DSCVRY

You will often see me use the term DSCVRY when i refer to the “ExpeditionOz Vehicle”, which is my 2001 Land Rover Discovery 2 TD5 (wikipedia).

DSCVRY were the original license plates i ordered for the vehicle when i bought it in NSW…of course those license plates were gone in Victoria when i moved back here :(

While the thought of buying a Land Rover had never crossed my mind, when i was introduced to the idea at the 2001 Sydney Motor Show by a close friend Sean, the idea started to agree with me and in early December of 2001 I purchased a brand new 2001 Land Rover Discovery 2 TD5 for a pretty good price from Purnell Motors. Purnell serviced the vehicle until i left Sydney in 2005 and they always did a great job. On my move back to Melbourne, servicing has been taken over by primarily MLR and occasionally Lance Dixon.

Shortly after buying the car, and getting the DSCVRY plates, i slao got a bunch of 3rd party accessories fitted, including the following; an ARB bullbar (along with a heap of ARB recovery gear), a Milford Cargo Barrier, a Safari Snorkel, a GME CB Transceiver and a full set of Cooper Discoverer Sure Trac (S/T) 245/75R16 tyres.

To this day I’ve been more than happy and often surprised by how well DSCVRY has handled a wide variety of off-road expeditions (desert, rock, water and sand) and how comfortable it has been on extremely long drives (over 20 hours in one sitting) on the bitumen as well. It has done trips across the 1000km long Tanami Track, gone cross country across dry and in-hospitable deserts for week long periods, crossed rivers that were over a 1.5 meters deep at the time (and full of crocodiles), climbed steep mountain ranges, slid down a few wet mountain tracks, clambered across rocky ledges and decent sized boulders, easily tackled deep sand dunes on the edge of oceans and covered a huge amount of bitumen. All in all, to date I’ve managed to clock up over 125,000 km and it hasn’t failed me once :)

I have no doubt that any off-road vehicle i purchase in the future will also be manufactured by Land Rover…say for example a Series 1 Land Rover or an old Military Land Rover Defender ;)
;)

Below are some photos of DSCVRY that i have uploaded onto my Flickr Site.

2001 LAND ROVER DISCOVERY 2 TD5

BODY/CHASSIS CONSTRUCTION Separate box-section ladder configuration 2mm steel chassis. Low impact front crush cans. Mix of aluminium and double sided, zinc-coated steel panels over steel frame, rubber mounted onto chassis. Side intrusion beams. Approach angle 31o Departure angle 21o, 25o with air suspension Breakover angle 27o Ground clearance 208mm

ENGINE Diesel 2.5 litre 5 cylinder turbocharged and intercooled electronic high pressure direct injection. Capacity 2495cc Bore x Stroke 84.5mm x 89mm Compression ratio 19.5:1 Power 101.5 kW @ 4,200 rpm Torque 300 Nm @ 1950 rpm Fuel Diesel.

TRANSMISSION Type Permanent four-wheel drive. Dual range electronic transfer box. Gearbox 5 speed manual, lock-up in all gears. High Low Transfer ratios 1.21:1 3.27:1 Traction 4-wheel Electronic Traction Control.

SUSPENSION Front and rear long travel coil springs with anti-roll bars.

STEERING Type Power assisted worm and roller. Tilt adjustable steering wheel. Turns lock-to-lock 3.5 Turning Circle 11.9m

BRAKES Front Power assisted 300mm diameter ventilated discs. Back Power assisted 303mm diameter discs. Electronic 4 channel, all-terrain Anti-locking Brake System (ABS). Transmission parking brake.

WHEELS/TYRES Standard Five 16" x 7J alloy wheels/ 235 section tyres. ES Five 16" x 8J alloy wheels/ 255 section tyres. Optional Five 18" x 8J alloy wheels/ 255 section tyres. (ES only)

DIMENSIONS Length 4705mm Width 1890mm Height 1940mm (with roof rails) Wheelbase 2540mm Front/Rear track 1540mm/1560mm

WEIGHT/CAPACITIES Unladen Mass, manual 2065kg to 2225kg depending on specification Gross Vehicle Mass 2750kg to 2880kg depending on specification seats up seats down Loadspace 577 litres 1933 litres Fuel Capacity 95 litres

PAYLOAD & TOWING CAPACITY On Road Off Road Unbraked trailer 750kg 750kg Braked trailer 3500kg 1000kg