need advice on buying my first defender

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BIG ANDY DISCO

New Member
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56
Location
birmingham
i currently own a 92 disco, i have allways wanted a defender but as they dont have the compfort of a disco i keep puting it off, i am used to having the 7 seats so would prefer something of simillar size and a deisel is a must, can anyone give me any advice on what sort of defender to look for with a price range of about £2000 max or as a swap on my 92 disco.
all info is apreciated, my disco is up for sale to the highest bidder in the for sale section in anyone is interested and plenty more pics and info available at [email protected]
cheers and help................................................... please:confused: :confused: :confused:
 
Hi,

If you want a comfortable 7 seater defender you are definitely looking for a 110 double cab station wagon, but that size a defender for around £2000 you're probably talking something like an old 1986-1999 2.5 turbo diesel (19J). These engines are generally good solid runners, but they're a little slow on hills and they do breath quite heavily so they will drip oil more than a 200 or 300 tdi engine. For a little bit more money, say around £4000, you should be able to pick up a 110 double cab station wagon with at least a 200tdi engine which will have a fair bit more power and will probably feel more responsive to drive on the whole. If you fancy a weekend project, you could always buy yourself a 90 with a 200tdi or 2.5 turbo diesel (19J) engine and then fit some better seats in the back. The only downside here of course is that you'd loose out on space for storage unless you were to plonk a rof rack on the top and possibly add a few blocks of clever shelving inside somewhere.

I have a 1986 90 with three seats at the front, and then two benches at the back, so I can carry 7 people including me. The only downside being that the benches are not very comfortable (not bad for short runs) and the person sat in the middle at the front either looses their virginity every time I change gear or they get their knackers bruised.

Have a look on autotrader.co.uk to see what kind of defender you can get for your money! They're not that uncomfortable either, just a little cold through winter, but you'll get used to it soon enough, and they do tend to warm up pretty quickly after a couple of miles!

Good luck!
-Pos
 
thanks for all the info,ime not too bothered of the age as i will play with it and more than likely strip out the interior and all that, fit new seats and make it cosy n all that, ive got a full size roof rack for a 110 defender curently sitting on my disco, its in sections so the storage shouldnt be an issue, as for the rear theres only two of us and 4 small dogs so if i can carry 3 in the front and have all of the back for my tools and dogs and ocasional friend or familly then i guess i dont need all 7 seats,
my disco is a 2.5tdi but unless you get the revs up it pulls away like a beached whale, it only does anythin in the way of a decent speed when the turbo kicks in, as for loosing oil, this is something that i am quite used to with my disco, thanks anyway for all the advice .
 
Alright no problem!

Just a bit of food for thought: If you think that you don't really need 7 seats, a 90 will most probably be your best option for quite a few reasons:

1) Shorter chassis, which wont twist and flex as much as a longer 110 chassis, preventing wear and tear and damage in the long run, especially on an older vehicle.
2) Less weight, so it will move a bit quicker, a great advantage if you buy an older vehicle with a 2.5 turbo or 2.5 N/A engine.
3) Looks bloody good!

I have the old 2.5N/A (12J) engine in my 90 and it runs sweet as a nut. It'll do 75 on the motorway, (it's happier sat at 65-70) and it will run well on a high ratio vegetable oil mix through the Summer! I suppose it just depends on what you can get for your money and what you are happy to settle with in the end of the day!

Happy Christmas
-Pos
 
right then i will haveto look into that, i like the sound of the 90. would that be the 3 door model, it would haveto be a deisel, i may even consider chopping or swaping my disco for an older 90 as i asume they hold more value than the discoverys,
i allways appreciate good advice so if you think of anything else please do let me know
thanks again and a merry christmas to you too
 
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Done
 
pos said:
Hi,

If you want a comfortable 7 seater defender you are definitely looking for a 110 double cab station wagon, but that size a defender for around £2000 you're probably talking something like an old 1986-1999 2.5 turbo diesel (19J). These engines are generally good solid runners, but they're a little slow on hills and they do breath quite heavily so they will drip oil more than a 200 or 300 tdi engine.
Good luck!
-Pos
Click to expand...
Does a double cab have 7 seats? Wouldn't have described it as comfortable meself.
What do you mean by "breath quite heavily" and why would a 19J engine drip oil more than a tdi??
Have you had one of the flexi chassis 110's or are you just making that up?
You seem to know a lot about land rovers in general so I just wondered if your knowledge came from experience or you just made it up as you went along?
 
That's not very nice Hughsey! I thought that a double cab had two seats at the front (or three without a cubby box) and then another three behind? From my own experience, 110's are reasonably comfortable (if the seats have headrests) but not everyone will think that.

The 2.5 N/A engine does breath heavily, and they do tend to drip more oil than the 200 and 300 tdi engines because in most cases they are older engines with older gaskets (if they haven't been replaced) and are more likely to have split or worn piston rings because of more wear and tear from more miles and years of use. My 2.5 N/A leaks oil from the filler cap like I don't know what, where as my mates TD5 doesn't loose a single drop.

A longer chassis will "twist" more than a shorter chassis (there was no need to have a go at me about that) because the whole metal ladder frame is longer than that used to build a 90 and it's just common sense that a smaller frame is more rigid than a longer frame. I've seen plenty of flat bed wagons drive over grates or drop down dips with the front end drop down and the back end stay perfectly flat, so the chassis is obviously flexing. An older land rover with a 110 inch rusty chassis will flake apart much quicker than an older land rover with a 90 inch rusty chassis because any weak areas in the structure will break with the extra flexibility.

I'm not a land rover genius, but he only wanted some advice so I've given him some of my observations...

There was no need to be snappy
 
It's a term that people use on here isn't it? With regards to crank case pressure and a lot of blowing and sucking (not necessarily a heavy breather)
 
stromatolite:

a calcareous mound built up of layers of lime-secreting cyanobacteria and trapped sediment, found in Precambrian rocks as the earliest known fossils, and still being formed in lagoons in Australasia.

I've learnt something new today :)
 
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