Never owned a land rover but I'm gonna join the fray my son recently bought an 03 disco and is really enjoying it and suggested it would be fun to adventure together and I agree. I've had a few American full sized 4x4 trucks over the years but never a rover. From my readings it appears for the price you pay they are extremely capable. And I'm not opposed to turning a wrench and am relatively mechanical so other than tearing the bottom end of a motor apart I'm good to go.
I'm thinking disco 1 around 1997 model year I've found one with 167,000 miles on it appears to run good no obvious knocks clicks etc. It has an after market aluminum 4 core radiator and all new lines thermostat etc. So I don't think it will be running too hot ,3"terra for me lift with extended brake lines rack and so on. He us asking 3,000
should the high mileage on the 4.0 scare me? I know it will need love but how durable are these motors?
thanks Randy

 

They are known for head gasket failures and that gets expensive if it does fail. You may have one that has been replaced if it has a new radiator (??) The Disco 1 has a different t-case setup than the LR3, my opinion is that i is better, but that's just me. You want to take a look at the front axle swivel ***** (at each end of the axle) as they are known to corrode and leak the oil out, which makes a mess with all the bearings and CV joints. here is an early 'chrome' version and a later teflon version. You want the teflon version if possible. Grab each wheel and give them a shake up and down, forward and back to check for looseness indicating a problem, or an adjustment is needed. listen for squeak from the front drive shaft as they tend to dry up from the exhaust right by them and need to be greased regularly.

With the added lift, it may have been well taken care of, or abused, a look underneath will tell the tale.
If you are not familiar with a Land Rover, you will be amazed at what these things will do off road! The 1997 motor was made by Jaguar...

 

thanks for the reply, do I have to lift the front end or will can it be done on the ground?

 

You can do the wiggle test with it sitting on the ground, If it moves, then dig deeper.

 

FYI - i just pulled one of those 4 core aluminum rads I put in back in August - leaking like crazy.
I would not buy any rover beyond 98 personally.