A confused newbie!

Hi guys,

Signed up yesterday after discussing a new mode of transport with my other half. We have finally settled on a Land Rover, a Defender 90 in particular.
It only took us a few months and my car getting a beating every day and slowly falling apart (we live on a farm) for us to figure things out.

I'm hoping to find something with as little rust as possible with our modest (4k) budget, and fairly mechanically sound would be a bonus.

I believe I'm in for a bit of a shock after driving a slightly tuned Octavia vRS for 4 years, I'm obviously used to some comfort and a decent amount of power .

I'll hopefully be looking at a 90 that I found in the for sale forums this coming weekend, I'm also trawling every car sales site possible but I can't find many that are close enough just yet. Hopefully it doesn't take long!

Welcome on board and best of luck with the search, try gumtree if you haven't already, I look forward to seeing your future purchase in the defender section

:welcome2 yeah the defender will feel just like your VRS :hysterically_laughi

Thanks for the warm welcome!

As soon as I find a good one I'll put some pictures up.
I've got a couple of viewings lined up on the weekend so far, one with a specialist in Thornbury, Bristol.
It's a guy called Mr Landrover who is quite possibly something to do with Dan Cuff Engineering who was recommended by a work colleague. I can't find much information about them though.
I'll check out Gumtree too.

:lol: I'm prepared for a rough ride compared to the VRS. Before that I had a semi track prepped Mk1 Golf GTi as a daily car, evening driving over stones would rattle my teeth a little .

This is more for the dog and to save my Skoda from any more destruction.

Hello and Welcome

Hello and welcome:welcome2:

Thanks gents!

I test drove a local '89 90 200tdi Station Wagon today.
It's the first time I've driven anything as tall as that so it took some getting used to.
Surprisingly I expected it to be much louder in the cabin and a lot less comfortable. It certainly didn't put me off of wanting one.

I don't know what to think of today's 90 though, it seemed to wander a lot and the steering wheel didn't return to centre. 1st gear was a little problematic at times (possibly me more than the 90) and it didn't seem to want to diff lock at first. Low range worked ok though, it was a shock having the owner tell me to pull away in 4th gear.

Sadly I didn't get to look at a V6 engined one I'd planned on seeing due to other commitments. That one I can't wait to try [emoji4].

Welcome!:welcome2: Worth trying a few out, lots get abused so be careful, if in doubt ask on here and we will always assist.
Generally its all about the rust! but make sure log books tie up with numbers, many get stolen and hacked.
Get the right one, care for it and you will just get smitten they are just the best

Well the better half and I bought one today.

Unfortunately as my insurance company weren't open its yet to be insured by us but the people we bought it from were kind enough to drive it to our place just so it was all dealt with today.

I've done a couple of bits to it today, fixed some wiring for a small clock, tidied some of the alarm wiring up and checked some prices for a few of the leaky gaskets.

I shan't post any pictures just yet as I'm on my phone and have no way of resizing them. I'll stick some up soon enough though!

Hello, welcome to LZ! Exciting times!! Looking forward to pics of your new landy

BigToze said:

This is more for the dog

Click to expand...

Welcome, how long has Shep been driving?

Thanks guys! I'll get some decent pictures tomorrow.

Haha, at the moment she's a bit young but we have planned ahead for when she's old enough .

I'm actually more interested in pictures of your dog so please feel free to post a few hundred doggy photos as well as landy pics

Well I only managed two pictures, one of a disapproving dog. I guess she doesn't like sharing the back with all my crap?

I did manage to get a shot of the 90 itself. You might have seen it in the F/S forums.

I finally drove it properly today too. It's now in Bristol until we sort our parking situation out.

love the dog..
liking the NATO green..

love the dog..
liking the NATO green..

Ahhh! Lovely dog! And landy

You should come along to the Landy Zone event in May, family and dog friendly! You'll get to meet some lovely people and perv over everyone's landies spot of laning if you fancy too

There is a sticky at the top of the forum sections about it

Hi and welcome

Tidy looking tratter that, I thought I'd seen it somewhere before and the noticed your comment about the for sale section

Thank you again everyone.

A week and a bit on and we still love the thing. I'm using it daily for my commute and obviously being a carbed V6 engine it's a bit thirsty but nothing we weren't expecting!

Once I get some time I'll be sorting various bits out and have a huge list already. Firstly I think I need to change the gearbox and diff oils as 2nd gear struggles to engage at times until the fluid warms up, hopefully it's that the fluid in the box is a little old/tired/low rather than the box itself. Fortunately I'm used to a dodgy second gear after owning a few old VW Golfs, the synchro in second gear must have been an option back then .

The dog loves going out in it. She's very sicky in our other cars but in this thing she's perfectly fine, I have been recommended some rubber stable matting that could be used in the back to make it a little more comfortable for her and to make it easier to clean so that'll be done once a good service is sorted.