Buying a Disco TDI

[Andy_B]

Hey everybody,

I'm seriously thinking about getting a Discovery TDI series 1. I did a search on the topic and read through many post and found that the TDI is best with the ZF auto. When I started reading through the posts I wanted a V8 manual But after all the readings I found that the TDI auto is the best for our needs (girlfriend very happy about the auto). I love the looking at the economy figures, which are much better then my parents Prado TDI auto. I would love to get a 97/98 year 300TDI. I could easily afford a $12k to $17K(that's a bit of a strech because I don't want to take out a loan). I know to watch for the timing belt and making sure they've been changed every 70 000Km. But I was wondering if there's anything to watch for with ZF and with the Disco body. This would most likely be our only vehicle so I was wondering how are they to live with on a day to day bases. Because I would probobly be keeping this vehicle for a long period of time.

Also this would be the first vehicle which I would buy by myself, so any tips would be welcomed on how to buy a vehicle.

Regards

Andy

[TuffRR]

I bought a 98 tdi auto about a year ago. Has been a fantastic vehicle. In the year, I've had to replace the alternator but that is all. Its been very reliable. The missus uses it as her car during the week and loves it. With a few (free) mods the tdi can be convinced to perform a lot harder as well.

To get a good one, look to spend around $15k IMO. Post 97 is better because all the major issues ie timing belt etc had been sorted out by then.

[andrew e]

The later (post 98) series 1s seem to have less niggling faults. if you plan on towing big things (double horse float big) you may want to upgrade the autos pissy little cooler.

Andrew

[LRHybrid100]

Disco TDI Auto great vehicle, regretted selling mine - so I built a TDI Auto Rangie!!!

LRH

[Andy_B]

Disco TDI Auto great vehicle, regretted selling mine - so I built a TDI Auto Rangie!!!

LRH

Ya I've been keeping my eyes open for one of those too, looks like an awsome combo.

[Andy_B]

I was also wondering how to the 300TDI stands up against high kilometers. And what should I look out for.

[cloughy]

Disco TDI Auto great vehicle, regretted selling mine - so I built a TDI Auto Rangie!!!

LRH

Ya I've been keeping my eyes open for one of those too, looks like an awsome combo.

Theres one for sale in the melbourne trading post for 7500 I think it's a 200tdi though

[Bush65]

I was also wondering how to the 300TDI stands up against high kilometers. And what should I look out for.

They are ok if looked after - oil changes, filters etc.

In their time, they produced large power and torque for the displacement. As such they quickly suffer (heads and gaskets usually) if the lubrication or cooling fails.

Head gaskets usually fail at rear of rear cylinder. First signs will be gas leaking from that area while the engine is running.

Others have mentioned the timing belt.

[Utemad]

I would love to get a 97/98 year 300TDI. I could easily afford a $12k to $17K(that's a bit of a strech because I don't want to take out a loan).

I have also been looking at Discoveries lately. I went for a look today at some dealers and discovered that there is a huge variation in pricing. The ones I saw were:
1996 V8 auto $3750
1996 V8 auto no price as yet (suspect sub $10k)
1996 V8 auto $7500
1998 Tdi manual $19999

Most of the V8s I have seen on other days have been around the $8-13K mark and the diesels have been between $12-20k. 99% of those I have seen have all been manual. I have looked dealer and private. V8s are cheaper at the dealers rather than private. I guess private owners are trying to get some of their money back whereas the dealers probably gave bugger all for them as trade ins or auction buys.

Every single one I looked at had a roof lining in some stage of collapse, rust below the alpine windows and were all a little ratty looking inside. The $20k ones were only slightly better than the <$10k ones. None had much service history after about 40000km. They all seemed a little low height wise. Not sure how high a stock Disco is meant to be but they all looked too low to me as in sagged suspension. There were various models as in V8i, S, ES etc but this didn't seem to make any difference to price.

I would prefer the diesel auto for touring but a V8 of either would be great for off road I'd think.

From what I have seen there is a huge price difference between the V8 and the diesel. It would be hard to part with double the money just for the diesel and then have less cars to pick from. I'm guessing the V8 owners would be very open to a lower offer whereas the diesel owners would be more firm on their price too.

Hope this info helps you even though not directly related to your initial question.