l've been looking for an old Landy to use as a second vehicle.
l've had TD5's and a 300tdi. Both can be used as daily drivers, which l did.
(l've now got a 2022 Defender Commercial as my daily)

Bloody hell the S3 was a wake up call. lt was terrible.
No wonder all the old farmers are deaf, if they drove these back in the day.

The steering was almost impossible to move when not driving and there was no self centering at all (should there be?)

The one l drove was a diesel and it was incredibly noisy, so much so that l actually opened a window to try and let the racket out.

The gearbox was okay except about eight inches of play at the lever end.

Performance was fine for the type of vehicle. Wouldn't want to go any faster.

The overdrive worked and is definitely necessary for road driving. The first time l tried it, l ended up in neutral and a line of cars behind. But figured it out (you have to press the clutch first)

The suspension didn't really seem to do very much on the road. l've never driven a leaf spring one before. Fortunately there was a headlining to prevent your head from bashing the roof over speed humps.

All seemed very clean underneath. It was a rebuilt one on a galvanised chassis so goodness knows what a rough one is like.

l still want one!! l imagine improving it is possible, to an extent. Or just adjust driving technique to compensate.
l Have a budget of up to £15,000 if anyone is selling. l would prefer a factory SW if such a thing exists. And with overdrive!

Is there any way to reduce the racket a bit? Is the petrol version any better, what about fitting carpets? Did any versions come with carpet from new?

There was nothing in this one except what looked like a pair of door mats in the footwells.

lt did appear to have a heater, in the fact that the controls claimed to offer the option to supply heat.
In the event it got pretty warm inside from the engine and transmission.

The old girl seemed happy to bowl along at 45mph in overdrive, which was fine.

Stationary at idle all the gauges vibrated so much it was impossible to read the engine temperature or fuel quantity.
l turned off the ignition and took the key out but the engine carried on running. So l put it in gear and stalled it, afterwards l was told "you pull the knob under the ignition column"

And l am still in the market for one. Wait until my missus has a go in it. "Go on, take it to work instead of the Jimny" l won't hear her when she calls me at the end of our street unless she stops the engine.
Sounds like you got a good one there 😀, but seriously you can reduce noise with some wright off-road matting ( mine was about £500) , lack of centres g could be tight steering box or tracking.
Overdrives good. I reduced vibration on mine by increasing tickover a bit
Don’t bid on one based on a shiny paint job without an inspection/ test drive of the bits you can’t see
For the price you are looking at or less you want a recent galvanised chassis on it
 
I love Series motors. And of course you have to pay what the market demands. And hopefully they will retain that value as an investment.

But in reality they are not worth £15-20k not even close. Not when you look at what else you can buy for the money. And what they can do as a vehicle. It really wasn’t all that many years ago that a Series was a £500-800 motor with the best examples struggling to top two grand. Sadly they have become trendy handbags for the rich and look at the mess of the market it has made.
We paid £1500 for ours and I thought it was too much!
They are worth what the market dictates and what people will pay, if thats £20k then so be it. That same argument could be applied for any classic car.
A Series 2 is more desirable as prices, in general will show. I personally prefer the look of the Series 2 with the lights in the front panel. In the same vain a very early Series 1 is worth more again. I drove a early restored one, God awful thing. Much preferred the long wheelbase pickup with deluxe interior.
Trendy handbags, maybe?
Same as Defenders then?
Same as early Ford's and many classic cars.
 
A series 3 petrol with overdrive is the way to go. A properly set up two and a quarter petrol with overdrive
on parabolic springs is great to drive! You can get internal door cards and soundproofing to limit the noise, although I suspect that as you’re used to a new defender, the series 3 was something of a shock.

Your budget will get you a very nice series 3 on a galvy chassis. And you’ll get more for your money with a series 3 but still have the same feel good factor driving it!
 
Rarity??? Not convinced at all. Dash is one difference, but can’t see why it should be a deal breaker in the grand scheme of things. Not that I’ve ever seen any “curl”. Crack maybe, but not curl.

Parts wise nope not really. There might be a bolt or so here and there. But considering most of the population probably can’t tell a Mini from a Roll Royce. The Series 2 and 3 are “almost” identical.

Any differences are completely minor.
Convinced or not the s2 was only made for 2/3 years versus the s3 14 odd years.

Ask any rivet s2 counter and they will bore you to death with the differences, most series look the same to the unknowing, but those in the know really know, many think they know but do not even own one.
 
We paid £1500 for ours and I thought it was too much!
They are worth what the market dictates and what people will pay, if thats £20k then so be it. That same argument could be applied for any classic car.
A Series 2 is more desirable as prices, in general will show. I personally prefer the look of the Series 2 with the lights in the front panel. In the same vain a very early Series 1 is worth more again. I drove a early restored one, God awful thing. Much preferred the long wheelbase pickup with deluxe interior.
Trendy handbags, maybe?
Same as Defenders then?
Same as early Ford's and many classic cars.
You were ripped off, I paid 1300 for ours 14 years ago:vb-banana:

Screenshot 2024-07-27 at 21.10.40.png
 
I love Series motors. And of course you have to pay what the market demands. And hopefully they will retain that value as an investment.

But in reality they are not worth £15-20k not even close. Not when you look at what else you can buy for the money. And what they can do as a vehicle. It really wasn’t all that many years ago that a Series was a £500-800 motor with the best examples struggling to top two grand. Sadly they have become trendy handbags for the rich and look at the mess of the market it has made.
Prices have gone mad for anything remotely old.

Boss has a few old tractors, one identical to one of his just sold at auction for 53k.
 
Convinced or not the s2 was only made for 2/3 years versus the s3 14 odd years.

Ask any rivet s2 counter and they will bore you to death with the differences, most series look the same to the unknowing, but those in the know really know, many think they know but do not even own one.
The S2 might have been built for less years. But rare it most certainly isn’t. Let’s use a little common sense here! As far as classic cars of this sort of age go, they are vastly numerous and common. Especially in the U.K. where there are loads and loads on the road still.

And yes, quite aware of many of the differences. Have been around Land Rover’s all my life and as a family we’ve owned over 100 Land Rovers across the years. Ultimately though they are still almost identical vehicles and any differences are completely minor. Which is one of the main reasons LR lost so much market share in Australia. And let’s not forget that many vehicles are likely to be modified and not 100% original in this day an age anyway.

So unless you are looking to enter concourse de elegance events. There will be no practical downside to looking at a Series III.

And the main reason for the price variance is more to do with the pre 1973 historic tax category that existed for many years in the U.K. highly inflating prices of vehicles registered in 1972 or earlier. Which coincidentally aligns very much with the Series III introduction. Ie every SII was tax exempt while very very few SIII’s were. And as people paid a lot more for their exempt vehicle, that difference in price still remains, despite the legislation having now changed.
 
l've got a few customers with old Series Land Rovers and most of them never move from their shed/barn
(The Land Rovers not the customers) lf l bought one it would get used, that's for sure.
 

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