Shall I get one?

[Jon W]

I know this question has been asked a million times before and have had a good look through the forum.

I have tried various different cars had a defender before, then normal car, then camper van, and currently have a BMW 3 series very comfy but boring. Next year I am hopefully heading to agricultural college to do a masters and fancy a 4x4 again. Now either i buy a sensible boring cheap to run car or something i actually want.

So Discoveries. Budget is less than £3K I would love a TD5 but wont get a very good one for this price and is more likely to cost more in repairs plus a few more electrical gremlins. So am thinking 300tdi as should get a fairly decent one for this, I have found one for £1500 its a 1995 had various bits of welding done and undersealing plus a few mods.

I have had 2 discoveries before which I brought to break for parts so think I know where most the problems are that will occur.

So main things with discoveries: What MPG would you expect with a set of 31" muds on. A few tweaks egr and cat removed etc. I am guessing about 30mpg or do I just buy something which does 50mpg.

Other bonus with the disco is if i run it into the ground I can chop it about into a off roader if i find somewhere to store it.

Now from this waffeling you can probably tell I have kind of made my mind up to get one, but am checking i'm not a complete idiot.

Thanks

Jon

[ThreeSheds]

Over the years a few people have said that they would like an old Disco or RRC like mine - and asked me what do I think.. I have always try to put them off because it is my belief that if you don't want one to the point of obsession then you shouldn't do it. If you do want one that much then nothing I say will stop you anyway...

My RRC ownership 'journey' has been long and costly (both in money and indirectly in terms of a relationship) and even though I love it, I would think long and hard before starting again.

So - I say NO: Don't get one. But I would be delighted if you completely ignore me and get one anyway because they are great and fun and a laugh and interesting and charismatic and special and they make you feel good...

But they are also costly and unreliable and badly built and frustrating and poorly designed and annoying and costly and costly...

Hope this helps!

Roger

[Aragorn]

I think a lot of it depends how happy you are with the spanners and a welding torch.

If your going to take it to a garage for everything, then i'd have to say buy something else. You'll be at uni without much spare cash and it wont take much to go wrong before your crippled with garage bills.

If however your happy working on it yourself, then ye, i'd buy one. You need to be aware of the trouble areas for rot though, as due to them having alloy panels, they can quite often look fantastic, when infact they're completely humped underneath.

If the one your looking at as already been welded, then you need to REALLY carefully inspect it. Few people weld these things up properly imo, as most of the time its just a few patches let in for an MOT, as quickly and cheaply as possible.

[FridgeFreezer]

Buy a freelander.

[Ratty43]

Go for it! My 200tdi has been very reliable although as mentioned above it helps if you can weld. I went to the other end of the scale and bought a bog standard one for £650 with a years ticket which I immediately drove straight to london and back. It's cost about the same again to sort out bits and bobs but personally I decided I'd rather spend a couple of weeks giving it a really good going over than trust someone elses work done in the past. I had a 110 td a few years ago and while I still prefer the look of a Defender the Discovery is much more pleasant place to spend time in, although it's a bit of a trade off since it's harder to get to things when they need work courtesy of all the trim.

If you do go looking for one (on top of all the popular rot spots) check the trim between the alpine light and quarter light, if it's warped stick your hand up there and see what state things are in, mine has completely rotted out and it's close to the rear seatbelt mount.

[Adam001]

I am at uni, and can tell you the land rover is buy far the most crippling aspect of my finances, if I didn't love it so much, be in a club and it hadn't been part of the family for so long I would not have it, completely inappropriate for a uni vehicle, just plain too expensive!

Is the £3k budget for buying it? or buying and running it? if so for how long?

[Jon W]

Repairing it shouldn't be a problem as have done all the maintenance on the Defender, and as most things are the same it shouldn't be too difficult. I can't weld yet, but know a few people who can but obviously don't want to be welding forever as its a bit much of an ask for a mate.

I like land rovers but then I got fed up with the defender as i spent an age fixing it, so I didn't use it off road as the more I off roaded it the more it broke. So then thought what is the point of having it if I am not going to use it properly. However I am now yearning to fiddle again.

