| Author | Message | ||
     jason mccombs (Jasonmc) New Member Username: Jasonmc Post Number: 1 Registered: 06-2003 |
Hey guys In new to the rich and textured world of Rovers. I have yet to purchase one but i have been looking at some for sale and test drving them. I have been doing a fair amount of research, ive bought every Import Rover magazine i could lay my hands on lately, ive talked to a few locale independant rover mechs and asked them what to look for. I've read as much of these threads as i could. Ive even emailed people ive found in the threads and asked their advice. (thanks for the help Tony) After all i have read and learned the one thing i have relized is that i still dont know s*** about rovers. I guess i'll never now until i buy one but i want to try and make a good decision on my purchase. I intend to take any rover i think i might buy to a rover mechainc and have it looked over but i guess im looking for some advice to aid me in what i should be looking for. My wife and i have always admired the rovers distinctive look, and we're told its off road capabilities seem to leave jeeps in the dust. we want to use the rover to go off road. we live in northern california and would love to utilize it to go camping and hiking and to get us into the wilderness on those forestry service 2 tracks. We want to go to the desert and get off the beaten path. we want to be able to load it up with all the gear neccesary for us to drive out into the wilderness and get away from everyone and camp and hike and set up a big telescope and look at the starts. thats just what our wants and needs are for a rover. so that being said if any of you are willing i have 2 rovers for you guys to give me your input on. ____________________________________ (rovers in next post) | ||
| jason mccombs (Jasonmc) New Member Username: Jasonmc Post Number: 2 Registered: 06-2003 |
\1 rover is a 1995 disco with 99,800 miles on it. $8900 or best offer. i have run a carafax and the rover ws originally a lease vehicle. the second owner had it for 2 or 3 years and seriously tricked it out for off roading. the guy who owns it now isa friend of the former owner and he said the guy used to go offroading with a UNI-MOG and used the disco as a support vehicle. the current owner has more or less used the Disco to go skiiing in Tahoe or to get to the heads of rivers to go kayaking. the goodies on the disco are as follows safari guard front brush bar with sump protector safari guard rock sliders. safari guard rear light brush guards Warn winch (m8000) plus warn accessory kit Hi-Lift jack Tow hitch receiver kit Dual optima deep cycle batteries 2" suspension lift (edelbrock) New OEM alternator (4000 miles ago) New catalytic converter ( 100 miles ago) CD mulitchanger Garmin III GPS the guy who owns it now has been pretty forthcoming in answering any and all questions I've asked him. he has done most of the servicingg himself i think. he seems to be pretty knowledgable about the rover and understands its needs. He does happen to be British so maybe that helps. | ||
| jason mccombs (Jasonmc) New Member Username: Jasonmc Post Number: 3 Registered: 06-2003 |
2nd Rover. this one i have not seen yet. i will be looking at it today at noon. but it sounds good on paper 1996 Landrover Discovery SE $9800, obo. only 66,000 miles. Never taken off-roading. Excellent condition. Clean inside and out. Running board, front grill, tinted windows, power everything, fully loaded. Serviced at Roverland in SF. owners says he has all the paperwork. Clean title. he just paid the registration for 2003. Must sell. i talked to the owner last night and he says he had bought the extended warranty and it was supposed to be good til 70,000miles but he wasn't sure if the warranty had expired from its time limit. ok guys these are the 2 rovers. tell me what you think i should do. i need help!!! If any of you guys live near me and are willing to help me out that would rock. I dont really expect that though. so any posts you guys can offer up in the way of help will be appreciated!!! later guys. Jason | ||
| Toddrover (Toddrover) New Member Username: Toddrover Post Number: 26 Registered: 04-2003 |
Cost on #2 ?? Cause if you want to do some serious offroading and outfit it closely to #1 you better add in several thousand dollars... | ||
| jason mccombs (Jasonmc) New Member Username: Jasonmc Post Number: 4 Registered: 06-2003 |
cost on the second rover is $9,800 OBO. and yeah i know that to upgrade it will be a few grand. But how serious of an upgrade do you think I'd need for the usage I've listed? the extras are nice though regardless... do the value of the upgrades supercede the higher miles and rougher life its probably lived? | ||
| Chris Marcel (Gumarcel) Senior Member Username: Gumarcel Post Number: 455 Registered: 11-2002 |
I would say the first. If you plan to off-road save yourself thousands of $$$ and get the first. I would bet it is in better condition then the second one. My $0.02 Marcel | ||
| Toddrover (Toddrover) New Member Username: Toddrover Post Number: 27 Registered: 04-2003 |
I think the upgrade value is 1/2 of original cost based on other threads here. I like Marcel would go w/ # 1. For what you're looking for any of those mods would be nice to have. | ||
