Landrover owners - advice

[Rob_H]

I'm fed up of not being able to get wood/antiques/bits and pieces in my car so I'm looking to sell and get a Landrover. It has to have a back seat as we need to get the baby seat in so I need to go for the 110. I'm going to sell my car - and I HATE the carry on of selling cars - ideally I'd like to walk into a garage and handover my keys and walk away with a second hand landrover but don't think that's realistic. Anything to look out for when looking at a Landrover - any tips would be appreciated. I don't want to pay more than I can get for my 54 plate BMW 318 with 40k on the clock. I've been talking about if for a while but keep putting it off.

 

[cutting42]

Hiya

Does your reference to 110 mean you are only interested in the Defender? All my LR experience has been with the Freelander/Discovery models, below if you want a quick view.

In short the early versions of both are great cars but are a little more service demanding than your Bimmer. Some have had no probs at all but others have had huge issues and with new vehicles as well.

The Disco ver3 is awesome, seems to have solved most of the reliability issues and is a epic lugger with 7 seats and off road performance almost as good as a Defender. The Freelander is a bit more soft road but still a class act well ahead of the opposition off road. Again the newer version seems to be built a bit better than before.

As for Defenders, they are a bit agricultural (part of their charm) and not sure I would pick one as a baby transport just because of NCAP results being far worse than the other models. However they are still the reference pint for offroaders IMO and have a dedicated and enthusiastic following.


On road they are bettered by BMW/Audi and Volvo IMO and the emmisions of the LR cars ends to be higher if tax or emmisions is a factor to you.

I would have a Disco every day except my company has banned 4x4

 

[Rob_H]

Should have said - really looking at a Defender. I think the disco might be a bit big. We only want to have the baby seat in when I really have to take our daughter out and about - we mainly use my wife's car for that. We;re out in the sticks here and I'm always frustrated that I can't throw logs/pallets and my antique furniture in the back so was really thinking of a defender. Food for thought about the safety issues though. I had a new Freelander a couple of years ago and my wife wrote it off.

 

[dickm]

Forget the Landrover - get an old Volvo estate car
A thousand antique dealers can't be wrong

(I had Volvo 120 series estates for best part of thirty years, then used to look after my daughter's 240 estate, and their load-carrying capacity was awesome. Mind you, it's surprising how much timber you can get in/on a Golf estate. )

 

[matt]

How about fitting a towbar to your BMW and getting a trailer plus Thule roofbars > 1220mm for sheet material.

 

[pren]

If you want something that is bomb proof and will go over mountains - get a landy. If you want to carry large things in the back - get a large volvo estate or similar.

Whilst they look big on the outside, the cargo area is surprisingly small and unadaptable compared to an estate car. The boxing around the rear wheels takes up quite a bit of space and the rear (boot) door is only around 800mm wide.

Take out the back seats of an estate car and you've got a huge cargo space. Fold the front passenger seat flat and you've probably got room for a 3m worktop.

I really love landies. My mum had 2 series iii 110's and now has a siii 90. They'll run forever as long as the chassis comprises of more metal than rust and you can damn near change the engine with nothing more than a hammer and a flat head screwdirver :lol: .

HTH.

 

[ike]

They'll run forever

Yup, my '57 pickup is still chugging along - sounds like a bag of spanners with flatulence but ain't she beautiful! (She is Chassis No. 88/1 - the first pre-pro. 88")

 

[neilc]

I drove a company Discovery 3 for close on three years before I changed jobs. While it was a fantastic car to drive and pure comfort, it cost some money to run. It used to cost €1200 to change the tyres which was more than once a year because the tracking was brutal (anything would knock it out), when diesel went high it used to cost €110 to fill which would last me roughly a week and a service would cost anything €300-€1000 depending on what had to be done. I could never have afforded something like that myself and never will.
Sorry I don't know much about the Defender, just missin my Disco.
Best of luck with whatever you go for.
Neil

 

[Ironballs]

I ran a Series 3 SWB for a while and they're good fun up to a point - and they're also not as spacious as you might think.

You really need to drive a few to see what you think and get an idea of condition, chassis rust is the big problem. If you do any kind of mileage on road then these aren't the cars for you, ventilation is rubbish, they're hot in summer and cold in winter and take some real manhandling. In my S3 it was a race to see how quickly you could get it into fourth to protect your eardrums.

I'd have a look at something like one of those double cab type affairs, fairly car like in the cab, truck like out back

 

[tekno.mage]

We recently had to change our elderly Montego Estate when it would no longer get through the MOT because of the dreaded rust. The great thing about it was the amount of stuff you could get in the back - wood, furniture, chainsaws, tools etc etc and were initially going to get a Landrover of some kind to replace it.