Other idea is get one with a year ticket on it and run it until the next MOT see what needs doing and if its too much break it for parts or an off roader.

Hmmmmm tricky

or as fridge said get a freelander

£3k is approximately what i will get for the BMW I think. So spend a bit less than that and give it a good service up etc.

Uni is only for a year to complete a masters, I had my defender at uni for a little while and found it completely impractical but that was in liverpool and all my journeys all seemed to be motorway for many hours. Where as this time it is more rural and journeys like to be more A roads.

Jon

[Adam001]

Don't get a freelander, they are overpriced and frankly...**** *awaits flaming*

Also if they break they are even more expensive to fix...but they do get better economy

Does the uni you intend to go to have a 4x4 club, or is there one nearby? if not I would considering not bothering

[Jon W]

Yer there is a 4x4 club. The sensible side of me says no don't do save some money buy a boring car for the year which is cheap to run. But my heart says I will never be happy with a normal car and will want to change it soon after getting it. I could keep the BMW but it isn't the cheapest thing to run and doesn't really fit the agricultural image either hehe, plus it's a little impractical i can't even fit my mountain bike in as the back seats don't fold down.

Jon

[jmattley]

Sod the sensible side, get one!! I'm a student, in second year, had a series 3, 3rd year a 200tdi disco and now for 4th, probably a scooby legacy haha. I was unlucky and bought a **** disco, everything that could break did so I've cut my losses and I'm breaking it. I would however like another, but since it's final year, want to concentrate on my work completely and not spend time offroading and denting my car. I WILL get another one though once I have a proper job and another car.

My advice is to go for it. HOWEVER...Make sure you get a good one, check for a FSH, cambelt changes, RUST, RUST and bit more RUST!

I would recommend getting a good set of sockets and spanners though because it WILL come in handy and if you get a good one shouldn't really cost you much.

Hope the advice from a fellow student helps!

PS, with regards to been sensible, I had a petrol series 3 for a year as a first car, how bad can a disco be!

[axlechorus]

As a current Exeter Cornwall Geography Student I think there is no better car actually for a student in terms of what it can do and what it is. Mine a 200tdi that I got for £560 in my year in industry has been used for countless trips out and about and with 7 seats diesel money is amplified as well . Plus being one the only 1 in my group with a Land Rover is becomes almost an extension of your personality which is quite cool. A few pointers from my experiance though.

- Carry a few key spares with you and tools,

- Track down a good specialist for small things that may go wrong i.e. I had a prop UJ fail completely so I had to get it done down there.

- Co-incide your repairs work for your trips home,

- Keep running it even if you don't need to. I make sure that I take mine for a jaunt at least once a week even if i don't have to in order to keep it all ticking over.

- Learn to self diagnose. Last week mine was running hot and also loosing power steering and the electical fault light on the dash was coming on when doing tight turns in town. Did a check over and found that the top hose for the cooling system had a small split causing it to spray collant onto the belts. Simple £4 new part and half an hours work probably saved me the best part of £100 at the dealers.

- Less is more, Mine is a very late 200tdi on an L plate and isnt a particuarly high spec machine but its solid and with less on it there is less to go wrong.

Best of Luck

Ryck

[Jon W]

Yer pretty much what I thought, I know Land Rovers well and there is always plenty of help if there is something i don't understand, so maintenance isn't too much of an issue. So as long as I can put up with 30mpg I am fine, well its better than my 90 which used to do 15- 20 until i put the tdi in it.

Right now to find one which isn't too rusty haha I could be looking for a while.

Jon

[titan]

ive done a few miles in my 300tdi this year and alot of motor way miles too all with my 31's on and im running about 30mpg give or take one problem is you will need to make a few cuts and pos look at lifting mine grounds out a bit even with a camel cut, also i try and do regular service on mine every 4-5 months i drop the oil and change the filters (as directed by pinny ) and she keeps going with very little problems my may tip would be don't put things off if it needs doing do it a small job now can save a big job later and a tinker for a couple of hours on a weekend can save you days tinkering when you should be out enjoying it!!

im buying enougher money pit this month (quad) and was going to sell the truck and buy a van to move it around if its to far to ride it but can't bring my self to do it so going to go the landrover owners cheaper option of buying a trailer and keep the old bird going instead hahaha.

