any advice?

well..since i'm a Yank...prolly ain't gonna see to many people i know...

(if my dad finds out i'm thinking about getting a car in an auction...he'd kill me)

luckily...between my husband...and several car clubs on base....there isn't much we cannot fix should something be wrong

and awesome..thanks for the advice

Take someone who knows about Land Rovers. They are not ordinary cars and in some ways different rules apply.

It's very easy for a bag of crap to be made to look good, and the real gems are the solid ones that look rubbish. A tatty but solid motor can be made superb with very little work. A polished shed can be made superb with a huge amount of money.

You need to look past anything vaguely cosmetic and get underneath with a hammer / screwdriver and set about the chassis looking for holes, rust and crappy repairs. The same applies to the bulkhead (the vertical metal section underneath the windscreen and holding the doors), but if you start hitting that with a screwdriver you may be asked to leave!

Engines should be reasonably clean, but in particular check the colour of the oil (no milkiness) and the colour of the coolant (red or green is good, brown is not). Look for the state of the exhaust and the tyres.

What model / year are you looking for? I know about Discoveries, having seen LOTS before I took the plunge with mine (and still didn't get it quite right). Range Rovers have similar issues to the Discovery.

Defenders are not my thing, but rotten chassis / bulkhead are common, as are rotten doors, sagging doors, knackered gearboxes and on more recent ones some issues with 300TDi models that haven't had timing belt changes.

Also check the documents - they are essentially kit cars so selling stolen parts / old vehicles on new plates is dead easy.

Tim Hobbs

'58 Series 2 '77 101FC Ambulance '95 Discovery V8i

well, luckily..Rich has owned a landie before (hense the reason we want another one) and since i grew up around farm trucks...i can spot rust..and a dodgy engine at 20 paces if allowed to listen to the buggers..luckily..they have to drive the car into the sell room (it's nto that way sometimes in the states...sometimes ya just wander around the cars and are either buying...or running away)

so all in all..i'm quite happy with the set up...

if we go the day before..we can start the cars up...crawl under neath (another bonus for england..no poisonous thingies to jump and kill me whilst i inspect the car)

but on the flip side of that advice - dealers aren`t interested in rough looking landies that are basically solid underneath. To shift it off their forecourt they may need to replace several dented panels and give it a paint job - which many wont do. So if you see a mechanically good one with a "well used" body that none of the dealers want - you could pick up a bloody bargain. Also dealers are happy to buy fairly ropey LR`s that have all those stupid shiny bits bolted on, aka lara croft styleeeee, knowing that they can shift it even with the knackered gearbox and terminal rot to some yuppie wannabe. Watching dealers bid can help, but above all - DON`T BUY A CAR FROM AN AUCTION UNLESS YOU KNOW FOR SURE WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR, or have someone with you who does.

Nick C series 2a `67 wakefield uk

well, luckily...with all that happened last night...one rangie went for

1300...another went for 700

both had MOT's...and one was taxed until dec...

we were stupid..and the car we went for...went for 25£ over our budget...so we didn't bid

however...we did fall absolutely in love with something called a Pajero...a Mitsubishi...

it's the shoguns little brother...and i owned a shogun in the states..and was quite happy with it

so...while we'd love abosultely something with a landie badge..if that's impossible...we know now what our alternative would be

NO! Horrible plastic things. And check out the price of engine spares!

Tim Hobbs

'58 Series 2 '77 101FC Ambulance '95 Discovery V8i

Tim Hobbs wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Took the words outa me mouth!

I was seriously considering an L200 truck before I got the LR. A mate could not sing their praises too highly....then the gear box went, then something to do with the steering...then the engine....

Mind you, I have a very nice J reg Peugeot 504 pickup here if you are inclined to fall in love with delicate curves and subtle lines. Actually, a bargain at £1,000 and I love to haggle!

Derry

We recently dragged one through a lane that a standard freelander sailed through...... The suspension arms at the front tended to ruin any advantage that the large tyres this had fitted gave it.

Have also seen exactly the same problem on L200s.......

-- Simon Isaacs

Peterborough 4x4 Club Chairman and Webmaster

3.5V8 100" Hybrid Suzuki SJ410 (Girlfirend) Series 3 88" Rolling chassis...what to do next Pug 106 (offroaded once!!)

(snip)

But if you did bid, would the price have stayed at that?

(snip) My sister replaced her Pajero last year after about ten years (with a Toyota RAV-4). The Pajero was relatively durable, but parts are expensive, and that model at least prone to gearbox failure - and expensive to fix. Gearbox failed three times in 300,000km. JD

Don't need to, I know how much they cost and you wont find many places that do second hand bits off the shelf like you can a Land Rover. We had one. Engine went on it and it just wan't worth the hassle or expense to replace it, so we bought a Land Rover and now have three of them. THERE IS NO COMPARISON. I thought a Pajero was the same as a Shogun, but one that has been imported. Look in a local paper for a Range Rover rather than go to an auction and don't rush into buying the first car you see either. There are two in our paper tonight as an example.

Range Rover, new tyres and brakes, full electrics, leather interior £600.

-doesn't say what year or if there is any MOT or tax though.

Range Rover 3.5 EFi. F reg, leather int, met green, air conditioning - working, auto, PAS, rad/cass, alloys, towpack,long MOT & Tax, many new parts, needs some TLC and drives very well £1095.

There is a saying "Everything comes to he who waits"