DRESSED TO IMPRESS
IT sometimes seems like the world’s gone crazy. A Defender 90 Td5 that cost a quarter the price of a Range Rover in 2003 will now be worth four times as much as that same Range Rover. Meanwhile, a Td5 Discovery 2 from the same year can be picked up for next to nothing, despite the fact it was far better appointed than a Defender with the same power unit.
Who would ever have expected secondhand Defenders to become fashion icons, snapped up by collectors and fetching silly money, while Discoverys of the same age are languishing in the automotive world’s bargain basement? But if this is beginning to sound like a bit of a lament, forget it, because canny enthusiasts are taking advantage of this topsy-turvy situation.
Discovery 2s, you see, are fast becoming the new Defenders for ordinary folk who want a Land Rover that will do just about anything. Instead of paying way over the odds – say, £10,000 – for a tired 90 or 110 Td5 workhorse that has led a hard life down on the farm, you can buy a pampered Disco 2 for a couple of grand and then spend the leftover cash on upgrading it with some irresistible extras. Just ask Mike Harvey …
Mike, 27, is a typical family man, with a wife and young son. He
