This is not in your area but it's an example of what I would look for if I was buying a DI as a driver. 1998 Land Rover Discovery (Clean)

But honestly if I was buying a driver that I can take wheeling I would go with an LR3. IMHO the best bang for the buck in a stock configuration is the LR3. They have great road manners, are far more trouble free and will blow your mind off road.

 

The 98 with low miles is a bucket eh? Bummer. There's a current thread on here about switches and how to take care of that problem. They're not broken.

Under 2k for a decent runner is common in my neck of the country. I can see by the ads in your area it's higher. You have more RRC's too, they'd do nicely instead of the Disco.

 

They may not be broken but but it's PITA work that should not need to be done on a 3-4k Disco. If buying one for 800-1,200 yeah sure I would expect to have to fix a few switches and maybe a window regulator or two. But at his price point everything should be working. I may be pickier than most about buying old rovers. But it's just because I know what you can buy them for if you wait long enough. If I'm paying more than 2k for a DI everything better be working.

For me if I find a truck where the seller lists out the issues and then says it's an easy & Cheap fix. I walk away. You know why? Because if an owner can't be bothered to fix the easy cheap stuff then why would they fix the more difficult and expensive stuff. It's a sign of neglect and lack of caring for your car. My DI is a trail truck trailer queen and all my windows and seats work. The only things that don't work are things I disabled intentionally.

 

I think this one is also a decent one:
1997 Land Rover Discovery D1 Loaded

Thanks for your time / help...

 

that ones does not seem bad and with the emissions issue you can probably still talk him down some on the price.

It has a fair amount of mods already included, so if you're going to go that route anyway this would be a good start. Basically I would look at that as paying 1,200 for the truck and 2,200 for the mods. I did some quick back of the envelope calcs on what he's got on that truck and you could probably sell just the mods for at least 2,600 with a little patience and that's at my cheap bastard prices.

The emissions, issue is hard to speculate on. It could be as simple as a couple of O2 sensors. Which by the way Advance Auto Parts now has for $76 each before any online discounts. But it could also be something more serious.

Ok another question, are you planning to work on this truck or will you have a shop work on it?

 

I would think you could find something in the 135-150k mile range for that kind of money.

Chances are whatever you find, is going to need some expensive maintenance up front like:

1) Outer Axle (Wheel) leaks - Requires disassembly of the entire front wheel/hub on each side. It's not a cheap job for a shop to do. But if you do it once and the swivel pins, you probably won't have to touch them again.
2) Intake Manifolsd leak, or headgasket leak - Requires top end engine disassembly. They start leaking at this mileage or so.
3) Swivel Pins loose - See #1 above.
4) Bunch of electrical issues
5) Headliner sagging
6) Likely to need brakes/fluids
7) Plug wires (you're looking at $120 for a set of Magnacores)
8) Leather seats tearing
9) All 3 O2 sensors need replacing

That's a short list. You could drop another $2,500 - $3,000 just fixing the things listed above on deferred maintenance alone. Afterwards you should have a reliable rig. If you can find one where most of those things are fixed, then it'll save you having to spend the # on them.

 

Check the frame for rust, eaten through type of rust. Also check for rust in the floor under the carpets in the front passenger area and rear cargo area. Make sure the CDL works I would agree that the D1 you posted looks like a good prospect and seems like it has been taken care of, at least in recent years, by the current owner.

 

First off... I would like to say thank you very much for the great input. I have come to the conclusion that 4x4s in the Colorado Springs area are priced high - ugh! However the 97 Loaded D1 with the mods is looking like where I will be going. I wanted to get the mods anyways, so it is saving me the $$ up front. As for the emissions - here's hoping it is an easy fix.
One the posts asked if I was going to do the work OR the shop. The answer is a little of both. I have a busy family life, however the reason I want a rover is for the off roading and the 'tinkering' I am looking for a vehicle that I can keep for a long time.
I will post once I have purchased... Which should be this week.
Cheers!!

 

Good luck, I asked about if you were going to do the work yourself. Because if you were not I was going to steer you away from a DI. Although they are very cheap to buy. They are not very cheap to have them worked on. There are very few shops that "Know" what they are doing and they are mostly not cheap.

You can find most parts cheaper now than in the past. But labor is a major killer. There was an old saying about buying a Jag but I definitely think it applies to DI's also. Especially when using a shop to do the work. "The cheapest thing about owning a DI is buying it". I bought a '96 DI a while back and found quote from a shop in the glove box. To bring the truck back up to spec. It was $6,800 and included nothing major in my opinion. I bought the truck for about 40% of KBB. It was a clean, mint, low mileage DI. But the owner got so scared by that quote. That he just dumped the truck.

 

When you look at these the outer sheet metal is aluminum so they look good forever, its under the carpets and door jambs that rot out

Everyone's given you a good idea what to look for, this is a pretty do it yourself vehicle with some tools and a lot of knowledge from this board

Some repairs look daunting but once you do em you realize how easy they were

Buying that one cheap with the off road stuff in the 3k range would be my choice, all that stuff adds up if that's what you want, as long as it was decent maintained, definitely expect to spend $ bringing maintenance up to date since most people ignore stuff till it breaks, think at this point I have almost rebuilt my d1 to new lol. I payed 2200 bone stock like 5 years ago around 130k on it?