Would buying a 1996 90 TDI and attempting to modernise be a money pit?

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Of course your BMW is a better road car than a Defender
But l wouldn’t swap my Defender for one, and that’s the point. In fact l had a BMW 3.0 M Sport until l sold it last year as it never came out of the garage.
Given a choice, everyone wanted to take the rubbish as a road car Defender.
The BMW did 1,000 miles per year. The Defender? 12,000
 
lightning said:
Of course your BMW is a better road car than a Defender
But l wouldn’t swap my Defender for one, and that’s the point. In fact l had a BMW 3.0 M Sport until l sold it last year as it never came out of the garage.
Given a choice, everyone wanted to take the rubbish as a road car Defender.
The BMW did 1,000 miles per year. The Defender? 12,000
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I've loved every BMW I've ever owned. I'd have another E36 M3 right now. I also love my 90, but for very different reasons. I love my Landy because its basic, raw, and you know your driving it. I also like the community, Landy drivers waving at each other, BMW drivers don't. I love driving my 90 up through the hills, it also serves well in winter, but I'd rather have a BMW for town driving and going long motorway distances.
 
Turktowner said:
A 90 is not a big car, I've a 98 CSW and it has less usable space than a 2003 Berlingo.
Yep, had one of them too..

You really need to drive one before doing anything else, the pedals are in the wrong place, the door is really close to your right elbow, the ride is, shall we say, "choppy", people think you're waving at them when changing gear etc etc.

I believe (and am willing to be corrected) that it's unlawful to put kids in sideways seats so you'd have to do something like it or not. Later models had forward facing foldy seats I think.

I too bought one because I wanted one and I love it, foibles and all. Not sure buying one and turning it into a Freelander though?

By all means tell me to bugger off and do it anyway. Enjoy. :)
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Sounds ter me like the OP would be betterer oft buying a Freelander instead. ;)
 
lightning said:
Of course your BMW is a better road car than a Defender
But l wouldn’t swap my Defender for one, and that’s the point. In fact l had a BMW 3.0 M Sport until l sold it last year as it never came out of the garage.
Given a choice, everyone wanted to take the rubbish as a road car Defender.
The BMW did 1,000 miles per year. The Defender? 12,000
Click to expand...

from experience the 3.0 diesels have always been bulletproof and I’ve done 30,000 miles in mine over 2 years. As a car there is no competition as to what is better to drive. Over this weekend I’ve done a round trip to Manchester from Devon and back of over 500 miles and You don’t even feel like you’ve done that mileage. I don’t think there’s a single defender out there regardless of how much money has been spent on making it luxurious that could compare with a proper road car. But that’s the purpose my bmw was built for to be a mile muncher. The defender was never intended for this purpose and I would never buy one to then try and make it luxurious because it detracts from its appeal.
It’s the raw, noisy and hard work driving experience that makes it so much fun to drive. I certainly wouldn’t use one as a town car or motorway car however.
 
lightning said:
Let the cars overtake, don’t even try to keep up. That’s the thing about a Defender, it takes away the stress of driving. Let the tin boxes go at their speed and take life in the slow lane.

Not that a Defender is THAT slow, my TD5 certainly doesn’t hold up the traffic. Any version with a turbo should be able to maintain normal traffic speeds.
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tdi and td5 totally different animals.
 
lightning said:
Far from my missus refusing to go in my 110, she’s demanded her own Landy!

“I want heated seats and a heated screen” she said
So last week l sold her VW Polo
And collected a 2005 90XS SW.

She’s over the moon.
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I think Knapster is more on about the lack of crash protection aspect of the defender hence why his lady and daughter wont travel in it.
 
I drove our kanckered works merc vito wth 250k on the clock the other night and thought to myself this is way nicer than the defender even though the merc is totally fubared and shown zero love.

Not many people use a defender as a daily, those that do are the die hards and you have these with any make of car, it doesnt mean their cars are the best just they are willing to sacrfice many things to say they drive one.

