Used car buying guide: Land Rover Discovery 3

There are hundreds of examples to choose from on the UK marketplace, ranging in price from £4000 for battle-scarred farm haulers up to the mid-teens for showroom-fresh facelifted cars. Trim designations changed over the car’s five-year life cycle, but lower- to mid-spec cars were badged S, GS, XS or simply TDV6, and leather-clad and tech-heavy HSE cars topped the range. The HSE variant holds its value particularly well, but bear in mind that more gadgets often mean more headaches, and a bog-standard Disco is still a treat to drive daily while spending less time at the garage.

How to get one in your garage

An expert's view

Angus Leat, AHL Engineering: “Budget £1000 a year on bits and pieces to keep them going – they’re not cheap cars. I wouldn’t buy one without a service history because they’re 10-15 years old, and lots of people have bought one and spent £10,000 on it in the first year, which is ridiculous. One of ours has 195,000 miles on the clock and another 160,000, and they’re fine.”

Buyer beware...

â–  Engine: Check previous owners have adhered to the 15,000-mile service schedule and the timing belts have been replaced at 105,000 miles or every seven years. Flywheels and clutches were fragile when new so most will have been replaced by now, but the TDV6’s two EGR valves are a ticking time bomb, so budget for replacements if they haven’t been swapped out.

â–  Electrics: An otherwise clean Disco can hide a multitude of electrical sins. A good-quality battery gets things off to a good start, but check all doors (including both parts of the tailgate) lock and unlock as specified, because latch mechanisms fail. Water getting into the wiring loom and ECU failures are more severe, but typical weak spots are the air-con compressor, the infotainment system and the crankshaft positioning sensor.

â–  Gearbox: Any clutch slip in a manual car will confuse the ‘XYZ’ gear sensor, leading to failure of the parking sensors, gear indicator display and reverse lights. Juddering auto ’boxes can often be cured with a comprehensive fluid flush, but you should also check that a tired heat exchanger isn’t letting coolant into the transmission itself.

â–  Brakes: Check the parking brake: dirt and grime build up in the drum and can cause it to lock on. There is a manual release cable in the centre console, but a proper fix means the actuator has to come out. Braking performance can be adversely affected by oil in the servo, so pump the pedal on your test drive.

â–  Suspension: A yellow warning light showing a car with an arrow pointing down is a sign of trouble in the air suspension system, often accompanied by a message telling you that ride height selection is unavailable. Compressor pumps, height sensors, valves and reservoirs are available but don’t come cheap. If none of these, an air shock has probably split and the whole unit will need replacing.