Thread: Contemplating an early D3 - thoughts..

Originally Posted by Cliffy

Well, it appears I did not test the car as thoroughly as I thought. Dad took it to a local independent for pre inspection and said gearbox chattered all the way there! Mech said: GB stuffed Lower control arms Steering rack Egr valves And so on. Worst in the workshop for a while they said. NOOOOOOoooooo! Now depressed and Discovery less unless owner really wants to drop $$$ to quit it (and I have been warned against even that) Quote to fix all was almost the price of the car ;0(

As frustrating as it is, it's much better to know.

Keep looking and a good one will come up. It took me 6 mths to find the right car at the right price. I've read about others on here taking a similar time. I've found good deals come up and go pretty quick. So you need to be able to make a decision while still doing appropriate checks.

Cliffy, better to wait and get the right one then you wont be able to get the grim off your face.
We looked at over 10 D3's then found big red on Gumtree , fully loaded with all the good gear .
Frustrating waiting for the truck to bring her down from QLd

Roger that.
They are great cars but the repairs can mount up fast.
A bit peeved as I asked the guy straight up if there was any faults (eg trans judder etc) and he said no. My Dad, not a mechanical bone in his body, was crapping himself driving it to the inspection as the judder was that bad once warmed up.
There may be one coming up soon that my mate (mech) knows the history of and is in good nik but I have to wait ;o(

Its worth the wait. Hang in there.

Yep, definitely hang in there. My sister and brother in law got a great car (D4) but I did quite a bit of shopping around for them first before they put their money down.

Couldn't agree more Cliffy. You just need to hang in there. I just picked up our first D3 after almost giving up. We thought we had the perfect D3 3 months ago and it all fell through. We gave up and decided to wait till next year to start looking again. Then this one popped up out of the blue in better condition and at a better price and everything just fell into place.

The right car is out there for you.

Regards
Scott

Agreed, have to fight my impulsive nature and just wait. I'll go dark and see what finds it's way to me via the "grapevine"!

Sigh, thought I'd found the beast today. Right price, all the usual faults fixed.........but turned out to be the "S" without air suspension....deal breaker!
Looked at another straight after. By far the the most punchy I have driven. Took off like a rocket when I left the forecourt. It's an SE with a lot of desirable options too (moon roof, rear a/c). Has electric brakes wired in so has been a tow bus which makes me a little worried about the trans. It's also a little outside my budget. I dropped a tentative offer but the guy was not impressed)
Got 2 eastern states yards ringing me to drop offers on cars (Vic and SA) but gotta pay freight and buy sight unseen (of course I would get someone Rover inclined to do a pre inspection)....
The search continues....