What's better, discovery with high miles or discovery with low miles?

In reply to mad_machine:

Pretty much everything I own has a stereotype associated with it.....muscle cars, sports cars, bikes, 4x4s. Thankfully I don't give a berkeley what other people think otherwise my garage would be pretty boring.

5-6K buys a heck of a nice pickup. I payed 6.5K for my 06 F150 XL and it does everything that he wants, though only regular cabs are really that low.

I'm young and went shopping for a Discovery to replace a Tracker, and bought a Trooper. It really is the perfect answer in this case. 1st gen are cheap, better off road, and dead simple, second gen are more posh and better on the highway.

Knurled wrote:

benzbaronDaryn wrote: If you can't afford maintanence on the Pathy how the hell is a Disco going to work out? Does not compute. How does a car need 3500 in maintanence at 90k miles? I don't understand how the Pathy could be any more labor intensive than a Disco. Good luck but 22year old kid plus Rover sounds like a bad idea, then again I'm a realist.

As a lazy mechanic, I would much rather work on any Land Rover than any, ANY, Japanese SUV. They are just made BADLY. They are labor intensive to the point where it feels completely pointless. Horrible horrible design decisions everywhere. This is before you factor that they seem to be made pre-rusted.

What are you basing this generalisation on??? You have obviously never worked on an 80 or 100 series Landcruiser or Lexus LX450 and 470, or the equivalent full-size Nissan SUV/four-wheel-drive vehicles that are sold elsewhere in the world.

I think you should stick with a Japanese SUV. I know Audi techs who won't touch a Land Rover, and that's saying something b/c modern Audis SUUUCK to work on. If I was trying to save money or be economical, the very last thing I would get would be a Land Rover. A better condition Pathfinder, a decent 4Runner, Trooper, or Montero, or a Jeep Cherokee if you want something American--those would be my choices for sure. Practical, reliable, great off-road, large aftermarket support, super common so there's always wrecked ones in the junkyard, etc.

Oh, and what's so weird about Pathfinder struts? There's nothing unusual or difficult about replacing them. Unbolt, compress spring, install strut, bolt back in...simple. But I guess that's a moot point, as the Pathy is already gone.

Either way, I hope he finds something he likes!

XJ.... only answer... Anyone considering a Range rover, or thinking that is a good idea has simply no standing when trying to claim Jeep owners are worse than BMW owners... that simply makes no sense..

XJ is the only sane answer.. Cheap to buy, Cheaper to maintain.. Great engine.. Well behaved on and off road.. and decent MPG's to boot...

Cotton wrote: In reply to mad_machine: Pretty much everything I own has a stereotype associated with it.....muscle cars, sports cars, bikes, 4x4s. Thankfully I don't give a berkeley what other people think otherwise my garage would be pretty boring.

This. Just this.

Is the car a piece of jewelery or something for him to use / enjoy? To hell with anyone that will judge him, buy the better car (my suggestion is XJ Cherokee) and get some thicker skin if he's worried about being judged, both will serve him better in life.

Don't get me wrong, I like Land rovers but to get rid of a decent reputation Japanese 4x4 (because it needs work) for a Land rover is kind of comical......

Datsun1500 wrote:

Cotton wrote:

Datsun1500 wrote:

mad_machine wrote: I wouldn't want a jeep if you gave me one. Around here jeep owners are worse than BMW owners

His exact words when I said "get a jeep"

Man why do so many people let others opinions and stereotypes dictate what they drive? People like that miss out on a lot of great stuff.

It's going to be driven a few times a week, for work, so he wants an automatic as well. He said a jeep for off road and camping, no problem, but it's probably the last car I'd want as a regular driver, especially an automatic one. I'd have to agree, as a beltway commuter, I'd put a wrangler at the bottom of my list too.

My wife commutes in a wrangler and loves the thing. I commute on a motorcycle. Of course everyone's different so to each their own.

So he would never drive a Jeep Wrangler because of the perception of Jeep Wrangler drivers but doesn't care about stereotypes?

I sincerely appogize if I got that wrong but I didn't read the anti-Wrangler sentiment coming from a reliability, a usefulness, a cost/price or a mileage standpoint.

