New comer... Def 90 - 1988, 2,5 l petrol engine

Hi,
Im looking to buy a 1988 Defender 90 which has 140,000km on it with petrol 2,5L engine. I would be happy to get your feedback about the towing capacity on rough path of this model... and more if you have advices on major points to check before making the jump. If some of you have an idea of a reasonable price for her (I know it is not easy with so few information) Thanks so much for your guidance I am a mechanics but do not know much about this cat. Picture of the car in question below.
Thanks so much for your help. Cheers

First thing is it is not a Defender it is a Land Rover 90, the defender name was not in use until the 200tdi model came out a few years later.
Most important is condition of chassis and bulkhead, just about anything else is a nut, bolt or rivet replacement.

Thanks Tottot for this precision... obviously unknown in France where lots of LR 90 are called Defender...

I'm assuming it has a current CT? if so there shouldn't be too much rust on it if the tester was doing his job.
I notice it's r/h drive so that should make it a bit cheaper in France but I still wouldn't be surprised if it was somewhere between €4000/€6000.

BDE said:

Thanks Tottot for this precision... obviously unknown in France where lots of LR 90 are called Defender...

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It is the same over here with "Defender" being applied to all coil spring models. I have a 1990 90 the same year the first TDI's came out and it can be important getting the model right when ordering spares.

It is going tor drink fuel like it is going out of fashion
Anyone know that the 2.5 does to the gallon? 17/20?

frog hopper said:

I'm assuming it has a current CT? if so there shouldn't be too much rust on it if the tester was doing his job.
I notice it's r/h drive so that should make it a bit cheaper in France but I still wouldn't be surprised if it was somewhere between €4000/€6000.

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Your right CT passed and price asked is 6500, seems that heavy maintenance has been recently carried out. There is a similar model l/h drive, looking a bit better from outside and 152Mk for 20000€...

lynall said:

It is going tor drink fuel like it is going out of fashion
Anyone know that the 2.5 does to the gallon? 17/20?

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We do not expect to drive a lot, more like a utility truck to tow horse/donkey van and trailer for firewood. The choice of the petrol engine is to do the maintenance on our own. I guess it is much simplier than diesel engine for not professional fellows. I did my own maintenance on car in my early age, when most of engine were petrol... should remember!
Any idea of the towing ability of this very model ?

I spent a lot of my early life trying to get petrol engines to go. Cars, lawnmowers, chainsaws, the lot. Thousands upon thousands of hours wasted. At the same time I kept away from diesels because I thought they were 'difficult'. Now with a few years diesel experience, I wish I'd bought them years ago. Diesel injector pumps and injectors themselves are pretty reliable, and if they need replacement they are in most cases affordable and easily swapped. Diesel engines in my digger, dumper and cement mixer roar into life having been left out in the rain and snow all winter, which would be most unlikely if they were petrol. The worst that seems to happen is that the battery goes down. So don't worry about diesels.

That Land Rover will pull anything you want, just don’t expect it to do it quickly.
LHD Land Rovers over 25 years old can be worth a lot as they are able to be exported to the USA.
You don’t get much Land Rover for under £5,000 these days, so if it’s solid and runs well it’s probably worth what the seller is asking.
It’s hard to tell from the photos. As already mentioned, the main thing to check is condition of chassis and bulkhead.

BDE said:

We do not expect to drive a lot, more like a utility truck to tow horse/donkey van and trailer for firewood. The choice of the petrol engine is to do the maintenance on our own. I guess it is much simplier than diesel engine for not professional fellows. I did my own maintenance on car in my early age, when most of engine were petrol... should remember!
Any idea of the towing ability of this very model ?

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I would suspect it is the same for all full size/full time 4x4 land rovers, ie 3500kgs.

I often leave diesels for months at a time, and when needed they just start, at work we have trucks that stand for 6/8/10 months at a time, again they just start, batteries usually shagged though!
Petrol engine in my boat was not quite so keen if left for a month or two, same with the outboards.

lightning said:

That Land Rover will pull anything you want, just don’t expect it to do it quickly.
LHD Land Rovers over 25 years old can be worth a lot as they are able to be exported to the USA.
You don’t get much Land Rover for under £5,000 these days, so if it’s solid and runs well it’s probably worth what the seller is asking.
It’s hard to tell from the photos. As already mentioned, the main thing to check is condition of chassis and bulkhead.

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Think its RHD.

I was referring to the “bit better looking” LHD one he’d seen at £20,000

lightning said:

I was referring to the “bit better looking” LHD one he’d seen at £20,000

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Didnt see that bit.

Logic says get the cheaper one and have 13.5k in the bank.

BDE said:

looking a bit better from outside

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That dies not mean it is actually better. it is easy to polish bodywork to make it look nice and have all of the important things underneath be completely ruined. Much better to get one that is mechanically/chassis good with rough bodywork than the other way around. the only part of the body work that needs to be good is the bulkhead, everything else is cheap and easy to repair/make shiny.

lynall said:

It is going tor drink fuel like it is going out of fashion
Anyone know that the 2.5 does to the gallon? 17/20?

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I think you're about right there. The 2.5 petrol is a rare beast now, not many sold in the first place compared to the diesel and then most got ripped out in place of a 200 tdi. A good t cut and polish, a new bumper and it'll be a tidy, useable classic. As others have said, check the state of the bulkhead and chassis. But don't let that put you off, footwells and out riggers are all available and not that hard to replace.