| charles pastrano (Charles) Member Username: Charles Post Number: 214 Registered: 08-2002 |
Jason Alyssa has these two: We just traded in a well-maintained 1999 Discovery I, black, 73,650 miles, leather, power seats, auto trans. No sunroofs, no CD. 60k was done, no lights on, new michelin tires. Very clean interior. Selling as-is to the Discoweb community for $10,950. We also have a 1996 White Discovery with automatic trans, leather and jump seats. 131k miles. No sunroofs, no CD. Needs viscous fan coupling & has leaking head gaskets. Selling as-is for $5,000. We are in Wayne, PA 19087. Call me at 610-964-9100 x108 if you have any questions. Might be worth a look. | ||
| Greg French (Gregfrench) Senior Member Username: Gregfrench Post Number: 404 Registered: 11-2002 |
YOu seem to be in quite a dilemma. If it wereme, I would go with the first one for a number of reasons. First off, it is already modified, so you would save money there. Second, the guy did all the work himself. Anyone who does that kind of modifications to one of these rigs if more than an owner- he is an enthusiast. People like that (Most of us on here) love our trucks more than we like most people. We are the sort that goes out and looks around under the truck for days at a time, looking for any excuse to work on it. That tells me it will be mechanically sound. Third, the second truck was owned by someone who probably doesn't even know what engine he has. Therefore, he has probably not kept up with all of the little things that go wrong with these that ends up being big things. I know when I bought mine at 65,000 I thought I was getting a real deal, but you would not believe all of the stuff I had to do to it. Itis in MUCH better shape now (115,000) than it was then. Finally, you have Discoweb. The peoploe on here can tell you how to fix anything on these trucks. This is the number one assett to any Disco owner. I didn't find it until I already had the truck for 2 years. It really made my life easier. Jeeps are better than Discos at some things, but for what you are talking about, there really is no comparison to the Land Rover. Welcome to the Disco world! | ||
| jason mccombs (Jasonmc) New Member Username: Jasonmc Post Number: 5 Registered: 06-2003 |
hey guys i just got back from looking at the 1996 rover and it looked damn good. It was owned by a woman who drove it very littlle. She's now married and they have a new baby , they've bought a new lexus SUV whatever that thing is, and they just want the one SUV because they feel safer with the Lexus. The engine was very clean. interior in good shape. Oil was kinda low on the dip stick, the owner told me it was time for an oil change. the engine ran well, good quiet idle. no bad smoke form the exhaust. the wheels were all matching and had a lot of tread on them. no bad leaks from the difs, the transfer box looked clean. this thing has never probably been driven on a dirt road much less off- road. I didn't test the low gear or the dif lock. I'd never actually activated one before and the owner was riding with me so i didn't wanna screw it up in front of him. after talking to the couple about the mechanical history they told me they had it serviced at a Rover specialty shop in San Francisco. I know of the shop and have spoken to the mechanic and he comes highy recommended around here. He is the mechainc i was going to take any rover to for a pre-purchase inspection. After speaking to them a little more it turns out the mechanic who is also the owner of the Roverland shop is a good friend of theirs and he was even at their wedding. so i would guess he would probably have been more than fair with them in taking care of their rover. they had the receipts to show the work that had been done. i read through the receipts and the serpentine belt had been replaced. the valve cover seal had been leaking and it had been replaced. the oil pan had been leaking and it was fixed. there were some notes about a missaligned belt that connected to the transfer case that had to be replaced and realigned. not sure what that is but in the notes it said the tranfer case had been removed to repair it. there were some other things that i can't remember now. i wanna thank everyone for taking the time to reply to my messages. it's been a great help i am one damn indecissive SOB. so I'm relying on others expertise here to help me decide. The kid in me wants the Rover with all the tricked out goods, but the realist in me says that the newer vehicle with the low miles is probably the better choice. I mean if all i want to do in the way of off-roading is some rough roads with potholes and gravel, and some forestry 2 tracks, do i really need all the extras? I mean a stock rover sitll has good clearance and a decent suspension system doesn't it? id say the most i could anticipate this being used on those types of roads would be like 6 or 7 times a year. Other than that its gonna be schleping me to and from work and about town. so guys tell me do i go with the apparently well maintained, low mileage (66,000), 1996 rover, thats never seen dirt. or do i go with the slightly older, 1995, higher mileage (99,800) rover, that has seen a good deal of action? please help me make the smartest decision. | ||