Then we saw the Subaru Forester and picked up a second-hand one of those within our budget instead. It's just as big as the Montego when it comes to carrying stuff with the back seats folded down, and is a quantum leap forward in comfort and features like little built-in cubby-holes to keep things in and has all-wheel-drive as standard. OK, it's not so good for extreme off-road as a real landrover, but it works for us - and it's a really comfortable, well-equipped car that doesn't look like a huge SUV.

From the research online I did before we bought it, it seems they are very reliable vehicles - although being Japanese I'd imagine spares could be a bit pricy.

tekno.mage

 

[jhwbigley]

I have a 97 defender 90, its starting to show its age a bit, not the most useful thing if your taking long lengths of things about.

i've not looked at current prices on defenders, but i've seen rough 95 defender 110 go for 4-5 grand easy. :shock:

John-Henry

 

[Blister]

my advice is go to a landrover dealer , have a test drive in a 110 CSW
then decide what you are going to do with your right arm :lol: , first time I drove one I wanted to take the door off as there is no room for your arm :?
Ask about a px and see what they say , times are hard and they will do good deals at the moment

BUT then have a look in the back behind the rear seats , very little room :?

Estate car , or trailer ( if you have room for one ) is the way to go

Just my thoughts

PS I got half a VB36 lathe in my fiat panda , and can carry 8ft long timber in it , its like being Dr Who

 

[Dibs-h]

An estate is defintely the way to go - I'd also stay away from rwd estates on the whole - the rear suspension turrets usually protrude into the boot too much, reducing the carrying space.

I recently bought an A4 estate, and am well pleased with it's lugging capacity. The VW passats have a slightly bigger capacity and are cheaper.

A friend has a Saab 95 estate - and that does have a massive boot - never tried, but you get the feeling it would take the odd 8'x4' sheet on the diagonal.

 

[cambournepete]

Ot just to confuse even more, how about an MPV?
If you get one you can remove the seats (probably better for log lugging)or where they all fold flat you get the carrying ability and the family side as well.
You can carry an 8x4 sheet flat in an old-style Chrysler Grand Voyager.

 

[DangerousDave]

Rob, do what I did and get a double cab pick up (see avatar). It's an 06 Ford Ranger. Loads of room in the bed (more than L200's or Navara's) and it's like a large family car in the cab, I have 2 child seats in the back of mine I picked it up last week, and I'm very happy with it. I'm taking it to get a bed liner and armadillo cover fitted next week. And it is classed as a Light Goods Vehicle so only £185 a year VED.

 

[johnny.t.]

then decide what you are going to do with your right arm :lol: , first time I drove one I wanted to take the door off as there is no room for your arm :?

Thats why they have windows silly, for your elbow :roll:

I've got a 1982 88" beast, the missus won't let me put the baby in yet :lol: They are rubbish they do break but every journey is an adventure and they do look awfully cool with the roof off in summer. i for one would hate to be without a landy.

JT

 

[Gordon T]

Hello all, what you want is a Volvo 240 estate , we had the last one 13 years, what a workhorse, have a v70 now, boot space not as big but when the seats are down does a cracking job.....thats my tuppence worth anyway

GT

 

[Night Train]

Land Rover's are great. The pick up is really good for carrying heavy mucky things. The 110 Defender CSW is great for carrying people off road. The 127/130 crew cab is great for carrying people and heavy mucky stuff.

If you want to carry wood and furniture forget the Land Rover. Until Land Rover produce a 130 long hard top with a load hatch the width of the HiCap body it won't be much use to you. even then it would only really be worth while if you live, or deliver off, the beaten track.

I had a 110 and a Disco. My Skoda Octavia Estate was able to carry more inside so I got rid of the Land Rovers and built a couple of trailers instead.
All my carrying needs were resolved without the need for extra insurance, road tax and minimal extra fuel costs only when I am towing. However, I do have plenty of off street parking and that helps.

 

[woodbloke]

I own a DX90 Landy and the load carrying capicity, 'specially for biggish lumps of timber ain't a lot. But if you need to collect timber from the middle of a wood somewhere (as I've done a couple of times) after torrential rain has turned the track to something resembling a first world war battlefield an old estate car won't cut the mustard...Landy is the way to do it :wink: - Rob

 

[jhwbigley]

I own a DX90 Landy and the load carrying capicity, 'specially for biggish lumps of timber ain't a lot. But if you need to collect timber from the middle of a wood somewhere (as I've done a couple of times) after torrential rain has turned the track to something resembling a first world war battlefield an old estate car won't cut the mustard...Landy is the way to do it :wink: - Rob

my Defender is often teamed up with our 14' iforwilliams trailer, great for extracting timber/firewood. even with a fully laden trailer it still keeps up with the traffic, it doesn't know its pulling it!

John-Henry