Where to buy?

[patsaunders]

Good afternoon,

After a great deal of research in the forums and some brilliant answers to my questions from the members I have narrowed down the options for my ideal next car purchase. I am now in search of a Discovery 3 SE (or S with Air suspension, don't need the leather seats etc) and it seems my budget will restrict me to models post 160,000km major service.

I have searched repeatedly on all the major used car websites and have set up email alerts to let me know if anything comes up. A few nice ones have come up, however, I am wondering if anyone has any other recommendations of where to look? Are there any lesser known websites (or other places offline) that are or have been known to advertise 'quality' used land rovers? For example when I bought my VW transporter I found a guy who picked up ex NSW ambulances in great condition.

I realize I may just need to be patient for the right car to come along but if "the right one" is sitting out there and I don't know about it i'll be pretty bummed haha.

Any info is greatly appreciated!

[oldsalt]

Good luck with your search Pat, someone on here may know of a good vehicle for you... knowing what your budget is will be a big help.
I got mine through "Carsales"... took a while and a lot of phone calls etc but it was worth all the work... love my D3.
cheers

[RickO]

G'Day Pat,

My beloved, but recently superseded, MY08 Stornoway Grey SE will be going on the market (the forum & carsales.com.au) mid next week.

My previous pride and joy has just under 140k on the clock, has had one owner since new, no accidents, a new windscreen, has a full LR service history and has had no expense spared mechanically after just coming off a novated lease in Oct last year. In addition to no 'hard' towing or offroading, it has an ARB Deluxe winch bar + Warn winch, Traxide DB kit, tinted windows, Mitch hitch and the AUX input 'fix' often mentioned on the forum.

I'll be looking for somewhere around $33k if this is within your budget.

RickO

[patsaunders]

Thanks guys.

The initial budget is around $25K as i've seen a few out there in reasonable condition in that area. That price is obviously for higher mileage cars, usually without the extras like bull bar, winch etc as mentioned above (cars without these items give me a bit more confidence that they haven't been used much off road and then I can build it up "my way") but if what i'm looking for is already bolted on i'd be happy to spring a little more upfront, especially if its in great shape mechanically. ( @RickO ill be sure to check your car out).

Thanks again for the input!

[rar110]

I keep looking at the MY08 D3 on car sales with 235000km currently for $24k. It's nearing a price that's attractive for me. Resale is the big issue.

[patsaunders]

Hi rar110,

yeah I saw that one too, there are a couple of interesting ones on carsales at the moment i'm considering 4-5. I don't think "resale value" is as much of a concern when your looking at higher mileage cars (i'm looking to own long term). There is another $24k one on there with a new engine thats done far fewer K's and has some extras (bullbar, snorkle, etc) interested to know why you keep coming back to the higher KM model?

Has anyone seen any nice examples "offline"?

[crawal]

i too looked and waited found one in QLD with all the good gear , it was listed on Gumtree but took 6 months of looking

[Epic pooh]

Odd as it may sound, eBay is another place to keep an eye on Pat.

[patsaunders]

Thanks crawal and epic pooh, I hadn't considered gumtree or eBay for whole cars (parts and wheels maybe) I'll keep an out there too!

Has anyone got any ideas why there are some HSE's available around the same price as SE models with similar km's and service history? I'm assuming most HSE owners have are upgrading to the D4 and so just want to move their D3? Or is there something it need to know about resale wise for the higher model?

Thanks

[rar110]

Hi rar110, There is another $24k one on there with a new engine thats done far fewer K's and has some extras (bullbar, snorkle, etc) interested to know why you keep coming back to the higher KM model?

Price. Higher km is ok unless it means high repair costs like diffs and auto box.