| Phillip Perkinson (Rover4x4) Member Username: Rover4x4 Post Number: 244 Registered: 02-2003 |
soccer mom with the low miles. adding your "options" will be an even more fun as well as educating experience. Lesser miles are always better IMHO. If it were me I would get the one from the lady. | ||
| Scott Phelps (Scottp) New Member Username: Scottp Post Number: 3 Registered: 03-2003 |
I got the soccer mom special myself, it was in great shape and you could eat off the floors. The only thing to watch out for is the CDL which I had to lubricate and break loose, it had NEVER been used (it's a '98). | ||
| Phillip Perkinson (Rover4x4) Member Username: Rover4x4 Post Number: 245 Registered: 02-2003 |
definatly go with the virgin ! | ||
| Todd Nash (Nash) New Member Username: Nash Post Number: 17 Registered: 02-2003 |
I'd go for the soccer mom 1996 too. 66K vs. 100K. Plus, you can always add on whatever you need. Based on your descriptions of fireroad and desert road adventures, I doubt you need too much hardcore off-road equipment to get started. | ||
| Jason T. Barker (Speedminded) Senior Member Username: Speedminded Post Number: 287 Registered: 10-2002 |
I'm curious about this: "there were some notes about a missaligned belt that connected to the transfer case that had to be replaced and realigned. not sure what that is but in the notes it said the tranfer case had been removed to repair it" ...have I been infected by some near 2am stupid logic or am I missing something here? I don't understand. | ||
| jason mccombs (Jasonmc) New Member Username: Jasonmc Post Number: 6 Registered: 06-2003 |
hey guys thanks for all the input I'm gonna call the mechainc and get some more details and make the guy an offer. Jason (speedminded) im not sure about the missaligned thing. i was reading through the maintenance records pretty quick. I was lookingfor major things that had needed repair. i am probably just mixing two unrelated things up. but there was definately soemthing about having something missaligned which caused a belt to wobble. and i know for sure that there was something that was done that required the transfer box to be removed, not sure what it was though. and i think you guys are right that i probably dont need to much hard core offroad equip. right now. i want a clean solid running vehicle and if i get into it i can always add on. I'll let you guys know how it goes. Cross your fingers for me that someone doesnt snag it before i can get my newbie paws on it. by the way anyone interested in a nice little commuter car? 1997 VW GTI 4cyl. 58,900 miles on it. looking to get like $6500-7000 for it let me know. Thanks again for the adivce. | ||
| jason mccombs (Jasonmc) New Member Username: Jasonmc Post Number: 8 Registered: 06-2003 |
hey can anyone recommend some upgrades that will make this vehicle a better handler on and off the road? I haven't bought it yet but i already feel the urge to look through my Rovers North catalog and highlight things for the future. | ||
| Alan Yim (Alan) Senior Member Username: Alan Post Number: 487 Registered: 09-2002 |
Cut the front air dam off, remove the running boards and get some diff guards and JATE rings. That will be a good start. | ||
| jason mccombs (Jasonmc) New Member Username: Jasonmc Post Number: 9 Registered: 06-2003 |
cool thanks alan. | ||
| Alan Yim (Alan) Senior Member Username: Alan Post Number: 490 Registered: 09-2002 |
No problem. I'd say leave the truck stock (I don't really consider the above things I mentioned modifying as much as enhancing) for a while and see how well it serves your needs. At most if the tires need replacing, get some decent AT tires and you'll be surprised where your truck can go. No sense totally decking out the truck until you have a good idea of what you'll be doing with it. It's nice to have all those toys but if your truck is a dual purpose truck (daily driver and occasional trail rig), chances are you won't make use of all the toys and you'll have just pumped a bunch of money into it that you won't benefit from very well...and your wife will be mad at you. | ||
| jason mccombs (Jasonmc) New Member Username: Jasonmc Post Number: 10 Registered: 06-2003 |
hey guys, i purchased the 1996 Disco SE today!! thanks for all your help it really gave me the ocnfidence to make a decision. | ||
| Alan Yim (Alan) Senior Member Username: Alan Post Number: 497 Registered: 09-2002 |
way to go! you'll be happy with the truck and welcome to the world of Land Rovers. just remember these aren't like normal vehicles that you drive and park. they require attention and if you keep up with it, they'll never leave you stranded. | ||
| Roger Sinasohn (Uncle_roger) New Member Username: Uncle_roger Post Number: 1 Registered: 06-2003 |
Since you're in the bay area, be sure to check out the northern california rover club (NCRC) at http://www.norcalrover.org/ -- it's well worth joining. Also, you may want to join the Mendo_Recce list -- the info on that is at http://www.fourfold.org/mendo_recce/ including info on signing up. Congrats on becoming an LRO! |
