Buying 96 Disco

He won't have to "look for" the oil leaks LOL

I believe that the V8 Disco's are programmed at the factory to veer left or right as necessary when ever a fuel station appears.
Other than that they are a reasonable buy at that sort of price.

Diesels are a bit lacking in urge but only half as thirsty.

Disco.

i love the way you say you will bitch slap anyone who mentions oil leaks lol
but honestly oil retention problems are there weakest pints vally cover/gearbox/transfer case and many other spots.
some of theese oil retention problems are expensive to fix.
so if the whole car looks like its had a recent power wash of engine/gearbox/front diff/rear diff they might be trying to hide some thing.
im not picking on the discos but they really do have lots of oil retention problems.
we have 2 at work at the mement in for oil retention problems.
cheers

Hi
We had a disco 1996 diesel it was an SE manual. When it went it was good, great 4WD, However.... it cost a fortune to fix, fan belts are another problem, electrics and so on.
Saying that if the price is right and it has had servicing and attentionover the years it may be ok. Ours was fantastic when we sold it as we fixed all the major problems. However it cost us a fortune!
Good luck to your friend.
Regards Lenni

I have heard about problems with both the 300TDi and the Td5. The former timing belt and gearbox problems and electrical/turbo failure issues with the Td5. Can anyone confirm or deny?

The prodigious thirst will probably rival or beat GU 4.5 but I have not heard of major problems with them. The only ones thirst and not an overt amount of power to show for it.

BennyGU,
Had a 96 Disco manual that treated us very well over a few years. Had it on gas and averaged 22litres/100 km and on petrol about 18/100. Capable car with a couple inches of lift. Ended up selling it a 200k as couple of problems starting to mount. Felt like every time a service came around there was no change from a grand.
That said, it was a few years ago and we were intent on keeping it in good mechanical nick. It depends on what your mate has plans for. Our issues were mainly electrical, immobiliser kicking in at 100 kph, windows. Also struggled to hold a tune on gas until we went to Landie specialist AMV. It took us to a few states and I'd have liked to have kept it but got scared off by the ongoing costs.
Good luck
ps The autos are apparently a good thing