Best Disco to buy?

Hi all,

I am looking to buy a disco for my son. Its needed for towing and/or carrying a small jetski, launching of the beach and to cart stock around for his small business. He obviously wants the impossible, cheap, reliable etc!

He is only 22 so the insurance on a V8 would be evil so a diesel I guess is the best bet. I can do basic work on it, given I am the proud owner of a tempramental P38 rangie. So whats the best one to look out for, and simplest to work on. He is looking at an old cheapo around £1k. Any ideas, advice??

reliable! are you having a laugh or what?
best you can get for the money you have mate, mines an S model with no fancy extras, it's fine for what i want but reliable well!?
it's more of a hobby than a car, as you'll already know having a p38

reliable! landy ?? not seen one yet !! a disco is a weekend job !!:doh:


id go for a 300tdi over the 200dti had both and the 300 was a nicer to drive, you my need to spend a lot of time lookin for the right one, good luck

What's going on with you people. I've had several discos, all old, all rusty to some extent, and all reliable too. You can't expect absolutely nothing to go wrong with any old vehicle but tdi discos are pretty good in my opinion.

I'd be looking for a TDI. It doesn't matter weather it's a 200 or 300 as long as there is very little rust. Keep an open mind and see what comes up.

golden-net said:

Hi all,

I am looking to buy a disco for my son. Its needed for towing and/or carrying a small jetski, launching of the beach and to cart stock around for his small business. He obviously wants the impossible, cheap, reliable etc!

He is only 22 so the insurance on a V8 would be evil so a diesel I guess is the best bet. I can do basic work on it, given I am the proud owner of a tempramental P38 rangie. So whats the best one to look out for, and simplest to work on. He is looking at an old cheapo around £1k. Any ideas, advice??

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300 tdi, never had any reliability problems in 10 years of owning the same vehicle.
If you do buy one just make sure he doesn't dip the back end in salt water while launching a jet ski. The back end of the car will fall off pretty quickly if he does.

nicedayforit said:

300 tdi, never had any reliability problems in 10 years of owning the same vehicle.
If you do buy one just make sure he doesn't dip the back end in salt water while launching a jet ski. The back end of the car will fall off pretty quickly if he does.

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personely if it was partly being used for launching jet ski in salt water i would not go for a disco i would go for a 4x4 that is glavanised ie mitubishi pajero etc.....

True, but how many old jap cars do you see? None in my experience. Its all old rangies, discos, landies etc. Plus lr parts are aplenty and cheapish. Given we find a fairly rustless one to start with, a few gallons of waxoyl + a squirt after every launch seems to work with my old rangie.

you see loads of pajeros for example my mate has one is j reg and he is always using this to launch a 8.5 metre scorpion with no trouble and no rust. just my opinion.

you also have toyota land cruiser etc etc which are glavanised

upto you if you know landrovers well stick to what you know. but i would not buy a vehicle which is not glavanised to show it salt water on a regular basis

ratty said:

I'd be looking for a TDI. It doesn't matter weather it's a 200 or 300 as long as there is very little rust. Keep an open mind and see what comes up.

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what about an early TD5 ?

I am just about to put an R reg 300 Tdi Commercial up for sale. It has been on a farm so has had a battering, but was sold due to head gasket, I have had that replaced and also had a replacement head with skim (Was going to use the old head as it was ok, just the guy who had it before me has pulled the threads out of the valve gear studs).

I was going to use it for the base of an Auto conversion but found the car I was going to build so bought it!

The body work needs some attention, chequre plate kit from paddocks £70ish. The colour is Metalic Purple/Blue which is lovely only been on the farm it has hedge marks and the odd ding etc.

It is fairly quick, and have a lot of pull power.

It needs a clean and currently smells of a weird sheep smell! Some people have asked what Magic Tree it is as they like it! lol makes me laugh every time. I have cleaned it once but it will need another going over. (I removed the castration bands! and sheep sh1t)

Been a van means that the wet suits and other gear is not on show! And if you wish it can be fitted with rear seats (This is what we have done on ours)

There is an old Sony CD player in it.

It is by no means perfect showroom condition but it's a lot better than my 1st car! I wish I could afford to keep it as it would make a good off road toy which I would not be scared of scratching (Ours are sign written!) but the Kit Car takes priority.

I am looking for £1500 but I am after a quick sale so may take a bit less if I dont have ebay fees.

Its Taxed till end of Sept and MOT'd till Nov.

discoverys are reliable.. mine has never ever failed to start on me as a matter of course.. even with a hole the size of my arse in the head gasket it still started and drove.. it's just that they take a little more looking after than your average motor when they get to this age.. mie is regularly off the road for planned and unplanned jobs but I can always wait till I have the opportunity to take it off before I start.. except when it failed the MOT but that's cos I hadn't kept on top of the jobs that needed doing at the time..

Item number: 280393024764

Get the best you can afford but dont discount the V8 till you check the insurance. Discos and Rangies are cheap to insure. I know its 19 years since i had my rangie but i was only 21 and it was cheaper to insure than an escort at the time so check it out first.

when I transferred my insurance from a 2.0zetec mondeo to the disco v8 the insurance went down.. worth checking before you dive in at the oil burner deep end..

me (31) the missus (22) me the policy holder, her a named driver both fully comp £260 and she only passed her test 2 years ago and crashed into her dads van and had to make a claim last year! having owned a 1.3 escort, 1.6 golf and 2.5 BMW this is my cheapest to insure so far. dont underestimate the cheapness of landy V8s!

They don't get nicked that often (defenders and rangies get targetted), they don't get bumped often because of their size and build type (and because if you scratch it in a supermarket you probably wont claim) and they don't make you want to drive around fast or stupid so probably don't cause all that many accidents.. I would have thought they are a pretty low insurance risk to be honest..

Other half has max NCB, me only 4 years, yet my D2 V8 is cheaper to insure than her X Trial.

hughesy said:

What's going on with you people. I've had several discos, all old, all rusty to some extent, and all reliable too. You can't expect absolutely nothing to go wrong with any old vehicle but tdi discos are pretty good in my opinion.

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X2

regards

Dave