Buying a Range Rover

[Ibex94]

Hi Guys,

Am an experienced Land Rover owner and am currently building an Ibex, however my Shogun which was an interim measure 3+ years ago has reached the end of its natural and I'm thinking of replacing it with a Rangy, probably late model P38. Sooooo, I'm interested in what to look for when buying and what too expect, plus advice on which engine to go for.

Finally is the 02 model a significant step forward worth the extra money on reliability etc.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Rob

[landmannnn]

Underpowered diesel, unreliable V8, dodgy air suspension, 7 ecu's (or is it 9?), leaky aircon, poor quality electrics. Watch out for poor lpg conversions.

On the plus side they are cheap to buy. Snapping up a bargain and budgeting to spend some cash sorting the faults gets you a high spec motor for not much money.

[q-rover]

Underpowered diesel, unreliable V8, dodgy air suspension, 7 ecu's (or is it 9?), leaky aircon, poor quality electrics. Watch out for poor lpg conversions.

Bit of a scaremongering generalisation isn't it?

I've had mine 3 years now, and apart from wear/tear items and general servicing

have had the following problems:

2 doorlocks

New radiator needed

I bought my own diagnostics (Blackbox) so can read/ clear faults and adjust

a whole host of settings within the vehicle. This summer we went on a holiday

to the Pyrenees (5500Km) and did some offroading in temps around 40C. No problem.

At the moment it seems like 2 of the blend motors are giving up, so will be

changing them in the future.

Just look for a good one that has been well looked after, and keep on top of

maintenance.

[geoffbeaumont]

Caveat: I've only had my P38 since early summer, so I'm a long way off being an expert on them...

Look for things like perishing air springs, EAS (electronic air suspension) pump taking a long time to fill the tank - neither are walk-away problems if you like the vehicle, but take the remedial work into account when negotiating price! Pump is likely to need a rebuild (about £90, 1/2hour DIY) at 120-140k even if everything else is A1, earlier if leaks have made it run excessively. Common leak is from the plastic air lines between the valve block and air tank/right rear spring, where they cross over the exhaust (blowing exhausts melt them, often only a pinhole leak so will work long after the exhaust has been changed before the pump gives out - look for soot on the crossmember). EAS is easy to work on and can be reset using free Windows software (EAS Unlock) or Windows PDA software (EASDiag?), you'll need to make a lead up.

Think I've got blend motor issues on mine too (no ventilation to footwells), so I guess that's one to check - if it has a HEVAC (climate control) it'll throw a fault if they go. Mine just has basic controls and seems to just go with not working!

Early P38s seem prone to issues with the SRS controller, but that shouldn't be an issue with the later ones.

As to whether the diesel is underpowered, depends what you want from it. They're slow off the line, particularly with automatic transmission, but not too bad once they're under way, a lot smoother and more inclined to rev than older land rover engines. Like most relatively low powered autos they're a bit prone to bogging down on long motorway hills, but they're generally a good cruising car. I like V8s a lot more, but there's no way I could afford to run one on petrol and LPG is too inconvenient for me where I currently live and work, so it was a no brainer. I've no opinion on whether the 4.0 or 4.6 is better - hearsay suggests the 4.0, but the 4.6 gets a lot of bad press from people who've never actually owned one, and doesn't really seem to be unduly problematic.

Diesels prone to starting issues, but nothing serious - hot starting problems seem to usually be cured by fitting a non-return valve in the fuel line. Mine needs two doses of glow plugs to start, but then fires up happily on just the key. Supposedly they have a rather optimistic timer on the glow plugs which cuts them too early for a high mileage engine, and there's at least one bodge/fix around for increasing the timing - I may look into this once I've found the time to make sure there's nothing actually wrong.

They are a lot less rusty than older land rovers.

Like other land rovers even very cared for ones can suffer from not having had the money spent on the right things.

There does seem to be a certain amount of truth in the perception that quite a few garages run screaming from them and/or bodge things instead of properly diagnosing electrical problems (judging by the history that came with mine, at least one previous owner has been royally ripped off by a garage), but that's just a case of finding a decent garage (or doing it yourself, especially if you're prepared to invest in diagnostic equipment - about £650 for a full PC-based setup, locked to a single vehicle).

02/MkIII's are very nice vehicles - as big a step forward from the P38 as the P38 was from the original Range Rover - but there's even more electronics, even less knowledge on the forums (P38s aren't as well understood by as large a number of people as older Land Rovers, but the level of information available is really not bad now) and you'd be buying an early car not a late one with quite a few of the faults ironed out. I'd be very tempted by the MkIII, but I'm not sure it's the sensible choice! That said I'm pretty sure you can get full diagnostics for the MkIII, so DIY maintenance is perfectly realistic.

[FridgeFreezer]

They are of course the work of the devil, as any Land Rover enthusiast will tell you about anything that requires more than one wire and a hammer to get working

My experience with the freebie has been pretty positive, it's better made than the BL era stuff (there is NO rust on it, none!), and the vastly overblown issues are generally not that terrifying if you know what to look for, how to fix it, and bank on the likelihood of it occurring at some point and budget accordingly so it doesn't come as a nasty shock.

[v8bobber]

I've been very pleased with mine.

I did think up until recently that I might get rid my P38 and go back to a 90 so I could use that for towing, and then buy another car for just going back and for to work.

However, after a couple of particularly long shifts in work I was reminded just how nice a car it is. Arm rest down, stereo up, aircon set just-so and waft home. It still tows not too badly although its unlikely that you're going to get any points on your licence with it (diesel). I have been considering getting a power upgrade but it's probably a reflection that it's not that gutless, as I haven't bought one yet. If i'm working nights I use the other halfs car, to keep the trucks mileage down.

Issues so far have not been too serious. Needed a new exhaust not long after I bought it, and also the brake lines needed replacing. A couple of blend motors have packed up but they're not too bad to change if you take your time. It had the dreaded hot-starting issue, but this was soon cured by one of the little black boxes from ebay. I have a little engine warning light flashing up which i was told would get a whole lot worse but is exactly the same now as it was 12months ago.

I think that the dual mass flywheel is on its way out but I can live with that for a wheel.

I recently changed all the springs and shocks as one of the airbags was knackered and the rest weren't far behind. Hopefully, apart from a service, it shouldn't need anything for a while.

However, I have been tempted by a nice set of 18inch alloys and once I can get over the price of a set of 18inch tyres, might well buy them!

All in all, i would recommend one. Just buy the best one that you can afford. The diesel option was the only way forward for me but a chap up the road has a 4.0SE on gas and is probably cheaper to run than mine, but obviously goes a bit better. Read up as much as you can on them and know the problem areas. Alot of the issues seem to be mileage related so look for a quality low mileage one.

It is alot of car for the money, but can need decent money spent on it to keep it in tip-top condition. Enjoy

[Ibex94]

Hi Lads,

Thanks for the constructive advice, have now got myself sorted. Found an unmolested L322 HSE at an indecent price and having seen the condition of it and compared it to others of similar age there was only one answer So hopefully in a week it'll be sat on my driveway.

Thanks again

Rob

PS Now, how do I buy shares in BP?