2001 Land Rover Defender 90 TD5

This Land Rover Defender 90 TD5 is being sold on behalf of a deceased estate by the family. “Although the previous owner’s sons both love the idea of a Landie, one lives in London and doesn’t drive and the other is never in the country so wouldn’t use it,” explains John Hepworth, who consigned the vehicle on their behalf.

The gents’ father purchased the vehicle in Southsea in readiness for a move to Somerset when he retired. There it saw light duties on country lanes with no offroad or long-haul work at all.

The Landie has a famous music business personality in its ownership history… although, in the interests of privacy, we’ll refrain from stating exactly whom.

And that’s that. A nice example of the breed that’s been regularly used and maintained. “It’s in honest, original condition,” says John. “During its recent MOT the tester remarked that it’s very clean underneath, both the chassis itself and the surrounding areas.”

Are the New Defender’s somewhat Marmite looks growing on you yet? No, us neither. Okay wait, maybe that’s a bit harsh – we’ll go with ‘ish’ instead. However, for us you definitely can’t beat a bit of that ‘vintage’ Defender profile; it’s rugged, unmistakable and definitively British looking in all respects.

This TD5 provides all that in spades. The body is pretty clean for a Landie; yes, it wears the odd scrape and scratch honourably, and has the usual surface corrosion to exterior hinges but its Blue (with a White roof) colour scheme is nice and perky.

There’s a bit of grisliness on the panel that sits just below the offside lower corner of the windscreen and it’s had a replacement offside door. How do we know the latter? Well, it’s a different colour, so the next owner may wish to have it colour matched.

You’ll find a spotlight attached to the rear of the roof and side steps fitted, as well as a snorkel air intake should you wish to go off road and through water. It currently wears three mudguards, but has lost the nearside rear item (somewhere in Somerset’s multitudinous lanes, no doubt).

Five spoke alloy wheels are fitted. It comes with a rear-mounted spare and the tyres look to have plenty of tread remaining.

There’s not much use in fluffy or even use of poetic and imaginatively flowery language when describing a Defender interior of this vintage. It’s as you’d expect of a regularly used example with just a smidge over 87k miles on the clock; functional, a bit marked here and there, with a tear or two to the cloth seats. The rear cab has a bit of surface rust here and there under the rubber mats where the paint’s scraped off, but the headlining is quite good. A Sony radio is fitted with speakers mounted up top.

The word to describe it is functional.

“We had to charge the battery as it hadn’t moved for two months, but once done it started first time. The engine is torquey, pulls well and overall, it drives nicely with no known issues and does exactly what you’d expect of a good, solid Landie,” says John.

As noted, the MOT tester recently commented on the general cleanliness of the Land Rover’s undercarriage. There is a bit of surface corrosion here and there, but the MOT certificate notes that ‘structural rigidity is not significantly reduced’. That means it’s a good time to crack out the wire brush (if you’re feeling energetic) or the electrically driven wire brush (if you’re not), and then top up the underside with a coat of chassis black and fresh Waxoyl treatment (although other anti-rust inhibitors are available!).

The engine bay is perfectly serviceable and a heck of a lot cleaner than many a Defender’s engine bay. Fluids are clean and up to level, and there don’t appear to be any discernible leaks.

The included V5c document indicates a total of eight owners from the Land Rover’s original 01/03/2001 UK registration. There’s a smattering of invoices in the history file for recent works and these show a replacement clutch slave cylinder fitted (£107.80), general servicing costs and works to correct MOT defects (£457.64 in 2018 and £698.76 in 2019).

A quick MOT history check on the DVLA website reveals that the current MOT runs until 3rd of March 2023. It does note a few minor advisories (a worn rear brake disc, a couple of worn bushes, a corroded brake pipe and a bit of surface corrosion on the underlying structure), so a bit of TLC and fettling should be factored into any purchase. That said, none of the above stopped it getting a fresh ticket and the vehicle is currently ready to be driven.

An RAC Vehicle History Check does show that the Land Rover is a Cat C vehicle, so has been repaired after at a cost greater than the then vehicle’s value.

Please visit the documents section of the gallery of this listing where you will find photos of the paperwork to support our claim that this car has been maintained to a good standard.

This good, solid example of the classic Land Rover Defender is ready for pastures new. It presents in decent fettle; the underside is cleaner than many a peers’ and it does exactly what it says on the tin (wait, that’s Ronseal!). I’ll try that again… it drives exactly as you’d expect.

It is a Cat C vehicle which affects value slightly, although it looks to have been well repaired and still drives nicely. As such, we think it’ll realise between £15,000 and £20,000.

For that the next owner will get a tidy example of a modern(ish) version of the classic Defender. A bit of fettling (both of the underside and mechanical varieties) should see it serve them with distinction for this decade and many beyond.

Viewing is always encouraged, and this car is located at The Market’s Abingdon HQ; to arrange an appointment please use the ‘Contact Seller’ button at the top of the listing. Feel free to ask any questions or make observations in the comments section below, or try our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.