A wise man (person?) once said you should never meet your heroes

For many years I have always said that if I won the lottery I would buy 3 Discos and me and the boys would drive down from Wigan to Cape Town. Gill says she will sail down from Southampton slowly and meet us there. Based on our competitiveness we would be hard pushed to make it to the M6 before it became a race.

Why the Disco, originally it was the TD5 Disco with air suspension, gorgeous engine, ample room, and the air suspension because I always wanted air suspension. Then came the Disco 3 with the 2.7 V6 auto and full air suspension, with transit ability to swallow kit. Even better then came the Disco 4 with the 3litre V6. Obviously not the Disco 5 - blinged up gin palace.

So some kind soul has just driven into the side of my gorgeous DS, and I have ended up with a Disco 5 HSE, V6 auto as a rental car for a few weeks (months?). The engine and gearbox are better than I dreamed, there are more toys than Santa's grotto _ and I do like toys. But the suspension is just a gimmick, the car tramlines like there is no tomorrow (it's a rental so maybe just this car) and for everyday use it's just too big. Gill hates it, at 4ft 10" she can't get in even with the suspension and seat lowered, and when she does get in she can't reach the door to close it.

so no more dreaming about full fat Discos. can't wait to get our DS back, she is quick, the suspension is perfect for the vast majority of my driving, lots of useful toys, good to look at, and a really nice place to be.

Sad really, I don't have a bucket list and one of my very few dreams is in tatters. Tangiers Orange - gone, missing her
Replaced by Ewok what a mistake - now a happy Disco Sport owner

LOL! I hear that..........

I had a Disco 5 as a loaner when my Evoque was being serviced. I parked it on our drive with the suspension at max height and everyone commented on how high it was. I can visualise a 4’10” person needing a set of steps to get in! Past: FL2 TD4 HSE Auto
Evoque SD4 Dynamic Lux Auto
Present: Audi A3 S Line.

The tramlining may be as a result of it being fitted with comedy wheels and tyres.

To explain: My Full Fat came with 21” rims and 275 section tyres and chronic tramlining; proper take-the-wheel-out-of-your-hands tramlining on lorry rutted motorway lanes. Changing to 20” rims with 255 section tyres fixed this for me and for a friend who made exactly the same change. Many D5’s come equipped with completely pointless 22” rims, low profile tyres and 285 width tyres that are going to be tramlining magnets!

Both the Fatty and D5 benefit greatly from being fitted with side steps for anyone in this situation and I wouldn’t let the D5 put you off Disco’s in general as it’s a Disco in name only and has very little to do with the real thing which, sadly, went out of production in 2016

I hear you also and I'm 5'3"", although with some spinal issues

And I only was going to look at one!! Oh well Rogb, it's back to drawing board




 If it wasn't so bad it'd be funny.

🐑
Freelander 2 HSE auto 2014 ( Florrie ) ..... Try again.
Freelander 2 GS 2012...... Gone.

where do I come into this Jules ? am I one of your heroes you have yet to meet ?

id always wanted a Disco 2 from years ago, way back to early 2000's. When I finally got one (2001 X plate TD5 Auto GS) I loved it except for the fact the flex plate had cracked when I test drove it, replaced by the dealer's little back street workshop who bodged the refitting which resulted in gearbox failure, then repeatedly bodged it 3 more times until I fought to get the finance company and dealer to pay for an Ashcroft box to be fitted. Back to loving it again until the inspection plate, oil feeder pipe and flex plate were again knackered (suspected sabotage by the disgruntled dealer/garage) so I got rid sharpish after 7 months of ownership.

now im in a D4 and 8000 miles/7 months later it really is the most irreplaceable all round workhorse I could ever want. Love it to bits. (even if I do drive everywhere with my fingers crossed )

Sorry for getting the types mixed up here

Anyway Florrie high enough for me and with my new wheel bearings, rear door mechanism, passenger door actuator, underseal, GGat3 all round,new battery, replacement trim things around wheel arches, I think I will stick.  If it wasn't so bad it'd be funny.

🐑
Freelander 2 HSE auto 2014 ( Florrie ) ..... Try again.
Freelander 2 GS 2012...... Gone.

Had my "hero" in the form of a Disco 2 for 11 brilliant years.
I'd wanted a Disco since I saw them launced back in '89 and was not disappointed. It was so DIY friendly that a lot of potentially big bills were avoided by getting the spanners out myself.
I tortured myself about what to replace it with, a Disco 4 would have been my dream car but the horror stories and potential eyewatering bills concerned me to the extent that Id be driving about waiting for impending doom. I know like every car you only hear about the bad ones but I think Ive made the right choice in the Freelander 2.
I'll never have a Discovery 5, its just too far away from the initial concept that appealed to me initially and Id imagine a lot less DIY fixable.
Im a long way off from replacing the Freelander yet, plan to have it at least another 3 years - potentially longer, but starting to be concerned about the lack of a suitable replacement. Landrover - turning owners into mechanics since 1948

2014 Orkney grey Freelander SD4 GS.
2004 Zambezi silver Discovery 2 Td5 (Gone)
1963 Surf blue Morris Mini Minor Super de Luxe (my little toy)

If LR gets the ignium sorted, then the DS is a good replacement for the FL2. Big if though. For some the electronics are a fun challenge, once someone comes along with a pathfinder interface that is. For the majority getting a lower spec with less to go wrong might be a safer bet.
My biggest fear is LR doing remote updates- the only real fault on my first DS was a Dealer applied update. Tangiers Orange - gone, missing her
Replaced by Ewok what a mistake - now a happy Disco Sport owner

I’ve done over the air updates on the Velar and so far all has been fine. 21MY Defender 90 S 3.0 D200

Drive my DiL’s D5 several times (although it changed a couple of times) and each time i have to say it was a great car, it is massive for sure, but it was quick, quiet and handled really well and five fitted in easily (never used the rear two seats), it’s look are errr controversial shall we say, but it is a good car. Regards

David

Lovely i6 has now gone, but not me......

Please let me know if anything in my post offends you, as I may wish to offend you again......