Oh dear, just read that Land Rover are recalling Discos and Defenders made at Solihull between 1998 (BMW) through to 2003 (Ford) to correct a couple of faults (ABS, high pressure hose and throttle body). 250,000 cars in all!!!!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlands/3524070.stm

Inherited faults not corrected while under BMW ownership.... mmmmmmmm.......and then took Ford 3 years to find.....mmmm!!!

Large corporate inertia, don't ya just love it??!!!:(

Yea but guess who Ford and BMW will blame? It was a Rover Group company at that time....

...but of course Rover Group doesn't exist any more, does it? MG-Rover are an entirely different entity.

Reminds me of all the horror stories of Land Rovers all rolled into one. One of my friends had one of the early Discovery's back in the early 90s. The rear door used to fall off regularly, the bonnet flapped in the wind at any speed greater than 60mph, the glo-plugs used to blow out of the engine every week or so and it leaked like a sieve.

When it went in for it's first service, the dealer had to keep it in for two weeks - there were over £7,500 worth of recall work that had to be implemented. OUCH!

Thankfully, Land Rover's these days are much more reliable. I even heard a report from someone recently that his Landie went for a whole day without some bit of the dashboard falling off. Mind you, it was probably because the car was unusable and stuck in the garage with a head gasket failure at the time...

Yea but guess who Ford and BMW will blame? It was a Rover Group company at that time...

Yeah, and LR spent years harping on about how they were holding up the rest of the group all the time.......mentioning warranty claims to them was like mentioning Vietnam to an American!!!

But I seem to recall that 1999 was the year that BMW really started to sink their claws into Rover Group with their BMW managers parachuted into various departments to 'sort them out' and turn the company around. What were they doing in that time period then?

12 months later they abandoned ship.......obviously Rome was built in a day according to them, but RG was only fit to destroy in a day......:irked:

I spit everyday as I pass the new Scotthall BMW showroom being built in Leeds. Last laugh is on MG Rover though as there new dealer (Harewood) is much much better placed for trade!

Hang on guys - don't slag off Land Rovers. They all started as Rovers as well!

For your information I have had two Discos and they have been great. They go anywhere, have been extremely reliable, and have been absolute stand-out vehicles. I'd buy another in a heart-beat.

I have also had the pleasure of driving a Range Rover for a few days - that is the most impressive car that I have ever had the opportunity of driving.

My '93 Defender has Rover Group on the vin plate (which entitles me to read this forum :) ) Biggest design weakness is the fragile manual transmission on Deffos & Discos (I had a recon gearbox & transfer box last year). Anyone considering a Disco should stick to an automatic gearbox in my opinion.

I remember reading a report which listed 140 known faults with the Freelander - might still have it somewhere...

Still, everyone will blame Rover, Rover can blame B:***:W ;)

Ha! I reckon it's a smartass marketing stunt by LR to get all these 98> Defenders and Discos into the stealerships and to tyry entice the owners into new(er) models.

Originally posted by davidcalgary


I have also had the pleasure of driving a Range Rover for a few days - that is the most impressive car that I have ever had the opportunity of driving.

My 2nd Car is my Range Rover Vogue, its old,it doesnt look much but its comfy, starts first time, goes anywhere, bad weather isnt an issue. Oh..and its actually not as slow as people think, depending on whether I can be bothered to stick my foot down and watch the fuel guage go down as quick as I speed up.

Been looking at Disco's as the 7 seater would be ideal but not sold on it as I love the looks of my classic rangy. However, its being upgraded in September for a newer one with air suspension and full electrics and leather. Its much more fun and refined to do the school run in my rangey rather than the metro... Plus I get to scare the other school run mums as I really can drive and park my 4x4.

P.s My 4x4 does go off road often too...

Range Rover air suspension - when that goes tits up it'll scare ya!




Or should I say it'll empty ur wallet!

Usually £700 minimum.

I have had three new Defender TD5's since 1999 and they have all been fantastic in quality and reliability, with only one clutch release bearing replaced, even though I hammer them off road. My latest 90 XS has ABS/ETC and am waiting to see if it is part of the recall. No problems that I know of.

TD5 with an auto-box = nice machine.

Lack of low-down torque in a manual TD5 means they are easy to stall - how did you get on?

The ECU for the TD5 was remapped after my '99 110, and the latest two (2002 90 and 2003 XS) have never stalled. For £500 they can be chipped to 160 BHP and increased torque (never needed it myself).