Thread: Thinking of buying this Discovery

- Looks okay for height compared to my std 99, but then I can't remember if there were any susp changes between D2 and D2.5.

- For kays and age, it looks pretty cheap - maybe $3-$4k cheaper than it might be otherwise.

- Photos look like it has been detailed to within an inch of its life, pretty normal for Pickles. But it looks sensational on those internet pics, eh? That's the major problem with internet car photos, they are the car-buyers ultimate beer goggles.

- Having just tried to buy a (non-land Rover) at Pickles I am very sus on the whole auctions thing - this is an auction house, so if like Pickles here in Sydney despite being a 'cash price' deal, they won't let you drive it.

Just be careful, please... it could be a bargain, or a nightmare. V8 Discos can be really expensive if you don't know what you are looking at, and if service history is patch or if abused. I bought a 'bargain' D2 as my first Landy and it nearly put me off LRs altogether. It was almost right when I sold it, but cost me $3500 in the six months I had it, and lots of sleepless nights.

- If it turns out that it's okay (I would really check it over and get yourself a return ticket - don't do what I have done in the past and get a one-way ticket to buy a car interstate thinking the car must be good) and you want to take a punt on this car, you'll need a certificate to travel or some such, I made the calls abt this just a few weeks ago to travel from Brisbane to Sydney in a car I was looking at 4 sale.

You first need to buy a 3rd party insurnace cover (which I think you can do over the phone) and then front up at a Qld rego office to get the permit to travel.

Can't remember costs, not v. expensive BUT the insurance thing you may need to spend time with - NRMA had no idea what I was talking about and had to put me thru to abt 3 people before they could decide what to do.

My view on car sales are....

1: If you want security and a good car ... Go to a dealer / pay the top price as they cover you with warranty

2: If you want to take a chance & pay lower dollars you go and buy it privately and take your chances ... but at least you can get some history

3: An auction means ... No history / No responsibility .. So you buy on the basis that it is broken ... and if it works / then that is the bonus ... Hence ...pay the appropriate amount // In my view, the price should be in the region of "stole it"

Just remember that if it was, that good & real cheap ... How come the dealers didn't "snap it up"

Buyer beware at any Auction

Mike

yes buyer beware, years ago when I was an apprentice we used to do auctions for gov departments one vechile started good but had no gear box the lever was stuck in the floor (I was the one that put it there) but if buyer had stuck his head under he would have seen it was missing plus the day before you could do a test drive

Hi
Im in Townsville do you want me to have a quick look?
I have a ad2 04 TD5 Auto so not realy a good comparison
Steve

Hi Steve,

If it is not to much trouble I would appreciate a look at it.

Do you know what I would have to do if I drove it back?

Being English and here only a year its all new to me.

I also know from days in England that some crap goes through the auction.....but the last bloke I worked for when I was a mechanic is now a multi millionaire from buying cars at the auctions and selling!! So not everything is bad.

I just picked up my S2 Disco at pickles last week.

To answer your questions, you can get a permit to drive the car unregistered from pickles. It's $55 odd for 7 days, $80 odd for $28 days. This covers you to drive the vehicle.

Pickles also offer warranty for an additional $700. My suggestion, TAKE IT.
Just check it out first as the warranty I believe it's under their nominated repairers.

The whole Auction thing is a gamble. Agree with all the guys, photo's online can make anything look good.

If you know what you need to look for then you are %50 of the way there. I factored in mine would need work, unfortunately allot more than what I gambled for. The car looked good just needed a clean up, unfortuantely mechanically it needed the head doing and various things for RWC.

If you have a contact that can go over the car do it. It is a great way to save money, however do your homework, prepare to spend more money on the car say another $2k ontop of the buy price and you should cover yourself, then if you don't spend it, it's a bonus.

I got my 01 S2 disco for $7600 with 160k, by the time I am driving it on road it will probably owe me $12.

