Sensible Purchase?

How do you do?

all at the same time? would have to be a 110/109/LWB

maybe a Discovery

excluding the driver, a 110 (& Discovery) has only 3 seats with a 3-point belt

is a comment which applies to many Landies too.

Noisy? 110 is, yes. Discovery, not really Comfort - my 110 doesn't seem to be particularly uncomfortable although they do look like they'll be giving back/leg trouble

correct - but with 4 small kids what better can you do?

some are, others are ridiculously cheap.

each unit is different - some do, others don't

budget is probably on the low side for a quality 110 although the top of your range should get you a decent Discovery.

Good luck.

Well, the first prob is the kids, having 3 under 5 years and one on the way will cause probs as most models of landy only have room for 5 bods (rear sideway facing seats apart). As the new farcical seatbelt laws for children are in the process of wiping large families and their vehicles from the surface of the planet, you will need to fit 4 child seats (if 3 will fit in the back and 1 in the front) and your missus will have to ride in the boot or on one of the sideway facing seats! Sorry for the ultra negative reply but I, along with half the country are pissed off with turmoil blair and his so-called laughor candidates. As for a landy, buy and enjoy whilst you still can! I can thoroughly recommend them for the fun drive and many a day in the repair shop learning to maintain and run them. Prices of spares are far cheaper than any other

Ian

I'm affraid your budget is a bit tight - for what you intend doing a 200Tdi would be a be a good idea.

Depends entirely on you, as the driver. I love the Defender driving position, others hate it! Ditto to an extent the front passenger. Kids in the back - well it depends on the kids - some seem to think is great, others cringe in embarrasment......comfortable, it 'aint! Tdi's arn't silent, but you can hear the radio - Station Wagons have much better sound proofing on pre-300Tdi models.

Not that bad - there's not a lot of full-size 4x4's that will do a lot better, and many are worse, despite the maufacturers claims. A 200Tdi 110 Station Wagon will do somewhere between 25 & 30 to the gallon - and go a lot faster that you mate will tell you..... Driving style also makes a hell of a lot of difference

You must be joking! There's a whole industry supplying LR parts at very good prices, and compared to Jap motors even LR are pretty good.

It depends on how you treat the vehicle to an extent, but there's some truth in that, though parts are cheap enough, and more importantly, easily available. LR's aren't built with state-of-the-art sealed-for-life components as a rule, so some parts that were considerd service items 30 years ago still are.

It sounds like you really need a 110 Station Wagon, and you'll be struggling to get a good one for that money - Defenders hold their value very well.

Discoveries I'm sure have their virtues too, particularly on comfort, but they are not my cup of tea.

In short, if you get one you'll either sell it within a week or keep it forever.......

Richard

Super thanks! And thanks to everyone for rapid and useful info and opinions.

Yes... that's what I'd concluded.

Argh... this is a bit of a show-stopper isn't it... sodding stupid new laws!

I just drove an N reg discovery... was fine... reminded me of a range rover, drove a bit like a transit... I liked it a lot.

Right - discovery was fine; not driven a defender yet.

One of those "people carriers?"

Yes... seems a 110 would be really rather old at my price point...

Thanks!

S.

Guess you can't get a child seat in the back ones?

Yes... this has occured to me... golly... what a pain in the arse. I've not followed this... is this absolutely happening?

Not really negative... perhaps realistic, but does somewhat throw spanners in the works...

Thanks... useful perspective.

S.

Useful... I did wonder if this might be more assertion than fact.

Right... and if I'm prepared to learn to work myself, or get some friendly support, this is a big advantage.

Yes... well I can't go above 3000... so at that price seems a Discovery would be a better idea....

My biggest concern is all this seatbelt rubbish :(

S.

On which, the law states a child may use an adult belt (ie a lap belt?) if there are two occupied child restraints in the rear which prevent the fitment of a third.

Furthermore, it states:

In addition, a child 3 and over may travel unrestrained in the rear seat of a vehicle if seat belts are not available.

So perhaps they could use the sideways ones if the others we used up?

I wonder if a booster-seat would be ok to use with a lap belt? Just thinking of how to use that middle seat in the back of a discovery...

Any ideas?

S.

Have a very good look at the rear floor, rear wheel arches and sills on a Discovery. Easy enough to repair, but expensive if you have to pay someone else to do it.

Richard

FWIW - here's how we manage seating in our Discovery ....

