Voyage of the Discovery Part1!

At the outset I should make it clear that this story is about towcars and not travelling to some far-flung exotic location with a caravan in tow! (That will come later no doubt!!)

Still with us? – Good!

Having changed our ‘van at the end of last year, our trusty Honda CRV towcar was found somewhat wanting in both the weight and power dept. Above 50mph the tail was wagging the dog, despite careful loading and checking noseweights, tyre pressures etc. At above an 85% match, whilst still safe, the outfit did not inspire confidence.

Having owned a couple of Land Rovers Discoverys in the distant past, thoughts once again turned towards the brand, and all thoughts of reliability issues were outweighed by the need for more weight and power, and anyway, I wanted a British-built car!

Thanks to Autotrader we found what appeared to be the perfect car for us, a 2008 Discovery3 GS model with a V6 diesel engine. The fact that it was being sold by a franchised dealer will full L/R service history and one owner who had obviously cherished the car, clenched the deal!

My main concern was converting the existing 2 x 7 pin sockets in the bumper recess to a single 13-pin socket. In the end I paid the dealer a wad of cash to do the job for me! Even then I was a bit worried that the plug would fit and on the day of collection this turned out to be a valid concern! Armed with a 13pin plug I found that the 13-pin socket cover could not be opened fully to allow the plug to be inserted as it fouled the top of the bumper recess. However 5 mins back in the workshop and the socket was rotated through 90° hey presto, all was well!

All went well on the journey home and I emerged from the disco with an enormous smile on my face! Just know this is going to be a brilliant towcar!

(Part 2 – Out first outing with the new car!)