Series II, 2001, TD5 engine, manual transmission. Shifted like a Ferguson farm tractor. It didn't have a centre diff lock. It did have HDC. Trouble was that the driveway intersected the road and there was no gradual transition. Unless you went straight back, which was difficult because of a curve in the road, you ended up with the LF and RR wheels carrying the weight, and the others not. If you stopped right at the transition, you couldn't go forward back up the driveway with any slight frost, and you often couldn't back into traffic. As long as you rolled through it, you were OK, but it seemed pretty pathetic for a vehicle rated for off road use.

I had Explorers, Expeditions, Ford pickups, an Isuzu Trooper, and so on that did better off road. My brother's 1955 Landrover Series 1 pickup did far better.

That doesn't surprise me. When Land Rover added ETC to the Disco but deleted the centre diff lock, it made the vehicle next to useless - the worst Disco ever. Fortunately they re-instated the centre diff lock some time after. Rest assured that Discos with centre diff locks are a completely different vehicle to those without the CDL. I don't know what Land Rover's engineers were thinking...

And, you're right about the manual 'box - what a shocker. The Td5 engine was actually better with the auto box as torque convertor helped mask the turbo lag off idle.

I've driven lots of Discos and perhaps the best were the early models before they fitted the anti-roll bars. Same goes for earlier Range Rovers. When they added anti-roll bars in 1992(?) half the original vehicle's off-road ability went out the window.

Interesting, thanks. All I knew at the time was that the vehicle was embarrassing. I think I read later that the diff lock was still there, just not connected.

Build quality was non-existent; every few weeks I would find another bolt or screw on the carpet, either in the front or back, but often couldn't figure out where they had fallen out of.

Lots of turbo lag, but that wasn't as much of a problem as the high vibration levels. The transmission problem was that if it was cold out, you couldn't complete a 1-2 shift until the oil warmed sufficiently. Sometimes it took a full city block for that to happen. You could try starting in second, but there wasn't any torque. I went back to the dealer, and he said that unfortunately they all did that. He wouldn't try a different transmission fluid. Terrible vehicle. I went into a diesel Passat, which was about five grades lower on the company car scale, and much preferred it.

I think the kindest thing you could say about Disco build quality that it was inconsistent. I had a three-door V8 manual that was faultless, a five-door Tdi manual that was dreadful and a five-door Tdi auto that was somewhere in between. When BMW owned LR they tried hard to fix the build quality problems but didn't have too much success (I suspect the Brit workers and management didn't like their new German masters). When Ford purchased LR things improved greatly (still not perfect, though). I guess we can only wait and see what effect the new Tata ownership has...

I used to drive past the Landrover plant in Solihull in the UK, when I lived in the West Midlands. It was just down the road from the Lucas factory. They were made for each other. That may be the kindest thing I can say about Landrover, that they had kindred spirits. (I also had a Morgan, so I got to experience the Prince of Darkness joy firsthand)

Land Rover and Lucas may have been kindred sprints once but Land Rover managed to move on. Lucas didn't.

personally, this is one of those "if my aunt had balls, she'd be my uncle" questions - serious offroading requires ground clearance - not an X5 strong point - and I'm speaking from 22yrs of driving Ford Broncos ('79, '90, '96)

Lack of low range gearing and short wheel travel are also big problems for the X5 off road.

Does anyone know about a HD spring to give a little lift and a stiffer ride? I have owned Land Rovers and I always loved the Land Rover HD springs....Anyone know if there is a similar spring for the X5?

I say scrub the X5 idea and do a diesel swap into a 4x4 K5, big body bronco or Ramcharger, add a small lift, get 4 new tires on steel rims and lock the rear diff. You'd spend half as much, have a much more capable off road vehicle, and still be able to take your x5 out on date night.