Where to buy?

[patsaunders]

Good afternoon,

After a great deal of research in the forums and some brilliant answers to my questions from the members I have narrowed down the options for my ideal next car purchase. I am now in search of a Discovery 3 SE (or S with Air suspension, don't need the leather seats etc) and it seems my budget will restrict me to models post 160,000km major service.

I have searched repeatedly on all the major used car websites and have set up email alerts to let me know if anything comes up. A few nice ones have come up, however, I am wondering if anyone has any other recommendations of where to look? Are there any lesser known websites (or other places offline) that are or have been known to advertise 'quality' used land rovers? For example when I bought my VW transporter I found a guy who picked up ex NSW ambulances in great condition.

I realize I may just need to be patient for the right car to come along but if "the right one" is sitting out there and I don't know about it i'll be pretty bummed haha.

Any info is greatly appreciated!

[oldsalt]

Good luck with your search Pat, someone on here may know of a good vehicle for you... knowing what your budget is will be a big help.
I got mine through "Carsales"... took a while and a lot of phone calls etc but it was worth all the work... love my D3.
cheers

[RickO]

G'Day Pat,

My beloved, but recently superseded, MY08 Stornoway Grey SE will be going on the market (the forum & carsales.com.au) mid next week.

My previous pride and joy has just under 140k on the clock, has had one owner since new, no accidents, a new windscreen, has a full LR service history and has had no expense spared mechanically after just coming off a novated lease in Oct last year. In addition to no 'hard' towing or offroading, it has an ARB Deluxe winch bar + Warn winch, Traxide DB kit, tinted windows, Mitch hitch and the AUX input 'fix' often mentioned on the forum.

I'll be looking for somewhere around $33k if this is within your budget.

RickO

[patsaunders]

Thanks guys.

The initial budget is around $25K as i've seen a few out there in reasonable condition in that area. That price is obviously for higher mileage cars, usually without the extras like bull bar, winch etc as mentioned above (cars without these items give me a bit more confidence that they haven't been used much off road and then I can build it up "my way") but if what i'm looking for is already bolted on i'd be happy to spring a little more upfront, especially if its in great shape mechanically. ( @RickO ill be sure to check your car out).

Thanks again for the input!

[rar110]

I keep looking at the MY08 D3 on car sales with 235000km currently for $24k. It's nearing a price that's attractive for me. Resale is the big issue.

[patsaunders]

Hi rar110,

yeah I saw that one too, there are a couple of interesting ones on carsales at the moment i'm considering 4-5. I don't think "resale value" is as much of a concern when your looking at higher mileage cars (i'm looking to own long term). There is another $24k one on there with a new engine thats done far fewer K's and has some extras (bullbar, snorkle, etc) interested to know why you keep coming back to the higher KM model?

Has anyone seen any nice examples "offline"?

[crawal]

i too looked and waited found one in QLD with all the good gear , it was listed on Gumtree but took 6 months of looking :)

[Epic pooh]

Odd as it may sound, eBay is another place to keep an eye on Pat.

[patsaunders]

Thanks crawal and epic pooh, I hadn't considered gumtree or eBay for whole cars (parts and wheels maybe) I'll keep an out there too!

Has anyone got any ideas why there are some HSE's available around the same price as SE models with similar km's and service history? I'm assuming most HSE owners have are upgrading to the D4 and so just want to move their D3? Or is there something it need to know about resale wise for the higher model?

Thanks

[rar110]

Hi rar110, There is another $24k one on there with a new engine thats done far fewer K's and has some extras (bullbar, snorkle, etc) interested to know why you keep coming back to the higher KM model?

Price. Higher km is ok unless it means high repair costs like diffs and auto box.

[Epic pooh]

Pat, the seats in the HSE are awesome - as cars age the difference in price between specification kind of goes by the wayside and the real driver of price will be condition/service history/mileage.

[patsaunders]

Thanks Epic pooh, there is a really nice HSE near me I'll have to check out.

[morpheus]

Have to agree with Epic with seats. I was after an SE (main thing I wanted was rear air), but after sitting in the HSE leather seats... I was sold. The HSE came with a lot of the specced up options standard I believe. I didn't realise until after I bought it that I had the full Logic7 HK sound system and adaptive headlights. So, so good.

[LandyAndy]

Auctions are another place to pick up vehicles.There is a D4 hidden in this one.Perhaps BMKal could have a look see.
Major Earth Moving Auction (http://www.graysonline.com/sale/9002009/earth-moving-and-mobile-plant/major-earth-moving-auction'spr=true)
Andrew

[Epic pooh]

Well, I daresay that would make your ears, eyes, bottom and wallet all very happy Morpheus.

Pat, as an idle pursuit I looked on carsales, there are a few very nice early V8 HSE's with low kms for pretty good prices. Not sure if they'd be a good buy or a pain in the wallet really, deferred maintenance and all those sorts of possibilities. Good luck with your looking !

[rar110]

Have to agree with Epic with seats. I was after an SE (main thing I wanted was rear air), but after sitting in the HSE leather seats... I was sold. The HSE came with a lot of the specced up options standard I believe. I didn't realise until after I bought it that I had the full Logic7 HK sound system and adaptive headlights. So, so good.

