Thread: Looking for advice on a 1997 Disco

Looks like its had a pretty hard life. See how negotiable he is.

Dave

Originally Posted by SouthOz

Looks like its had a pretty hard life. See how negotiable he is.

Dave

good point

Its well kitted out but i would suggest looking at cleaner non abused vehicles, not saying it has been but for a first timer you want a reliable standard truck.

Bought ours, a '98 Tdi manual about 3 years ago for $4800 on Ebay, it only had 170,000Klms on it, but was none-the-less abused, (originally from Booraloola, in the gulf country), ours has turned out to be a reliable old Disco, and was the best for what money we wanted to spend at the time.
Despite what others have said, if this '97 is only to be used for "going bush' and as a second car, with the equipment already fitted you have a great start, the old beasts are pretty reliable, off road capable and economical to run and if you look in this forum you will read of many D1's that have over half million k's on them, and the owners have lots of good advice and ideas for keeping them running.
If you are reasonably careful when doing your pre-purchase check you should be able to negotiate a good price for condition, it really does not look to bad to be truthful and with all the "fruit" the price is close to good value, if the can be roadworthy and there is no need to pay a premium for something "prettier" if this will do the job. If you are not mechanically talented, (a good skill to have when you own a Land Rover), get a "spanner head" mate to have a look for you.
The "as is where is" could be indicating some major impediment though, no good spending your money on something that needs heaps spent to get through roadworthy.
Good luck with your search/purchase, you will not be sorry when you drive a Disco out in the bush, it's as good as it gets. Gaz

What Gazby said ! Totally agree.

Lots of high-mileage, hard-worked Discos are out there still doing their thing, and that one has some really good gear on it. If it is mechanically OK and the rest meets your standards then why not? You could do a lot worse.

Just came back from the Vic High Country with a (bog-stock) D2a and a tweaked Colorado and well-modded Rodeo. My Disco just did it so easily and comfortably. It was a joy and a doddle to wheel. The two Discos were also the only two that didn't suffer any form of mechanical issues at all. Mine's got over 340k on the clock and is now just my toy, but it treaded the boards for many years as my daily without drama.

Go for it!

Maybe ask the owner when the timing belt was last changed as you could be up for another $800 - $1000 unless you can do it yourself.
The (revised) recommended change interval is every 60,000km if my memory serves me right.




Cheers
Mark

Happily I am no longer a timing virgin - in fact last month I changed a timing chain on my wife's Terios for my first time, so it turns out I possess the capability/willingness to open an engine myself. I didn't have to hoist the engine for that job though (although in retrospect it would have saved a week of my life if I had...)...

I'm considering myself to be a willing beginner at working on an engine. I know which end of the torque wrench to use, and I know enough to follow the darn workshop manual precisely...

in my opinion mate you can get better deals than that. there's plenty of discos around with less than 250k on the clock and similar price. i got mine almost 2 years back for 8k but had low 200k on the clock and many many extras and complete service history from the start of her life and receipts etc. of all work done and parts added and mods. you can find ones in the 6k mark which have done far less work. this looks like a farm pig and has been used properly.