Realistic budget for a Defender
Discussion
Hey folks
As the title implies, I'm in the process of selling off my 2 current motors, an MX5 and a Jimny both fantastic wee motors, but both terminally broken in their own special way. I've long yearned for a Defender 90 & I figure with selling both my motors off it might be the time I will be able to afford one.
However the market seems to vary, massively, and I have no experience with Land Rovers. Just looking for a rough idea of what kind of budget to expect for a rough, but driveable Defender 90 200 or 300tdi. It seems really difficult to gauge how much they are actually worth at an entry level, occasionally I glance at one for £1800ish that looks clean-ish. But at the same time people are selling absolute wrecks for £3k.
Been toying with just giving up and going for a Disco and paying a 1/3rd as much for what is essentially the same vehicle underneath, but if I am honest it's just not the same, I'd sooner buy another Jimny.
As the title implies, I'm in the process of selling off my 2 current motors, an MX5 and a Jimny both fantastic wee motors, but both terminally broken in their own special way. I've long yearned for a Defender 90 & I figure with selling both my motors off it might be the time I will be able to afford one.
However the market seems to vary, massively, and I have no experience with Land Rovers. Just looking for a rough idea of what kind of budget to expect for a rough, but driveable Defender 90 200 or 300tdi. It seems really difficult to gauge how much they are actually worth at an entry level, occasionally I glance at one for £1800ish that looks clean-ish. But at the same time people are selling absolute wrecks for £3k.
Been toying with just giving up and going for a Disco and paying a 1/3rd as much for what is essentially the same vehicle underneath, but if I am honest it's just not the same, I'd sooner buy another Jimny.
I understand your Disco comment but I can also say, if you buy a Disco when you want a Defender, you will end up changing cars again soon! I nearly did it last time round, thankfully MrsC talked me out of it.
Price-wise - well. it's a whole "piece of string" thing. There is no doubt that prices shot up after production halted, but I think that may have settled out now. At £1800m I would expect it to be bit of a wreck, tbh, and to need masses of work. I guess a plain-jane slightly beaten-up but solid & reliable one would be £3k-ish now. £5k ought to get you into something worth having. From there on the sky's the limit.
If you know what you are looking for then fine, go in with your eyes open. Chassis is the big one, paying very close attention at this price point to the rear crossmember, the outrigger and the bulkhead (these rot at the lower screen corners, and also under the bonnet. Floors are easy to check). Then general condition, and mechanical issues.
Have you decided which engine/box you want? That would help narrow down your search.
Price-wise - well. it's a whole "piece of string" thing. There is no doubt that prices shot up after production halted, but I think that may have settled out now. At £1800m I would expect it to be bit of a wreck, tbh, and to need masses of work. I guess a plain-jane slightly beaten-up but solid & reliable one would be £3k-ish now. £5k ought to get you into something worth having. From there on the sky's the limit.
If you know what you are looking for then fine, go in with your eyes open. Chassis is the big one, paying very close attention at this price point to the rear crossmember, the outrigger and the bulkhead (these rot at the lower screen corners, and also under the bonnet. Floors are easy to check). Then general condition, and mechanical issues.
Have you decided which engine/box you want? That would help narrow down your search.
Aye I was thinking that about the Disco, I had the same problem with the Jimny. I wanted a Defender when I bought that, it did leave me wanting, I always wanted it to be just that little bit tougher, and a simple rattly diesel over the buzzy petrol.
£3k is the very top of my budget if I am honest, looking for a 200 or 300tdi with a manual box, I am a diesel technician by trade so the old simple ones would do me perfectly. As for the body I would want a CSW ideally but would have no problem adding a tintop and back seats myself if a clean pickup came up. I do despise welding though so rust does my nut in.
Ugh it is irritating, every logical bone in my body is telling me it simply isn't worth the extreme cost that they demand, what happened to the good old days when you could buy a runner for £600, drive it to the Highlands and just abandon it when something snaps.
£3k is the very top of my budget if I am honest, looking for a 200 or 300tdi with a manual box, I am a diesel technician by trade so the old simple ones would do me perfectly. As for the body I would want a CSW ideally but would have no problem adding a tintop and back seats myself if a clean pickup came up. I do despise welding though so rust does my nut in.
