1998 Land Rover Discovery Safari review from UK and Ireland

Engine/transmission buzzing at 59 mph.

Faulty CD/volume selection.

Leaking roof.

Bi-metallic corrosion on the rear wheel arches.

Gasket/engine pipe problems.

Poor dealer servicing.

With a wife and 3 children, the Discovery was the car we had always wanted. A 7 seater with extras, its spec met our needs and, to some extent, our expectations. However, soon after purchase our doubts about the build quality emerged.

Altering the volume would change the CD. This was put down to faulty switching, but I was told that the system used variable resistance to command the stereo. If the resistance was faulty, the command would be misinterpreted, apparently a common fault.

Our local LR garage continually misdiagnosed problems, gave wrong advice and recommended work under warranty not required. Their servicing was suspect; after one service, my wife was doing the school run and - long story short - was locked in the car because the negative lead to the battery had not been secured.

After rain, on braking the water would pour down the INSIDE of the windscreen.

After about 2 years, bubbles of rust appeared both sides on the wheel arches where they join the upright door frame. This was put down to bi-metallic corrosion and treated, but on handing the car back the problem had returned.

All is not bad. The car was comfortable, we were off road in it twice and had great fun, and for long driving with 3 children it was excellent. I also managed to rescue 2 vehicles, one from a flood and the other from a snowy ditch. I am tempted by the Series II model as a lot of the problems have been addressed. The servicing interval has also been increased. However, if offered a Series I TDi, I wouldn't touch another one with a barge pole.