Hello all! Beginner advice needed!

Hi all!

I need some advice; if this isn’t the right place to post this then please redirect me to the right thread.

I’m about to be buying my first Land Rover in a couple of months and the price range I’m looking at is either a low mileage ‘51 + plate Freelander; or a pre 2000 Discovery with 200,000 plus miles on the clock.

so my questions are; when coming to buying a Land Rover because of the nature of what people use them for is mileage an issue?

plus are freelanders reliable and what should I look out for when buying one?

thanks in advance!!

There’s many things to take into consideration. Whatever you choose you should drive it first to be sure it’s what you want before buying. If any doubt walk away there’s plenty of them out there.
Most of all a LR should make you happy ; you’ll know this when you find the right one.

Welcome to LandyZone

Welcome to the zoo. Most budding Landy drivers should stop and think why you want to buy an old vehicle. The best is need and why you want one. If you can buy a Land Rover magazine with the price range at the back. Freelanders are lovely comfortable utility Cars Discovery are alternative to Range Rover and Defenders. Now AGE and expecting cost to keep your new vehicle on the road is the balls slapper. You could be lucky in finding the perfect one with someone who is has good working knowledge of the vehicle first hand. But if freshman it better to bone up on the pitfalls and what to look for. Here on this wonderful site we have sections for what to look for and many guys and girls and gender fluids only happy to point out with our beer glass whoa's

Hello and welcome
condition is everything a high miler in good nick is better than low not looked after and run into the ground.

Hi there and welcome!
At 200000 miles, lots have things should have been replaced, which could be in your favour. If be wanting to see lots of receipts assuming it's been well liked after
I have 2 older land rovers, the older it is, generally the easier it is to maintain. Also easier to neglect, not bothering to change fluids because it's old and knackered etc

Welcome to the fun and the best LR web site this side of the planet.
Age = Tin-worm and wear & tear.
Look for one with a decent history Low-miles and FSH (dealer preferred, because back street cowboys so often get stuff wrong) OR a genuine enthusiast's cast-off that has been well looked after.
If its been off-roaded a lot it might be packed with mud & dirt in all the crevices which is death to a chassis (for models that have a chassis that is, - Freelander's are monocoque and so excluded).

I echo Saxavordian’s point about knowing why you are buying a Landy. I am on my third (5th if you include the 2 that my dad had and that I learnt to drive in and worked on) and I have had great pleasure from all of them. I am old fashioned and prefer Landrovers with a solid chassis that you can bolt things on to. My experience is that I spend a chunk of time bolting things on or taking them off.
Rot is the killer. It’s not that it can’t be put right it’s just that it’s expensive and time consuming to fix. After that electronics is a pain. The older the Landy, the less electronics and the more likely it is that you can see what is wrong and work out how to fix it. Also, usually, the cheaper the spares should be.
In my view Disco’s are ridiculously cheap to buy. I got rid of my v8 petrol/Lpg when the annual bills exceeded its value and replaced it with a TD5 which I sold because I moved abroad and regularly wish I’d kept it.
I now have a Classic Rangerover 1994 and am loving it but the Disco TD5 offered similar functionality for much less money. (Okay, that is ignoring the ‘functionality’ of a purring V8, which is one of the best sounds in the world).
I am not convinced that dealer service is a good thing. Service history from a good knowledgable independent garage would impress me more.
It may be stating the obvious but make sure that you go on a checker web site like My Car Check and study the (free) MOT history (Advisories as well as results) for the last 10 years before you go to look at the vehicle. It will help you to know some of the things to look for, as well as confirm how much it has been used each year.
So in summary, know why you want the vehicle, make sure it was well maintained, recognise that it will require looking after and then go out and enjoy it!

Welcome to the forum