Thinking of buying a 2002 Land Rover Discovery II td5

Hello all!
Sorry for randomly joining the forum and asking questions. My car was written off last week while parked outside the school so I need something quickly. I need a car that for a family of 5 and a dog. We to a 1500 kg caravan regularly and my wife can only drive an automatic. Our old car was a Lexus GS300 and coped well towing but only ever returned about 17-20mpg. It was incredibly reliable over the 7+ years we owned it. I have a budget of up to about £3000 for a new car. I have spotted this on Gumtree
https://www.gumtree.com/p/land-rove...w-merc-audi-volvo-range-awd-estate/1146037679
I phoned the owner earlier and he says the car was kept at his holiday home in Donegal the last 7 years is in a garage and serviced there by a local independent. He says it is immaculate outside and in with no rust and that he has just spent £1000 on tyres. He offered to let my wife and I take the car out for a drive tomorrow and assures me that I will not fault it.

I love the idea of owning a Land Rover but I must admit I'm really worried about the costs involved. Any car I buy at this price could have autobox problems but I have read the Discovery box is bomb proof.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Andrew

I have had land rovers for the best part of 40 years,i love my TD5
But i dont think you are going to get a decent motor for 3000, watch for well rusted ones hidden with underseal.
A disco 3 could be a real money pit.
And when my TD5 comes to an end, i see me buying a kia
I simply could not afford to run the disco 3/4
Sad but true

Sadly after a quick Google of his phone number 07711538944 It looks like he's a car dealer selling cars a private :-/

Advert keeps calling it a Jeep! Mileage seems ok for year. £1K for Winter tyres!!!! and on a car that only does school runs!!!!!?????
Autos are not rare.
Price is very low, why?
Not sure if you can do the MOT history check on NI cars.
You want lots of good service history, bills, previous owners details etc.
And if you do look at it, check the chassis very carefully! And any leaks under the bonnet, fuel tank, smoke from engine.
Mark
PS Its very nice looking, but I smell a fake advert! Happened to a friend of mine on Gumtree, she got a call asking about a VW van she had for sale, she didnt own a VW! It was a scam advert created after someone Phished her account info.

I would advise against rushing, do some research understand the potential faults, pitfalls and their implications. Good service history is invaluable. D2's are expensive to maintain so by the time they have had 3 or 4 owners you can bet on one of them doing things on the cheap. Private sale probably better than getting a cheaper one a dealer is trying to offload cos he knows its trouble.

This advert with the same number also selling a 4x4 with new winter tyres

http://webcache.googleusercontent.c...d-estate/1143537665+&cd=5&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk

And then this Facebook post stating his name is Gary Campbell when he had me call him Tom earlier, also uses the name Roisin Could be a good explanation but puts me off

Too many red flags! And the actual Jeep is very cheap!
Usual ploy is to take a "securing deposit" by credit card over the phone then scam your card.

No

I had to distress purchase a Discovery 2 years ago, cost me about double that.

But car choices were

Lots of boring saloons so boring I didn't check the price.
All the fun RWD cars were too much.
A TD5 Discovery auto
A BMW X5
A snapped cam belt Vauxhall in very good condition never replied. (I would have just used an engine crane and swapped all the good bits over, mind you got quite a bit for bits off my old engine).

Now I paid slightly over the odds and got a car with leaking sun roofs (their repair failed, mine didn't), steering box leak (paid from selling bits off my old car), ABS issues (new hub). So money doesn't really come into it either.

BTW sound chassis, and SLS and ACE worked perfectly

You seem a switched on fella mate and I think you have to listen to what your own head is telling you.