Probably looking at something very late 80's early 90's V8 (with an LPG kit on if I get lucky).
Yeah, I want a nice V8 rumble even if I only drive 10 miles once a week ATM. I'm doing a lot of walking or bike riding for short stuff to avoid having to get the car out of the yard.
I know, unless it is on gas, it is not going to be cheap to run. unless I go for diesel and run it on bio/veggie fuel, and they have a price premium in them anyway, over the petrol V8.
I wouldnt go for a diesel range rover classic unless its either a later one with a 200TDi engine fitted as these work out pretty expensive (more expensive than an equivalent discovery for a vehicle thats no better).
The earlier VM diesel engines are pretty gutless and not very reliable.
There are plenty of ones around with pretty much any choice of engine fitted but you need to check to see how well its been done. I have seen some using J diesel engines and gearboxes and then forgetting to fit the transmission brake, so they end up with no handbrake
If you are gonna get one its got to be a V8 and I would definetely recommend an LPG kit ready fitted. Its not worth while paying to get one converted as you wont get your money back when you come to sell.
You can pick up a fairly tidy one converted with an MOT for £1000 ish.
All land rovers end up being quite high maintenance and if you do the work yourself they are cheap to run. If you are paying someone else to do the work they arent.
3 main engine options 3.5 V8 carb, 3.5 V8 EFI and 3.9 V8 EFI. I would recommend going for the 3.9 as they are noticeably more powerful but they can be more expensive if you get electrical problems. Expect around 13-17mpg out of all of them on petrol and 10-15mpg on LPG.
Also the 3.9s have a viscous centr diff so no diff lock, these are great fun, if you are on grass, snow or wet tarmac and boot the throttle you can keep them in a nice four wheel drift, totally sideway s ;D
I used to have a 100 litre tank fitted in the boot of my 1990 Vogue and used to get around 150-175 mile to a tank (had to fill it up every 2-3 days
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Autos are smoother to drive and hide a lot of the transmission knocks/clunks and diff slap that all land rovers suffer from. Manuals are quicker but you have to put more concentration into driving to keep up and down shifts smooth.
Problems:-
All land rovers will leak oil and the more they get used the more they leak.
You need to regularly check all oil levels.
Gearbox oil, transfer box oil level, diffs (3 off) and front swivel hubs.( I find it better to buy GL5 diff oil in 25 litre containers after owning a few land rovers ;D)
Axle diff pans (front and rear)rust through and leak, if you are lucky you can weld small holes up to stop the leaks. Most people try to fibreglass or putty them, but this doesnt work. They need to be repaired properely which is a diff out job cut the old pan off and then weld a new one in. They only cost £40 each for new ones.
A lot of people just drive them with the leaks but this means you have to keep checking the oil levels.
Upper and lower tailgates rust, lowers are normally repairable, uppers need replacing. You know when the upper ones are knackered as they start to open themselves when you do above 50MPH.
Chassis`s rust (even my S reg disco has been welded). Chassis and body are seperate and the bodys are prone for rust around sills, rear floor, inner wheel arches and rear spring mounts. Front inner wings are prone to rust but these are not structural due to the seperate chassis so easy to repair.
Headlinings sag.
If you are over 5ft 10 I recommend that you remount the seat a bit further back as leg room is limited.
Steering dampers need regular replacing and you get a lot of front wheel shimmy at speed when they are worn(£15 each)
Bushes are prone to wear this causes wobbly steering and more transmission noises.
Aluminium panels corrode and become seperated from the body.
they have 205 r16 tyres as standard these need changing to 235 70 r16 as they transform the handling and cut down on body roll, and they do roll as anti roll bars werent fitted until around 92. You can fit anti roll bars afterwards and these transform the handling. Or get a full handling kit including bushes, springs dampers and anti roll bars for around 400 quid.
Apologies for the above essay I was just trying to highlight the main points. don't let those put you off though they really are great vehicles and generally reliable and easy to fix. I had mine for 1 year and did just over 17,000 mile in it in that time. It cost me around £500 to do that mileage including tyres and exhaust (£175). I loved the power of it particularly when towing, but my problem was the mileage I did, filling it up every few days and having to plan LPG stations into my driving became an
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