hello guys, currently looking for a disco, and am budgeting for about £6k. Has to be diesel, unsure about auto or manual...advice/suggestions. Will be using to go to and from work and some light off roading.

Previously has a 95 RR 2.5dt, but had to go as the transmission and gearbox on last legs, and would have cost more than it was worth to fix!!

What kind of age/mileage/spec can i expect for this price range?? Live in N.Ireland, but know that i will probably need to go to the mainland for a good motor.

I set out with £7k to buy a disco and all I could find was ten year old bangers or vehicles with phone number mileages. I'm sure there's the odd good buy out there somewhere. I'm signed up to autotrader and various other outlets, suggest you do the same. Plenty of vehicles on offer and I'm sure the right one will come along sometime. So keep looking and (like me) hope the right one comes along

999mph said:

hello guys, currently looking for a disco, and am budgeting for about £6k. Has to be diesel, unsure about auto or manual...advice/suggestions. Will be using to go to and from work and some light off roading.

Previously has a 95 RR 2.5dt, but had to go as the transmission and gearbox on last legs, and would have cost more than it was worth to fix!!

What kind of age/mileage/spec can i expect for this price range?? Live in N.Ireland, but know that i will probably need to go to the mainland for a good motor.

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Hi there, for £6000 you should be able to get a very nice Disco TD5, if you are patient, prepared to travel and be ready to negotiate.

The early TD5's (pre facelift models) run from late '98 to mid 2002: Facelift models from 2002 to 2005. Facelift cars are more desirable and the most developed/refined versions of the breed.

Looking on Ebay the prices vary dramatically so you will need to take a view on what level of reduction you can negotiate.

I would advise that you don't buy from any form of dealer as believe that the supposed garrantees that they give are, in most cases, worthless and the price you pay is sufficiently elevated to account for the dealers profit margins, so imo you pay to heavily for what they offer.

So, getting down to specifics, the model range starts with E, then S, then GS, then XS and finally ES being the top spec model. There are models calle "Adventurer" based on GS's and other variations.

My advice? Go for ES if you can find a good 'un, they are just brilliant.

Auto or manual? Very much personal preference but auto makes TD5 a very nice car to drive. Also the autobox has lock-up on third and 4th gears (autobox is 4 speeds) which is very handy for towing. Autos are also very nice for offroading as thet have manul box functionality in low-ratio.

Mileage - who defines what is high mileage? For me a TD5 with less than perhaps 140, 000mls is normal, above would be high miles and belpow 100,000 would be low miles, but you may have a different definitions.

I've had two TD5's the first, a 2002 ES had 90,000mls (fsh) at purchase and I did 30,000kms without a hint of trouble just good through self-servicing. The second is the vehicle I have currently, had 129,000mls, with the best ervice history I have ever seen and runs great.

Full service history, ideally with lots of supporting invoices is ESSENTIAL with these cars. If they don't haver good service history their value plummets (irrespective of what the dealers would have you believe). Your choice of course, pay full-ish money for a good 2002 ES auto with pukka history, or, take a risk and pay no more than perhaps £3500 for the sam car without any history. At least you are left with a chunk of cash when/if anything needs doing.

On the subject of maintenance/servicing, how are you with spanners? If you like to get stuck in, all well and good. If you don't like touching your cars, think very seriously before buying a Disco - they do need more attention than an average cars and will costs loads if you pay someone do to the work for you. Also I would advise that you budget about £250 for a HawkEye diagnostic machine, so you can do health checks on vehicles BEFORE you buy one.

Also on the subject of budgeting, include £250 for a remap. It transforms the drivability of the car beyond all measure.

Right I'm boring myself now so I hope that helps a bit,

Cheers
Dave

Cheers to "the big lad" for the detailed advice. Like i say i am budgeting about £6k. Dont have it yet, coming just before Xmas, so just trying to gauge the market, possibly get a bargain in the new year when most are cash strapped.

Can do basic tech stuff like filters, brake pads, flushing out intercooler and associated pipework (like i said i had a 95 RR - always something needed done!!). A friend who has a garage and bodywork place says they are more rugged and interesting to work with than other 4x4s. He just went from a 2001 td5 to a 2007 TDV6...Nice!!

Will deffo do the remap, and think auto will be the way forward, just hope i can get a good one when i do the deal.

999mph said:

Cheers to "the big lad" for the detailed advice. Like i say i am budgeting about £6k. Dont have it yet, coming just before Xmas, so just trying to gauge the market, possibly get a bargain in the new year when most are cash strapped.

Can do basic tech stuff like filters, brake pads, flushing out intercooler and associated pipework (like i said i had a 95 RR - always something needed done!!). A friend who has a garage and bodywork place says they are more rugged and interesting to work with than other 4x4s. He just went from a 2001 td5 to a 2007 TDV6...Nice!!

Will deffo do the remap, and think auto will be the way forward, just hope i can get a good one when i do the deal.

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Buying a 4x4 at the start of winter would be, imo the precise time to NOT buy one, if last winter is anything to go by. The prices just went silly and are taking a long time to come down.

My advice? Buy in the summer or spring.

Hi 999mph, despite loving my 2001 auto TD5 ES to bits and recently having it remapped (the love affair is alive again) I do go through stages of wanting a more wife friendly road going car, Audi All road, Volvo XC90/70 so I occasionally wander off and want to stray away from LR. Maybe around Xmas drop me an email as Im sure I have what you want, I just love her again at the moment. Might be worth asking though. Not sure what she would be worth with 102k miles some service history and every reciept since I had her with all oils and filter/work/mot etc, i had her at 43K with full service.

Just a thought, good luck with the house sale.

Big matt, my problem is that my wife loved my old RR just as much as me and wasnt happy that i got rid. She has an astra estate for the school run and shopping, but loved going out on family days in comfort with high up views.

Will keep you in mind when the winter rolls in but i am constarined by what sort of finances come my way this winter....waiting on a pay agreement for the last four years to be finalised in the NHS. Talk from the union guys is that it will be worth the wait.....

Be patient and keep looking. I got lucky, picked up a dirty 04 pursuit, two owners with 46,000mls for £6k. A full sevice (diy) and a bloody good clean and it came up like new..