Hello, what to buy?

Good evening.

I'm in the market for a 4x4. It needs to be able to tow stuff like a horse-box, small caravan, maybe a trailer. So it needs to cope with mud. Any green laning would be a bonus. Hence my interest in things LR.

I've tested a td5 and today, I had a go in a friend's Series 3 ('72), fitted with a 2.0 from a Montego and a Perkins turbo, 4 gears and overdrive. Fitted with a 9000lb winch. New MOT, minimal rust though some tidying up is apparent. MPG is something like 25-27 he says. Not sure how this compares to a td5 or the 2.4 in the last Defender incarnation, anyone know?

Four drums, half an orchestra's rhythm section; can the front two be switched to discs?

He wants £3.5k. He has some spares with mud tyres (current wheels/tyres are Alts) and if these were thrown in with any other bits, is this good value? It's tax exempt.

There are pros and cons between both vehicles and it's tricky to assess which is the right one for me.

HELP!

P.S. Cartsprings, yikes, can shocks/coils be fitted?

Jeepers said:

Good evening.

I'm in the market for a 4x4. It needs to be able to tow stuff like a horse-box, small caravan, maybe a trailer. So it needs to cope with mud. Any green laning would be a bonus. Hence my interest in things LR.

I've tested a td5 and today, I had a go in a friend's Series 3 ('72), fitted with a 2.0 from a Montego and a Perkins turbo, 4 gears and overdrive. New MOT, minimal rust though some tidying up is apparent. MPG is something like 25-27 he says. Not sure how this compares to a td5 or the 2.4 in the last Defender incarnation, anyone know?

Four drums, half an orchestra's rhythm section; can the front two be switched to discs?

He wants £3.5k. He has some spares with mud tyres (current wheels/tyres are Alts) and if these were thrown in with any other bits, is this good value? It's tax exempt.

There are pros and cons between both vehicles and it's tricky to assess which is the right one for me.

HELP!

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Welcome to the loonyzone, mate!

Quite a lot of questions, might be better to post that in General Landrover chat.
Or try forum search first, plenty has been said before. One small issue I do see is towing capacities. Series is only legal to tow 2 tonnes now, many trailers will need higher capacity.
Discos are nice for towing and cheaper than a Def.

Cheers Turboman. Farmer chap has two discos but he's spent a fortune keeping them going, gone through stacks of radiators etc. He's got the kids he needs the disco for and the mud but doesn't recommend them from reliability and expense angles. I've heard they're good from other people though, hmmm. I do like Defenders, lovely bits of kit.

Jeepers said:

Cheers Turboman. Farmer chap has two discos but he's spent a fortune keeping them going, gone through stacks of radiators etc. He's got the kids he needs the disco for and the mud but doesn't recommend them from reliability and expense angles. I've heard they're good from other people though, hmmm. I do like Defenders, lovely bits of kit.

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They are not the very cheapest things to run anyway, and if you don't buy right, and look after it, can become very expensive!
Bit if you want serious towing capacity, options are limited, other than a handful of horrible Japcr*p.

Do you have another day vehicle? Turboman n Jeepers r spot on. I have an S3 n tow horse boxes n trailers n stuff but it is slow (landy chugging). The landy u describe is heavily mechanically modified. Unless its in real good nick the price to me looks pretty full. Either get it cheaper or look around for a Defender.