Defender - what to buy?

Hi All,

I am thinking about getting a Defender mainly for local trips, occasional towing, dogs, transporting logs etc - a workhorse but also something clean and tidy if possible too.

I already own a RR Supercharged V8 but use mainly for long trips/business, so this would be a project or possibly something classic that I could keep indefinitely.

Budget would be a £2-£3K as it seems you are spoilt for choice but my knowledge of Range Rovers far outweighs what I know about Defenders, so any help/suggestions as to what to go for and look out for in terms of pitfalls etc would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks.

A Green one

Have a search and a read mate, then come back with any specific questions you've got and people will help all they can, post up your location, and you never know someone may offer to look at any prospective purchases for a bag of chips or a pint

Grimmer said:

A Green one

Have a search and a read mate, then come back with any specific questions you've got and people will help all they can, post up your location, and you never know someone may offer to look at any prospective purchases for a bag of chips or a pint

Click to expand...

What he said.

One with minimum rust.

for 2-3k your gonna get rust rust and more rust there may be the odd good one out there but theres prob you and 1000 others searching for it aswell

Guess the decision is Defender or Disco

I'd go Defender but you may prefer the Disco's greater luxury

This will help you avoid common pitfalls

Defender Buyers Guide

To get soemthign decent (chassis) you'll be needing £4 - £5k for a Defender me thinks - probably a 200 or 300 Tdi in the 1988 - 1995 age range

a nice clean tidy defender for 2-3k - is neigh on impossible to find,been looking myself, thought this exact same thing when i sold a disco for 2k about 15 months ago- thought il pay a grand on top and buy a defender for around 3k, -looked at a few in the 1500-3k range, and they were sheds , i thought to myself 2.5-3k is still a lot of money in the used car market in this climate, and couldnt justify paying that for something rusty,old,with an NA engine, or more of a shed if it had a tdi, leaky,rusty,flakey chassis, needing bulkhead attention,etc etc

i then increased it to 4-5k budget, but even then finding ones local enough to view without a long wasted journey, trouble is...a BIG percentage of sellers of them on ebay, have way overinflated ideas of what they think its worth, thus a lot of what really should be 3-3.5k ones , asking 5k, most will not talk a reasonable cash sale price bracket saying open to offers , you cant make an offer without seeing it,they all think their rusty late 80s is worth way more than it is, they al have shill bidders, lots get re listed many times after being fakley bid up, then another mr joe average comes along looking at prices to price his one- he then gets an overinflated view of prices , etc etc, used 4x4 dealers like say motordome...have stock, yet crazy prices , wanting 4k for an old na 1988 one etc

buying a defender, is one of the hardest markets to be in

i gave up, bought a lovely p38 for 2 grand instead, with that i got a lot for my money, with a defender for same price you get nothing, just couldnt justify it

id still like to buy a nice defender if i can find the right one for the right money

That’s a project budget, I would find a 200 TDI, don't worry about mileage up to 180k (ish), check that chassis though, don't worry about rear cross member as it’s easy to put a new one on but check the rest of the chassis all over, check the outriggers as they can have some big holes in them.

Iv spent a good few months looking for a decent Defender. I eneded up spending £4500 on a ex army one. The chassis is like new with no welding etc, new bulkhead fitted by the Army just before it was released, new Wolf Wheels and brand new Michelin tyres. I saw some right sheds there too mind and they wernt much cheaper. My advice being a novice is take your time, look about and dont dismiss Ex Army ones

Or ex utilities