Submitted by m-j-dover on Thu, 23/07/2009 - 20:28
Posted in
Jan and I had the best of intentions on Tuesday......
We got up really early for us at 06:30 and were on the road by 07:20 heading to the Brightwells 4x4 auction at Leominster. Our goal was an ex-Environment Agency 2000, on a W, Defender 130 Td5 double cab - to fit a demountable camper on. (As you may know Jan doesn't do tent camping any more). We had already viewed the vehicle and it fitted the bill almost to the letter. It came with a Warn front winch, the body was really straight, the engine had done 105k but was really sweet and it had a rear canopy. Trouble was it obviously fitted lots of other bidders bills too!
I bid it up to £6k but then dropped out it was finally knocked down at £6.6k. With VAT and indemnity insurace this actually totalled nearly £8k.
We had already looked at other vehicles that, sort-of, suited and I bid on a few but most went, especially Land Rovers, for much higher than anticipated. Not that I bid on any, but even high milage Freelander 1 Td4's were going for serious money.
To cut a long story short Lot 317 was a tidy looking 05 plate Mitsubishi L200 double cab in silver and blue with nice alloys, 50k on the clock and with 12 months MOT. I had set myself a bid limit of £4.5k and bidding stopped to my favour at exactly that! With VAT and indemnity this totalled £5.4k. This was only about £500 less than I would have bought it for on ebay and obviously I had only seen it move in first gear so there could have been a nasty surprise with not being able to test drive it.
The drive home in pouring rain, which should have been really pretty down the Wye valley, only showed up one headlight not working (quickly fixed - a loose plug on the headlamp unit) and a bit of a "missfire" (well it would have been called that if it had a petrol engine). It still achieved around 30mpg so whatever it is its not too bad and it cruised really comfortably at 70mph on the motorway. So hopefully it will turn out to be a bit of muck in either the injector pump or one of the injectors - any suggestions?
So sorry guys and gals we wanted the 130 but it was just too rich for us and well above "book" price. I wonder if there is a L200 club?
Don't worry, we still have three Land Rovers!
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Ha ha ha Martin's got a
Ha ha ha Martin's got a bitsamushi!
I think I know what the engine problem is mate....
No all joking aside, they are comfy & very good value. A work mate bought one years ago brand new, the paint was so soft you could scratch it with your finger nail.
Morris Minor Pick-up
Whats the similarity between a Moggy and an L200?
Both have torsion bar front suspension and leaf sprung rear.
Considering the truck is soooooo primative it rides really well. Articulation in the front suspension looks really limited but at least if you get cross-axled it has an electrically controlled locking rear diff.
L200 Club Details
If I recall, the L200 Club we still stuck in the mud at Canford Arena where they became much derided by the one and only! We did try our best to help them along their way and back to the hard road, but they were all just too focused on digging holes for themselves and staying put in the mud.
So, just be careful not to try to park up and camp anywhere there is any sign of damp grass, perhaps the hard shoulder on the motor way would be good practice!
If you really must go and try camping in the rough then better get Jan to take the Disco, 90 or even the S1 along as well to pull you out!
Smile
BobN