This coming from someone who daily drove three Samurai's at the very time when they were suffering from roll-over horror stories and/or "Beep-beep, Hi" ads gears towards 20 year old girls.

ronholm wrote: XJ.... only answer... Anyone considering a Range rover, or thinking that is a good idea has simply no standing when trying to claim Jeep owners are worse than BMW owners... that simply makes no sense.. XJ is the only sane answer.. Cheap to buy, Cheaper to maintain.. Great engine.. Well behaved on and off road.. and decent MPG's to boot...

ZJ Grand Cherokees can also be had with the wonderful 4.0 I6. They are everything said above about the XJ, but are also nice to be in on the road all day. With minor mods they are also super capable off road.

My brother has one for sale, I kind of want to buy it, mainly because it can tow.

for what it is worth, the disco does not have the stereotype the range rover has. it sorta falls into the "it's an SUV" by most people. As a plus, around here most are owned by regular people

The 2004 Rover with 27k miles will certainly last a few years without anything major going wrong. Imagine seeing it from a non-GRM 22 year old point of view: A low mileage Disco as a commuter and off road camping toy and an S2000 for Fridays and sunny days? Yeah, I'd say that was ideal.

This coming from an old married man with a Rover and a Miata.

In reply to Datsun1500:

Sorry, I thought I read this:

Datsun1500 wrote: mad_machine wrote: I wouldn't want a jeep if you gave me one. Around here jeep owners are worse than BMW owners

His exact words when I said "get a jeep"

Datsun1500 wrote: Why is this one turning into a "quirky cars suck, buy an appliance!" thread?

Needs moar "Disco with 6.6 Duramax swap" content.

HappyAndy wrote:

ronholm wrote: XJ.... only answer... Anyone considering a Range rover, or thinking that is a good idea has simply no standing when trying to claim Jeep owners are worse than BMW owners... that simply makes no sense.. XJ is the only sane answer.. Cheap to buy, Cheaper to maintain.. Great engine.. Well behaved on and off road.. and decent MPG's to boot...

ZJ Grand Cherokees can also be had with the wonderful 4.0 I6. They are everything said above about the XJ, but are also nice to be in on the road all day. With minor mods they are also super capable off road. My brother has one for sale, I kind of want to buy it, mainly because it can tow.

But with a weaker and crappier transmission, and way more electrical problems.

I'd still take a 93.5 with the AW4 trans instead of the Chrysler crap transmission though. Because i'm a masochist and really love chasing electrical problems.

In reply to Swank Force One: IDK what trans my brother's ZJ has, but it is a low options base model, and doesn't seem to have many useless electronic do-dads. I agree that the higher end V8 ZJs are full of electrical headaches.

Edit: I make that statement about the V8 ZJs based solely on the one that I've personally spent time working on

I have a had a couple ZJ's also... Loved them... Only transmission issues I ever had was on one that was 260K miles... and I used it frequently to pull 6K lb trailer..

Never struggled with electronics..

I always meant to throw a truck 5pd and transfer case in a V8 version.. Just never got around to it.

Id look at a XJ or even a ZJ if hes worried about commuting. All of the XJs I know have been beat on mercilessly off road and they keep going back for more. Parts are cheap, resources are numerous, easy to work on. Get a mid to late 90's one, stay away from the 2000-2001 they have a cracked cylinder head issue, unless the owner has proven he has an aftermarket one, dont bother. The AW4 tranny is bulletproof, the NP241 or 242(full time 4x4 option, great for commuting) are both solid and the rest of the vehicle is pretty berkeleying solid. A Land Rover....you can't let your brother do that to himself.

Datsun1500 wrote: Sorry if that offends your "It's a Jeep thing, you wouldn't understand" fantasy.

Hmmmm, nice assumption but totally inaccurate. I couldn't care less about Jeeps really. I couldn't care less what anyone else drives either.

I can only respond to what you actually typed and posted about your son and his dislike of a certain brand due to the reputation of the majority of that brands owner.

ebonyandivory wrote:

Datsun1500 wrote: Sorry if that offends your "It's a Jeep thing, you wouldn't understand" fantasy.

Hmmmm, nice assumption but totally inaccurate. I couldn't care less about Jeeps really. I couldn't care less what anyone else drives either. I can only respond to what you actually typed and posted about your son and his dislike of a certain brand due to the reputation of the majority of that brands owner.

