As a side note: I'm looking to build and keep this rig long term, so I'm happy to put money in to keeping it going.
I hear a lot of people discussing what these are worth, and I'm not trying to pick a fight, but doesn't the market determine that? People are buying them at these prices, but it sounds like you guys are saying even so, if I knew better, I wouldn't?

 

Definitely sounds like a cool rig. What year? At 82k, the head gaskets are not unlikely, but for sure less likely to have been done yet. They WILL have to be done if they have not been already.

 

I wouldn't. I'd just look around places farther away than you have been looking. If you can't find the right deal then give it a couple months. If you want it now and you're willing to over pay, go for it.

 

They have not been done already but I am assuming that I will have to do this on pretty much anything. Are there any warning signs on them or do they just go out quick?
This higher priced one has everything done to it that I wanted to do plus a good tire so I feel like it might be worth it. I'm going to check it out anyway. It is a 2001

 

The low mileage one with the upgrades was super clean and super well maintained. Needs absolutely nothing until something breaks. I might go for that.

 

Hey before you jump in with both feet. Many will agree there is no other vehicle like a Land Rover. The Discovery 2 is known to be plagued with many problems. They are not like other SUV's, they are not good vehicles to be owned with above 110,000 miles. You should know that it's only a matter of time before the engine will fail. If you have a plan to do a major upgrade on the engine going into this that's another situation completely. If you believe that it's similar to a Ford explorer, or a Jeep Cherokee that will deliver over 250,000 miles of service life this vehicle will break the bank. I love my 2000 but it would be very expensive if I didn't do all the work on it my self. Most independent shops won't even touch one to work on unless the specialize in the repair and Maintenance. Please beware before you purchase. There are dead ones are all over Craigslist for $700- $2000 in the auto parts section and cars and trucks. In almost every major city.

 

I do all my own work, and I am accepting of this. I expect that the head gaskets will at some point soon fail, and I'll just for a full rebuild at that point. It is a shame that vehicles so rugged are known to have such terrible engines.

 

Other than the Head Gaskets, I consider my little 4.0 to have been a very good engine. Sure it makes about 100 HP LESS and burns twice as much gas than my Acura's 3.2 v6, but it pulls anything I put behind it. It gets the job done, it's just not very efficient. Kinda like me. Lol!

 

For those who were following:
I purchased the much more expensive 2001 for $5g. it Has 85,000 miles and less than 20 ago the guy I got it from did all the work, and I can tell he did a great job. And I know it goes against the joke, but this engine doesn't leak AND it's not empty.
Previous owner did all the upgrades I wanted to do, and did them very cleanly, so he saved me a lot of time and money. These are all less than 2 yeasrs old:
4" old man emu lift, ARB bumber with lights and winch, duratrac tires, 4 wheel drilled slotted discs with braided lines, CLD lever installed from a disco1, and 3rd row folders and all service. I have the factory service "passport" filled out to about 50k. It's clean, and the upgrades are worth the extra money imo. It drives super smooth and has the ACE.

I expect major service in the future and may buy some heads to start upgrading in the near future while I wait to blow the gaskets. I appreciate all the input people. I'm looking for other in the denver area to wrench, drive, and drink with, so hit me up!

 

For the benefit of others in our position, I bought my first Land Rover, a 2002 Discovery Series II SE7 with 170k, 6 months ago. I knew it would need some stuff but everything sounded nice and smooth.

I did all the prescribed high-mileage stuff and a few other needed mechanical things to the tune of about $1,800 (all DIY). I would say it's reasonable to expect to put at least that much into shoring up a neglected used ride (or something with no service records, as mine was). I'm in a pretty good spot now, but...

One thing I didn't consider much, and this is probably a rookie move, the frame and most of the other steel bits underneath are rusty pieces of toast. I should have expected that since I'm in a snow and salt state. Judging by the size of a few of the holes in the frame, I wonder if this could even handle an off-road pounding.

If I had it to do again, I'd insist on something pretty clean underneath. But hey, I was driving a SAAB, so this is an improvement any way you slice it—unless the slice is the 0-60 time.