It is always great to catch up with you, dear reader, as you share some great stories and experiences that are nothing short of inspirational. Take Nicholas, who I was chatting to in the early part of the year. He had a tired old Subaru Impreza with a very considerable mileage, and you can read about it some more on the opposite page.
Nicholas needed family transportation, so you might think he would go for the obvious SUV. For a while he was talking to me about Porsche Cayennes. It seems that I am now the go-to idiot for advice on just how to acquire and cope with a cheap highrise Porker.
Anyway, he did the utterly unthinkable and bought an old Land Rover Discovery. You can certainly make a case for the Disco 1, certainly not a 2, and maybe a Discovery 4 would not be so bad. Indeed, he even sent me a picture of it mid-dump run. He’s happy with his Disco 4, and given that the new Defender is rather brick-like, it looks like a smart move. So instead of paying £45,000-plus for a new 110, it’s possible to get a Discovery 4 for rather less.
I was rather excited to find a Commercial version at £5995. That would buy you a 2010, albeit with a staggering 250,000 miles. I came across quite a few six-figure-mileage Discos. Clearly, then, they must be around for the long haul. It had the 2.7TD engine and there was none of the VAT that commercials can attract, but I’ve got a commercial Land Rover I will never sell, so let’s keep searching.
With around £8500 to spend you will get a 3.0 SD V6 in GS or HSE trim from 2010 and with 100,000 miles. I even saw a 2012 with a fancy snorkel at £8999 and 22 service stamps. If you look around you’ll find cars with comprehensive service records that are very reassuring. Also the more you look at a Disco 4, the more you think that it’s really a Defender with knobs on.
Not sure I’m brave enough to consider the brick-like Disco 3, though. Prices also start at just below £3000 for a 2005 2.7 TD SE. And being a Discovery you can get seven seats, which often prove to be surprisingly useful. I rather liked a 2005 with 140,000 miles and the fact that the seller had spent £5000 in the past few years so you don’t have to. That’s the problem with these: in later years they become money pits, so best to let someone else do all that expensive mining for you.
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Stop advertisement here, Autocar
It must be your official policy, since we enter an new era of attrition with all these ads.
sabre wrote:
Well worked out, you must be as sharp as your only tooth.
Discovery 4
Nicholas is also enjoying the benefit of owning a handsome, four-square SUV, unlike the current model, with its awkward "cab backward" and tail-heavy appearance.
I like the idea of a big old
I like the idea of a big old high mileage Landrover but the potential downsides really do frighten me off. My worry is even if 5k has been spent how long before the next big bill lands on the mat (or driveway in the forms of a big puddle).
Good to read James doing what he does well .