Thread: Defender buying advice wanted

Hi
I tried this in "general" but no replies so I'll try here.

My Nephew is looking at buying a circa 2005 110 wagon with which to tow a camper.

First question, what sort of money should he be looking at?

Second question, what should he be looking out for as signs to avoid any particular vehicle?

Third question, what are the pros and cons of this era Deefer?

Thanks,
Steve

You probably know most of this as it looks like you have a 110 but for your Nephew's benefit ....

I bought a 2004 Defender, for a different reason.

It was for work because the Radar equipment I use at work would not fit in the rear door of the 105 LandCruiser easily. And I tow a Tradies Trailer for the other stuff I need.

The Defender is so good at what I use it for that I sold both my LandCruisers & now only use the Defender, and I also have done some Touring trips towing a Offroad Van, and are also shortly undertaking a 12 month round Australia trip in it.

The TD5 defender is much much better off road than my three previous LandCruisers, (the Traction Control is excellent) much more economical and as far as towing the van its a little more pitchy/ bouncy over bumps in the road but way more powerful than the 105 esp when going uphill or overtaking - probably a match in power for the 80 series turbo diesel but uses 30% less fuel.


Downsides compared to the Toyotas is they are noisy & have a crap air conditioner and you need to be mechanically minded as you will always be tinkering on it. Also the rear passenger leg room is minuscule.

I was lucky with mine because it already had a Salisbury in the Rear, If it didn't I'd be fitting an Eaton/Detroit TrueTrack and some HD axles into the P38 rear end.
( BTW I did fit a TrueTrac to the Salisbury - the difference off road is amazing, )

For a well maintained one that has the bugs ironed out (oil pump bolt, exhaust manifold , injector loom ) 30 g is about right.

Hi Steve

You might also like to explore the forum for pro and con the older 300tdi, circa 94 to 98. Some people like me prefer less electrics than the TD5.

They are both good models but he might find there is less to learn on a TDi.

Just reading an article about a 94 130 with 1 million k's that has only had the head done on the motor side of things anyway, this would be very rare.

With all of them you must look for rust under the doors, fire wall, and chasis.

They tow well and I bought mine to see Australia with a camper trailer in tow. I had been driving my mates 98 130 since he bought it but have always been an LR man and been around them most of my life.

The advantage of the older ones is they are cheaper. I paid 12k for mine and am happy to spend around 20k making new and improved in some areas such as heavy duty equipment and larger volume radiator, more battery and few nice things like nav systems, in build compressor, diff locks and fluffy dice

If he just wants a standard car a bit newer, the TD5 would be fine, just watch for rust and do the normal pre purchase checks by a good LR machanic. Then keep the maintenance going properly.

Tony