Hi ,
good luck with your project I think it comes down to personal preference, for me I have owned a 2002 Series 2 TD5 Discovery for 3 trouble free years and with my knowledge of the Series 3 TDV6 I wouldn’t consider owning one due to the known problems , I feel some people are too worried about the age of their vehicles and will trade up just to get a newer model , I’m the opposite and usually prefer the older tried and tested models , I have two Mercs one 45 years old and one 5 years old and I know which one is best built and my favourite.
your probably in a good position in that you know there is a major problem with the TDV6 and therefore paying a fair price for it , my friend last year upgraded to a TDV6 and it’s cost him a small fortune , air suspension is constantly causing problems and the dash always has warning lights on , my series 2 has just passed yet another MOT during which I got the underside steam cleaned and wax oiled , the engine has covered 117k and is as smooth as the day it was made , yes it’s old looking and now many newer fancier looking models but they are so so expensive and I just couldn’t live with the lack of reliability.
Will be interesting to hear how you get on and as said previously on here if you can find the right mechanic anything can be repaired .
Good Luck