1997 Land Rover Discovery SE review from North America

Driver's door handle doesn't fully engage door release mechanism without the key in the door and being turned while opening.

Land Rovers in general, especially Discoveries have a bad reputation because of supposed poor design quality and lack of reliability.

However, my Discovery is ten years old and I've driven it for 7,000 miles and absolutely nothing mechanically has gone wrong with it. (I don’t regard the door handle handle as being a huge deal, and it’s probably not a difficult fix.)

From what I can discern, these cars have a bad reputation for two reasons. First, because people expect way too much from them. They're not Mercedes S-Class sedans. They're loud. They don’t ride like a car, because of their dual solid axle setup. People regard Land Rover as a high end car; up there with BMW, Audi, etc, and they’re disappointed when the car isn’t as supple and comfortable as they think it should be. The automatic reaction is "what a piece of junk!"

They don’t take into account their Land Rover is designed to cross some of the harshest terrains on the planet-- not take their kids to soccer practice. Land Rover makes uncompromising, rugged trucks. They handle like trucks. They ride like trucks. They get truck-like mileage. They have truck-like interiors.

Secondly, the required maintenance schedule is demanding. Owning a Discovery is not like owning an Accord or Camry... one can’t just change the oil and drive it without worry for 200,000 miles. People often opt for what they think is the cheaper option of ignoring required maintenance, and more often than not, it ends up biting them in the rear. I have only anecdotal evidence to back this up, but the majority of legitimate mechanical faults people come across with these cars probably has way more to do with owner's neglect than poor design.

That being said, these are not cheap cars to run. They drink exorbitant quantities of gas and like I said, it’s not cheap to stay on top of the maintenance. My Discovery is also the slowest vehicle I’ve ever driven.