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Sanderskog
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 03, 2002 - 11:57 am: | 
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If you read my earlier post I am looking to purchase a Disco. What I am wondering is this. Would I be better off buying an earlier Disco and having money left for necessary repair/maint. or should I purchase a later model in hopes of having a more reliable vehicle?
Don't get me wrong. I understand maintenance is required with both options.
I am looking locally (Seattle) and the earlier Disco seems to sell for $11-13K (with 80-100K) where as the later Disco is selling for $17-21K (with 30-50K). Is it really worth the extra money to buy the newer model?
What changes were made over the years? It seems that if I bought an earlier Disco I would have money in the bank for mods/maint./repairs. Would a higher mile vehicle be a problem? I seem to remember someone telling me once to not buy anything older than a '97 but don't remember why.
Thanks,
Todd |
RVR OVR (Tom)
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 03, 2002 - 12:46 pm: |
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Todd,
What are you doing with it? Is it going to be a daily driver or a toy?
Are you handy with repairs? Moreso, do you have the time to do them?
If it were a truck for fun and you had short commutes, plenty of time for your hobby, and maybe another vehicle, I would check out one of the many 94-95's that sell for around 8K in good shape. Leaves plenty of cash laying around for mods and fixes.
However, do you have the 19K you talked about in the bank, or are you financing everything anyway? A 10K loan vs. a 19K loan is only a couple hundred different/month at most, and will you be banking all that difference dilligently?
Also, in general, the prices you are finding seem to be a bit high. Check out LRX, you should find better deals, although they may be out of state.
If you do find one, post the VIN to this board, dealers do watch and usually run the VIN for folks to get the service history.
Tom |
John C.
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 03, 2002 - 01:03 pm: |
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Wow, 11k-13k for an earlier DI with less than 100K miles??? Seems expensive to me. 96s are going for under 8K here in the New England area with less than 90k miles.
Good luck and let us know what you buy.
John |
Leslie N. Bright (Leslie)
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 03, 2002 - 02:00 pm: |
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Some people haven't had any problems out of early Discos, but, the general feel is that Rover got hit hard by the US demand, and so build quality early on suffered, and continuously improved... ie, the later the Disco, the better.
'94 and '95 Discos use OBD-I diagnostics and have the 3.9L motor with a distributor. '96-on have distributorless OBD-II 4.0 engines. Codes for the earlier ones can be checked without a device, later ones require a code reader of some sort (ie, I used a cable from OBD2.com with my laptop, worked great).
You're finding people that are asking high, IMHO... a '94 Disco with 100k on it should be, IMHO, in the $5k-$8k range.
If you're going to replace the diffs and axle-shafts, upgrade the suspension, use it as a trail-truck, I'd opt for an earlier truck, as long as it's not your daily driver.
If you want a truck to use daily around town, later is better.
IMHO, FWIW, YMMV.....
-L |
Sanderskog
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 03, 2002 - 03:28 pm: |
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Thanks for the input on pricing. Unfortunately, welcome to the NW. These trucks fetch a premium here.
What can I get into a D90 for? I've always like them more anyway.
My commute is a short 15-20 minutes by the way.
Todd |
Leslie N. Bright (Leslie)
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 03, 2002 - 04:31 pm: |
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D90s are starting to become more realisitic, finally... for awhile they were still commanding more than their original sticker. Now, if you shop hard enough, you can find one for $20k or less. D110 is still high-priced, yet.
With a short commute, you might be okay... they'd be harsh for something longer, regularly...
W/ a family, a D90 wasn't practical for me the way the Disco was....
Just something to think about.
L8R....
-L |
Eric
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 03, 2002 - 06:00 pm: |
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In 97 they went to real modern gaskets and oil seals. A big improvement for reducing leaks. (The older ones use traditional cork gaskets and rope seals, or something like that)
Some of the 95 and 96 models had problems with hard starting. LR claimed the oil viscosity had something to do with it... sounds suspicious.
BUT - even with the oil leaks and hard starting these older models go into high miles before an overhaul is required. |
CEJB
| | Posted on Saturday, July 06, 2002 - 06:53 am: |
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94's also have multiple fan etc belts, and a smaller oil pump than the 95 3.9. I have a 95 built 11/94, which has proven far better in service than a friends 2/95 built unit. His is now rusting at every seam, which I put towards the rapid ramp up in production numbers in the first QTR 1995.
So I'd lean towards a 94 or early 95 MY for off road toy, ignore from build 1/95 through 97my which they figured out the higher production numbers and OBD2. I feel based purely on watching a few vehicles that the Disco OBD2 is perhaps less accepting than say the OBD1 engines of water dunks etc |
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