1995 Land Rover Discovery V8i from Australia and New Zealand - Comments

The first 50,000km was a little scary but luckily Land Rover covered most expenses. I did think for a while that all those stories about Rovers (incl Land Rovers were true).

The front spherical CV joint cover seals kept leaking every 10,000 km (ie replaced every service) until BMW (who had bought Land Rover) advised filling up with grease rather than oil.

The air flow sensor (or was it the computer?) blew just out of warranty but Land Rover paid for this (bless them)

The rear brake calipers leaked and soaked the pads, fixed under warranty though I had to pay for half the cost of the pads (at 20,000 or 30,000 km service)

Exhaust manifold gasket broken, told it is common on V8s.

Doesn't idle well - revs rise & fall until it stalls... on petrol. Converted to LPG April 1998 and run it on LPG unless I run out of gas.

Replaced LPG converter twice (both times gummed up)

Cruise control failed at 300,000km...prior, it would cut out when cruising; I'd often notice that the (electronic?) speedometer would drop down to 0km/h (I'd be cruising at 100 or 110 km/h) for an instant... tacho wouldn't miss a beat though. Recently found hose at cruise control vacuum pump had split - can't get at the pump to remove...it's behind LH headlight. So don't use it now.

Dealer service costs high and I moved to other LR

specialists who were excellent.

I covered high mileages for a few years (10,000km in 6 weeks once! Servce garage thought I'd come back to correct a fault!) so service costs seemed high, but that maintenance meant a very reliable vehicle.

After the first 50,000km everything has settled down. I still have the Disco with 330,000km now.

One interesting problem in 2002 (had converted to LPG in April 1998) was that I'd hear something like an explosion under the car. Service garage couldn't find anything wrong except gummed-up LPG converter. Explosions recurred a few times and (my new service garage) found a split thin-walled metal hose (carrying LPG/air mixture?) had split. Gas would, under certain conditions, escape and being near exhaust manifold would explode. I think I'm lucky to be alive.

I love this car. Old faithful.

V8 not that powerful, though torquey. Auto is excellent although reluctant to kick down into third unless you give it a boot-full.

Swallows petrol. Lucky LPG conversion is very good. Slight loss of power but smoother.

Very poor turning circle, but a consequence of its particular 4WD design.

Comfortable, especially on long trips.

Very roomy inside... often doubled as my mobile office.

Very practical... moved house several times and set-up trade shows... it carries heaps, although the "boot" could be longer, even with the rear seats down.

Only took it off-road once, twice on very bad broken-stoned roads. Many times on gravel in the course of my travels. Great fun on gravel, secure. Exceptionally comfortable off-road.

Very reliable after first 50,000km. Specialist service a must. There are good firms out there who are enthusiastic about the brand.

Where did you get the LPG conversion kit, and what mpg do you get with LPG Vs gas?

Thank you, Jack.

I had the LPG kit fitted by LP GAS 1 in Lilydale, Vic (northern suburb of Melbourne). I went to them because I'd seen lots of 4WDs with their stickers on them, and they had AS9000 accreditation (ie their procedures are well documented).

I used to get 310km (highway) out of 70 litres of gas, or 290km in town. Week in, week out. The car had been parked for 17 months and I haven't had it tuned since I started using it again, and am now doing very short trips in Sydney (Melbourne's pretty flat, so that helped) and I am getting about 240km out of 70 litres which isn't very good at all. That's about 10mpg on gas. Not good for the environment so I'll get it looked into.

The car's automatic, and even on petrol they swallow a lot more fuel than the manual. But the auto is a ZF 4-sp: smooth and reliable.

I should have gone to the LPG guys who fitted the conversion to find out what the problem was. Instead I went to my (general) mechanic. The LPG guys were very good.