Thread: Finding a reasonable Discovery

Why am I having so much trouble finding a half decent Disco I or II?
Are there any decent Discoveries left?

I must have looked at at least a dozen vehicles. What is common to most is:
a. Most owner couldn't be bothered to look after the vehicle from day one;
b. Lack of maintenance, only open the bonnet when it stops;
c. Down right abuse and lack of mechanical sympathy.

I have come to the conclusion that I should have just kept mine and fixed everything that was bugging me even if that meant over capitalising.

I am looking for a early Disco II or even a late Disco I.

My criteria, which I don't think is unreasonable is:
No rust;
Paint not peeling;
Not leaking oil from EVERY orifice, which generally is a sign of some maintenance;
Mileage around or under 200k;
RWC and
Within 100km of the Gold Coast as I am done driving 2 hours to look at a turd.

I have been looking in the $7500 to $15000 range. For $15000 I don't want to see anything I have to fix or spend money on.

I have even looked at a few Jeeps and Terracans but that doesn't do anything for my LandRoveritis.

Am I looking for the impossible?

Can I add my 2 cents worth? Yep? Thanks!

Queens birthday long weekend this year I wrote the ute off on a shooting trip gone wrong... All were safe and uninjured except the car... Poor baby!!! Anyway....insurance paid ouwidgets looking at it for 2 seconds and the assessment of "yeah it's ****'d!!!! So the search for a new car began and it came back time and time again to a disco but which one. I'd had a 97 tdi before and although I loved it, I had to have something different so my decision was for an 04 disco after looking at EVERY 4wd wagon/ute/whatever. I needed the 04 as there was plenty of difference from the 97 model. I looked all the late model 03/04's on the web but not one was for sale in SA.... Not one! Yeah the wife was annoyed. So we Found one in NSw, qld and Perth that all fitted the bill and called all 3. The Perth one sounded best and only had 170km not 230km like the others. As I was on a very strict budget that had to cover everything I needed to do to it after buying it, funnily enough the one in Perth which was initially most expensive dropped the price $2000 and the others which were originally $1000 cheaper would only drop $250-$500 and seemed to have had a harder life even by the photos. So after a few emails back and forth and a few calls, I paid him a $1000 (refundable) deposit and booked flights. Went to Perth for the weekend which I mixed with business (hence tax deduction) and the total trip cost $600, factored into the overall budget for the car. It was just as he described except the roof has paint fade which does annoy me but with my new 2inch lift you don't even see it.

So I bought it, had a lovely weekend in Perth and the old owner helped me arrange for it to go on the train to Adelaide, he picked me up and dropped me off at the airport and a couple weeks later, it was in my driveway.

So the $$$$$. I got a payout of $18600 for the written-off
Navara and I bought this disco for $15800 with full landrover dealer service history (Barbagellos) and full length rhino rack/basket, and a few knocks and scrapes on it. I put a 2" lift with shocks and springs, CB radio and AE4705 GME aerial, 265/70/16 tyres, 240 XGT Lightforce spots, ECB alloy bull bar, shovel and jack brackets, and lots of little toys and the truck owes me $19000 including stamp duty and shipping to SA. Yes I spent a little over the budget which is a bummer but more a lack of self control than anything else and that's $500 I cant spend on landscaping the new house but I am really really in love and just can't get enough of driving it (nor can the MRS but she can get her hands off it!!!).

When I found this one and had paid a deposit I found another 04 just listed by a local dealer for $31000! I went and had a look at it the day before i flew to perth and the guy did his usual pitch. I said "mate, you do this for $16000 and you got a sale"... He laughed and said I must be kidding which I told him I was because I had just bought the same thing interstate for half his price. He told me that was below "trade" to which I laughed and said "yeah have fun with this one". He had sold it within a week for about $28000 I reckon. So I am a veeeery happy disco owner again and have been for a whole 2 months now.

I have bought interstate 4 times before and yeah it's a risk, but that's all part of it. I grew up in Sydney and Port Macquarie with many family holidays to VIC and QLD so I know my way around pretty well, but had never been to Perth before this. I almost bought my last ute from a guy in Newcastle but when we got there he, supposedly a cop, was doing a major dodgy. It was a repaired write-off but man it made some weird noises but it was $10000 cheaper than all the others for sale, so I lost $250 deposit and the cost of a wasted trip to newy also. Not all lost though as I was able to visit dad in port macquarie, a blessing In disguise when you have 2 little kids like us, traveling is hard.

So yeah, factor in the risk, be prepared to not win them all, but go for it and see what happens. A weekend away is really only going to cost $500 but if it's the right car then it's well worth it. One thing to remember is to be prepared to walk away if it's not the goods. I have before and it was really hard and almost did walk away from the one in Perth but knew the bad was outweighed by miles for the price and what else was on the market at the time.

Before I go. I bought my GU Patrol from Muirs Holden in Sydney also sight unseen. I had grown up with the Muir family as our Neighbours and mown Mrs Muirs lawn for years in Castle Hill as a child for years and so I trusted the family name to an extent. We flew to Sydney on a 6am red-eye, picked it up and drove back to Adelaide and get this, I crawled back into bed EXACTLY 24 hours later to the minute from when we left. Anyway, we kept it for 3 years, serviced every 10000km, put new tires on it and sold it for exactly what we paid for it... Pretty good I reckon!

Get out, take a risk and see what happens! Enjoy!


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