Originally Posted by
BennyM
I only have limited experience with an 02 Land Rover. It was owned by a photographer I work with and he had nothing but trouble with it. The engine was pre-BMW and based off of some kind of 1970s pontiac design or something. It blew headgaskets constantly and after a lot of research, he found that there was a chronic design flaw in all of those engines that shortened their life significantly....unless you're OK with doing a headgasket with every oil change. Don't know the model range for the engines, but at the very least, make sure the one she's going to get has a BMW engine.
Other problems included:
Rear tailgate wouldn't open or refused close (every Discovery owner I've met has had this problem).
Hydraulic shocks leak, sag and fail often and are very expensive to fix. (the truck often looked like it was squatting to take a ****)
Air-con is overly complicated (different systems for front and rear) and rarely worked properly.
Random electrical glitches all over the place.
During those few days that everything worked, I admit it was fun...especially in the snow. I'd rather he had a Land Cruiser.