Thread: seriously is buying under $15000 for a d3 realistic..?

You can get them under $15k but theyre usually the S model petrol V6 with no air suspension.

You definitely want the air suspension if you're towing, and the V8 has better performance at littlw to no cost to fuel consumption. The diesel is still better for long range towing though.

One benefit of the V6 petrol is barely anything goes wrong with them, and they have a timing chain so no timing belts to worry about.

If you can extend your budget to $20k you are more likely to find a nice v8 example with about 150k km

Just spotted this in QLD:

Check out this Land Rover Discovery 3.
We've taken a wrong turn

It is an SE that apparently has air suspension, and a cloth interior. You could probably offer 15k if you like it.

Originally Posted by Disco-tastic

Just spotted this in QLD:
You could probably offer 15k if you like it.

Being only a whisker short of the big used car financial depreciating distance of 200,000 kms I'd begin negotiations by offering $12500 and not moving too far from this.

We've taken a wrong turn

Lots at the low end now . I would be mostly interested in how long ago the timing belt was changed, control arms, gear box servicing and if they have error /fault codes. Mine is 2005TDV6se and tows very well with almost no hit to economy with a 3 tonne boat on a 5 hour tow.
Have fun test driving.

Thanks guys for info so far.. spotted a few on the gold coast around $15000. Being new to the marque, this forum has been a great read the last few weeks, slowly starting to put a few things together but still so much to learn. I'm in the market to purchase but just cant afford to be burnt so any help is much appreciated...

So this thread got me interested as well. What can I get for $15,000. What can I get to make a purpose built tourer out of and keep my other car. That way if I don't like touring around I have not invested lots of money with a more modern car. I started looking and most of these vehicles have LOTS of Km on them. That got me thinking as well as I have never had a car with over 150,000 Km on it.

The comment was made earlier about the big depreciation at 200,000 km. So I know it looks like a magical number but is it. There seems to be a lot of people talking about their D3/4's going well after this point, reliably. Though just like gambling you don't tend to hear the bad news stories. And it probably is a gamble buying anything with over 200,000 km.

The timing belt needs changing at 168,000 km (Or 7 years I think from reading). Ok So I look for a car that has that done . Surely a car with 180,000 km with the timing belt done is a better purchase than 150,000 without it done, or is this thinking incorrect? So, what are the other things to expect form a + 180,000, + 200,000 purchase.

I am thinking that you should you expect a $3-5,000 tidy up bill upon purchase? The D3 (I think) had more regular service intervals than the D4 so should it be in better condition (if serviced), perhaps? Suspension? Turbo? Steering?

The next thing is most of them that I have seen are private sales not dealers so - no warranty. Therefore an inspection is a must and a Land Drover specialist is not always available. So what do you tell the mechanic who is more knowledgeable than you to look for?

The purchase would be very easy for the mechanically minded but what about us folks that are challenged in that department? Can you do it for $15,000

Laurie

Originally Posted by jonus

Hi guys Ive always loved the d3 why do i see so much negativity as a second hand purchase, seriously how much can I service myself. I'm looking at v8 for towing and using the air condition flat payload for my business. I tow a jayco off road camper to moreton every year with my old hilux but am i on the right page for buying a cheap d3...

We just bought a D3 V8 for less than $15,000 and drove it back from Geelong to Perth on the Saturday, Sunday and Monday of Easter. We did 1450km yesterday for the last leg from Eucla. Fantastic car and fantastic trip. We were getting 12l/100 on most tanks, calculated from fuel use and on the trip computer. The worst was a bit less than 13l/100km in Victoria. Cruise control was set on 118 actual GPS speed and car speedo. This is a lot better than my D4 SD V6 gets on the same trip at the same speed. We had 4 adults in the car and there are three roof bars but no other bar work to increase drag and weight, like there is on my D4.

I can't wait to drive in convoy with my son in his V8 D3 and me in my diesel D4 to see how the fuel consumption compares. However, the V8 is so smooth and quiet compared with the V6, which already seemed smooth and quiet, and I certainly can't complain about the fuel consumption on a long run!

Originally Posted by BobD

[snip] This is a lot better than my D4 SD V6 gets on the same trip at the same speed. We had 4 adults in the car and there are three roof bars but no other bar work to increase drag and weight, like there is on my D4.
[snip]

This surprises me a lot - our SDV6, which sounds the same as yours, was averaging 8.2 on a trip from Perth to Jurien. 2 adults, 1 Toddler and a bunch of crap in the back. We weren't quite as quick though, sitting on about 112 (indicated) most of the way. Those roof bars you mentioned must be hurting the fuel consumption a lot!