If anyone cared what people thought about what they drove then beige Japanese sedans would be a faux pas, men driving Miatas would be out, having a german car would be out and....oh yeah, no trucks either. For the most part, most Jeep owner Ive met, btw we have a 2007 Wrangler Unlimited, are actually very nice people, yeah, some are shiny happy people, but that goes for every marque under the sun. No barb wire tattoo, Monster t-shirt, white framed sunglasses, dyed hair or penchant for BASE jumping here either.

Datsun1500 wrote: I will try one more time. He does not want a Wrangler because most of the time it will be used to commute. He also goes off road and camping. As an off road toy, he likes them. Sitting in traffic in an automatic Jeep with big off road tires for 90% of the time! not so much. When I brought it up, it was under the premise of getting rid of his SUV and his S2000 and having one vehicle that was both good for camping and a convertible. That did not appeal to him.

I have to agree with you here. Commuting in a Wrangler wouldn't be fun for me either. A friend was checking out my 07 Mazdaspeed3 and so I traded with him for a few days. His car? The last Wrangler they sold with the I6 4.0L. It had a 6 spd trans and a mild lift.

The truck didn't drive well imo. You had to know the vehicle pretty well to drive it within it's performance envelope in my opinion. For example: I was driving downhill at about 35 mph when I saw at the end of a city block the light change to red at the other end. I started to brake, as I would have in any other car I've driven, and promptly locked up the front tires. It was really odd. I'm not typically a hard braking driver so I was surprised at how easily that happened.

This doesn't take into account wind noise, NVH, etc. All were higher in the Wrangler and was no surprise. This would make it a poor commuter for me.

Xceler8x wrote:

Datsun1500 wrote: I will try one more time. He does not want a Wrangler because most of the time it will be used to commute. He also goes off road and camping. As an off road toy, he likes them. Sitting in traffic in an automatic Jeep with big off road tires for 90% of the time! not so much. When I brought it up, it was under the premise of getting rid of his SUV and his S2000 and having one vehicle that was both good for camping and a convertible. That did not appeal to him.

I have to agree with you here. Commuting in a Wrangler wouldn't be fun for me either. A friend was checking out my 07 Mazdaspeed3 and so I traded with him for a few days. His car? The last Wrangler they sold with the I6 4.0L. It had a 6 spd trans and a mild lift. The truck didn't drive well imo. You had to know the vehicle pretty well to drive it within it's performance envelope in my opinion. For example: I was driving downhill at about 35 mph when I saw at the end of a city block the light change to red at the other end. I started to brake, as I would have in any other car I've driven, and promptly locked up the front tires. It was really odd. I'm not typically a hard braking driver so I was surprised at how easily that happened. This doesn't take into account wind noise, NVH, etc. All were higher in the Wrangler and was no surprise. This would make it a poor commuter for me.

Something was wrong with the one you drove. I wouldn't call my wife a steller driver or anything and she hopped in her new wrangler (2012 model bought new) and drove it like anything else with no issues. If you have problems driving one either something is wrong with it or you. Her arctic edition drives really well but it's pretty much loaded unlike the last one I had which was an 87 and pretty crude. Hers has the hardtop, nav, sat radio, heated seats, etc. it's a pretty nice place to spend time in and we take it on trips etc, but even in stock form it's excellent off-road.

New Wrangler =! last 4.0 Wrangler, though.

I don't like Grand Cherokees much, but this looks like fun: http://indianapolis.craigslist.org/cto/4497687265.html

Swank Force One wrote: New Wrangler =! last 4.0 Wrangler, though. I don't like Grand Cherokees much, but this looks like fun: http://indianapolis.craigslist.org/cto/4497687265.html

Last of the 4.0s was 06 I think. Still nice rides and not something you should have to plan ahead for just to brake at an intersection.

Cotton wrote: Something was wrong with the one you drove. I wouldn't call my wife a steller driver or anything and she hopped in her new wrangler (2012 model bought new) and drove it like anything else with no issues. If you have problems driving one either something is wrong with it or you. Her arctic edition drives really well but it's pretty much loaded unlike the last one I had which was an 87 and pretty crude. Hers has the hardtop, nav, sat radio, heated seats, etc. it's a pretty nice place to spend time in and we take it on trips etc, but even in stock form it's excellent off-road.

Hell yeah. Could be me. I'm nowhere near a perfect driver at all times.

The truck just seemed a bit crude compared to my other rides. I'm not saying it's a bad ride...just a bit rough for me.