Offroad-Express

Just after people's input on land rover range rovers .
Currently look to purchase a 4wd mainly for off-road use and to handle quite abit of hard work .
Seen quite a few of these between 80s-90s go quite cheap on trademe .
Was wandering how reliable and well these go places ?
Any issues I should look out for on one and things took look at when buying one

That should open a lot of discussion!!! Can't wait to hear peoples bisas.

The only factoid ive have learnt is the 3.9 injected is more reliable then the 3.5 carbied v8. In saying that clarksons one made it accross south america ok

Gcdogg wrote:Just after people's input on land rover range rovers .
Currently look to purchase a 4wd mainly for off-road use and to handle quite abit of hard work .
Seen quite a few of these between 80s-90s go quite cheap on trademe .
Was wandering how reliable and well these go places ?
Any issues I should look out for on one and things took look at when buying one

If referring to the Classic Range Rover, they weren't the top champions of the Malaysian RFC, the Aussie Outback challenge and many other international off road events for no reason.
They were really the ones to beat for a long time.

If buying one remember they are getting long in the tooth now. Anything 1990 is coming up 25 years so need to check things like rust in the sills, floor and top rear tail gate.
The 3.9 injected ones from 1990 onwards are better than the older 3.5 engines.
But then easy enough to put the later injected engine into an early one as everything mounts up much the same.

The Discovery V8 is probably a cheaper and better buy as they are more abundant and not yet considered a classic like the early range rover.

Crash bandicoot wrote:The only factoid ive have learnt is the 3.9 injected is more reliable then the 3.5 carbied v8. In saying that clarksons one made it accross south america ok

Lol I remember that episode. Clarkson referred to it as "the most unreliable vehicle ever made"

From what I've seen the diffs are a bit weak

Any inputs great thanks guys . Seen a few for cheap and thought there might have been a reason for this but was unsure basically just a truck for me and the boys to take out places and not have to care to much about but still need to operate correctly

If you want a cheap truck that will do the rough trips expect to be breaking stuff and swinging the spanners getting any vehicle and trying to do any sort of real 4wdin this is true.

Haha I know cheap and reliable arnt usualy heard in the same sentence . Was just curious about these for basically a hunting/fishing truck for abit of rugged driving

Got a disco some whst modded. Suspension is very good decent shocks go a long way. Transfer case/center diff is weak dont 4wd heavily open center diff it will break . Locked they seem ok. As someone said the diffs are weak I replaced mine with 80 series which sorted that issue. But if you 4wd with out the hero jumps and stupid wheel spinning they will survive I went pre 94 series 1 disco fark all electronics no abs etc. 3.9 is a good relativley strong motor . Sound nice with headers, watch for rust around the windows. Rear floor etc google search will soon tell ya here to look, parts are pretty cheap from LRS in auckland . pretty heavy on petrol but they still make it !! Like all 4wds they need maintanance. I was firmly in the toyota camp but went to the dark side cause they are a bloody cheap wagon I mooded the hell out of mine with view if I rolled it get another swop the bits over and continue.....

Pedro

Pedro

Yeah I've been right into my Japanese 4wds but as prices keep rising for parts and vehicles alone for them I was going to try a different approach and try one of these out . Live in Canterbury so unsure on easily getting parts for one but that's fine as it won't be getting a hell a lot of abuse just a weekend truck

heaps of wreckers out canterbury way now. trade me ya friend , project land rover (facebook) pick a part bloody good to.

for a couple of grand a face lift disco 1 3.9 inj rover, 24 spline axle awsome factory flex. or like i have get a diesel . cheap as chips to run. did a trip into lake daniels , drove from kaiapoi , 4wd for 2 days and drove home and only used 2/3 tank. like what has been said above just ya usual running things with 4wding.

I went from a Hilux to a 110, The landy requires alot more spanner checks than the hilux did but it is alot more fun to drive and can go alot further than the hilux. If you like spending time in the shed playing on vehicles the landy will be good. Parts are easy to get Rex at LandRover Spares in Dury Auckland is really helpful.
Good luck hope you find what your looking for.

Love my '91 Classic (my 1st 4wd and Land Rover) which has got late model Disco 1 axles/diffs, transfer and 3.9 V8 engine in it plus 4" lift and 33's on it, lots of parts are the same as the Disco 1s right down to the chassis...you could swap the bodies over between the 2 and off you go. Only problems so far has been with the efi, stepper motor and tps, but they're on their way from the UK (half the price than NZ'd prices and here in a week!) and picked up a diagnostic tool/error code reader which has helped big time in diagnosing faults with efi system. There's plenty of info and parts on line. I love the Rover V8 sound.