- The 2004 Land Rover Discovery II came standard with a 217-hp 4.6-liter V-8 and four-speed automatic transmission.
- This Disco offered at auction Bring a trailer, however, relies on a 5.3-liter V-8 from a Chevy for motivation. It is mated to a six-speed automatic transmission.
- The auction ends on February 24, and bids have already eclipsed five figures.
It’s no Toyota Prius, but this 2004 Land Rover Discovery II is a hybrid. Don’t bother looking for any electric drive motors or high-capacity batteries, though, because this Disco isn’t a petrol-electric hybrid, but a production one. You see, this British box no longer relies on the 217-hp 4.6-liter V-8 it left the factory with. Instead, it uses a good old American General Motors mill from a Chevrolet.
Bring a trailer doesn’t share the specific Chevy from which this Rover’s Vortec 5.3-liter V-8—or LC9 for you GM nerds—is plucked. We’re assuming the engine, which is factory-rated to produce north of 300 horsepower, came out of a Tahoe or Suburban from the late 2000s or early to mid-2010s. Then it might have come from one of the bowtie brand’s full-size vans of that era.
However, does it really matter what kind of Chevy once pushed this engine around? Why dwell on the past, when you can look to the future?
Oh, and what a potentially frustrating and fun future this nearly 20-year-old Disco holds for the winner of this auction. We won’t sugarcoat it; this vintage of Discovery, much like Land Rover’s in general, is no poster child for reliability.
In theory, the Vortec V-8 and the 6L80E six-speed automatic should give this off-road ready rig a shot at reliably running around town or cruising the tarmac; however, the reality is that Discos of this era also often suffer from non-drivetrain related problems.
While the LC9 and 6L80E engine and transmission are reliable workhorses, that reputation cannot be transferred to this Rover if the individual or shop responsible for its heart transplant cuts corners somewhere. That said, there is no indication of this based on the information and images provided to Bring a Trailer.
We hope this Discovery is as good as it looks, and that the winning bidder faces frustrations and instead manages to simply have fun pushing the limits of this machine’s off-road capabilities. Even in its factory form, the 2004 Discovery II was never a slouch off the beaten path, but the myriad of upgrades made to this body-on-frame SUV surely make it an even better tool for traversing the unknown. These include the likes of a four-inch lift, aftermarket front and rear bumpers that should improve this Disco’s front and rear departure angles, and 16-inch Terrafirma wheels wrapped in meaty Nitto Ridge Grappler tires.
If you were hoping to score this Discovery II on the cheap, think better. While this auction may still have plenty of time until it closes on February 24th, it has generated enough interest that bidding on this Land Rover has already eclipsed five figures. We may not call this 2004 Discovery II a bargain, but this British-American hybrid is still a toy worthy of a place in our hearts.
