£5000 LAND ROVER BUYING GUIDE
You can buy a lot of Land Rover for £5000. Dave Phillips explains just what you can expect (and what to avoid)
Politicians are trusted about as much as second-hand car salesman. In other words, not very much. When UK prime ministers Harold Macmillan and Harold Wilson both told us we’d never had it so good – in the 1950s and the 1960s, respectively – nobody really believed them. Just as nobody would believe a Land Rover salesman who told you today you’d never had it so good.
But in fact the Land Rover seller would be telling you the truth. When it comes to buying great Land Rovers at sensible prices, we’ve never had it so good.
When I decided to buy my first Land Rover, 21 years ago, I had £5000 burning a hole in my pocket. That’s nearly £7000 in today’s money, but in 1995 that wasn’t enough to buy a Defender, nor a pre-defender Ninety or One Ten. And it wasn’t enough to buy a Discovery 1 or P38 Range Rover, either.
My choice for five grand was either a Series vehicle or an early Range Rover Classic. As it was to be my everyday vehicle, and I was covering a lot of motorway miles in those days, I knew a leaf-sprung Series wouldn’t be a practical choice. My budget didn’t extend to a late Tdiengined diesel Range Rover, so I eventually handed over £3500 for a 1983 3.5 V8 Range Rover. It wasn’t ideal – it struggled to average 15 mpg – but at last I had a foot on the first rung of the Land Rover ladder. For £5000 back in 1995 I really didn’t have much choice.
Today, the punter with £5000 in his back pocket can expect a fantastic choice. For that sort of money you can buy a brilliant Series II or Series III – most likely a wellsorted one with a Tdi engine conversion and a galvanised chassis. You can also find good, solid Tdi Defenders, as well as having the pick of the Ninetys and One Tens. A high-mileage Td5 Defender – probably an abused farmer’s hack – is also a possibility.
When it comes to Discoverys, you can expect the pick of the Disco 2s for £5000 and you might even find a highmileage Disco 3 at this price.
If you want to drive around like the Lord of the Manor, most Range Rovers are now within your price bracket. Not the latest model, of course, but early V8 petrol L322s are now languishing around £5000. Not bad for a car that was worth ten times as much just a decade ago.
Freelanders are also easily within your budget. Take your pick of the very best Freelander 1s or, if you shop around, you can find an early high-mileage Freelander 2.
You see what I mean? There’s a lot to choose from. So let’s look at them in more detail…