Ugh it is irritating, every logical bone in my body is telling me it simply isn't worth the extreme cost that they demand, what happened to the good old days when you could buy a runner for £600, drive it to the Highlands and just abandon it when something snaps.
£3000 is perfectly doable for an older Defender. Just buy on condition, and remember that all of the other bits can be changed or upgraded as and when and if you are clever you can add value. I agree...if you want a Defender, nothing else will do, I had a Disco and as it slowly rusted away I knew it was always not what I really wanted.
£3000 on eBay and I had this (complete with 200Tdi and Disco transfer box)
Some considerable polishing and tinkering later and I now have this. And there's been no paint or welding so far either apart from some stopgap filling and rattle canning on the bulkhead corners. Agreed value insurance now at £8000.
And yes, it gets used properly too!
£3000 on eBay and I had this (complete with 200Tdi and Disco transfer box)
Some considerable polishing and tinkering later and I now have this. And there's been no paint or welding so far either apart from some stopgap filling and rattle canning on the bulkhead corners. Agreed value insurance now at £8000.
And yes, it gets used properly too!
A £3k Defender WILL need work.
It'll be very subtle and creep up on you but with that kind of budget I'd put the same aside for the first couple of year's ownership, in addition to normal running costs.
Thing is with Defenders, you'll end up spending on them, and then get locked in to keeping them running in order to recoup the costs/investment, which then involves more costs as other follow-on jobs crop up.
It's text book man-maths. Don't make the mistake of thinking you can run a Defender on a car budget - they are light commercial vehicles at the end of the day, and some stuff can be horrendously costly, if not in money then in time and facilities.
Forget a Discovery. You can hear them rusting.
It'll be very subtle and creep up on you but with that kind of budget I'd put the same aside for the first couple of year's ownership, in addition to normal running costs.
Thing is with Defenders, you'll end up spending on them, and then get locked in to keeping them running in order to recoup the costs/investment, which then involves more costs as other follow-on jobs crop up.
It's text book man-maths. Don't make the mistake of thinking you can run a Defender on a car budget - they are light commercial vehicles at the end of the day, and some stuff can be horrendously costly, if not in money then in time and facilities.
Forget a Discovery. You can hear them rusting.
Edited by anonymous-user on Monday 7th August 17:05
Crossflow Kid said:
A £3k Defender WILL need work.
It'll be very subtle and creep up on you but with that kind of budget I'd put the same aside for the first couple of year's ownership, in addition to normal running costs.
Thing is with Defenders, you'll end up spending on them, and then get locked in to keeping them running in order to recoup the costs/investment, which then involves more costs as other follow-on jobs crop up.
It's text book man-maths. Don't make the mistake of thinking you can run a Defender on a car budget - they are light commercial vehicles at the end of the day, and some stuff can be horrendously costly, if not in money then in time and facilities.
Forget a Discovery. You can hear them rusting.
Haha yeah that point there is the worry, hell it's the reason I'm selling my Mx5, hell of a fun car but just too damn fragile for salty Scottish winters. And a Disco is just too damn big for what I need. It'll be very subtle and creep up on you but with that kind of budget I'd put the same aside for the first couple of year's ownership, in addition to normal running costs.
Thing is with Defenders, you'll end up spending on them, and then get locked in to keeping them running in order to recoup the costs/investment, which then involves more costs as other follow-on jobs crop up.
It's text book man-maths. Don't make the mistake of thinking you can run a Defender on a car budget - they are light commercial vehicles at the end of the day, and some stuff can be horrendously costly, if not in money then in time and facilities.
Forget a Discovery. You can hear them rusting.
Edited by Crossflow Kid on Monday 7th August 17:05
I've had 'proper' 4x4s in the past, an L200, a Shogun and currently my Jimny, I'm well aware that they demand some additional costs, although I have heard that land rover parts tend to be dirt cheap when compared to their, otherwise more reliable Japanese counterparts, and, looking at a defender there can't be that much on it to actually physically go wrong... Although I will admit to being surprised by British cars before, we really are inept at building these things.
