Hi all,

I am fairly new to this site but over the past couple of weeks, I've been looking at D2's and Land Cruisers to purchase. Only thing that scares me with the D2, is that it seems like it's hit or miss on how well it will run and how much money I'll be putting into it. With that being said, can anyone guide me on what exactly to look for in the car fax and previous maintenance history? Seems like if I'm not careful, a lot of technical issues could be over looked.

I've narrowed it down to the two listed below. The first one I'm attracted to because the dealer claims to have replaced a lot of the common issues "if needed", I'll have to look more at the history to see exact details.

http://scottrodesauto.com/ads/2004-land-rover-discovery-se-4--newland-north+carolina/

I like the second one for it's low mileage and only having one owner. It's a private dealer which is another concern.

http://www.blueskyautomotivesales.com/mobile/mdetails.aspx?VID=11154251

I realize both are a little high for a D2, but if that means paying an upfront cost and not having to put much into it the next couple of years, I'm fine with that (mainly talking about the first ad). I really just want to get a few good years out of it as a primary driver and then make it more of a weekend car/project once I know what I'm doing mechanically.

Any insight is greatly appreciated!

 

Thats a lot of money for Discovery with 120k. Says they replaced all the seals and gaskets...I wonder if that includes head gaskets.

Are you handy with a wrench? If not, may I suggest the Land Cruiser instead.

Don't get me wrong, I love my Disco. I've owned it for 15 years. But if I had to take it to the dealer or a mechanic every time I needed to fix it, I'd be broke.

 

$9900 at 120,000mi is high.

If getting a DII, do your research.Whatever you decide, you need to either personally inspect the vehicle or if buying sight unseen, have the seller send many photos of evey angle including undercarriage. Get detailed reports of what work was done as well. Lastly, be patient. And lastly lastly, I would advise against it as a daily driver unless it had low miles and you know the service history. These vehicles make very fun secondary toys and are unique. Good luck.

edit: Just looked at the second link. 1-Owner, 86k miles for $7,900. That's not terrible. If it is a well maintained 1-Owner with records. Negotiate the price as low as you can if this is your pick.

 

Mmm, two camps for disco 2 buying in my opinion.

Camp 1: Be rich, buy lowest mileage, cleanest disco you can find, regardless of price. Pay professional rover shop to do all work and modifications for rest of time.

Camp 2: pay 1-3k for the cleanest one you can find, inside and out, with the most working electrical Parts (this isn't a hard criteria there are a lot that look pretty good), but is a mechanical wreck. Spend another 3-8k building a mechanically bullet proof disco. Perhaps a $500 Parts rover as well.

 

Thanks for the advice everyone. So after exploring a lot of the threads on here, I think it makes the most sense to buy one for $1500-$2000 as good as I can find and just have it be my secondary car/project for the next couple of years. Seems like I'll be putting money into it regardless so I'd rather do it on my time and not have to worry about it as my primary driver.