Cheers
JB

Is there any reason that you couldn't buy a slightly older D2 and get probably a better car? Yes, obvious reasons why a D2a would seem more attractive, but I have seen heaps of low-kay D2 V8s for around $10k. Even a dealer I went to a few weeks ago in Sydney to look at a car for my wife had two of them with around 100,000km and under $10k.

My near-perfect '99 V8 5-speed is probably not worth much more than $10k (no, it's not for sale) so if you spent $10-12k you'd get a minter with perfect history that you should have to spend very little or nothing on for a while. Trust me, that D2a will start to cost you with relatively minor things even. Cars are cheap to buy, but some of them become expensive to maintain/repair. I spent $1600 on my D2 just to get it sorted out - and that was minor stuff.

I have just bought a 2002 Renault Laguna wagon for my wife, and was amazed how tired a car can get in only 5-6 years on the road. I spent 2 months looking, and out of six cars I looked at, half had damage-repaired paint, two were almost undrivable due to steering shake, one had no coolant in the overflow reservoir and was overdue for a $2500 service and the prices ranged from $9500 to $19,900 for basically the same car, in surprisingly similar condition. It's really hard to know what's a fair price in the current market - they are all over the place.

I finally bought a car in Albury that was a private sale for $10,500, no panel work ever done but I will need to spend $2k to fix it up - relatively simple stuff like brakes all round, coolant bottle, engine access belt and pulley and an auto trans flush all add up.

I don't want to put you off this car, if you have time to go look at it and have got some experience looking at D2s and know what the problem areas are, then go for it - it could be really good.

Just remember, if you buy it, you own it. Sounds like a stupid and obvious thing to say, but trust me, that realisation comes with a terrible sinking feeling if it turns out to be a clunker...

Originally Posted by 4X4V8

Is there any reason that you couldn't buy a slightly older D2 and get probably a better car? Yes, obvious reasons why a D2a would seem more attractive, but I have seen heaps of low-kay D2 V8s for around $10k. Even a dealer I went to a few weeks ago in Sydney to look at a car for my wife had two of them with around 100,000km and under $10k.

My near-perfect '99 V8 5-speed is probably not worth much more than $10k (no, it's not for sale) so if you spent $10-12k you'd get a minter with perfect history that you should have to spend very little or nothing on for a while. Trust me, that D2a will start to cost you with relatively minor things even. Cars are cheap to buy, but some of them become expensive to maintain/repair. I spent $1600 on my D2 just to get it sorted out - and that was minor stuff.

I have just bought a 2002 Renault Laguna wagon for my wife, and was amazed how tired a car can get in only 5-6 years on the road. I spent 2 months looking, and out of six cars I looked at, half had damage-repaired paint, two were almost undrivable due to steering shake, one had no coolant in the overflow reservoir and was overdue for a $2500 service and the prices ranged from $9500 to $19,900 for basically the same car, in surprisingly similar condition. It's really hard to know what's a fair price in the current market - they are all over the place.

I finally bought a car in Albury that was a private sale for $10,500, no panel work ever done but I will need to spend $2k to fix it up - relatively simple stuff like brakes all round, coolant bottle, engine access belt and pulley and an auto trans flush all add up.

I don't want to put you off this car, if you have time to go look at it and have got some experience looking at D2s and know what the problem areas are, then go for it - it could be really good.

Just remember, if you buy it, you own it. Sounds like a stupid and obvious thing to say, but trust me, that realisation comes with a terrible sinking feeling if it turns out to be a clunker...

Exactly right, look around.

I looked at a heap of Disco 2's varying prices, however even with some of the dealer cars I was extremely dissapointed at the condition of some of them, and what people wanted for them. I had instances where they had been trying to sell their car on the market for over 6 months, but would not budge on price, even though it was costing them $$ holding onto the car.

Even the best ones I could find at the cheapest prices, there was no guarantee that they would not need work doing on them, so that's why I took the risk and went the really cheap option knowing I was going to have to spend money anyway, unfortunately a little more than I planned, but at least I know the car is right.

You just need to look and work out what is best for you.

Cheers