I still have mine as a back up car, but its done all of 500 odd miles in the last 4.5 years!
 
lynall said:
Not many people use a defender as a daily, those that do are the die hards and you have these with any make of car, it doesnt mean their cars are the best just they are willing to sacrfice many things to say they drive one.
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Oh I disagree with that. My 110 is the best! :D

They are perfectly usable as a daily drive, I do 25-30k a year in mine and it is not a work vehicle. That is simply commuting, pleasure, and holidays. It is perfectly capable of keeping up with modern traffic, and if fine around town. However, I bought it when I was 18 and it is "all" I have driven since so I am used to it and wouldn't change it for anything. I fall into the category of having driven one for long enough that when I drive other vehicles I adjust the seat to be bolt upright and the same position it is in the land rover. If you have spent your life driving anything else to then change to land rover will be a huge shock to the system and there is a huge potential for hating it, and nothing you do will make it as "good" as even a basic cheap modern eurobox hatchback.

In terms of modernising an old one you can easily modernise the looks, fit alloys, rubber bumper ends, paint the roof body coloured etc. but I would not bother going any further. Interior electrics, windows, seats, etc are expensive, unreliable and a waste of time in a defender, ditto a/c (you have the nice vents at the front for that). Some new seats from exmoor and some sound proofing will be about as modern as you can get the interior. You drive a defender because you want to, not because it is a modern suv. If that is what you want buy one of the current jlr offerings.
 
300bhp/ton said:
For an overtaken you would want to use the available power and torque. But that is true of many cars. But normal running about on non motorway roads and they can very easily keep up with traffic.
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They can, and mine does, but it is not a Range Rover, or a BMW, or VW or any other car, 111bhp and 195ft/lbs of torque is not that much when your vehicle is a 1.8 tonne brick.
 
300bhp/ton said:
For an overtaken you would want to use the available power and torque. But that is true of many cars. But normal running about on non motorway roads and they can very easily keep up with traffic.
Click to expand...
But hey, don't let anyone put you off buying one. I love mine. Just dont expect it to be luxurious, and for gods sakes, don't waste your money on expensive fancy stuff that you will only spend even more money on fixing. Buy a nice 300tdi, condition of chassis and bulkhead is paramount. Make it comfortable, and enjoy.
 
Tratters cost a lot to buy when comparing what yer get for yer money. If yer planning to modernise it, it will cost loads and only make it look more attractive to thems who nick them. They're already highly desired by peeps like me who nick them to strip for parts to sell to fund driving my Freelander. If eye nick one covered int jewellery then its worth even more in parts. Easy to nick and no where near 50mpg to run.

Harsh yer might say. Eye haven't mentioned them being eaten alive. ;)
 
dag019 said:
Oh I disagree with that. My 110 is the best! :D

They are perfectly usable as a daily drive, I do 25-30k a year in mine and it is not a work vehicle. That is simply commuting, pleasure, and holidays. It is perfectly capable of keeping up with modern traffic, and if fine around town. However, I bought it when I was 18 and it is "all" I have driven since so I am used to it and wouldn't change it for anything. I fall into the category of having driven one for long enough that when I drive other vehicles I adjust the seat to be bolt upright and the same position it is in the land rover. If you have spent your life driving anything else to then change to land rover will be a huge shock to the system and there is a huge potential for hating it, and nothing you do will make it as "good" as even a basic cheap modern eurobox hatchback.

In terms of modernising an old one you can easily modernise the looks, fit alloys, rubber bumper ends, paint the roof body coloured etc. but I would not bother going any further. Interior electrics, windows, seats, etc are expensive, unreliable and a waste of time in a defender, ditto a/c (you have the nice vents at the front for that). Some new seats from exmoor and some sound proofing will be about as modern as you can get the interior. You drive a defender because you want to, not because it is a modern suv. If that is what you want buy one of the current jlr offerings.
Click to expand...
lol, whenever I get in a hire car or the mrs Passat I have to pump the seat as high as it goes, I can't stand not seeing the end of the bonnet. It's my daily drive too, 15 miles down the A1 and back every day. I'm surprised by the amount of traffic I have to overtake.
 
Pappasmurf said:
They can, and mine does, but it is not a Range Rover, or a BMW, or VW or any other car, 111bhp and 195ft/lbs of torque is not that much when your vehicle is a 1.8 tonne brick.
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Most road cars are not rocket ships though. And by and large most cars are not driven that hard.

A good Tdi should have no issues. And the engine responds very well to a tweak. Which can dramatically alter how they feel to drive.

Td5’s are even better again.
 
300bhp/ton said:
Most road cars are not rocket ships though. And by and large most cars are not driven that hard.

A good Tdi should have no issues. And the engine responds very well to a tweak. Which can dramatically alter how they feel to drive.

Td5’s are even better again.
Click to expand...


You seem to have already made up tour mind.
 
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