KarmannMarco
Adventurer
Hi guys.
I'm a Discovery newbie and I'm looking to buy my first Disco.....
I would like to first mention that I'm aware of the reputation of the trucks...... and I'm very aware of the added preventive maintenance I will be needing to do .... I am at peace with the fact I will probably be spending a fair amount of time wrenching through the ownership of a Disco..... I had an Isuzu , given Toyota and Nissan a chance and although these are all great brands there's something special about a Disco to me......
Anyways , this truck will be my daily driver (but not the only vehicle for me to depend on) , my family vacation rig and in due time I would love to go out and hit some trails with it. I've been working on sport and vintage cars since middle school but I'm new to the offroad/ExPo lifestyle , and since I'm moving to Colorado next year what better time to embrace it ? A stock truck is perfectly fine. I do not need to mod it at all until I move to Colorado...and even then I hear a fairly stock Disco can get you pretty damn far so right no I'm trying to find the best possible starting platform.
I've looked at 6 Different truck in the past two months. My budget is roughly $3000 for a stock , well maintained Disco.
Here are three that I would consider buying and are available to me now , but your love some expert advice as to which one would be best for me.
Truck 1) $3000 , Dark Blue 1997 SE7 , 134K miles ,extremely well taken cared of by an enthusiast . Clean inside , everything works (sunroof and PW too). Replaced the head gasket 3k miles ago , paint slightly faded but not terrible , no check engine or ABS lights , no leaks! ..... but this truck comes with a story. The night I looked at it I drove it and though it was great. Drove super smooth and quiet and everything worked great. I liked it so much I bought it. 5 minutes from this guys house I stopped at a Sonic to eat some dinner and as I was about to leave the truck sputtered and died. I could not get it to start the first few tries but then it started. It ran very rough and had no acceleration at all... basicly I was only able to put it in drive and let the idle drive the truck down the road at 2-3mph. It felt like the truck had run out of gas. Thinking (or hoping) the gas gauge was not working correctly I nursed it to the gas station and proceeded to put some gas in it. After this it did the same exact thing.... The guy was nice enough that we took his truck back to his house and he gave me my money back. Real stand up guy. I told him to find out what was wrong with it and to let me know because prior to this the truck drove awesome.... this happened last Friday and he's had as little time to work on it. He says the is no fuel pressure at all so our guess is either a fuel pump or FPR. He has a Rave manual and knows how to work on his vehicles so I should know in the next day or two whats wrong. I am still considering buying this truck if it is indeed something minor like a fuel pump just because it is the best driving Disco I had driven by far.
Truck 2) $3000 , Anthracite 97 SE7 , 142K miles on body , in the last 5K miles it has had a (used but gone through by a local shop) engine and tranny with unknown miles. The good.... cool color , everything inside the truck works (except for the sunroofs) , ice cold AC , OME 2.5 inch coils , new rancho shocks , new 32 inch A/T , new flowmaster exhaust ..... The bad...... This "new" engine leaks oil from the pan , power steering pump and has an annoying alternator whine that you can hear inside the truck and under the hood. The ABS light is on (hes not sure why but the truck does stop good) , there is a yellow light on the top right hand side corner of the instrument cluster that looks like a driveline.... he says that when they put the new tranny and motor in they either disconnected or broke a sensor on top of the transfer case and that light has been on since. I tested the transfer case and it does work but still that light bothers me... Check engine light is on , according to the owner its because of two failed O2 sensors (scanned at Autozone) but he has not had the time to replace them.....
The truck actually runs and drives pretty smoothly and feels good but the instrument cluster lit up like a Christmas tree and everything leaking underneath makes me very insecure (the lights more then the leaks) Overall the truck is modded real nicely but I feel the truck itself is not as well taken cared for as it should be.
Truck 3) $2100 , Black 99 (D1) SD , 128K miles , The good.... drives real smooth and everything works great mechanically , body and paint are in awesome shape , no leaks anywhere , no light on the dash at all , he daily drives the truck 60 miles everyday ( i can attest to this )..... The bad .... there is an exhaust leak somewhere at the front of the motor. You can hear it "put-put" but not very loudly. There is a bit of white smoke coming from the rear exhaust and I'm not sure if the exhaust leak could be contributing to this. Needs two new tires , driver seat controls don't work , front passenger power window does not work , The Ac needs recharged because he recently replaced a leaky hose and did not get around to charge it full. He says before I buy it he will for sure recharge the AC. This is kind of a silly thing but not necessarily a negative but this truck does not have the rear AC controls and no sunroofs either...these are minor things but they are part of what makes the Discovery so appealing to me. This truck runs and drives real well and for the price I can fix all the minor things. What holds me back on this truck mostly is the fact that it's not as well optioned as the SE7.
If you have read this far. Thank you!
