A friend of my uncles is selling a 1996 Discovery SE7 with 129,000 miles on it to me for $3,500, i drove it and looked it over fairly well. the interior is clean for the most part,except for the following things:
the stitching on the front drivers seat came, but my brother does upholstery so that can be fixed.
the bezel that holds all of the switches around the gauges is loose, should be an easy fix too.
the other thing is that the two rear windows dont roll down at all, the front ones work fine when you press the switches, but the rear ones dont. could it just a fuse issue or is there something more to it?

Is there anything that i should keep an eye out for that normally goes out with these cars? common issues? My other car is a 2001 VW Jetta so Im already used to paying alot for parts and labor too, but as of lately ive been doing alot of the maintence on the jetta myself and plan on doing the same thing with this Discovery, from just glancing around these forums ive noticed that there are different types of discoverys 1 and 2. is that just the way to distinguish the different generations of them? so the 96 would be a what then?

Does it seem that its a fair price for the car?? and any advice on the car would help too. is there any maintaince items that i should look into immediatly?
And sorry for the 20 questions!! TIA
-Iggy

 

You have a Disco I,Disco II's came out in 99 and Disco I's
ended in 99.

The tail lights are the biggest giveaway.

Window ECM keeps the rear window from working most times
British Atlantic has a kit for $20 that may fix it.

Get a service manual as the Disco I's are the easiest to work
on.

You will have small oil leaks no need to sweat it they all
leak a little oil.

If you take it as a truck and not as I'm only getting this
so I can be "IN ,, COOL" person you will be happy if not
you will not like it.

The price is fair, see if you get the owners manual it will
tell you what it needs and when.
A Service history would be good for that also.

You need to understand from the start that you will not
get good mpg's 11 to 14 intown and 14 to 17 hwy.
I get 11 to 12mpgs city and 14 to 16mpg hwy.

As you are looking at a LR that is 12 years old most
vacuum lines and rubber parts will need to be replaced
if not done already, this is not costly if you do it yourself.

There is no Hill descent/ traction control to make life
a pain, but you need to shift the tranfer case from high to
low at least once a mo to keep the linkage from sticking.

There a lot of little things that if you keep up with you will
have a great time owning a Land Rover.

 

I agree, price seems fair. There is a list on here for the 60K service. If you get the truck, do the service. That way you know what has been done. Not too costly, and it covers most things needed.

The fuel mileage is poor, so be ready for it, but it can be improved a little by replacing the O2 sensors. If they haven't been done, it is time.

Get a Rave CD from E-bay. It will make working on it a lot easier. The window lift ECU, as mentioned is probably the cause of your failing windows. You can also take it apart and check the board for broken solder joints.