Hard-drive that is a beautiful example, it's the exact same thing I am looking for myself, except in 90 flavour, as it seems to be getting hard to find them, the honest, but rough, examples are getting drowned in a sea of, very optimisticlly priced crap.
Just adding to the above points - I bought my '03 TD5 110 Wagon in 2011 for £9k
since then I've budgeted around £1k every other year for maintenance - I'm not especially handy but have updated it during the last 6 years with new Exmoor Trim Seats, LED lights etc.
This year after taking care of the regular service items, the garage gave me a list of work that would be adviseable in the next year or two - I ended up spending another £5k on new doors, seals and other trim to replace rusted items - it didn't have to be done, but I plan to keep it and we live near the coast so any rusting gets accelerated.. The garage did offer that I can strip down and fully restore it for £18k if I wanted while it was in and this shows the kind of customer now getting into a Defender!
I just tell my wife that it's still worth what I paid for it + what I put into it and it's now a nice and tidy, reliable (fingers crossed) car that does what I need...
since then I've budgeted around £1k every other year for maintenance - I'm not especially handy but have updated it during the last 6 years with new Exmoor Trim Seats, LED lights etc.
This year after taking care of the regular service items, the garage gave me a list of work that would be adviseable in the next year or two - I ended up spending another £5k on new doors, seals and other trim to replace rusted items - it didn't have to be done, but I plan to keep it and we live near the coast so any rusting gets accelerated.. The garage did offer that I can strip down and fully restore it for £18k if I wanted while it was in and this shows the kind of customer now getting into a Defender!
I just tell my wife that it's still worth what I paid for it + what I put into it and it's now a nice and tidy, reliable (fingers crossed) car that does what I need...
caelite said:
I have heard that land rover parts tend to be dirt cheap when compared to their, otherwise more reliable Japanese counterparts, and, looking at a defender there can't be that much on it to actually physically go wrong... Although I will admit to being surprised by British cars before, we really are inept at building these things.
Parts are cheap it's true, but it can be time consuming and involving to replace them.Land Rovers are from an era when cars were serviced in engineering workshops, not dealership service bays and it shows.
Some of your budget will go on bigger/heavier tools, a two tonne trolley jack and heavy duty axle stands.
sp222 said:
Crossflow Kid said:
Parts are cheap it's true, but it can be time consuming and involving to replace them.
Land Rovers are from an era when cars were serviced in engineering workshops, not dealership service bays and it shows.
Some of your budget will go on bigger/heavier tools, a two tonne trolley jack and heavy duty axle stands.
What kind of useless spanner monkey do you take me for? Of course I've a 3 ton trolley jack, a set of heavy duty axle stands and a set of ramps (so much better than working under a car on stands), besides isn't the point in these things is to set the suspension at a level where you can easily access the underside as the vehicle sits, surely thats why half of the examples you see are running 4" lifts and 33" tyres. Land Rovers are from an era when cars were serviced in engineering workshops, not dealership service bays and it shows.
Some of your budget will go on bigger/heavier tools, a two tonne trolley jack and heavy duty axle stands.
As I said, I am still fairly perplexed as to what actually goes wrong on these things to merit a £1-3k/year maintenance budget as a couple of posters have recommended, I get that its a commercial vehicle and will be pants on fuel and have pricey consumables, but being as my only experience has been with Japanese trucks, which I know tend to be far more reliable, I really don't see, at a cursory glance, what can be on a LR which will cost so much, bar rust, which ravages everything from the east as well. Surely a hand assembled truck will be easier to tear down for work than a machine assembled truck? Although I am somewhat giggling myself to SP222 counting doors as a maintenance item, how can you wear out doors? :P
EDIT:
sp222 said:
Thank you that man! I'll remember that in future.. It was on a phone.
Cheers
Easy fix: Open the picture in paint, make sure its the right way around, if not, rotate it 180deg. & 'Save As'. The new file shouldn't have the orientation code. Cheers
Edited by caelite on Tuesday 8th August 15:09
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