What truck do you guys think I should buy out of these three ?
I'm a Discovery newbie and I'm looking to buy my first Disco.....
I would like to first mention that I'm aware of the reputation of the trucks...... and I'm very aware of the added preventive maintenance I will be needing to do .... I am at peace with the fact I will probably be spending a fair amount of time wrenching through the ownership of a Disco..... I had an Isuzu , given Toyota and Nissan a chance and although these are all great brands there's something special about a Disco to me......
Anyways , this truck will be my daily driver (but not the only vehicle for me to depend on) , my family vacation rig and in due time I would love to go out and hit some trails with it. I've been working on sport and vintage cars since middle school but I'm new to the offroad/ExPo lifestyle , and since I'm moving to Colorado next year what better time to embrace it ? A stock truck is perfectly fine. I do not need to mod it at all until I move to Colorado...and even then I hear a fairly stock Disco can get you pretty damn far so right no I'm trying to find the best possible starting platform.
I've looked at 6 Different truck in the past two months. My budget is roughly $3000 for a stock , well maintained Disco.
Here are three that I would consider buying and are available to me now , but your love some expert advice as to which one would be best for me.
Truck 1) $3000 , Dark Blue 1997 SE7 , 134K miles ,extremely well taken cared of by an enthusiast . Clean inside , everything works (sunroof and PW too). Replaced the head gasket 3k miles ago , paint slightly faded but not terrible , no check engine or ABS lights , no leaks! ..... but this truck comes with a story. The night I looked at it I drove it and though it was great. Drove super smooth and quiet and everything worked great. I liked it so much I bought it. 5 minutes from this guys house I stopped at a Sonic to eat some dinner and as I was about to leave the truck sputtered and died. I could not get it to start the first few tries but then it started. It ran very rough and had no acceleration at all... basicly I was only able to put it in drive and let the idle drive the truck down the road at 2-3mph. It felt like the truck had run out of gas. Thinking (or hoping) the gas gauge was not working correctly I nursed it to the gas station and proceeded to put some gas in it. After this it did the same exact thing.... The guy was nice enough that we took his truck back to his house and he gave me my money back. Real stand up guy. I told him to find out what was wrong with it and to let me know because prior to this the truck drove awesome.... this happened last Friday and he's had as little time to work on it. He says the is no fuel pressure at all so our guess is either a fuel pump or FPR. He has a Rave manual and knows how to work on his vehicles so I should know in the next day or two whats wrong. I am still considering buying this truck if it is indeed something minor like a fuel pump just because it is the best driving Disco I had driven by far.
Truck 2) $3000 , Anthracite 97 SE7 , 142K miles on body , in the last 5K miles it has had a (used but gone through by a local shop) engine and tranny with unknown miles. The good.... cool color , everything inside the truck works (except for the sunroofs) , ice cold AC , OME 2.5 inch coils , new rancho shocks , new 32 inch A/T , new flowmaster exhaust ..... The bad...... This "new" engine leaks oil from the pan , power steering pump and has an annoying alternator whine that you can hear inside the truck and under the hood. The ABS light is on (hes not sure why but the truck does stop good) , there is a yellow light on the top right hand side corner of the instrument cluster that looks like a driveline.... he says that when they put the new tranny and motor in they either disconnected or broke a sensor on top of the transfer case and that light has been on since. I tested the transfer case and it does work but still that light bothers me... Check engine light is on , according to the owner its because of two failed O2 sensors (scanned at Autozone) but he has not had the time to replace them.....
The truck actually runs and drives pretty smoothly and feels good but the instrument cluster lit up like a Christmas tree and everything leaking underneath makes me very insecure (the lights more then the leaks) Overall the truck is modded real nicely but I feel the truck itself is not as well taken cared for as it should be.
Truck 3) $2100 , Black 99 (D1) SD , 128K miles , The good.... drives real smooth and everything works great mechanically , body and paint are in awesome shape , no leaks anywhere , no light on the dash at all , he daily drives the truck 60 miles everyday ( i can attest to this )..... The bad .... there is an exhaust leak somewhere at the front of the motor. You can hear it "put-put" but not very loudly. There is a bit of white smoke coming from the rear exhaust and I'm not sure if the exhaust leak could be contributing to this. Needs two new tires , driver seat controls don't work , front passenger power window does not work , The Ac needs recharged because he recently replaced a leaky hose and did not get around to charge it full. He says before I buy it he will for sure recharge the AC. This is kind of a silly thing but not necessarily a negative but this truck does not have the rear AC controls and no sunroofs either...these are minor things but they are part of what makes the Discovery so appealing to me. This truck runs and drives real well and for the price I can fix all the minor things. What holds me back on this truck mostly is the fact that it's not as well optioned as the SE7.
If you have read this far. Thank you!
What truck do you guys think I should buy out of these three ?
