I got into Land Rovers in 2006 right after I got out of RN school. I was looking for a Jeep, had a wife & 2 kids at the time (now have the same wife & 3 kids :victory: ) and needed something 4x4 to get me through our 3 mile private farm road, & 32 miles to my job in the Emergency Room through any weather (when you are the EMS system, you cannot call in due to weather etc).
I had looked at a lot of YJ & XJ stuff, a few Toyota Landcruisers etc, but everything I saw was two or three times the $$$ for less stock capability than the Land Rover Discoverys I had run across.
I finally found a 96 Disco with a Rovertym lift & other extras, for $3500 bucks, and bought it on the spot. I later put a full Rovertym brushguard on & drove that truck all through 2006.
Then, in 2007, an old lady pulled out in front of me while I was on the way to ski at Wintergreen mountain with two of my fellow nurses on board. The impact with her car did not do much damage to us, but it forced us into a very large hardwood that brought us to an abrupt stop, bent the frame (hard to do on the Disco) & mangled the front guard (I am convinced this absorbed a great deal of the damage for our benefit) We all survived the accident with minimal injury due to the solid construction of the truck, airbags, etc, meanwhile the driver & passengers of the other vehicle had to be airlifted out.
After that accident, I was sold on the solid & safe design of the land Rover Discovery (& Range Rover Classic etc) and bought 2 1997 replacements, a black one with a 3" OME spring lift & 2" Rovertym body lift, full Rovertym brushguard with some small Hellas, etc, and a Bergundy 1997 with 5" Rovertym suspension lift, Safari Guard front & rear bumpers, Safety Devices roofrack, 900lb Superwinch, front & rear ARB lockers, etc.
I know the Rovers have their share of mechanical issues, but so do the Jeeps, Toyotas, Domestic trucks, etc. There is something basically solid about the Land Rover construction that lends itself to the type of 4x4 wheeling I do that makes them particularly suitable. We also have a 3 mile private driveway that is (seriously) worse than most logging roads (was paved long ago, & is now a mixture of half-paved pott-holed areas with others that have washouts & deep ruts/ravines etc) and it is absolute murder on the suspensions etc of even 1/2 ton domestic full sized 4x4s.
Only our LR stuff (I drive the two 1997 Discos, the wife has an 88 Range Rover Classic, and my mother who lifes a half mile further in, has a 95 LWB Range Rover Classic), my 78 fullsize Bronco (with mods) & my 1-ton Dodge W250 4x4 Cummins have held up to this road in terms of suspension componants on the daily, year round grind up & down the driveway :coffeedrink:
I do miss it though. I find myself staring at every disco I see on the streets now.
