Hey guys, just looked at a 2001 Disco II today and I really liked what I saw. Took it for a quick 10 min test drive as I just showed up and didn't have the time to do much else.

The truck has some paint and bodywork issues, dings, small dents, scratches and a small crack in the front bumper. Nothing major. Underneath the truck looks solid. Surface rust on the frame and oil coated pans. Doesn't look like anything is dripping, but there is fluids seeping from some gaskets.

The truck had a sticky ignition, but started fairly well. No smoke, no noises, no sweet coolant smell from the exhaust. I took it for a quick spin and the steering felt really solid, as did the suspension. Trans shifted pretty smoothly, nothing made odd noises. I played with some of the electronics and the front sunroof didn't open, the rear worked fine. The radio was ok, it's the stock head unit with a cassette player! A/C was cold and the controls seemed to work.

The brakes. They were really, really spongy. Now that might be normal because of the size and weight of the truck compared to it's small brakes. I currently drive a BMW so I find anything but a BMW seems to have garbage brakes.

Talking to the seller, he said quite a bit of work was done to the truck. He had a list of stuff recently done (within a week or so) as well as some records dating back a few years.

It's had a ton of electrical stuff fixed. Lights, heated seat, front sunroof, door lock actuators and window regs. The front drive shaft was replaced with a new one, couldn't tell if it was greased or not. Trans was replaced a couple of years back. He said the front pads were changed and the rotors resurfaced. The rears looked ok. Might need new rotors all around and new pads too.

The tires were really good, 90% or so all around on winters. Spare was the same and 100%.

The truck has 283xxx kms on it which really scares me. But since it ran so well I think I'll pull the trigger on it. They're asking $3500 for it, should I low ball at $2500? The only thing that will need to be replaced as far as I can see to pass a safety check is the windshield.

What do you all think? Yay or nay?

 

Hmmm, your dosh so your choice eh. Sounds like a heap of poo to me with 170K miles on the clock with no records and supposedly lots of work done Personally I would not touch it only as a spares hack for $500.

 

Keep looking, and it's mostly an issue of price. He's asking too much. Save as much money as you can now, you might need it later.

 

I agree on price. Personally, I much prefer a D2.

Throw him $1k and see what happens. Where I am the prices range from about $4k to $10k at some dealers. Just keep looking.

 

I am an oddball but I think that any running vehicle that doesn't have obvious problems is worth at least 2k. I've lived that theory a few times with no regrets. The lack of service records doesn't put me off on a cheap car but that may be because I live nowhere near a dealership so leather bound service books just aren't common here. In the salad days or with a recent model I'd expect records and a higher price.

But when someone has done a lot of work recently and then suddenly decides to sell it is a pretty good sign that he or his mechanic found some show stopper problem, like maybe head gaskets, low compression, or metal on some drain plug. If you can find that out and have no issues with whatever it would take to repair it then I wouldn't drive myself nuts over 2 Gs. I wouldn't pay anywhere close to 3500 for a 2001. I'm not put off by oil seep, within reason, but replacing the front and rear seals can require pulling the engine... eek.

Reach under it and see if it has a locking CDL... some 01's do. I'd also hook up a code reader and look for pending codes.

 

Just so you guys know, I'm in Canada so it's Canadian dollars. Not sure if this place would take Anything lower than $2500. They have almost all the service records for the truck, they're a highly reputable Rover/English car repair facility and it's their vehicle. Does that change anything? They said the stuff they changed they did so to make it safe to sell.

 

That changes it all for me. For the better.

 

Thanks Charlie. Going to go give her a nice long test drive and see if I can force it to get hot, or be ever more pleased with it.

 

Take along a code reader and temp reader.

Make a note of the coolant level before a long drive and after.

Front sunroof may have been sealed up for leaking.

You can always haggle on the price of a windshield.

Good luck.

 

Windshields: Not sure on the DII but on the D1 you are stuck having to buy the right and left trim pieces @ roughly $134.56 each; in addition to the cost of the windshield @ roughly $100.00, plus labor @ roughly $180.00. Makes for a 'more expensive than normal' windshield replacement.