Hello

[M J B]

Hello

I am not sure where i should post this, but just thought i would say hello as this is my first post.

I have been looking around for a Land Rover forum for ages (well a decent one) and i think i just found it :Cool:

Been buying LRO for nearly a year now and going for a test drive in a 90 Hard Top TDi 300 next week. Any good links to info on buying etc?

Mark

[Newsreader]

Originally posted by M J B
Hello

I am not sure where i should post this, but just thought i would say hello as this is my first post.

I have been looking around for a Land Rover forum for ages (well a decent one) and i think i just found it :Cool:

Been buying LRO for nearly a year now and going for a test drive in a 90 Hard Top TDi 300 next week. Any good links to info on buying etc?

Mark

Hi MJB,

Welcome!:yay: This is by far the best LR forum around, you've come to the right place.

Do you mean info about where to buy, or what to look for in a landy?

Bernie

[M J B]

thank you for the quick reply.

I was just asking if anyone knew of some links to info on buying a defender. I am looking at getting a DIEsel (hope that was someone being funny putting that lol)

I watch a fair bit of rallying all over the UK, would you say im mad wanting a landy to do a fair few miles in? Whats a good cruising speed for motorways? Im only looking at spending around 8k you see, so its not going to be a brand spanker.

Guess i should do a few searchs to save asking a million and one questions.

Thanx, Mark

[Newsreader]

Originally posted by M J B
thank you for the quick reply.

I was just asking if anyone knew of some links to info on buying a defender. I am looking at getting a DIEsel (hope that was someone being funny putting that lol)

I watch a fair bit of rallying all over the UK, would you say im mad wanting a landy to do a fair few miles in? Whats a good cruising speed for motorways? Im only looking at spending around 8k you see, so its not going to be a brand spanker.

Guess i should do a few searchs to save asking a million and one questions.

Thanx, Mark

The blue one in my avatar is a 97 (P) 300 Tdi, I've just paid 8.5k (private) for it, and it's a station wagon which is dearer than a hard top, so I'd say your 8k should get you something pretty decent, not sure it'll stretch to a *good* Td5 though.

I do a 200-300 mile round trip in it about every 3 weeks, and it cruises comfortably at 70, though a fair bit noisier than a modern saloon car. :p I'd be happy to do more long distance driving in it if I had to, but then I am a landy fanatic - if you;re hooked you;re hooked. I hitnk it'll do a steady 80 or so, don;t really want go to any faster...:buck:

As for buying, when I looked there were quite a lot of hard tops with dealers on auto trader website and fish 4 cars website, but obviously dealers charge more. I was keen to have a FSH which isn;t hard on a 5-y-o LR, and is quite reassuring - mines' done 57k and has been checjed over every six months from new, though it hasn't had the timing belt done so I ought to get it done - they tend to go and make a mess if they do.

Otherwise, look at the chassis underneath for rust, then look at the chassis again... A sound chassis is very important, little rust or big bumps and bangs. Even more so a sound bulkhead (between driver/passenger and engine bay) - try and lift up carpet, look at the footwells, under the windscreen etc - rust round there is a sign of a hard life and expensive MOT fail in store!

This was my first tdi so I took advice from the forum - it should turn over and start instantly with just a puff of smoke form the exhaust (look in the ns door mirror as you start it), and should idle cleanly and evenly. Look for signs of diesel / oil leaks under the bonnet... Have a good look and listen with it idling before you test it, then give it a good run and have another good look and listen, see if anything has emerged during your drive.

You should test it through all the gears incl reverse in lo and hi ratios, and with difflock on and off if possible.

Well there's loads more but that should get you started - don;t know how much you know about buying cars generally... but just shout if you want to know more!

HTH
Bernie

[Lighting90]

Well, a 300TDi will be okay for cruising the M-ways, I have a 200 TDI Station Wagon, and that has managed 90 on a german autobahn, though we started to wonder at that point how long it would take us to stop and slowed down... :p
I use the 90 to travel to work every so often and can sit quite happily at 70 to 75mph... though I am on an economy drive at the moment, so have slowed down to 65mph...


Post away, and ask any question you like, we will try and answer them if we can...

[M J B]

ah cheers guys!

You have answered my main questions, cant wait for the test drive now. I have to have one :D

I live near-ish to derbyshire and it seems like the social side of things should be good fun. Downside to things seems the £350 service bill. In the past i have serviced my own cars i.e oil, filters, plugs etc are they easy to work on or a swine?

Mark

[Newsreader]

THey are very easy to work on - if I can do it anyone can! Lots of clearance to crawl underneath, and a failry basic overall construction. The later model you get, the more electrickery it will have, but still they are not v sophisticated.

Get the LR workshop manual and keep asking questions on here! I try and do as much as I can of the basics, and save my pennies for the more tricksy stuff that I'm not so confident about.

Just a bit of regualr tlc, keep an eye on the levels etc, and it will serve you faithfully and outlive both you and me.

Use your test drive to put the vehicle thru its paces and ask lots of questions of the type 'oh I know nothing about Landies aren't they wonderful and aren't you clever mr dealer, whats that knob there for...?' - thats what I did. Private sellers I think can get impatient with newbies and frutsrated if you abuse the car a bit, whereas you can get away with more with a dealer, he's desperate to sell it to you!

[Lighting90]

Land Rovers, easy to work on..... hmmm, depends what you call easy... :p

One thing is, you don't have to put it on a ramp, you can crawl under and do most of the work, only ever have to jack it up and use axle stands when you take the wheels off...

The haynes manual has lots of single spanner jobs in it, compared to the Rover200 manual I also have... :buck:

[OldFart]

Originally posted by Lighting90
though I am on an economy drive at the moment whilst chewing munchie bars

Ah....so thats why you could'nt keep up with the Duchess :p

Hi MJB :bigwave:

Welcome, we're all nutz, and **** take loads ....have fun :yay:

[darrenptalbot]

Hi MJB :yay:

Welcome to the forum - they're a helpful lot!

I've had my Landy for about 3 months now & they've given me all kinds of useful advice - just ask away!

:p