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New Member looking for a 80 series manual diesel

James Lampard

New Member
Joined
Feb 25, 2013
Messages
46
Hi, we presently own a 1997 landrover defender 300tdi 110 county station wagon, in black with a/c, looks great,well maintained and the last of the tdis but not proving ideal as a family vehicle,
So I am now looking for something a little more refined and powerful and above all proper seats in the back for child seats, if you are not familiar with a 12 seater defender the middle row seats are plywood with the luxury of foam pads and cloth stapled over and offer no support for the child seats so it has to go on that basis ( the fact you cant really hear anyone talking I can cope with !!!), also we have a fairly heavy 1970s royale caravan and I quite fancy something with a bit more grunt to pull it
After plenty of deliberating there is only vehicle I would consider to replace it and thats a Toyota Landcruiser 80 series 4.2 diesel manual, I am looking for a genuine vehicle that has been well maintained , I dont really not what to watch out for but having spoken to a few land cruiser owners they dont seem to go wrong very often and its just general wear and tear items that need replacing

If any one knows of something decent out there please let me know, I am prepared to wait/travel
for something good as I will want to hang onto it for a long time

Cheers James Lampard 07770 585333
 
Well there is a bit of a queue so don't expect too many shouts on that one :lol:

Get yer own.

Welcome to the forum.

Chris
 
By the way James, you need to have a drive of an auto. Forget everything that you may have heard about autos, you are now talking about an 80 auto. It's a different ball game. There are plenty on here who tow with an auto

Chris
 
Thanks Chris, there certainly seem to be a lot more autos out there ! I don't mind autos but my wife won't drive one and it will be her daily vehicle , so that kind of decides that one !!!!!!!!!
 
We have heard that so many times James. Really. I would bet diamonds that once she's tried both, the auto will come out on top. It's effortless. The engine has so much more torque than anything else that for much of the time, changing gear is almost pointless. On a petrol version you need the auto to be able to keep up! Again we've had that debate too. If you aren't doing crazy daily mileage, a petrol works out as a good deal. Plenty to choose from, generally better condition and lower mileage and if driven sensibly can almost equal cost per mile of a diesel. The advantage is that they are also much cheaper to buy. LPG isn't quite the solution that many might think though. This raises the price of the truck if already fitted, you have to put the tank somewhere, there is the cost of the kit if not already fitted and you only get between 10 - 11 mpg on gas. When gas was cheap, it was a real winner.

Obviously towing will kill the mpg, but it's all swings and roundabouts that needs to be calculated on the longer term.

My advice? Look at as many as you can, drive as many as you can, buy the first good one that you see.

Chris
 
Hi Chris , good advice I will try to get her to try one because with the extra power it will be a different beast to an auto shogun or discovery both of which friends own and she has test driven and not liked, we owned a Mitsubishi delica for a short while before the defender - she hated that and that was auto and I think put her off - there was a lot to hate About the delica !!!!!!!!!!!
I have owned a few auto Mercs and wouldn't consider a manual !!!!
A petrol is a good thought as we don't do many miles but might sting a bit towing on long holidays , I had a merc converted to LPG when it was cheap and it didn't work out cost effective then !!!!
Cheers Jim
 
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James, 'search' is your friend. But as you are new ......

It's a long running debate, but I drew up a spread sheet that had price per litre and MPG on it. You can then read off cost per mile. This means that regardless of fuel type, the figures are comparable. With derv being more expensive than petrol, you don't have to do as many MPGs as a diesel to get the same cost per mile. But it's tight. This is where the cheaper cost of a nice petrol comes in. If you look at the whole deal, saving a couple of £grand on the prices is a lot of pennies difference between the cost per mile of a diesel and a petrol. Plus service intervals are better too.

But it also depends on which diesel. There will always be exceptions, but a 12v auto can hit 20 - 21 quite reliably a 24v manual can hit 30 to 32, but many are reporting around 27 ish really. And a petrol, cruising has been recorded at mid teens, but as low as 11 mpg. Gas seems to give around 10 mpg too. This actually works out the same as being on petrol I'm afraid.

You don't buy these things to be economical. But none of us have money to just throw away. Just smile in the kiosk when you pay and they'll think you are a Lotto winner. I do.

Diesel is around the £1.46 mark today which makes a 12v auto at 20 mpg = £.32ppm. A 24v Manual doing 27 mpg = £.25ppm and a petrol which is around £1.36/lit or less in some places, doing 15 mpg = £.41ppm

So, yes, it's more expensive by a few pence, but in terms of miles to catch up (let's say you pay £2k less for a petrol) is 22,222 miles. Plus the oil changes etc. I only do about 3k per year in mine so in sort, the car will probably have met its end before I catch up on the fuel outlay against a diesel.

Rough figures and I know some people hate them. Look, mine does 13 mpg with the 37" tyres on. I can barely get to the petrol station before it runs out. But for a weekend like Lincomb who gives a s***. That's the cost of the weekend. But for a daily drive, it might be a little excessive. A good 12v auto is not too bad.

Like I say, get to drive some. Including a petrol. You'll be hard pressed not to like that I can assure you.

Chris
 
Cheers Chris !!
And thanks for such a detailed breakdown - much appreciated ! it certainly will help to have more of an open mind whilst trying to track one down - I am regularly checking eBay , autotrader, gumtree etc and I have noticed most seem to up north or Scotland ! This maybe a coincidence but seems to be the case since I have been looking
Thanks for the advice
Cheers Jim
 
No you are right. It's a bit odd. Aberdeen especially. Maybe they migrate during the mating season?

C
 
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