Land Rover Discovery

The Discovery (now known in the United States as the LR3) is a comfortable 4x4 vehicle (SUV in American-English) from Ford's Land Rover marque. There have been three generations of the vehicle, which is smaller and somewhat less expensive than the company's top Range Rover model. The Discovery was introduced in the late 1980s and is the most popular model of Land Rover. It is not as utilitarian as the Defender, but it is very competent off road.

Series I

Based in part on the original Range Rover, the Discovery was introduced into the United Kingdom in 1989. The company code-named the vehicle "Project Jay", and came close to calling it the "Prarie Rover" until the decision was made to improve the overall branding strategy, eventually leading to the Land Rover name becoming detached from any specific model (at the launch of the "Defender" name.)

The Discovery was initially available in a three door version, the five door only becoming available the following year. The Discovery Commercial (a three door van) was never an official model, and was only available through Land Rover Special Vehicles. Pre-1994, the Discovery was available with either the 2.5 litre 200 TDi engine or the 3.5L Rover V8. Early V8s used a twin carburettor system, moving over to Lucas fuel injection in 1990. In the UK, V8 models are comparatively rare, the majority of Discovery owners preferring the more economical diesel engines. Consequently, resale prices of V8-engined vehicles are lower than the more popular diesel counterparts. In the North American market, things were reversed and the vast majority of vehicles sold were fitted with the V8.

In 1994, many changes were made to the Discovery I: the 200TDi and 3.5L V8 engines were replaced with the 2.5L 300TDi and 3.9L Rover V8 engines, the 300TDi introducing a 'drive by wire' electronic accelerator and electronic engine control for certain markets. A 2.0L 4 cylinder petrol 'mpi' was also introduced. At around this time a stronger gearbox was fitted to all models. With a few exceptions from the year of the change-over, the newer models can be identified externally by larger headlamps and a second set of rear lights in the bumper. Buyers should note that kits are available to alter the appearance of older models which will still retain the older engines and gearboxes. A notorious annoyance with the new rear lights is that the wiring was changed several times to meet real or expected European safety legislation. Some vehicles are left with a frustrating arrangement where the vulnerable bumper contains the only working direction-indicator lights; other examples have these lights duplicated in the traditional rear pillar location.