Folks, I'm in the very early stages of planning a trip from Cape Town up to Uganda and then back down again. Hopefully I'm going to take it real slow - about 12 months or maybe even longer.

I have a '03 Disco 2 TD5 - am I nuts to be even contemplating doing this in a Disco??? They seem to have a fairly rotten reputation. Should I be selling it and getting a Toyota instead or are they really no better or worse than anything else?

thanks for your help.

Paul

It's your car..only you can decide if it's a pig or a silk purse based on your time owning it.

I take it that you live in SA????....if so give the car a run out off and on road to your nearest bush camp for a week as a test

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No, live in UK although I've driven loads all over southern Africa - just not in my Disco....I'm just interested in whether people think it would be nuts to even consider it.

Personally I love the Disco but I know plenty don't. Opinion seems to be divided between those who think they're the worst 4X4 ever made and those who won't have a bad word said against them.

Opinions.... there are so many. Old Vs New, Landrover Vs Toyota etc etc.

Personally i wouldn't touch a LR to even go to Tescos. But, thats just me. Others love them. You will get all the pro's and con's here, but ultimately it's up to you.

So are you shipping it to SA, or did i read your post wrong??

Cheers Kev

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Are you happy with the reliability of the Disco to date? Personally I’m more cruiser then rover, but it comes down to pre-trip maintenance really.

Go with what you have, there's plenty less suitable vehicles out there and if it does go wrong, well that just opens up other doors. as Roosevelt said "Do what you can, with what you have, where you are."

I'm sure you'll have a fantastic trip whatever you take but it's the trip that counts right?

Yes, would ship to CPT but my trip's a long way off, with plenty of plannng to do in the meantime.

Kev's made my point though:

Personally i wouldn't touch a LR to even go to Tescos. But, thats just me.

He woudn't go to the shops in one, never mind the Equator....seems quite a few people would agree with him too.

Thing is, I love my Disco - love it to bits and in many ways, it's a fine vehicle. Offroad, the general consensus seems to be that they're world-class, when they work. My own one is fairly reliable - fairly, that is - ie it's only broken down once in the two years that I've had it (blown turbo pipe, since you ask). As Big Chaser says, maybe the answer is a whole lot of pre-trip preparation and maintenance.

As I say, I love it. I just wish I could trust it too!

Just rolled over 150,000 miles in a td5 Disco a couple of years older than yours and while I can understand why Tonka Kev says he wouldn't go to Tesco's in one it hasn't stopped me taking mine wherever I've wanted to go in it at short notice and without any special prep (or any prep at all in most cases). OK it's all been in Europe so no 50 miles of corrugated piste or days of slogging through sand or mud but its included 45C heat and snow up to the doorhandles.

I've had loads of things go wrong with. Really, loads. But it's only stopped on me once (when the ACE pump seized about 70,000 miles ago). The rest of the time its just been a case of making a note of what's gone wrong and either fixing it whenever is convenient or just driving round the problem. Most of the issues tend to get saved up for the MOT

The electronics tend to scare people off but that's probably been one of the most reliable bits. Most of the things that fail are good old LR staples that people have complained about since the war. LR do a great job with the concept and the design, I just wish they'd then given it to Toyota to actually make.

Main good points:

It always starts. Only time I've ever had a prob was last winter when the 14yr old battery finally gave up.

It never overheats. Even when its lost half its coolant it been ok.

Main bad points:

An endless list. Quicker to think of everything and then subtract the two good points above. If you've owned it for a while you'll already know the zero low down torque character of the td5 engine. It's like an 80's two stroke bike that has to be rowed along on the gear lever.

Would I take one on the trip you're considering? If it's mainly tarmac or easy piste, yes. It's not that far and spread over 12 months it should be low daily / weekly mileage. Pricey transport there and back though and good luck with the UK MOT on your return.

There you go......stick with what you know and like is not bad advise.

As was said, prep is everything no matter what you drive. I spent 4 times the original cost of our car to get it where i was happy with it for a RTW trip.

Just enjoy the trip.... i took a £200 Nissan Micra from the UK to Bamako Mali including 3 days in the sahara and plenty of off road stuff. We did the prep work and the car never missed a beat..even when it was in a river with the water half way up the doors.

Still wouldn't trust a LR to get me to Tesco's......just kidding..

Cheers Kev.

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Yep, looks like I'm going to have to chuck some money at it. The Old Girl's only done done 85,000 miles so far, so she ought to have years of life in her yet.

But that takes me onto to the next stage of the thread......how much work do you REALLY need to do? I mean apart from changing stuff that's looking a bit worn out?

Unless you're really heading out into the wilds (and - for the most part - we probably won't be), once you've made sure that the engine and the suspension are up to snuff, all the rest is a bit unnecessary - isn't it?

GPS might be handy (but frankly I prefer to rely on a map and the good old Mark One Eyeball). Add a roof tent (maybe) for the odd occasion when you don't feel like pitching a proper tent and you're most of the way there.

It's always worked for me on 2 or 3 week trips before. This time it'll just be a bit longer, that's all. Or does anyone think I'm clearly unhinged??

I forgot to mention - we're not talking the middle of the Congo here. Sure, some of the roads are going to be pretty lumpy but it's basically having a nice drive from one lodge/campsite to the next. What's necessary as opposed to nice-to-have for someone who (to be honest) struggles to change a plug, never mind a spark plug....

Your car doesn't have a spark plug....

If you can't do it yourself just give it to a company that can. Explain what you plan to use the car for and get a price for the work. Where in the uk are you??? It maybe an idea to add your location as others have in the top right of the page.. Go to edit details to do it. That way someone close to you maybe able to help out personally.

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Well here's my no1 piece of prep advice for your trip. Get a duplicate of the metal part of the key cut if you don't have two keys (do it even if you have). Leave it in the box between the front seats. That way when the metal part falls out of the plastic fob you'll be able to start the engine - rather than spend two hours walking round a field looking for it like I did.

The push buttons on the key fob break off. It's not the end of the world as you can push the microswitches underneath with a match stick or something but then the microswitches break up and you have to short the contacts with a screwdriver. Genuine LR replacements are stupidly expensive (around £100 from memory) but aftermarket ones on ebay are much the same and about £5. Chuck one of those in the box as well.

You do have your EKA number don't you? A stupid system but (slightly) better than breaking a window to get in if the key fob fails. If you don't it should be free from a LR main agent but they'll try to "fob" you off as involves doing work for nothing. Get the radio code while you're at it. You'll need the V5 etc as ownership proof

So, that's three bits of prep on just the key. Wait till we get to the rest of the car ....

I have a 2004 td5 with about the same mileage before we went to Morocco all I did was to ditch the air suspension and put a set of heavy duty springs on,we drove through France and Spain long days, in Morocco we spent 80%of the time off road it never missed a beat.

Yeah, ditching the air bags is definitely up there on my list. To save time (yours rather than mine), anyone come across a link to a prep list that I can use to start working out what I need to do?

Even if it's way over the top, i can then start crossing stuff off and going "nah, don't need to do that". That way I can narrow it down a bit to what's really going to make a difference.

Thanks to you all, BTW.