I would ask myself, where do I plan on going and what’s the budget.... do you need a carnet ?

Now you know how much you can spend :-)

Whatever you buy, make sure its well maintained, fit decent new tyres and carry basic spares, recovery gear... Now you're ready to leave.

Lastly and most importantly buy "what you love" the rest will follow...


Is that any help?, sorry probably not !!

Ohh and you can't go wrong buying a decent Disco

I agree tacr2man, but I have also noticed that the imported Discoveries have a higher asking price; logical really for the reasons that you give.
The Discos in that website have mileages that vary a hell of a lot but their asking prices are all the same. But, from memory, one of them was brought over from Japan.

For where to travel, therein lies decisions yet to be made Goodwood!
It's a case of so many options, so little time, but I do understand the point, which is how I came to ask about the Freelander -- to get a feel for it's capabilities without being destination specific. (I have another thread about the Nissan X Trail and it turns out that one of them is on its' way from UK to Oz at present).

Yep, I take the point about the carnet, and one of my current ideas (but I reserve the right to change my mind) is to travel where ever a carnet is not required - the same goes for visas, thereby just getting on the road and travelling.
That leads to a couple, or more, possibilities so if it prompts more discussions they are:-
Morocco.
Turkey and eastward as far as possible without paperwork.
Scandanavia.

There, they would do, for starters!

__________________
Dave

Coming to this thread a bit late I can give some personal perspetive on all the LR vehicles mentioned.

My wife owned and ran a 2004 HSE Td4 Freelener (1) for several years and we found it to be a very good vehicle. It ventured off road only a couple of times (greenlaning) and was very capable. However they're a lot smaller than you think. The boot is not that practical (by some hatchback standards) as the distance from the rear seat to the rear door is quite short. They still have their fair share of electronics and I would worry about their 'robustness' for any kind of extended long distance overland trip.

Last year we replaced this with a 2010 HSE TD Freelender 2. This is in a completely different league. It is bigger and more luxurious. It is a stunning car to drive and has terrain reponse to assist off road. Again we have greenlaned it and it coped with no problem. It does sit higher than the freelander 1 but has a lot (lot) more electronic bits.
In keeping with the disco 3 etc. etc. you would have to carry diagnostic equipment if you were going to go far off the beaten track. Size-wise it is comparable to the disco 1 and much more practical.

Speaking of a disco 1, this is my 'weapon of choice'. The 95 model year was the last to use the 300Tdi without any electronic management control. It has a mechanical injection pump and, as long as the fuel solenoid is open, will keep running without a battery.
Most overland journey require miles and miles of travel on motorway and tarmac and the disco is far more comfortable and quiter than a defender.
By carefull planning it can be kitted out to carry everything you need for an extended journey and will be as capable in the rough stuff as an expedition preped 110.

I have done over 100 000 miles in mine. It has had it's fair share of abuse and has driven through some pretty extreme terrain. Lately it has become our overland home and we hope to have many more years living with her.

See the link below for more info.
It has taken us to Tunisia (no carnet) and back and in less than 2 days will be taking us to Morocco (no carnet again).

I hope that helps.

Cheers
Ralph

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1995 300Tdi Discovery
Vehicle mods and expedition countdown blog www.overland-rovers.com

Good to see your still both motivated.
I read your blog re: all your "Friends" going to Morocco.
Wasn't quite easy reading when they left you.

Vette

Thanks for the input Ralph.
Your practical experience with the latest Freelander 2 ties in with what I have been reading about them, but I am not at all sure I would want to do green laning with such a vehicle; the second hand values are holding up well it seems.
Yep, the Discovery 1 is of interest to me also, but a lot of them have pretty high mileages now - I realise that is not the only factor and I have noticed that the 300TDi engine can be found in a Disco 1 for a lot less cash than the same engine mounted in a Defender (never mind the other differences between these two LR products). But, a lot of second hand Disco 1s have done a lot of green laning in the UK.

__________________
Dave