Any advice on buying a 300 Tdi Disco.......

.......such as DON'T!?

Seriously, it looks as though we're about to dip our toe into the wonderful waters of LR ownership. Yep, we fully realise it will bring joy and heartbreak in equal measure.

We were looking at a Defender 200 Tdi, as whatever we get is going to be used to tow a horse box, but we've got the chance of a reasonably priced early Disco 300 Tdi. It's a 94 model, so very early in the production run.

I had brought myself up to speed with the usual Defender problems but I'm less sure of the Discos. Other than the usual checks you would carry out on a 4x4 (off road abuse etc.) , is there anything in particular that I should be looking at on the Disco? I know they can rot but where are the usual weaknesses?

Also, the vehicle has had a very light slow speed tap on the front offside corner (owner caught a gate post). Damage is still on show and appears to be limited to wing and bumper. Should I be looking for anything in connection with this?

Hope your advice helps us to make a sound purchase and look forward to visiting these boards for many years to come

Get a V8 running on LPG - thats what I did and at the mo we are averaging the equivalent of 34mpg with something that actually has some get up and go and a lovely sound track.

There does seem a common thread that the V8 struggles to make 100k especially on LPG so look for one that has had the engine replaced in the last 20k miles or so (thats what I did). So far so go - but will keep my fingers crossed.