Deciding between a landrover

Aivia

I have an autograss car (nissan micra).It needs to be towed or brought on a trailer from track to track.
Basically I need a good towing car that will not cost too much to maintain (or more importantly tax and insure)
So since I want cheap tax and insurance but would need a decent sized engine to easily tow my car to and from the track I am only left with buying a vintage.

I would think (although im not sure) that the only vintage 4x4s that would not cost you an arm and a leg would be a land rover. I would like to know what land rover I should get, I have been trying to decide mainly between a series 3, defender or a range rover classic.

Can you give me the advantages and disadvantages of each land rover and which one would best fit into my budget of around 3000-5000 maybe can stretch to 7000 for a good one.

gn3dr

Aivia wrote: »

I have an autograss car (nissan micra).It needs to be towed or brought on a trailer from track to track.
Basically I need a good towing car that will not cost too much to maintain (or more importantly tax and insure)
So since I want cheap tax and insurance but would need a decent sized engine to easily tow my car to and from the track I am only left with buying a vintage.

I would think (although im not sure) that the only vintage 4x4s that would not cost you an arm and a leg would be a land rover. I would like to know what land rover I should get, I have been trying to decide mainly between a series 3, defender or a range rover classic.

Can you give me the advantages and disadvantages of each land rover and which one would best fit into my budget of around 3000-5000 maybe can stretch to 7000 for a good one.

Land Rover not cost you an arm and a leg :eek: :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

I have a Range Rover Classic - love it. I also had a series 3 for a while - a lot more agricultural. But I'd still love another one.
The Range Rover was way ahead of it's time and is still nice to drive.
The 90 and 110 are classic now and these are a better drive than the series 3 - they have coil springs - similar to the Range Rover basically.

The main issue with any Land Rover / Range Rover is going to be rust.

Aivia

Id buy a range rover classic instantly but I keep reading these stories about its reliability problems and as you said they are ahead of their time so if anything does go wrong with it it would be more of a pain to work on that a series 3.

I would get a range rover for the more luxury features but would have the reliability issues.

I would get a series 3 for the reliability and easy of work on it but would have the comfort and noise issues. (Ideally a series 3 with coil conversion)

Obviously the middle man here is the defender but to be honest I dont really like the defender styling and the higher price doesn't help.

Also what I mean by land rovers not costing much is that compared to something like a vintage land cruiser/g wagon they are way cheaper.

Aivia

*ignore accidental post*

Blue850

Consider a late 80s Pajero , theres one on DD for about 3 grand.Or how about an old camper van

hi5

Get yourself a large luxury car instead, it would have no problem towing a Nissan micra.

Something like this...
https://www.donedeal.ie/vintagecars-for-sale/bmw-735i/12645053

Aivia

The problem with the pajero is that it is 1988. So for 2 years until 2018 i would have to pay normal 2.5l tax costing 1200 euro plus higher insurance as it would be a everyday road car.

Also the donedeal ad for the luxury car was taken down before I saw it but I can tell by the link it was a bmw 735i. I will have a look into some more luxury cars

Testacalda

is buying a commercial 4x4 not an option. Better for towing than a vinatge one and tax isn't too expensive if you actually tax it as commercial, €333

Of course you have to be using it for commercial purposes only then,... of course :pac:

If you buy a vintage machine and insure it on a vintage or classic policy, you need to make sure you are actually covered to tow a trailer, its often not covered on classic policies.

If you only bringing a micra and a few bits on a transporter trailer, a decent size saloon car would easily be able to tow the weight your dealing with. Even a 1.6 petrol ford focus is rated to tow 1200kg :eek:

Aivia

The only reason I was going for a vintage is because I already have a good daily driver car (the car can easily tow the micra fine but I wanted another car incase I managed to break it somehow).
I would think it would be cheaper (cheaper as in tax and insurance) to buy a vintage and drive it the weekends to races instead of having a commercial car.
I have not researched about it but how much would the insurance be on a 2008 range rover crew cab 3.6l?

Merrion

This Landrover looks a good one...

pryantcc

I have a 1991 hi-lux. I bought it for just 800, so that's pretty cheap. It's extremely simple, so very easy to maintain. It's insured with FBD through the Irish Vintage Society's group scheme for 4x4s. It's only 150 Euro a year. That policy does expressly include towing too.

I'd be more inclined to go with a big old car, though, unless you need to drag your trailer around muddy fields at the events you attend. Comfort would be my main motivation for that.