Buying my first car... a Land Rover

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I don't think y
Laurence Nettel said:
Sorry those are per month, I work out all my expenses monthly :p
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Have you tried different models as I think more seats ie station wagons will bump up your quote, also pop over to the insurance section and pm the guy on here from Adrian Flux as more specialist places usually come out cheaper and get your parents as named drivers;)
 
At that level of insurance cost what's the point of buying a landy. It'll be at that exorbitant level until your 25. By which time the amount you'll pay for insurance will exceed what you might pay for the vehicle. A landy is classified as a light goods vehicle you'll never get cheap insurance under 25.
 
And changing the roof counts as modifying it. New driver, modified vehicle, insurers say kerr-ching!

Normally for new drivers I would say get what your mates think is stupid and wouldn't be seen dead in. A Matiz for example. 600cc engine, room for doing some shopping/fishing/trips to university etc.
 
Marmaduke said:
I don't think y

Have you tried different models as I think more seats ie station wagons will bump up your quote, also pop over to the insurance section and pm the guy on here from Adrian Flux as more specialist places usually come out cheaper and get your parents as named drivers;)
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I actually ran another quote yesterday on comparethemarket and got £150 PCM fully comp with Admiral, which is pretty good I think. I'll message the Adrian Flux guy though, I keep seeing them come up on threads for Defender insurance so they must be good :)
 
Remember that, whilst it may seem cool to have a cool car, there is also something to be said for having a truely **** car. If you have the character, that can be equally as noteworthy with the ladies...
 
julianf said:
Remember that, whilst it may seem cool to have a cool car, there is also something to be said for having a truely **** car. If you have the character, that can be equally as noteworthy with the ladies...
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I'm sure my girlfriend will love it ;P

She actually really likes defenders so I'm good ;D
 
OK - well its clear you're not too bothered about the cash, but, one more point that is worth mentioning - dull cars often have much better safety than defenders.

I know you think you're not going to crash, but the statistics show that you are likley to.

Another consideration is how apt you will be at keeping a 20yr old defender on the road. But, if you're happy with a £200 a month spend on insurance, I guess a £70 a month spend (average, if you have to pay someone else to do ALL works?) would be ok?

And a 300tdi will be about 1/2 as fuel efficient....

But again, thats costing, and, if your folks are happy to sort you out, then I guess its not a consideration.

Do think about the safety though.


My first car was a 54 morris minor. My old man bought it for my older brother as he reckoned you couldn't do too much damage with an 800cc engine. I proved him wrong... 2 weeks in hospital, and I left not knowing what year it was.
 
julianf said:
OK - well its clear you're not too bothered about the cash, but, one more point that is worth mentioning - dull cars often have much better safety than defenders.

I know you think you're not going to crash, but the statistics show that you are likley to.

Another consideration is how apt you will be at keeping a 20yr old defender on the road. But, if you're happy with a £200 a month spend on insurance, I guess a £70 a month spend (average, if you have to pay someone else to do ALL works?) would be ok?

And a 300tdi will be about 1/2 as fuel efficient....

But again, thats costing, and, if your folks are happy to sort you out, then I guess its not a consideration.

Do think about the safety though.


My first car was a 54 morris minor. My old man bought it for my older brother as he reckoned you couldn't do too much damage with an 800cc engine. I proved him wrong... 2 weeks in hospital, and I left not knowing what year it was.
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Please don't take the the wrong way. But it's none of my 'folks' concern. I'm 23, I work hard as an IT service engineer and as a result have enough to finance my own vehicle. The assumption that because it's my first car means I'm a freeloading 17 year old is frankly kind of offensive.

I understand that a defender may be most people's last choice for a first car. But as far as I'm concerned I'm saving money, my friends who have bought cheap little hatchbacks as their first cars have all regretted it. And if they had a bump in it, the car held no value and they completely lost out on their investment. What's the point in paying £2000 pa in insurance when the insurance company will only pay out £300 if the car is wrecked? When i can pay less and ensure a bigger payout if i have an accident. One of my friends has gone through 3 small starter cars in 3 years, only one of which was an accident, the other two it was deemed that the cost to repair the various faults outweighed the value.
 
I had assumed you were 17 - I'm sorry.