[FridgeFreezer]

Don't get a freelander, they are overpriced and frankly...**** *awaits flaming*

Also if they break they are even more expensive to fix...but they do get better economy

I believed that until I started running one, but it's a load of old wives' tales because it's not a "proper" LR - they're no worse than any other LR product (in that they all have popular faults, but you can just work round them), they are cheap to run, don't need as much maintenance, don't rust, parts have been on a par with most other LR bits even from the main stealers, ground clearance aside they're very capable off-road (especially with ETC), they're comfy on long journeys, the heater works, the top comes off in the summer, they tow nicely, are easy enough to work on, and the boot holds plenty. They're rapidly becoming the 2nd car of choice in our club with everyone seeming pleasantly surprised by how good they are.

[Adam001]

My real issue with freelanders is their amazing ability to get damaged off road, sorry to sound harsh, but the last time a freelander went off road with us on a greenlane trip he broke a clutch and ripped off his rear bumper and the rear section of the exhaust. Cost him a horrendous amount to fix.

Every time we take a freelander out we have to completely rethink what we do to make sure it won't get damaged, plastic, pah! In a normal land rover it doesn't matter you just bounce over it, but in a freelander you have to nurse the bloody things over everything lol...and and I wont start on articulation and how quickly they get stuck.

4 people I know, bought freelanders, came out with us....now own defenders and discoverys lol

Went out the other day with LRE with some freelander 2's and they kept saying how fustrated they were with the lack of mechanical confidence.

[FridgeFreezer]

Maybe they should practice some mechanical sympathy & drive to suit the vehicle if you don't drive it into things you won't break it. Controversial I know.

Obviously a freebie is not in the same class as a Defender etc. purely because it's a car made into an offroader not a tractor made into a car, but as a daily driver which can hold its own in the mud/snow/water, I reckon it's a better bet than people give it credit for.

[Steve Hiatt]

If you're going to agricultural college won't you have the facilities to fix and fabricate there? When I was at Rycotewood you could rent garage space to repair your car for a token amount and blag your way towards the better facilities if necessary.

[Orange]

Right now to find one which isn't too rusty haha I could be looking for a while.

Jon

Have you seen Mr Wightman's offering in the FS section...??

[Ally V8]

Maybe they should practice some mechanical sympathy & drive to suit the vehicle if you don't drive it into things you won't break it. Controversial I know.

Obviously a freebie is not in the same class as a Defender etc. purely because it's a car made into an offroader not a tractor made into a car, but as a daily driver which can hold its own in the mud/snow/water, I reckon it's a better bet than people give it credit for.

I'm with Fridge on this,I bought a high spec 1.8K series powered Freebie 3 years ago for £500.It had the standard blown head gasket,but was very smart with FSH and 55,000m.I sorted the engine out with ALL the mods and its been a great little car ever since.Back in the winter with the snow and ice it was far better than Discos 1,2 and 3. I had 2 Disco 3's nearly go through my worshop door because they couldnt stop on the slope outside - nor could they get back out. Only my SIIA was very slightly better on its perished SAT's.On wet grass or mud they really grip well,its only deep ruts that mess it up.

Its like anything else,you just need to use it properly and recognise its limits.I would say that they are far better long term value than a Disco 2 not even bothering to think about D3 rubbish.

[Jon W]

Yer have seen pauls for sale and thats the kind of thing i was looking for or M005's, but don't want an auto. Plus looking at it in more detail i stand to loose more money than I though on the BMW, whereas if i keep it for another year I wont have lost as much over that period of time as its going to be worth only a little less in a years time than it is now if you get what i mean.

Then again my mind might change yet again within a few weeks.

Decisions decisions

Jon