Front row - two adults

middle row - two child seats

back 'row' - two children (over the necessary height)

now - if only I could find a near side 2nd row seat that isn't combined with the central seat I could usefully use that space for stowage.

yep - on balance I'd say a Discovery is your best bet - £3k should get you a good one. take your time, there's plenty about.

At your rate of breeding you're going to be out of possible vehicles double quick. Maybe a minibus, Austin reckons to have the seat belt dilemma solved there.

LOL

Ahh yes - well Austin also has a cunning Land Rover/Bus hybrid plan IIRC.

How quick can Mr Shackles turn 'em out? the market (it would appear) is waiting.

beamendsltd uttered summat worrerz funny about:

Where as I'm rubbing my hands waiting for a flood of good 110's CSW so I can reap the benifits. It's a pleasure pain thing.

Though I suspect I'll be waiting longer than I think!

Lee D

Electrical gremlins - check everything works, and worn gearboxes making difficult changes ,don't forget the innner wings not an mot fail but annoying and again expensive if you have to pay for the job - very prone to rot due to the thoughtful way the plastic liners rub the paint off and allow water to collect at the plastic clip holes I love my Disco and there was a conversion for Range Rovers with forward facing 3rd row seats but I suspect they are probably used for towing Unicorn horseboxes such is the rareity or forward facing seat are available for Defenders the only issue being the seat belt mountings Derek

On or around 19 Sep 2006 06:19:32 -0700, "Cope" enlightened us thusly:

I don't see why not.

The things I mentioned fit nicely on disco middle-row seats. The same lot also do a 3-point centre belt fitment, although whether it's credible in a disco I don't know.

On or around Tue, 19 Sep 2006 16:50:13 +0100, "William Tasso" enlightened us thusly:

Blatant plug:

there's one for sale here:

'95 M plate TDi 300, about 120K-odd miles. when sold it will have a new head gasket... we could do a deal based on selling it as-is with the new gasket not fitted, which would save me time and effort.

all works - side steps are a bit tatty and the central locking in the rear door makes funny noises but still works. The wipers don't self-park properly and as a result the intermittent wipe doesn't work properly either. That's a new wiper motor, which is about 100 notes odd.

Seats are all sound and there's a brand-new set of waterproof covers, not even fitted - they were got for the other disco but mother didn't like the colour (green, but it clashed with the body colour of the other motor), so bought some more. The TDi is epsom green (dark metallic) and the green covers will look OK in it.

More-or-less complete history and 3 owners. Assuming you trust me to have serviced it regularly... LR and independent garage history up 'til we bought it.

erm... lessee. If I do the gasket (including a head-check and skim if necessary) and fix the wipers and everything else, I reckon it ought to go about 2500 quid.

Come with a trailer and fetch it (it is running, BTW, but I wouldn't take it on a journey of any length due to the gasket) as it stands and it's yours for 2K.

There's an option to convert the front end to vented discs. I have all the parts, but I'm not including them in the price unless you pay for 'em, as they're new, unfitted and will fit the other disco. I think the front pads are glazed or something - brakes aren't really up to scratch for a disco (which normally are very good) - however, I have a new set of pads I can throw in, for the standard solid discs.

Anyone?

The Auto-Safe bloke was on Dragons Den last night. A wonderful solution, just a pity the bloke had to loose half his business to market the thing properly. So much for the DTI (or whatever it's called this week) offering "advice".....

Richard

........ want to be a customer, but the website is knackered (too much Javascript) - oh look, the link to the designers site works ok!

"Designers" strike again.......arrhhhhhh! That's one lost sale....

Richard

On or around Wed, 20 Sep 2006 10:26:52 +0100, beamendsltd enlightened us thusly:

I'm sure one of us could order some if you just want a few for your own use.

If you're looking to sell them on, however...

The site is all flashy and animated. Actually, I thought there was a plain one...

snipped-for-privacy@autosafeproducts.co.uk

is the email link on the page. there isn't a plain site, just flash - be worth getting on to him and pointing out, politely, that he's in danger of losing trade.

I very much doubt that there's any point, the poor bloke would just refer it to his "consultants" who are supposedly the experts, and they would very likely just say "Well, eveyone *must* be using the latest version of IE, so what's the problem...".

I once got a supplier to sit in front of a machine and try to use their site to make half a dozen price enquiries in much the same way as I'd used his site....... the flash, JS etc disappeard a week later.

Mind you, having said that, most of the banks have finaly realised that a simple site is a safer site over the last couple of years.

Richard