Disco vs Surf

[lowlander]

OK, I appreciate that asking a question such as this on a Hilux surf forum is highlikely to get some biased answers but here goes anyway.

With a budget of 3K – 3.5K why should I buy a surf 3.0TD over a disco?

All the best.

Martin.

[Woodzie]

Ask the many EX-disco owners on here

But MPG comes to mind

[BUSHWHACKER]

OK, I appreciate that asking a question such as this on a Hilux surf forum is highlikely to get some biased answers but here goes anyway.

With a budget of 3K – 3.5K why should I buy a surf 3.0TD over a disco?

All the best.

Martin.

The disco wil be better off-road, easier to insure and garages will know what you're talking about when asking for parts, which you will probably need a lot of quite often!






is this weedol I'm drinking?

[Woodzie]

Rust on early discos is bad .......


.....Vince , you been at my moonshine again

[Slugsie]

OK, I appreciate that asking a question such as this on a Hilux surf forum is highlikely to get some biased answers but here goes anyway.

With a budget of 3K – 3.5K why should I buy a surf 3.0TD over a disco?

All the best.

Martin.

Reliability and Longevity!

I have two friends who have Discos on L and M plates. On both of them the body is crumbling to dust. My J plate 2.4 has NO rust, and is solid.

There is one thing I would say about the Disco that might be a deciding factor in its favour depending on how you intend to use it. The rear passenger space is massive compared to a Surf, and it's fairly easy to get the 7 seat variety.

Someone on here who went from a Surf to a Disco said something along the lines of 'Disco breaks more often, but the parts are cheaper and easier to get', so it's swings and roundabouts on that front.

[lclascaris]

OK, I appreciate that asking a question such as this on a Hilux surf forum is highlikely to get some biased answers but here goes anyway.

With a budget of 3K – 3.5K why should I buy a surf 3.0TD over a disco?

All the best.

Martin.

I have owned 5 Land Rovers, I sell Land Rovers parts for a living which I get at cost price, I know loads of Land Rover trained mechanics.

But I would never go back to Land Rover since owning Toyota's.

I have seen what you get for 3k - 3.5k & more money in the Disco market.....rot & endless problems.....constant maintanance....I have spent so much money on Land Rovers in the past, & selling the parts I have seen loads of customers throwing money at there Land Rovers.

[TonyN]

Just take one of each for a test drive, the minute you go round a corner there will only be one winner!

[andrewlee31]

[SassyT]

Ask the many EX-disco owners on here

But MPG comes to mind

Are you kidding

I used to get at least 5 mpg more out of the disco than I do in the surf, but then that was 2.5td manual & surf is 3.0 auto - not sure if that is why though

I LOVED my disco, loved the driving position & being so high up, but it didn't have a dinger on the lights & so was constantly getting a flat battery (I did try & get one fitted but couldn't). It was also solid as a tank & saved my bacon when I got run off the road, but sadly it was written off by my insurance co. It did have a few bits wrong in the year or so I had it, but would definitely have another. The 7 seats were handy too sometimes.

The extra half litre & the auto does make the surf better for towing though, and over the past few days with my ribs if i had a manual I could not have driven - I do LIKE the surf & it is growing on me

If I was given 1 of each to choose from & could have it for free, would probably pick the disco

[smiffy]

Suppose it depends...................

If you like lookin under the bonnet or lookin over it

[da SLUG man]

Just take one of each for a test drive, the minute you go round a corner there will only be one winner!

my mates got one and you can almost lean out the window and touch the road on roundabouts!

they REALLY lean!!

surf is more car like handling... although you still gotta remember it's not a car...

[surfenstein]

my mate had a disco,he was quite popular with the old folks he used to play at the local legion club on a friday and sat nite.

[scotty]

was off road on sunday at drumclog with 2 discos.

the new one was let down because it only had at tyres, it done most thing and then got stuck at a long grassy hill that hadnt even been driven on before.

the old disco was good off road but i wouldnt say it was any better than my surf. the 2 of them went the same places done the same things all day and neither of us got stuck.

the guys also reconed that my 2.4 had a bit more poke than the disco as well.

cheers scotty

[da SLUG man]

the newer discos don't really have enough ground clearance for anything other than driving on a field or building site.

[Apache]

Dont have experience of personal ownership but we used to have two Discos at work we used on trials. They were filled with equipment and driven offroad on military ranges such as Shoeburyness, SPTA, Donna Nook etc.

One was a V8i, P reg I think, and the other was a 2.5TD5. The V8 was fun but broke a lot, was VERY thirsty and it had more rust than it should have done when we got rid of it about 4 years ago. The TD5 seemed more refined strangely enough, but it was newer. The odd bit of interior fell off, and it did seem to need quite a few mechanical repairs. It needed a gearbox about 2 months after we got it but as it was leased didn't cost us anything.

The driving position is nice, but a bit upright. I prefer the Surf's driving position.

As Slug man says, they lean like bl00dy 'ell, and with the back full of kit, the 2.5 is a bit sluggish. The V8 had oodles of get up and go though.

Personally, I thought they looked very second hand fairly quick.

We still have the Defender. Thats a big bag of cr@p and if there's a choice, I take one of our Warriors. For the kind of work I do (long road journeys - 150m+) followed by maybe a dozen miles off road) the Defender is horrible in every respect! It's cold, slow, leaky, thirsty, uncomfortable, noisy, fixed together with blutack and sellotape, unreliable... god how I hate that bl00dy thing!