What to buy

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RangerSi

Member
Posts
50
Location
Colchester
Evening all.

I'm after a Disco in the next few days. I've got about £2k to spend. There's not a lot of quality out there at the moment for the money I've got, but what I do keep seeing is V8 petrol models in decent condition. Ideally I wanted a td5, but I'm drawn to the big V8 petrol model. Though I keep thinking twice due to the high running cost.

There's one I've seen that has an LPG conversion. But I'm a bit green and unsure if it's a good idea to buy it. Can anyone offer any advice. Basically, what I'm asking is what would you do??

Cheers.
 
Only about 50 variables to consider..... but to start with...what do you intend using it for? If daily driver...then V8 hideously expensive. :eek:If weekend play-mobile...then V8 more acceptable.:)
LPG - not something I would consider...but then, the nearest LPG source is 25 miles away, so no real saving there. :p
Also...at £2k...how much work do you want/can you cope with...to make it roadworthy, and keep it that way?
47 other variables are available.. :D
 
Oh. Not great replies so far

I will be my daily, but I won't be doing a hundred miles a day in it. I'm only thinking about getter by an LPG converted model btw.
I MAY do some light green laning if the mood takes me.

I have very easy access to LPG, so that's not a problem and I'm hoping the one I'm looking at won't need much if any work. Here's a link to it. Feel free to tell me exactly what you guys think.

Thanks.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/172483137695
 
Depends how mechanically minded you are or if you know someone who is and doesn't mind working in return for something you can provide (beer). You will have problems and it will cost you a lot of money and time.

Personally I'd go for the V8 with LPG everytime and what you're looking at "looks" nice. But chassis rot will pretty well write off the vehicle at it's first mot unless you can weld so shiny up top is no use to you. LPG is cheap if as above post says, you have somewhere close by (look at filllpg.co.uk for stations and prices).

However, the V8 will almost certainly fail on the cylinder liners becoming loose at some point in the near future, especially if it has ever overheated. A top hat lined block will solve this and costs around £1000 to have done (plus the cost and/or time of removing the engine, stripping and rebuilding).

Is the LPG single or multipoint, what electronics does it use, etc. On diesel or V8 are there any signs inside of dampness, if so the sunroofs are probably leaking. You'll eventually get the three amigos on the SLABS so either need diagnostic kit yourself or know someone who has it you can borrow. The list goes on.

But the biggest thing to ask yourself is how much can you afford to spend? Book price for a Disco that age is around £500, for parts it's worth more if you can break it. Mine's cost me about £1000 in the last two years, but is now waiting to have a replacement engine just as soon as I get time to work on it, so I need to find a couple of thousand and two or three weeks of time.

If you think £2000 will be the end of it, walk away now. Hope that helps.
 
I what I seen on forums I think that D1 for only £2k u will be buying some troubled, for something to drive straight away and every day you will have to pay double for that D1, which may now take you into D2 Diesel territory but again buying some issues that possibly are more complicated than u would have with a D1.. but what do I know, only lpg is for the bar b q.

As for V8 engines their only 3.9 so not that big, any way I ran my old RR seven days a week for 10 years, fuel cost at 16 mpg were just down to my cost of living, and not "hideously expensive" as some owners may have found.
My Disco has alway been a weekend car so to speak, although it's been all over England and to Germany twice, the benefit of that is after 19 years it has a very low mileage, so less problems mechanical or other, and makes a change from the monotonous Honda company car I've had every 3years since getting my disco.

Bottom line is: The best of luck finding a vehicle to meet your requirements in the "next few days" :)
 
Last edited:
Don't forget that very few of the Disco 2's were 4.6's (from memory the later Landmarks), also some will have perhaps had 4.6 cranks and con-rods dropped in them so they're not all 4.0's (same capacity as the 3.9's but big structural differences).

Also think that post 2001 you may get a facelift model, but you'll also get a bigger road tax bill (for either V8 or TD5).
 
Thanks for the comprehensive replies guys. Really really appreciate them. I think I'll leave the V8 version based on your comments. I just needed someone to give me a little dose of reality I suppose.

S'pose I'll keep searching and try to scrape a bit more cash together to get the best one I can.

Cheers
 
Muddy Vicky said:
Also think that post 2001 you may get a facelift model, but you'll also get a bigger road tax bill (for either V8 or TD5).
Click to expand...
Not quite right, I'm pretty sure that the hike in VED came with the introduction of the Disco 3 in mid 2004, it might even have been later than that, maybe about 2006, than with the Disco 2 facelift (post 2001). I run a facelift D2, and OK my VED is paid due to DLA, but even if I were paying in real live pound coins, it would still be the same as D1s and pre-facelift Disco 2s.
 
brian47 said:
Not quite right, I'm pretty sure that the hike in VED came with the introduction of the Disco 3 in mid 2004, it might even have been later than that, maybe about 2006, than with the Disco 2 facelift (post 2001). I run a facelift D2, and OK my VED is paid due to DLA, but even if I were paying in real live pound coins, it would still be the same as D1s and pre-facelift Disco 2s.
Click to expand...

Sorry, no. To quote from https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vehicle-excise-duty/vehicle-excise-duty, the current VED based on CO2 was introduced in 2001 so the facelift models do have a higher tax rate than the pre-facelift, hence one of the reasons I went for a pre-facelift.

I know this as I pay VED on all my vehicles post-2001 based on their emissions whereas all of them pre-2001 are either £235 for the bigger engines and £145 for the odd smaller engine car lying around (pity the AE86 is 39cc too big to get the cheaper rate). Of course the S1, S3 and a couple of other vehicles are pre-1976 so don't cost anything to tax.
 
Muddy Vicky said:
Sorry, no. To quote from https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vehicle-excise-duty/vehicle-excise-duty, the current VED based on CO2 was introduced in 2001 so the facelift models do have a higher tax rate than the pre-facelift, hence one of the reasons I went for a pre-facelift.

I know this as I pay VED on all my vehicles post-2001 based on their emissions whereas all of them pre-2001 are either £235 for the bigger engines and £145 for the odd smaller engine car lying around (pity the AE86 is 39cc too big to get the cheaper rate). Of course the S1, S3 and a couple of other vehicles are pre-1976 so don't cost anything to tax.
Click to expand...
Strewth Vic how many do you and your husband own? Have you got a museum on the go:D
 
Marmaduke said:
Strewth Vic how many do you and your husband own? Have you got a museum on the go:D
Click to expand...

No, just what feels like a scrapyard. Most of them need serious TLC anyway. Do get some screeching of brakes from the green-laning fraternity that frequently pass by as they stop for a second glance. Perhaps I should start charging!

PS Never said better half was my husband...
 
V8 if you can get LPG and it is multipoint
TD5 otherwise

No real performance differences in the real world, as V8 is not that powerful for its size, and the TD5 is very tunable
 
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