Advice on Discovery Autogearbox

[afairington]

Hi,

I want to replace my Freelander with a Discovery:eek: . I would like a TDi engined model and have noticed some (what appear!) to be good value automatic Discovery's out there.

Can anyone give me advice what to look out for. How long do the autoboxes go on for? Are they any good off road? Does it affect fuel economy? The vehicle i'm looking at has 69,000 miles

Any help gratefully recieved

Cheers

Andy

[laalmarra]

How long do the autoboxes go on for?
Mines done more than 100,000

Are they any good off road?
Yep and easy to drive

Does it affect fuel economy?
a couple of mpg less than a manual depends on your right foot :D

The vehicle i'm looking at has 69,000 miles
Just a youngster just watch out for the usual Disco probs
When was the cambelt changed ? do all the electrics work? what does the service record tell you? Look for tell tale water stains on the headlining around the sun roof(s)

The 300TDi and autobox combo seem to work fine for me

[manthing]

I have read someplace that the auto is good for 150k against a manwell at 100k, they are also supposed to be cheaper to recon, something to do with only having to change the spline( like i know wtf i'm talking about), just read this stuff , prob in LROI.

as i am on the second one, a 300 auto must work for me.

off road auto are supposed to be more eaisely (?) controled, I also find that around town its much more relaxed drive, (the Transit is a bit*h)


ILove Mine :D :p

[afairington]

Cheers for the advice, Just got to get rid of my Freelander now!!

[laalmarra]

Are you going to take the Disco off road then ;)

[afairington]

Oh yes!

I've taken the Freelander off road. I gave it a set of nice new BFG boots and to be fair it's not too bad, Exhaust silencer's a pain though! Catches on everything. I'm really looking forward to more ground clearence:)

[laalmarra]

Oh yes!

I've taken the Freelander off road. I gave it a set of nice new BFG boots and to be fair it's not too bad, Exhaust silencer's a pain though! Catches on everything. I'm really looking forward to more ground clearence:)

The 300TDi/auto is really nice to drive off the tar :D and comfortable too :p
yes I've been stuck but that was my fault :rolleyes: It is a competent car off road ours is fairly standard; BFGs QT diff guards and sumo bars are the only change to the original spec

Does all we want it to do

Hope you get a good un and enjoy it
Cheers

[nwdisco]

I like the autobox - especially low speed manouvering (mostly on-road) with a trailer in particular. It's quite relaxing to drive on the motorway with cruise control once the torque converter has locked. They only pains are the acceleration (compared with manual) and the mpg (mine's around 20 - 26mpg depending on the weight of right foot!)

Had a few warning lights flashing - this is allegedly due to water ingress on the some contacts which are just below the aircon vents. They don't show up as an error code once the ignition is switched off so the dealer has managed to fob me off with this up till now

[laalmarra]

I like the autobox - especially low speed manouvering (mostly on-road) with a trailer in particular. It's quite relaxing to drive on the motorway with cruise control once the torque converter has locked. They only pains are the acceleration (compared with manual) and the mpg (mine's around 20 - 26mpg depending on the weight of right foot!)

Had a few warning lights flashing - this is allegedly due to water ingress on the some contacts which are just below the aircon vents. They don't show up as an error code once the ignition is switched off so the dealer has managed to fob me off with this up till now

Am I right you have a TD5

I found the the pick up when accelerating a bit lethargic on most automatics [and initially (90,000 miles ago) was disappointed with the 300TDi on that score] unless the power and grunt is there in the first place the only autoshift car that didnt disappoint was a Ford fairlane (not the MPV) that i hired when i was working in NZ, but that had the huge 7litre V8 to push it along :D

What works for me is to knock it back from D into 2 or 3 and then shift up manually

I use low box when manouvering a trailer with the other landy but thats a manual so it saves slipping the clutch

cant see me going back to a manual box tho

[nwdisco]

'Acceleration' - this was meant in Landrover terms.....and it is a Td5 so it's 0 - 60 eventually! :rolleyes:

My previous car was a Merc E320 V8 petrol automatic.....now that was anything but lethargic. It wasn't the most reliable of motors (and it was quite new as well!),certainly no more so than the Disco.

More reputation than substance with the Merc - I think this affects the Disco in a negative direction

[jaa]

my disco is a 3.9 V8i auto and acceleration is not a problem at all , lovely to drive , quiet , quick and a very good way of getting to know all the petrol station personnel in the local area , but then it was £3k cheaper than the equivalent Tdi

[afairington]

Thanks all for the advice. The Freelander is sold and I have found a great 1998(S)Discovery with 54K miles and an autobox which I pick up this weekend.

can't wait!!!

[laalmarra]

Thanks all for the advice. The Freelander is sold and I have found a great 1998(S)Discovery with 54K miles and an autobox which I pick up this weekend.

can't wait!!!

Sounds good to me