53 plate Land Rover Defender TD4 HSE S/W

[Bellair]

Hi, I'm new on here, any advice welcome & gratefully received. I am about to buy a Land Rover Defender TD4 HSE S/W automatic, with 107776 miles on the clock. Owned by a Land Rover mechanic. I have been warned about prop shafts, head gaskets, gear boxes & it's put the fear of god in me. I do have a flashing neon sign on my forehead, that apparently reads, MUG, RIP ME OFF. Before I hand over £3,000 tomorrow, what questions do I ask please, so I'm not ripped off yet again.
Thank you

[CornishRob]

If you don't know your way around a LR, i would take someone with you who does.

They are not complicated, but there are areas you need to look at, check and test.

Also they do need to be looked after/maintained.

Im a bit confused though. You say its a Td4 (assume you mean Td5), with a bit over 100k miles and its £3k?? It won't have come standard as an automatic, so assume its been converted? Defender wasn't ever badged as HSE.

Are you sure its a Defender your looking at? Not a Td4 HSE Freelander? Very Different??

[CAPP0]

^^ My thoughts too. For a decent Defender (agree, they don't come in TD4, or HSE) that would be very cheap indeed.

And as we all know, buy cheap:buy twice!

[Bellair]

Oh duh. Embarrassed or what? You guys are correct obviously. This is a Freelander. I was taking the info from the MOT as well, so makes me feel doubly stupid. So, same question but for a Freelander. The propshaft is in the correct place, that much I have ascertained! Thanks guys

Edited by Bellair on Wednesday 23 November 17:32

[bakerstreet]

Bellair said:

Oh duh. Embarrassed or what? You guys are correct obviously. This is a Freelander. I was taking the info from the MOT as well, so makes me feel doubly stupid. So, same question but for a Freelander. The propshaft is in the correct place, that much I have ascertained! Thanks guys

Edited by Bellair on Wednesday 23 November 17:32

At that kind of value, it will be a risky purchase. If you don't need 4x4, go and buy a £3k Mondeo Estate

[CAPP0]

Unfortunately Mr Rafferty above speaks the truth. You'd need to be very sure of the car at that age/price point. You definitely can get a good one, but they do also have a few well-documented issues, some of which you seem to be ware of already. Go in with your eyes very wide open indeed!

[Bellair]

Thanks all for the heads up. I do need a 4x4 for towing a horse trailer & generally getting down to the horse on a single track road, down a rather steep gradient. I am purchasing this from a long established garage, with a 6 month warranty. I wouldn't attempt to buy privately & thought a garage would be a safer, though more expensive, way? What are the other problems please with this model/age? I had hoped that as it's owned by a qualified Land Rover mechanic, that it would have been well looked after. It's really hard being a single woman, looking for a vehicle & not being ripped off, as happened just a month ago with a Rav 4. Grrrrr

[CAPP0]

Have a browse here:

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/land-rover/fr...

That info is partly impartial but also partly owner-generated, so it's more likely that people who are annoyed will post than people who are happy! The big one to look for with the Freelander, certainly on manual gearboxes (I don't know if the same applies to auto) is the failure of the 4WD. Usual "cure" for this is to remove one of the propshafts and just drive it in 2WD. Since it sounds like you'll definitely need 4WD, check this one out, which can only be done by looking underneath (but you did say you knew what a propshaft was! )

Finally, price: Parkers says Franchised Dealer: £3,355, Independent Dealer: £2,615

so you're in the middle there depending what sort of dealer it is, although that's for a 140k mile model.

Good luck.

[Bellair]

Thanks Cappo. It's done 107,000 & is an auto & I managed to knock them down by £300 😀

[piecost76]

I have a horse & remember the Freelander has a towing limit of 2.2 tonnes IIRC

Take off 1 tonne for say a Ifor Williams 506/511 and you're down to 1.2 tonnes net.

2 x 16.2 hh horses will see you over the weight!

I have had many Discovery 2's and 3's so budget dependant, I would try to get a well cared for Disco 2 with the full 3.5 tonne towing capacity.