My 2nd car, I purchased and funded entirely myself, at a younger age than you, and that was much more foolish - a 101.
 
It's okay, I know most people learn to drive the minute they are old enough. But I never bothered purely because I had no need to drive. At that age I was much more interested in spending all my money on games and just walked or cycling to get places. But now I'm spending 80 a month on unreliable public transport I'd rather make the investment into buying a car I'll love for years.
 
My points for the 20yr old defender still stand though - if youre doing miles in it, things will break. You have to be ok with that. On a good month it will be a door catch or something, but, on a bad month, it will be the clutch (etc)

We have a 300tdi disco as our daily driver. Same age as your proposed defender. The body on discos rot, but the rest is pretty much the same as a 300tdi defender, and that breaks (as in not breaks down, but needs constant attention). Its a 20yr old car, parts are cheap, but you cant expect them to just go on and on without attention. Discos are worth much less, but ours would be beyond economic repair every year if i just ignored it, took it for mot, and then wanted to pay someone else to fix it.

If youre a glutton for punishment, go for it... but go in with your eyes open!


With regard to your original roof question -

The 2a (and i assume 3) allows you to remove the door tops, wind shield, and rest of the cab. I forget quite where the belts attatch on that, but theyre not recoil ones.

I have a 300tdi defender out in the yard (in bits - notice a theme here!) and im pretty sure, as above, that something would need fabricating if you were wanting to run it without the roof. And then powers that be may not like it etc.

2a with a 200tdi conversion may well be much cheaper to insure. It will go wrong just as often though.
 
Laurence Nettel said:
But as far as I'm concerned I'm saving money, my friends who have bought cheap little hatchbacks as their first cars have all regretted it. And if they had a bump in it, the car held no value and they completely lost out on their investment. What's the point in paying £2000 pa in insurance when the insurance company will only pay out £300 if the car is wrecked?
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I think you may misunderstand the idea of insurance. The major weighting in insurance has little to do with what damage your vehicle can survive, but the likelihood of it being involved in a collision (ie driver experience and safety features), followed by the damage that can be done to third parties. Thus a vehcile with no ABS, Traction Control, ABS etc, that can happily drive right along a line of 3 parked cars will be seen less favourably than one that can avoid the collsion with ABS, and then only damage one of the line of cars in front.

Given the cost of defender parts theses days, don't bank on yours not getting written off over what may seem like relatively minor damage.
 
julianf said:
My points for the 20yr old defender still stand though - if youre doing miles in it, things will break. You have to be ok with that. On a good month it will be a door catch or something, but, on a bad month, it will be the clutch (etc)

We have a 300tdi disco as our daily driver. Same age as your proposed defender. The body on discos rot, but the rest is pretty much the same as a 300tdi defender, and that breaks (as in not breaks down, but needs constant attention). Its a 20yr old car, parts are cheap, but you cant expect them to just go on and on without attention. Discos are worth much less, but ours would be beyond economic repair every year if i just ignored it, took it for mot, and then wanted to pay someone else to fix it.

If youre a glutton for punishment, go for it... but go in with your eyes open!


With regard to your original roof question -

The 2a (and i assume 3) allows you to remove the door tops, wind shield, and rest of the cab. I forget quite where the belts attatch on that, but theyre not recoil ones.

I have a 300tdi defender out in the yard (in bits - notice a theme here!) and im pretty sure, as above, that something would need fabricating if you were wanting to run it without the roof. And then powers that be may not like it etc.

2a with a 200tdi conversion may well be much cheaper to insure. It will go wrong just as often though.
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Thats a fair point. I know things will go wrong with it, its to be expected with any older vehicle. My uncle is an agricultural engineer who is land rover mad so im sure hed help me with any problems I may have with it. As for the roof it was just an idea. Ive seen a few people selling truck cab hard tops online. But its just an idea really. When i get it i may decided i really like having the full roof and leave it :)

I appreciate the advice though
 
I think I must have been your age when I bought my first Landy. Must have been easier and cheaper for 3 party insurance back in the day. Cost wasn't an issue. Go for it if you can afford it. Try to get someone who knows landys to look with you. Avoid big dealers just a rip off. Your landys out there somewhere .
 
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