For sale is my beloved 2005 D3 HSE. Mileage 168,800
Located in Wokingham/RG27 area, but happy to meet in Marlow/Maidenhead/Reading area too (where my offices are)
I bought this five years ago and have looked after it well since then, taking care of the major bits (see below) as and when they need doing, along with some preventative maintenance too.
I have loved this car, genuinely of the 19 cars I’ve owned this one is the toughest one to see sold – it does everything I’ve needed of it over the past five years. I put up a post a while back declaring the Disco 3/4 as the pinnacle of car design and I stand by that – it’s done the most outstanding job of filling my needs; family car for long-haul camping, local tip runs, carting materials home from B&Q, being smart enough to park up on my wealthy clients’ driveways without looking out of place; being simple enough to do DIY jobs on the driveway, etc. I’ve just returned from London yesterday having taken me, wife, two kids and my bike up to the Ride London event. It was comfy, quiet, reliable and none of my other cars would fit the bill.
That all said, I’ve just gone out on a whim and bought myself a classic VW camper and this D3 needs a new home. I’ll regret it in time, perhaps, but hey ho I’ve made the decision now.
Good bits:
a) Belts (front and rear) done in 2020
b) Brand new torque converter (and gearbox checkup/diagnostic) by Bristol Transmissions in 2020 (they have the contract for all the Highways Agency Land Rovers, so are well placed to do proper job). The TC and gearbox are silky smooth since then and haven’t missed a beat.
c) Handbrake/EPB work perfectly, no screeching. I adjusted and put in new shoes/springs etc and (touching wood) it’s been operating faultlessly since.
d) No oil loss, it’s a quiet and smooth engine that revs well and holds steady at any speed.
e) Two perfect keys (RRUK did them for me just last month), both are perfect as new.
f) Bodywork straight with no obvious dinks or dents (bar a tiny bit of rust on the door entry where my boots have been scraping it – just needs a little sand and paint).
g) All doors, central locking etc work perfectly. As do all the power windows and mirrors.
h) D4 Wheels and tyres in great nick (AT3 tyres are only a few 1000’s on them)
i) Full leather seats, heated front and rear, all work.
j) Full set of 6 brand new (not refurb) injectors installed by LR specialist locally, as it was smoking a bit on idle when I bought it. That was brought up by the MOT a couple of years ago. Spent a decent sum on those (£1800 from memory?) and since then, it purrs beautifully and zero smoke on idle.
k) Lower tax band.
l) Aftermarket Bluetooth and DAB radio fitted
Bits to do in time/soon. Like all of these at this age there are a few things on the ‘to-do’ list that I would be doing soon (6m-12m) if I wasn’t selling it:
m) Ignition barrel. The ignition barrel is slightly loose (in that when you pull the key out, it wobbles the barrel a little). It doesn’t cause any issues in using the car, in that it works perfect, but sometimes (maybe 1 in 10) it doesn’t recognise the key having been removed, so the alarm might sound when you lock the car. I just push the barrel bit lightly back into the column with my thumb and it then recognises the key is out. It’s not a big job (1-2 hours) but haven’t yet found the time to take the cowling of the column to take a look.
n) Radio. It all works, but it has that weird common problem where sometimes over the past five years the radio and touch screen but just turn off randomly. There doesn’t seem to be any pattern (it’s not the corroded green/white wire thing) so I can only assume there’s a loose earth somewhere. It’ll turn off for an hour, a day or two, or a week, then randomly turn back on again as a little happy surprise for you and then work fine for months. Currently, working fine and (touching wood again) hasn’t actually turned off randomly for probably 6 months or more. But in full disclosure, you might find it happen any time (pot luck!)
o) Bushes. There’s a slightly knocking starting to appear on larger potholes, so at some time soon I was going to change possibly the upper or lower (or both) arms. I’m not worried about them yet, but reckon it’s something for the coming-soon list. It might be the prop centre bearing perhaps, but I’m less sure of that.
p) Window tint. The 18 year old window tint has started to go a bit blue – common I’m told. The driver’s window has also gone a bit bubbly too. I am half way through the job of replacing them - I’ve removed three of the windows (two fully, one is a bit gluey/tacky) and was going to put on new tint at some point.
q) Spare wheel. Rusty, but I’ve bought (and am including in sale) a matching fifth alloy to replace it with.
r) The roof window blinds for some reason don’t stay shut. I reckon poking around in the headlining somewhere might solve it, but so far honestly I just haven’t bothered to look.
s) Air con could do with a re-gas. I had it leak-tested when I bought it and it was showing no loss etc.
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Camper Conversion:
Currently I have set it up as a solo/stealth camper. I’ve removed the two middle seats, put down a floor and built a kitchen unit on there, see my other posts about that. I’ve also got the boot units in place giving a fully tailored single bed and a storage unit for strapping down wolf-type boxes. All the bits are entirely removable and included with the sale are the two middle seats if you wanted to put them back in. The two rear-most (third row) seats also still work and are hidden under the removable bed/unit, so you could for example have it set up as a five-seater with the camp kitchen still fully in place. I use it as a four-seater (wife and two kids) with the kitchen and the wolf-storage bits in place.
If you did revert it back to a normal seven-seater you’ll just need to piece together the carpet again – I’ve cut it to bolt down the kitchen floor to the original seat chassis positions. Also, a bit of the boot trim is removed but I’ve still got it so you’ll just need to plastic-rivet it in place.
Setup as five seats with the kitchen in place:
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Setup as five seats with the kitchen removed:
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Setup as four seats with the kitchen in place:
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Setup as three seats with the bed unit in place too:
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Setup arranged for sleepy-time:
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Summary:
Overall I’m really pleased with the D3, it’s been great and I reckon it’s a good example of an early model. It has the lower tax band, which helps with cost.
I’ll be happy to sell it to a forum member as I’m confident you’ll find it a reliable and good example. You can see all most posts on here over the years, so have a read through and feel free to ask any questions.
Price:
I reckon I’m being entirely fair at £3,650.00 considering others that have sold, and considering that all the very expensive bits (both belts, new TC, six new injectors, EPB service) have been done and will serve their new owner well for a number of years.
I'm also happy to take £3,950.00 including the Prospeed rack if it hasn't sold in the meantime.
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Member Since: 06 Feb 2019
Location: Hampshire
Posts: 951
Dibs acknowledged to Ollie on a PM, pending collection 21st Jun.
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