1998 Land Rover Discovery ES TDI review from UK and Ireland

Clutch after about 6 months of owning.

Thermostat after about a year, which caused the head gasket to go.

Engine gave out at 196000 due to unseen mud getting between air con and engine radiators, and overheating.

I will start with the bad bit; when you are running low on fuel, this huge light comes to let you know, but when the engine is overheating, there are no warning lights at all, just one little gauge that you can't see behind the steering wheel. As a result of this, when my thermostat went the car over heated and the head gasket went. About a year later it over heated again due mud getting between the two radiators when off road. This time it piston 2 melted.

Other than that (which I see as 50% design fault 50% my fault), I loved every minute of owning it. It is the best car I have ever owned, when it left me it had done 206000 miles and still drove perfectly. The interior didn't squeak and rattle the leather, although yes it did have signs of wear, was much better than my BMW, which had done under 60k. Off road it was superb and on road, OK it was not a 911, but I never bought it to be. What it was, was very comfortable on long journeys. Much more than my 2000 Merc E220.

It used to do about 30mpg combined, from the 300TDI. The only reason I have put 5/10 for cost of running is the amount it cost to put a new engine in. General servicing and running was much better than my 1.8 Laguna.

The dealers were the most helpful I have ever dealt with. Good example of this I broke the remote locking key fob, I had a spare one by it wasn't tuned to the car and Land Rover Gatwick didn't charge to tune the new one in. Had the same thing with my Merc and they wanted £120 for about 10 min work!

It towed my 19ft caravan with ease almost forgot it was there.

Safety wise, I was traveling down a country lane with wife and two kids in car, when a Volvo 730 cut a corner and hit me head on. Every door in my Disco opened, everyone of my family got out stepped out fine, although Disco was a write off. The driver of the much newer Saab, although OK, could not get out and had to be cut from the car. I don't believe any other car would have looked after me and my family like she did.

Summing up, brilliant long distance cruiser, brilliant off road car, brilliant tow car and brilliant family car.