock and if forced to choose between the two, I'd take another Disco.
Also, working on a Disco yourself is simple. Access to everything is good. Nothing on the Galaxy is user accessible, including many of the lightbulbs, unless the user is a dwarf gibbon with a fetish for being flayed alive.
[1] Disco terrible on electrics and electronic components, Galaxy awful for water leaks, gearbox, suspension, cooling system and plastic bits dropping off.
[2] Galaxy invariably came back with more faults than it went in with.
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Actually unthrottled those mpg figures are brim to brim.
The original disco's were and still are real workhorses, easy and cheap to fix and service. If looked after the 300tdi engine will outlive the body and chassis many times over.
The newer disco's are problematic but just as easy to work on and repair.
The Range Rover Sport is only a disco 3 with a different body.
The only green oval product to be wary of is the P38 Range Rover.
My 300tdi disco is on 73,000 miles and I plan to keep it til it hits well over 200,000 ( as long as I keep the chassis well waxoyled )
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Hi ,it's interesting that favourable comments about discoveries .,are about the 300 tdi ,not the 2.5 5 cylinder model .the earlier 4 cylinder model is much better on fuel than the later 5 cylinder averaging in real terms about 8 miles per gallon more than the 5 cylinder. Tradionally a galaxy tdi averages 40+ mpg around town.
The earlier model Discovery suffers badly from electrolysis corrosion ,the steel boot floor and the inner wings corrode very quickly .in addition discoveries are unstable at high speed ,I once felt the rear wheels lift of the road , when I had to break hard at 70 mph on a motorway,really scary .
I've no preference for a discovery ,or a people carrier ,having bought and sold lots of both .i think to sum it up ,a discovery would be an emotional purchase ,bought with the heart ,an enthusiasts purchase ,a galaxy ,espace or the like would be the sensible purchase ,a logical buy .
Regards
Tony g
Edited by tony g on 01/05/2012 at 17:24
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What about a subaru legacy estate? Lots of room, 4 wheel drive and totally reliable.
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Some excellent responses, much appreciated. Thanks.
So, aside from the Discovery and the Galaxy, any other suggestions?
I was on autotrader last night and thought Volvo XC90 and XC70 looked pretty good value. Or maybe Audi A6 Allroad?
Keep those opinions coming!
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LR are usually residing at the bottom or very close to it in just about every reliability table you can find. Take the emotion out of it and if you must have a 4x4 look at anything Japanese, or Korean, something like a Land Cruiser, RAV4, Terrano, Grand Vitara whatever takes your fancy. Then at least you'll have something that won't break your mind and your wallet! Subaru would be a great buy, but remember that weight, 4x4 and big engine will always mean a thirst to be proud of. Ignore the official figures, meaningless in reality. A colleague at work is getting 22mpg from a Cherokee! Neighbour with a Disc 3 gets 25mpg, but has just spent £500 on the handbrake!
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As above, unless you are a very good hands on mechanic buy anything except a LR.
Amazon if you want the most durable and unbreakable, they hold good prices for a reason.
Terracan and Sorento overlooked for some reason, probably the badge, good bargain vehicles.
I love hearing about these fantastic fuel figures, 2 ton brick with huge transmission driven normally does not go far on fuel, never has never will.
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Why is it that people think that if they move to 'the country', they will need a four wheel drive? Weather conditions in the UK are some of the most benign on the planet, certainly far less severe than all of corthern and central mainland Europe and most of North America.
The OPs current car, Saab hails from Sweden. Try telling the Swedes that you need a 4X4 to traverse the glaciers around Chipping Norton. All you need is a FWD car with sensibly sized tyres.
Phoney 4X4s are useless. Real 4X4s are designed for towing horseboxes across fields and are dreadful on the road. Unless you do that, you really don't one.
A cheaper way of joining the country set is to buy a second hand wax jacket (never new), and get a 12 bore.
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Thanks for the wisdom, Unthrottled,
great idea re: the waxed jacket. Just checked eBay though and you'd be surprised what they go for 2nd hand.
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I've got a second hand wax jacket available at a very fair price. :)
Torn and shredded. Perfect. You don't want to roll up to a grouse shoot in a new barber now-dead giveaway of being a townie.
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