The LR4 will be a luxury upgrade from your current rig, and the Disco is more of an old-school off roader, but you know this having owned one. Which way I'd go depends on your priorities. If you just need something to drive around town in and use as a daily driver, I'd go for the LR4. It's going to be comfier, better to drive, faster, and probably get better fuel economy. The Disco 2 is a rough, old school, slow, thirsty, unreliable machine, and unless you either love the charm or need serious off road capability, I'd upgrade to the LR4. This is coming from a D2 owner. Yours back in the day might not have been too unreliable, but you will be spending lots of money to keep a now 18 year old Disco 2 on the road. I have over $7k into my '03 in the last 2 and a half years, not including the cost of the truck itself, and that's just parts - I do all my own labor. I'd personally steer away from a Disco 2 unless you really like that old school feel and don't mind spending the money to keep it running. I love mine, as I enjoy the charm and use it off-road frequently, but it's been a reliability nightmare. Apparently the 5.0L in the LR4, while not perfectly reliable, is a powerful, good engine, and far more modern than the ancient, unreliable, underpowered lump that powers the D2.
Advice on preowned Land rover
Hello all, I have owned a 2003 Disco brand new which I drove for 10 years and a 2005 LR3 which now needs to be replaced after 10 years. I'm looking at a 2004 Disco with 100,000 miles and a 2011 LR4 with 135,000. I live in SoCal and have a really good independent shop that I have always used and understand most of the pitfalls of Land Rover ownership. I haven't seen either yet but have seen the carfax report for both (no salvage titles or accidents) and they look like they've been regularly serviced but you never know until you get a close up look. If anyone has any insights to either, I welcome feedback. Actually, any advice on which to buy would be greatly appreciated. Also, if you are a business in SoCal with one to sell that's worth looking at and it can be financed, let me know.
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Give the LR4 a look. The 4.4 is a solid engine, you could always try finding another LR3 to replace yours - shame to hear about yours. I have no experience with any LR other than the Disco, but I do know it's not what you need. For your use case, a Disco 2 doesn't make any sense, and you'd be happier in something more modern.Thank you so much for the reply! I was actually leaning towards the LR4 but I think because I missed the look of the Disco, my heart had it in the running...LOL I don't do any off roading and it will mainly be driven on the freeways in SoCal. I had such great luck with the 4.4L in the LR3, therefore, I was a little skeptical of the 5.0L in the LR4 after reading the reviews...but I'll definitely give it a look. I was hit recently in the driver back door and rear wheel area which created some suspension issue and rather than fix the suspension and hope for the best, the repair shop said I should just sell it and look for something different. It's a real shame because overall the truck is still great (transmission, engine, etc). Hoping I can get a good price selling it to be used for parts. Thanks again, really appreciate your advice!
Also, get a second opinion on the suspension and bodywork. It could very well be that the one you went to just doesn't want to deal with fixing it.
TD5s are leagues more reliable than the V8 Discos, especially later ones. I wouldn't get a Disco unless you need it for offroad capability, which the OP does not. Another LR3 or an LR4 will treat them better, even if it ends up needing some workStay with the disco 11 the lr4 is worse than the lr3. I have owned disco tdi then td5 2003 year, then lr3 which i got rid of really quickly now gone back to a 1995 P38 trust it more than an lr3 or 4
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