Re: Changing Espace for Land Rover

On or around Sun, 17 Aug 2003 22:22:53 +0100, "John Stokes" enlightened us thusly:

five? not on mine... later model 110s have 3-points on the ends of the middle row, and they all have 3-point on the fronts. Not seen any with

3-points in the middle seats, and highly unlikely unless you fit different seats, as you'd have no upper anchorage. In a 110 you can only get 2 forward-facing ones in the rear, so your maximum all-forward-facing capacity is 8, if you keep the centre seat in the front. Mine has 7, as I've fitted sierra car seats to the front and the middle row (needed a fair bit of fabrication for the middle row ones) and thus lost the centre seat, in any case, the auto box shifter is in the way now too :-)

You'll find a fairly early 110 wagon for 4K, if you look around. You'll not get a TDi unless you get an earlier vehicle which someone has retro-fitted.

You could also look at a disco - you can get quite a nice disco for 4K if you shop around, be very wary of rust in the floor which can be a pain to fix, and also of high mileage ones with clonky gearboxes. Equally, a high-milega one with a recently-replaced gearbox is a good bet - if looked after, the 200 TDi will easily do astronomical mileage. service history is useful too.

Another thing to consider is a V8 and LPG. quite a bit cheaper to buy, but budget for up to 1500 for a really good LPG system with under-floor tanks (mostly, you replace the petrol tank and fit a smaller petrol tank in the rear wing space) - bit less than that if you're competent/equipped to fit the LPG system yourself. No cheaper on fuel than a diesel, but faster than a 2.5 NA or turbodiesel, about the same performance as a good TDi, and similar fuel costs. You're really looking at picking up the vehicle for

2500, which is not impossible. A and B reg 110 V8s are 4-speed, and go for less accordingly - the 5-speed box makes for more relaxed cruising, but is prone to the infamous transfer box spline wear, same as the discos.

Finally, to series vehicles... A really good Series III LWB wagon is not likely to be cheaper than an early 110. Ride not so good, considerably less power than a turbo-D and even more less than a TDi. Brakes aren't so good, being all-drum.

You can, of course, work on the series: Parabolic springs improve the ride, disc front brake conversion gets you decent anchors, etc., but you'll spend as much doing all that as you would buying a half-decent 110 anyway. 110 has better seats (a bit) and generally is more modern and nicer to live with. In the matter of series vehicles, it only really makes sense to hunt a good pre-73 one and get the free road tax - very early series IIIs are tax-exempt, as are all the IIs and IIAs - you can do the same upgrades on the II/IIA as you can on the III as listed above - it'll still cost much the same mind - to get a decent pre-73 LWB wagon you're looking at something over 2K, plus about a grand-plus to do springs and brakes if you decide to.

Thanks everyone, sounds a little more saving then time to look for a nice 110 TDi.

Regards

Matt

In article , Austin Shackles writes

You maybe able to fit seats, but what about doors? You'd really need to buy a 5 door 110 for reasonable access. My 109 has forward facing seats in the rear load bed, but getting to them (especially with 'luggage' in as well) sometimes requires intricate gymnastics.

In article , Austin Shackles writes

Yes, I realised that but only after I'd posted, sorry.

I did briefly have a 'brainwave' about converting mine into a '4 door

109' by trying to put a SW left hand side on it, but the floor level around the 2nd seat row is different and it seemed a pointless exercise.