Land Rover Discovery 3
In June 2015, I purchased a Land Rover Discovery 3. It was a 2005 HSE in Tonga Green with beige leather and 98,000 miles. It was overall pretty average, but it was fairly local, the right colour, spec and price. It was lovely to drive, despite some knocking from worn bushes.
I had been pondering one of these for many years, and had researched the foibles and problems of ownership, and anticipated the associated costs. Nevertheless, the first year was a litany of problems, never a breakdown, but endless gongs indicating potential problems. Credit to https://www.disco3.co.uk/forum/index.php?sid=b68594b63dc90414203fa8fceef08689 as an excellent online resource.
It was fully serviced on my acquisition with all fluids and filters changed, new discs and pads all round, both front lower suspension arms, front and rear anti-roll bar bushes, and some other items at a total cost of £1,200. Around this time new height sensors were fitted, and all earth points cleaned to resolve an electronic gremlin at a cost of £700.
Tyres were replaced with General Grabber all-terrain in 2016/17, which are excellent for any use and remained in good condition still when sold in 2020 at 134,000 miles.
It was intended to replace the Landcruiser Colorado for 4x4 Response and Search & Rescue duties, but it needed to be equipped for this as well as reliable, the former not happening for several years, although the latter resolved after 12 months. In fact, after considerable work and not to mention cost the Disco morphed into an extremely reliable vehicle. It was also destined to replace our Lexus RX300, which it did in always being the vehicle of choice, but the Lexus remained as a second vehicle.
The Discovery is very much a vehicle for every occasion, and certainly one that inspires immense confidence in anything involving tricky terrain, from grass verges to deep snow, it solicits an air of invincibility. Performance wise it is quicker in real life than the figures might suggest, but you need to choose your moments to overtake, and the turbo lag low down the rev range does give heart stopping moments, although you learn to anticipate this. What it doesn’t excel at is fast roads and corners at any speed. Whilst it is relaxing to drive and it is possible to make good progress, the two don’t go together. I am sure the A/T tyres don’t help, but stability at speed is poor and the lean in corners is pronounced. Milton Keynes with all its roundabouts is not a place to drive a Disco through! However, it is a world away from the Landcruiser, and remains an excellent multi-purpose vehicle. Fuel consumption was 27 mpg overall, 24 at worst and 30 at best.
It has never been taken off-road as such for pleasure, mostly just tracks and fields as were required during use. This might sound like a contradiction, but I learnt long ago the key to reliability with these is not to abuse them, and that includes going off-road!
So, to the required modifications. My plan was to keep it discrete and covert. Amber hazard lights were essential, mostly for road search work with my local SAR team and charity events, an amateur radio needed to be fitted for communications, and some miscellaneous tweaks, some cosmetic some practical. Climair wind deflectors to the front are useful when working with the window open, a colour change led essential to monitor the battery whilst parked with hazard lights operating, adding handwheels to the tow bracket cover to make it quickly detachable, an external charger socket, air horns, and wiring in always live USB ports for accessory power. Cosmetically I added DRL rings to the fog lights, led lighting throughout, and a ‘Supercharged’ style silver grille.
The pictures and notes will hopefully provide more information. Regrettably modern vehicles do not lend themselves to modification, there is no room to add anything. In the case of electrics everything was fed directly off the battery, with correctly rated fuses wherever needed, on correctly rated wiring (I was once an Electrician). The other key point was no holes anywhere.
I had been pondering one of these for many years, and had researched the foibles and problems of ownership, and anticipated the associated costs. Nevertheless, the first year was a litany of problems, never a breakdown, but endless gongs indicating potential problems. Credit to https://www.disco3.co.uk/forum/index.php?sid=b68594b63dc90414203fa8fceef08689 as an excellent online resource.
It was fully serviced on my acquisition with all fluids and filters changed, new discs and pads all round, both front lower suspension arms, front and rear anti-roll bar bushes, and some other items at a total cost of £1,200. Around this time new height sensors were fitted, and all earth points cleaned to resolve an electronic gremlin at a cost of £700.
Tyres were replaced with General Grabber all-terrain in 2016/17, which are excellent for any use and remained in good condition still when sold in 2020 at 134,000 miles.
It was intended to replace the Landcruiser Colorado for 4x4 Response and Search & Rescue duties, but it needed to be equipped for this as well as reliable, the former not happening for several years, although the latter resolved after 12 months. In fact, after considerable work and not to mention cost the Disco morphed into an extremely reliable vehicle. It was also destined to replace our Lexus RX300, which it did in always being the vehicle of choice, but the Lexus remained as a second vehicle.
The Discovery is very much a vehicle for every occasion, and certainly one that inspires immense confidence in anything involving tricky terrain, from grass verges to deep snow, it solicits an air of invincibility. Performance wise it is quicker in real life than the figures might suggest, but you need to choose your moments to overtake, and the turbo lag low down the rev range does give heart stopping moments, although you learn to anticipate this. What it doesn’t excel at is fast roads and corners at any speed. Whilst it is relaxing to drive and it is possible to make good progress, the two don’t go together. I am sure the A/T tyres don’t help, but stability at speed is poor and the lean in corners is pronounced. Milton Keynes with all its roundabouts is not a place to drive a Disco through! However, it is a world away from the Landcruiser, and remains an excellent multi-purpose vehicle. Fuel consumption was 27 mpg overall, 24 at worst and 30 at best.
It has never been taken off-road as such for pleasure, mostly just tracks and fields as were required during use. This might sound like a contradiction, but I learnt long ago the key to reliability with these is not to abuse them, and that includes going off-road!
So, to the required modifications. My plan was to keep it discrete and covert. Amber hazard lights were essential, mostly for road search work with my local SAR team and charity events, an amateur radio needed to be fitted for communications, and some miscellaneous tweaks, some cosmetic some practical. Climair wind deflectors to the front are useful when working with the window open, a colour change led essential to monitor the battery whilst parked with hazard lights operating, adding handwheels to the tow bracket cover to make it quickly detachable, an external charger socket, air horns, and wiring in always live USB ports for accessory power. Cosmetically I added DRL rings to the fog lights, led lighting throughout, and a ‘Supercharged’ style silver grille.
The pictures and notes will hopefully provide more information. Regrettably modern vehicles do not lend themselves to modification, there is no room to add anything. In the case of electrics everything was fed directly off the battery, with correctly rated fuses wherever needed, on correctly rated wiring (I was once an Electrician). The other key point was no holes anywhere.
Disco as purchased
The Modifications.
Action Pictures.