Mid Week Match-Up: Land Rover
This week’s Mid Week Match-Up, victim is tipper Scott who sent us a link for a Land Rover because his wife really wants a 110 series, but was thinking that this might do as a cheap alternative. But, I’m not sure if this is the best way to start on the right foot for Land Rover ownership….
The subject car is a 2001 Land Rover Discovery Series II that is offered for $3,500 in Dedham, MA via craigslist. The best part is the following quote from the seller: “ Its last trip was seven years ago, when I drove it from the shop
(Cityside Garage in Hopkinton, MA) after putting in a new driveshaft. It
has not been started since. I have no reason to beleive that, in the
hands of someone who knows, or is learning, about cars it won’t fire
right up.”
Obviously, this isn’t the Land Rover for Scot if he expects his marriage to survive the first road trip…so find him something better.
Comments below.
Mixed signals. People here love their Discos. They drive them, and spend a lot of money fixing them. At the same time, there are a lot of them for sale. People think they should get what the car is "worth". What they get is disillusionment and disappointment.
If you really must have one, go older. The Classic. There's lots of good info out there on which years are the sweet spot, probably 80's. But then you're looking at pre-modern safety, skinny pillars, rudimentary crumple zones, old school handling. I dunno.
But I can tell you this. Living where we do, in the land of lots of them to choose from, lots of mechanics who know these cars inside out, and best-case parts availability, we bought a Land Cruiser. Toyota. No hesitation or second thoughts on that one.
Is this Toyota owned by a Daily Turismo reader, or what?
Cool 1986 Toyota Land Cruiser
-Stan (who has an old '87 Bronco with a turning radius so tight, it's scary)
So my wife saw this one and said it's way too new anyway, so I guess a discovery is out. I was really hoping I could steer her towards a Land Cruiser, but those don't seem to have the same appeal.
Though, maybe it's a smart move for her to stick to the more expensive fantasy car since that means we'll never really be able to buy one.
Ah, a 110. I bleeped right past that somehow. Now, a Defender is a whole different story. That's a rabbit hole right there. Potentially expensive rabbit hole. Have you seen these: Twisted Automotive? Get her to look at a Classic, the cred is strong with that one.
[image src=" cdn2.evo.co.uk/sites/evo/files/2017/02/001-range-rover-reborn.jpg" width="640px"/]
Thanks Kalibreezy, the classic looks great to me. I'll have to see if that's "too modern" for her, though they're a bit over our budget at the moment for anything that's running.
My British Ex-pat friend has told me many times that he would not take a USA Disco 2 if you gave it to him for free. Apparently, the rest of the world got a turbo diesel engine with them that was not nearly as problematic. He drives a Disco 1 in the winter time and loves it.
Breaker Breaker my land turd has left me stranded again got a copy good buddy….?
I've always thought that the phrases "limited budget" and "Land Rover Owner" were less than compatible…..
Maybe I'm wrong, I don't have experience with them due to limited budget
I recently picked up a clean, 7 seater, $2500 Disco 2 as an impulse buy. A few days later, instant regret as I started to learn how horrible the Rover v8 is. I went on the offensive and dropped about $250 in preventive maintenance to see how long it would last. The plan was to just drive it until it blew up, leave the signed title in the glove box, uber home, and list it on CL.
But soon, I started finding myself driving this backup car more and more, and realized that it was really starting to grow on me. Now 7000mi later, I've found that I really love this thing. It's a completely uncomfortable, slow, POS that gets horrible mileage, but I enjoy every minute of driving it. If it blew up tomorrow, I'd probably just replace it with an even rattier, cheaper one, and see how long that one lasted.