I like everything about my 4 runner except for gas milage and power. It is a 3.slow Auto, and it lacks the ooomph. I have owned it since May and its great for hauling and camping. but when i get on steep highway roads (Highway 17) from San Jose to Santa Cruz it has problems. If i am the only car on the road, i can jam all the way up just fine. But if I am jamming up the hill and another car causes to me to put on the brakes and slowdown, it cannot get up to the same speed again. Acceleration SUCKS major ARSE!!! It is pretty embarassing to the other cars on the road as I go up the incline at 35mph. And it does not go above 35mph with my foot all the way to the floor. At 16mpg max, it is not worth the loss in power.

So, should I get a LR Disco? I know they have worse gas milage, but from my experience with friends disco, it has a lot MORE POWER. I am looking at 1995-1999 models. They have the same KBB.com value as my 1995 4runner.

 

They may have more power, but they're incredibly unreliable. Ask any owner about the infamous, and incredibly expensive heater hoses. I was looking at them when I was getting out of my 2001 Jetta. Glad I didn't do it.

"Buy a Rover, adopt a Rover mechanic"

 

What about a 3rd gen 4Runner?

 

Read consumer reports, very expensive to fix, and pretty unreliable in terms of maintenance. Don't get me wrong I like them and have seen them do some cool approach and deperture angles. But I also sank one in some quick sand mud stuff and was stuck with the diffs in the Mud What a PITA that was. Anyways I suggeest get a newer 4runner. IMHO

 

x2. Even if you can do repairs yourself, parts alone are very expensive. If money is not an issue, go ahead and buy the LR (and e-mail me your broker's name).

 

I rest my case

 

The Toyota is very reliable and great as long as the road is flat. I forgot ot mention that it excels in low speed inclines. It just sux on highway roads where a Hyundai Excels can pass me up.

I have always wanted a toyota 4 runner and now that I got it it was a little disappointing. I guess I can overlook the issues and focus on its strong points.

BTW...money is an issue, if it wasn't i would have gone for a 3rd gen 4runner. I bought mine for $4k, while a 3rd gen runner was at least $7500 here in the SF bay area.

 

a LR discovery depending on age.. a 98 or so is gonna cost about 12k.. you can still get a 3rd gen for less then that.

 

so you have a 95 4runner v6 i assume automatic? what tires and gears are you running?

 

those things suck!! My buddy bought one a few months ago; and uhhh... he traded it back in for something else a weeklater. haha i told him my $.02 worth about em, but no one ever listens to me!

 

The Discovery's are kind of ugly IMO, and pretty unreliable...

I do like the Defender 90's though, just for the buff factor.

 

go with a 3rd gen 4runner,even if you have to get one with high miles to get the price down

 

Land Rover: The driveline and suspension is stock except for the springs.

 

IMO, a used Land Rover would NOT be something you would want to take on with a limited budget. For peace of mind, call up your local Land Rover dealership and just ask one of the service advisors: "Hey, I'm considering purchasing a 19XX-19XX Land Rover, what kind of issues are you guys seeing with that particular Land Rover platform?" And then let them tell you what's wrong with the LR's. Believe it or not, long before I ever latched onto the TOYOTA brand, I made this very same call about the very same brand. I thought Land Rovers looked awesome, conveyed prestige, and were tough as nails. What I didn't consider was the reliability factor. And that's huge! There are tons of ways to help in the power dept and that would be cheaper than scrapping your current ride and taking on the headaches with a Land Rover... Plus you'll remove yourself from the comraderie here at Yotatech!

 

LOL I'm more interested in seeing what it looked like after it landed

 

You DO realize you're not alone in complaints about power with the 3.0/Auto combination right? Search around and you'll see a variety of relatively inexpensive solutions to the problem, which is simply that the overdrive is just WAY too tall.

Schooler wrote up a thread about switching to a manual tranny.

Regearing the diffs down 1 step will make a huge difference. Only issue there is if you have 4.88's, you'll have to replace the whole thirdmember, not just the gears. Factory 4.88's have an offset pinion that nobody makes aftermarket gears to fit.

As for a LandRover....it was only with the recent purchase of the English car manufacturers by Ford and/or BMW that decent electrical systems found their way into these cars.

 

I tell you this, I have a 96 disco and I love it, but it will not perform like you think and as far as reliability goes I hope you have a land rover mechanic as a friend. I still wheel with my rover but only with a full amount of tools in tow. What I have done is gone and bought a 97 LX450 with locking front and rears. I pplan on making it the monster. I think maybe you should look in that direction. an early FZJ80 lex or yota. I went from a yota to the disco but I have returned like the Prodigal son. Don't waste your time with the disco unless you have cash to burn on Parts.

 

Haha I love it! His first post here is about how his Land Rover is less reliable than a toyota..:bigclap:

Welcome to the forum.. also check out ih8mud.com since you have a LC.

 

sounds like a great plan. looking into the landcruiser and checking classifieds for good deals.

 

Do check out the 93+ Land Cruiser/LX450, mine seems like a rocket compared to my old 93 4r 3.0. Parts are about the same cost as 4r parts, and of course it is way more reliable than a LR. Read the newbie guide at Slee Off Road for more info.

Slee newbie guide