Hi,

I am new to the forum and all things land rover.

I am moving to the country (what a cliche) in a couple of weeks. I drive a Nissan 350z which, in normal conditions, is a beast and a joy to drive. It is however worse than useless in the snow.

I am looking for a 4x4 for a couple of reasons:

1) Snow days. Now I love the snow, and not making it to work is great, but I'm self employed so really need to get there. Where I'm moving probably gets about 6 or 7 snow falls a year, enough to make me nervous about jumping in the z

2) It would be nice to be able to transport a few extra people on the odd occasion. This is not vital as I can use my fiances mini, which at a squeeze takes 4. It would also be useful just to throw stuff in the back for the dump or trips to B and Q.

I love the Defender for its cult status and looks (90 especially), and ideally would get one but for those reasons they seem to demand more cash on the used market. Do I go for a 90 or a 110? would I be better going for a discovery or freelander instead? I could spend around £3k, and dont really mind about age, mileage etc as long as I dont get a heap/money bin?

Suggestions? Benefits of each option, running costs, reliability, etc?

Thanks in advance,

Pedro.

Welcome.

£3k will get you a decent 1990’s LR, the 90 or 110 is really up to you, if you get a 90 you will get 2 or 3 front seats (middle one not fun for long journeys though) and you can have 4 seats - bench style - in the back, which means if you want to move people and cargo you are now running out of space a bit, 110 you could have 5 seats and the load space too or even more seats, not to mention that it's easier to carry longer things.

If you went for a 200tdi or 300tdi engined 90 3k would get you reasonable one, the TDI engines are the best easy to work on and not too thirsty, my 300tdi gets about 35mpg. You MIGHT get a really good 2.5NA or something for £3k, but at that age you would probably be looking for one someone has put a fair bit of time into, new chassis maybe, lots of new bits, I have seen a few like this and they are really good Landys they don’t fetch much even with all the work done to them. I ran a 2.5NA for long enough, a good reliable engine, slow on motorways but do you need this?

Chassis is one of the main things, if I went to look at one and the chassis was good then that would be more than half of the way to be thinking of buying it. Can you weld? Check the outriggers (these are pieces of metal that come from the main chassis section to support body panels, fuel tanks, bulkheads etc&#8230 give these a good bash and take a small screwdriver to prod at things, if the outriggers are shot then you should probably walk away.

How many miles are you doing and what sort of roads? Dotting about the country locally is what these machines are ideal for but many including myself use them as everyday vehicles and many miles on motorways - I would say mine is (touch wood) a reliable vehicle, I do all the maintenance myself, and most things are really not too difficult.

You are making the right decision by buying one, and we are all more than willing to help when you have questions or problems – if you see any one eBay post them here and we can give you our opinion.

I'd be looking at a 300tdi disco or 200tdi defender for that money. Either will do the job for you. I prefer 110's myself but if you like your creature comforts then you may prefer a discovery.

Thanks for the info guys.

I would be doing low mileage I guess, more for when the 350z isnt a good idea or when I need space in the back. More of a thing to use when needed, therefore comforts are not necessary. In terms of seating, again not the be all and end all, but if more than 2 would give me an option of offering to drive my friends etc rather than the other way round.

It would be nice to pick up something that worked well, i.e. when I wake up to go to work and it has snowed, I could at least make an attempt to get to work rather than being **** scared of attempting the journey in the Z.

The limited mileage would mainly be small country roads and stretches of dual carriageway, but again won't need it to cruise at 110 or beat ferraris round Spa.

For what you are going to be asking of this vehicle I would say you will find one that will suit you no problem.

You could get a 90 with the 3 seats in the front and 2 fold downs in the back giving you the capacity to carry 5 people.

Another thing to bare in mind is what you actually want from your land rover. A Defender, 90 or 110 (the earlier models up until 1990 weren't known as Defenders ) is in all respects, purely and simply a tractor with a different cosmetic structure and gearing ratio. The first feeling that you'll get when you sit in a landy, an older model in particular is "oh my God, what have I bought!?" because it'll feel like a huge, heavy to steer, surprisingly slack machine thats noisy, bumpy and generally heavy duty. you'll soon get used to that and it'll make your Nissan feel inadequate what with it's fancy power steering and what not.

As mentioned before, the chassis and the bulkhead (the big block of steel between the engine and the cabin that the doors and the dash board mount to) need to be the first thing that you check. Waxoil or any other black coloured under seal are often used to hide serious rot and it's not unknown for people to literally paper-mache over holes and then spray it black so that it looks like new! So do be thorough. The odd dint, scrape and flakey paint is nothing to worry about and it purely adds character to the vehicle. The panels are only Aluminium so they generally have a long life, but swapping them is easy enough if you feel it's a must.

The biggest question is down to patience and whether or not you want a vehicle that's both a work horse and a hobby. Land Rover's by no means are vehicles that will run and run without the need for some attention, but like Discomania mentioned, it's just keeping on top of all the small things, which are generally easy to access, easy to source and very affordable. You can get a new bumper for £30 for example, a price which is far more attractive than £300 for a shoddy plastic moulding that fits to your Nissan!

If you can; go for a 200 or 300 TDi engine. They're generally considered to be the two best Land Rover engines ever produced. A 2.5 N/A will prove to be reliable, but considering how many TDi's there are out there, you'd be daft to miss out on the extra power, better fuel economy and better acceleration.

There's plenty to be had, and many are bargains at the moment, with people being forced to sell because of their financial commitments. Have a look on ebay, and also check out the classifieds on pistonheads.co.uk Just make sure that you visit the machine before you buy it, and by no means hesitate to be thorough with your investigation!

When you get one, we'll walk you through producing your own 'free' fuel!
-Pos

:welcome2:You don't need to drive a 4x4 out here in the countyside, a 'normal' car will do you proud. As for snow..........that's almost a thing of the past.
I drive a Land Rover cos I want too

Soloby Rob said:

:welcome2:You don't need to drive a 4x4 out here in the countyside, a 'normal' car will do you proud. As for snow..........that's almost a thing of the past.
I drive a Land Rover cos I want too

Click to expand...

Maybe true but when you own a Nissan