my bloody cars...I wish I could have just a bike

[futter]

My next door neighbour is of the "old Skool" train of thought. He has an old Range rover V8 (H plate in really good nick) on gas and prefers it to modern version as in his words - I can fix anything on this - he also has an old LWB series II (?) in bits that he is doing up with a 4 pot diesel (into which he will fit another V8 on gas) - same as before only this will be better looking!

I don't know much about 4x4's but I do know that simpler is easier to work on, cheaper to do so (whether you do it or a garage does) and doesn't go wrong so much.

A friend of mine has an old Toyota Land cruiser with the 6 pot 3ltr diesel lump - A reg I think - never goes wrong - just needs welding for every MOT or a new door etc.

Depends what you want.

[Austin]

finding the right old car is the hard bit. With my current run of luck with cars I will be buying someone's cast off after they have decided to stop chucking good money after bad - why else would someone be selling a good old 'un.

I am in no rush as the Shogun still runs and is OK under power and above 30ish, but I think I will just take the easy option and part-ex it for something costing about £10-12K and finance it over the next 4 years or something.

Late Freelander 1's look like good value and bought from a land rover dealer you get 12months warranty, money back option for 1 month, and probably good deals on finance. Right now all that peace of mind feels attractive.

For similar money on Toyota Land cruisers I am looking at a high mileage car at least 4 years older than the Freelander. Although this one looks promising.

[Austin]

Austin,

If the Shogun started/ran better after the garage that cleaned the EGR valve, why not blank it off, it could be faulty (probably is...)
Other than that, run some injector cleaner through & give it a good flogging!

It may be a long shot but worth a go (if you want a hand re EGR, give me a shout & I'll pop up)

Phil, sorry I missed this post before. thanks for the offer, I have read somewhere that the EGR can't be blanked off on the 3.2 engines without also doing some jiggery pokery to the engine mangement system, else you get the engine warning light coming on. The latest diagnosis though is its the fuel injection pump. The EGR now seems OK after a clean. Could be a coincidence both things failing, but possibly linked.

[BobA]

finding the right old car is the hard bit. With my current run of luck with cars I will be buying someone's cast off after they have decided to stop chucking good money after bad - why else would someone be selling a good old 'un.

I am in no rush as the Shogun still runs and is OK under power and above 30ish, but I think I will just take the easy option and part-ex it for something costing about £10-12K and finance it over the next 4 years or something.

Late Freelander 1's look like good value and bought from a land rover dealer you get 12months warranty, money back option for 1 month, and probably good deals on finance. Right now all that peace of mind feels attractive.

For similar money on Toyota Land cruisers I am looking at a high mileage car at least 4 years older than the Freelander. Although this one looks promising.

I've driven quite a few diesels over the years, and admittedly the Freelander I drove was a new, but early model, but I could only compare it to my Dad's old London Taxi (a Metro) because it was that horrible. I'm sure they MUST SURELY have improved leaps and bounds since then, but it was enough to put me off of them.

I'd take the Toyota any day, although again, my experience was with the previous model (4.2 TDI) like this...

[ukTiffy]

If you must go down the Land Rover route I'd get a nice Discovery - probably not a TD5 as too much 'leccy - a td300 would be good just not high mileage and check for rust.

A better 'Car' would be a Toyota four runner (surf if grey import) or Landcruiser or Nissan Patrol or Pathfinder.

[Jenna]

.... there is a very good reason why the old freelanders sell cheap, there crap!

they were designed with the toyota rav principle in mind and guess what there crap too

[Austin]

.... there is a very good reason why the old freelanders sell cheap, there crap!

they were designed with the toyota rav principle in mind and guess what there crap too

Crap in what way? (and I think you have said before you used to work at LR so I guess you would really know).

I know they are not the most glamourous cars, and I know they have limited off road capability, and I know they had some build quality issues early on, and had a cringeworthy marketing campaign but they seem to fit my bill OK. But very happy to be wrong.

[samwise]

My brother has a Y reg Freelander (admittedly petrol) and he's had to spend so much money on the engine etc in the last year or two that it's hurting. Build quality on the early ones is pretty rubbish too, although a friend has a TD HSE automatic of around 2006 vintage (I think) and the build quality on that seems to be a lot better.

My brother's problem is that he has little money to replace the Freelander, but he lives at the end of a very rough farm track that kills a car's suspension in a year or so, so the 4x4 makes more sense.

[Wee Jack]

Austin ,

I ran a "52" plate TD4 Freelander for 4 years - it was fine - the only problem I had was with electric windows. Sold it to a neighbour and he still has it and loves it. As far as I can tell all he has ever replaced is tyres !!.

[Jenna]

ok 'crap' is a bit strong... lets say NASTY.

the problem was the freeloader design was out sourced by landrover to a private company with the express mandate to design a vehicle that would capture the market that the current vehicles did not, it could be branded as a LR but not actually require the labour intensive build or investment in parts.

Result was that they designed something thats a total mish mash of other peoples used and old design bits, they then built it like a car with no true chassis again to save costs and finally trim it out with the cheapest plastics they make... result was a a very cheap and nasty car thats not very good at anything but appeals to Land Rover wannabees that cant actualy afford a Land rover (note not 4x4)... for example freeloader i think has a towing weight of 2000kg (some verision just 1100kg!) a disco is 3500kg!

If you must buy LR then go with a good mk2 disco (facelift model) get one with a 300tdi thats NOT egr or fly by wire) as these are reliable and simple to repair with just a couple of ecus. The Disco as a bus is ok if they havent leaked (not so much an issue on mk2's) as the leaks rot out the floor pan. The 300tdi is a bit of tractor lump so its not quiet but it basic and the bits cheap, there are also no major problems with the 300 unlike the 200 which will eat the cumbustion chamber inserts and turbos! Ironically the auto boxes are much better than the manuals as the lt77 is the weakest box they ever made. If your not high mile user then forget the TDi and buy a v8. Fitted with an lpg kit they can be reasonable on fuel (equates to around 30mpg/£) but the feel and drive of the vehicle is completely different... you WILL enjoy driving a v8 disco everytime you get in it.

thall said i'd still buy the toyota!