[Bellair]

Thanks piecost ( I have a Palomino Sec A called Pie ). I have a Cheval Liberte double trailer but will only ever have 1 horse at a time on board. A 15 hand Hackney/Warmblood X, or an 11.2 Sec A, who is entire, hence they won't be travelled together! The trailer is lightweight thank goodness & I have to say, the garage did tell me to check out towing weight & have said they will also do a check. I feel rather committed, as I've had a tow bar fitted but not yet paid for the Landy. Perhaps I need to go to a weighbridge before committing any further? I was warned off the Disco by an owner of one at my yard. It all seems very subjective? Despite knowing this was a Freelander, in my head it had become a Defender. Doesn't take much to confuse me lol. I am taking all this helpful info on-board, thanks all. If I didn't want to ruin my QashQai, I wouldn't be having this conflict but it's been a long time since I've owned a Land Rover or Range Rover, so I'm aware I'm not up to date with them. My left foot doesn't bend & I don't have a lot of feeling in it, hence the need for an automatic

[300bhp/ton]

bakerstreet said:

At that kind of value, it will be a risky purchase. If you don't need 4x4, go and buy a £3k Mondeo Estate

I don't see why it has to be risky tbh. Lots of people buy/have to buy vehicles around this sort of value and most of the time they are perfectly fine. A £3k Mondeo could have just as many problems anyway.

[Bellair]

300bhp/ton Thanks for a glimmer of hope. It is a minefield out there & I'm never going to be assured that I'm going to get a good/decent vehicle whatever route I go down. I don't normally enjoy a lot of luck, but I'm going ahead with the purchase with fingers crossed that for once, something goes my way. At least I will have a warranty. After reading the link for honestjohn that I was given, all I could think was ' What the hell has happened to Land Rover?' They used to enjoy a good name. It doesn't appear that way now, or maybe it is just the Freelander? Watch this space.......

[300bhp/ton]

The Freelander is a great vehicle IMO. Has a few foibles, but to be honest so do all cars. So just do some reading up. It don't worry too much.

We have 3 Freelanders in the family, a couple of them are serial purchasers too.

[Bellair]

Thanks again, something positive is good. I pick it up tomorrow. If you don't see me post again it will be because it broke down on the way home from the garage & I'm too embarrassed to ' show my face on here again .' :-)

[pikeyboy]

We used to use a freelander 2 for just those duties, and although its just about within its capabilities to tow 2 ton ( its has more power and torque than a 300tdi disco known as good towcars). A single horse 600 kg in an ifor 506 @ 950 kg plus tack etc etc puts you too close to the limits of what you can tow with one in my opinion. Also horses arent a stationary load and like to stamp and move around. Its pretty disconcerting when you can feel the freelander wobble when this happens. Lost of people at the good lady's yard use freelanders to tow with as they are small, easy to park, OK on juice, capable off road and not 500 quid a year to tax but they aren't really upto the job. Buy a disco 2, terrano, Isuzu trooper 3.1, fourtrak all of these fall within your 3k budget and will tow safely.

[A.J.M]

Face lift 2 model.

I had 2 04 SE td4 models.

Engine wise. Blank egr, replace hoses with silicone ones as the 90deg bend and the small 2 inch pipes split with age.
Replace crankcase filter with BMW filter, as the standard filter rarely gets changed and can clog up.
A good remap really wakes them up, I had a twisted performance map which gave 145bhp and a decent helping of torque.
Took 3 seconds off the 0-60 time going with my own stopwatch effort.

Check the VCU, if it starts to fail it can wreak the IRD unit, and back diff mounts. Ask me how I know.....
prop shaft bearings can go, GKN are the best and are OE.
Best tyres go on the back to help the VCU out. Don't fit ste tyres to it.

Make sure all electric windows work, and that the boot cubby box doesn't have water in it. Replacement boot seal sorts that if it's the case.
Should have heated leather seats, 6 disc auto changer, parking sensors, heated folding mirrors etc.

[Bellair]

A.J.M Oh lolololol, I'm afraid I only understood the last paragraph & that's because it does have heated leather seats etc. :-) I will check the cubby hole for water & that everything electrical goes up & down as it should. I just wished you lived near so you could check it out for me! The tow bar & electrics have now been fitted, so if something is wrong electrIcally, I suppose it will be blamed on the tow bar fitters. I will update later:-) Thank you

[CAPP0]

Don't forget pictures or nobody will ever answer you again!

[Bellair]

Really CAPPO?? Well, I don't have a computer or pc, I just use a kindle fire with forward facing camera, so if the pic looks lopsided it's because I have to get into some pretty bizarre positions to get any pics, of anything! :-) I can't connect my camera or phone to the fire:-/ It's not that I live in the dark ages ( not quite anyway ) that I only use a tablet, it's due to having had to undergo brain surgery which makes it very painful to sit with my neck bent over a pc or laptop, for even the shortest time However, just for you, I will attempt a photo :thumbup ::-)