What's adaptive headlights?

[Epic pooh]

They're funky bi-xeon headlights that turn as the car steers (supplemented by some extra cornering lights for town speeds) - swivel in the direction of travel (called AFS in LR speak).

This video gives a demo of them. Land Rover LR3 - Technology - YouTube

More detail:

"The AFS has three modes of operation:

Manoeuvring mode
Normal driving mode
High speed mode
Reverse mode.

Manoeuvring mode is used for speeds up to 18.6 mph (30 km/h). Manoeuvring mode only moves the xenon projector module on the side of the vehicle towards the direction of turn, e.g. Left hand projector module moves to the left during a left hand turn. The opposite projector module is fixed and does not move. This mode allows the maximum amount of swivel range of the projector module to 15 degrees.

Normal driving mode is used for speeds between 18.6 and 43.5 mph (30 and 70 km/h). Normal driving mode moves both xenon projector modules at a ratio of 3:1, e.g during a left hand turn, the left hand projector module moves 3 degrees and the right hand projector module moves 1 degree. This mode allows the maximum amount of swivel range of the projector module in the direction of the turn to 12 degrees.

High speed mode is used for speeds above 43.5 mph (70 km/h). High speed mode moves both xenon projector modules at a ratio of 3:1, e.g during a left hand turn, the left hand projector module moves 3 degrees and the right hand projector module moves 1 degree. This mode allows the maximum amount of swivel range of the projector module in the direction of the turn to 10 degrees.

Reverse mode disables the swivel function when reverse gear is selected. The AFS projector modules move to their central straight ahead position and the static bending lamp, if active, will go off. When reverse gear is deselected, the AFS projector modules will move to a position to match the steering angle and the static bending lamp will illuminate if the operating conditions are correct (i.e. vehicle speed above 1.86 mph (3 km/h)."

[rar110]

Wow impressive but sounds complex. Is it a feature that tends to malfunction in the older D3s?

[morpheus]

Mine seems to work fine still. Pretty handy.

Patsaunders - I combed carsales for almost a year (about three to four months of which was serious looking, the rest was research). I used Gumtree too and kept a close eye on pickles.com.au. In the end the car I bought was through word of mouth - I heard that it was being traded in and went to the dealer to look at it the second it hit the yard.

[Epic pooh]

Rar, my experience is that the electronic components are very reliable. I've never had any electronic issues with mine (touch wood) other than my memory seat computer which suffered a slow descent into insanity so I changed it out recently as I was sick of my mirrors not returning to their correct positions after reversing (auto-dip madness !).

The only electronic/electrical stuff ups worth mentioning in my 9 year old vehicle have been driven by mechanical issues. For example, compressor dryer unit = eventual compressor replacement; sticky flaps/levers and farting noises from HVAC system which I ignored for too long has eventually led to failure of actuator and necessitates a dash out repair ... in a couple of weeks, total cost will be $580 for dealer to R&R dash to fit $100 part ... then my HVAC will work properly and the buzzing on startup that drives me nuts will be fixed.

If they've been treated respectfully (ie. not used as a submarine or on para-military operations haha), I reckon the main things to watch out for are really suspension related (eg. bushes, compressor), driveline related (eg. bearings in general) and maintenance related (eg. autobox, diffs, xfer case fluid changes) - and in the case of the V8, the cooling system (stupid plastic parts need attention with age, change all the ones prone to failure at coolant change time has been my approach).

[rar110]

Thanks gents for the detailed replies.

[morpheus]

The only electronic/electrical stuff ups worth mentioning in my 9 year old vehicle have been driven by mechanical issues. For example, compressor dryer unit = eventual compressor replacement; sticky flaps/levers and farting noises from HVAC system which I ignored for too long has eventually led to failure of actuator and necessitates a dash out repair ... in a couple of weeks, total cost will be $580 for dealer to R&R dash to fit $100 part ... then my HVAC will work properly and the buzzing on startup that drives me nuts will be fixed.

If they've been treated respectfully (ie. not used as a submarine or on para-military operations haha), I reckon the main things to watch out for are really suspension related (eg. bushes, compressor), driveline related (eg. bearings in general) and maintenance related (eg. autobox, diffs, xfer case fluid changes) - and in the case of the V8, the cooling system (stupid plastic parts need attention with age, change all the ones prone to failure at coolant change time has been my approach).

Interesting you say that about the aircon, Epic. Mine farts a bit too, when turning the fans on or off - is the list what you experienced? How did it deteriorate? Mine is about the same age.

[Epic pooh]

Yes that's what mine was doing on and off, got worse (over about 3 years) and now happens all the time when you press the recirc button and has led to actuator failure (buzzing). The root cause is lack of lubrication on one of the mixer flap plastic rod parts - you can fix it if you have small hands and want to take the stereo head unit out and some other things (look up burping / farthing on disco3.co.uk as there is a detailed guide there). My hands are too big to get in to fix it and I was too lazy ... Renovating house at the moment so off to the dealer to fix as I'd rather spend my time working in the house instead of the car !

[patsaunders]

Thanks everyone for the great information! this has become a really detailed and helpful thread for people like me starting out with land rovers.

I am inspecting a couple this week, fingers crossed.