Bought a cheap Range Rover Sport - It’s been great

[Wilmslowboy]

Last Autumn I decided I was going to buy a rough and ready daily, and not use my immaculate BMW 5 series for tip trips and ferrying the dogs around (especially when wet and muddy after Peak district walks).

I looked into getting an old school Defender, but the pricing seemed crazy (late 20s to early 30s) for anything half decent.

Then I spotted that the bottom had fallen out of the Ranger Rover Sport values (due in main to theft issues), and just like that a neighbour / friend mentioned he was going to sell his.

It had been wrapped (paint dipped Matt black) for most of its life, looked ok but was starting to look a bit shabby in a small number of places. The MOT history suggested it was not quite as well maintained as I hoped but regardless a deal was done for £11k.
(2013 – first of L494 shape, 2 owners FLRSH, 98k miles, 4 matching premium tyres with 5+mm, radar cruise, pan roof and heated steering wheel)

It has been a revelation, it drove so well that I immediately sold the BMW, and used the RRS for everything, work trips, dogs walking and long family jaunts to the south coast / Wales (I added over 8K miles in 4 months).

I was not shy to throw some money at in the 1st month to get it just right

Full mega service at a Indi - £1k (40% of the price Land Rover wanted and able to log it on the Land Rover online portal)
Steering wheel bolts, suspension arms and bushes - £1K (drives even better now)
Fuel tank cradles (known issue they rot away (see photo) - £1k (quite a lot of labour involved)

I’m’ sure there will be more to come, over next 6 months (pads, discs and tyres all round).


I'm torn whether to remove the wrap, its white underneath, one of the joys of the wrap is it protects the original paint from bush scratches (as I weave down small country roads) and also gives me a reason to never wash it (110 days and counting).

Edited by Wilmslowboy on Friday 21st February 12:32

[grudas]

yeah the wrap is horrid, nice white paint would be much better imo.

[Zetec-S]

Yeah, lose the wrap. Otherwise a lovely looking car and a hell of a lot for £11k (even when you add in the extras spent so far).

Really fancy the idea of one of these, but quite frankly I don't have enough brave pills

[silentbrown]

The rusty tank cradles are bit of a shocker, but that looks a good (albeit brave!) choice. Easy to justify the additional maintenance costs when it's allowed you to sell another car.

said:

I'm torn whether to remove the warp, its white underneath, one of the joys of the wrap is it protects the original paint from bush scratches

Or, it's to hide existing damage to the original paint...

Not a huge fan of wraps, but I'd keep it that way. I'm less of a fan of white SUVs with black wheels!

[Wilmslowboy]

Part of it's charm (being wrapped) is I don't feel compelled to keep it clean.

Rainy journeys on motorways, knock the worse of the dirt off

[Wilmslowboy]

I should add, as these LR 3.0 diesel engines have a tendency of snapping cranks.

On the advice of this crazy couple in Germany, I make sure my foot is not on the throttle when I start it, and wait at least 5 seconds before selecting gear and moving off (giving time for oil pressure to build up and fill all the galleries).

The theory being they produce huge amounts of torque at very low revs, and this combined with low oil pressure (empty oil galleries) can be a recipe for disaster.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3moekbW6z8

[WPA]

grudas said:

yeah the wrap is horrid, nice white paint would be much better imo.

+1 but I would refurb the wheels in silver

[Krikkit]

Wilmslowboy said:

I should add, as these LR 3.0 diesel engines have a tendency of snapping cranks.

On the advice of this crazy couple in Germany, I make sure my foot is not on the throttle when I start it, and wait at least 5 seconds before selecting gear and moving off (giving time for oil pressure to build up and fill all the galleries).

The theory being they produce huge amounts of torque at very low revs, and this combined with low oil pressure (empty oil galleries) can be a recipe for disaster.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3moekbW6z8

It's good advice, but for the wrong reason; the crank galleries will be up to full pressure by the time the oil pressure light has gone out, that's the first thing pressurised by the pump.

Treat it gently when cold, change the oil more regularly than the service schedule requires. The biggest killers are oil dilution from DPF regen failure (and general poor oil quality), and hitting them too hard when cold.

[DaveyBoyWonder]

I love these (and the FFRR of the same shape) but just don't think I'm brave enough to swap my current main vehicle which has been totally reliable for something with so much potential to drain my wallet! Looks great though - not a fan of wraps or matt paint but looks decent.

[paul arm1967]

Buckle up its going to be rocky ride , had 7 different types and nothing but trouble every one including defenders . Switched to landcruiser and 5 year in no bother in fact toyota give 10 year warranty as long as its serviced by them

[Guopeng1]

paul arm1967 said:

Buckle up its going to be rocky ride , had 7 different types and nothing but trouble every one including defenders . Switched to landcruiser and 5 year in no bother in fact toyota give 10 year warranty as long as its serviced by them

I would love one of the last 100 series Amazon's

[Chris Peacock]

Fantastic car for that money. Would look a million times better in it's original colour with silver wheels.

[CKY]

Wilmslowboy said:

Edited by Wilmslowboy on Friday 21st February 12:32

Does the underside look this bad in real life, or did the photo have a "Titanic Circa 2020" filter applied?

[Wilmslowboy]

CKY said:

Does the underside look this bad in real life, or did the photo have a "Titanic Circa 2020" filter applied?

Now looks like this (still mild steel, painted black)

They are there to protect the fuel tank - so nothing critical

[Gas1883]

I’d leave it wrapped & with the black wheels , don’t think white suits these at all .

[carreauchompeur]

Like that a lot. Keep having dangerous thoughts about cheap Landies.

[Cold]

CKY said:

Does the underside look this bad in real life, or did the photo have a "Titanic Circa 2020" filter applied?

This generation onwards of RR and RRS are an aluminium monocoque so it's only the steel bolt-on panels that suffer from rust.


I've had my early (petrol V8) L494 for a number of years now and have had no significant issues with it. A few age related items outside of regular servicing, such as the stop-start battery and noisy front anti-roll bar bushes, but nothing that would make me do something as awful as buying a Toyota.

[jon-yprpe]

11k is surprisingly cheap, didn’t realise how the bottom had dropped out of the market.

Crank issue tends to affect the 306bhp SDV6s and happens relatively early, so I’d assume if it has lasted this long you’re ok.

Mine snapped its crank at 10k miles when 16 months old. But they are awesome cars apart from that…I loved mine….until it blew up!

[Richard-390a0]

I'm not much of a fan of the gangster wrap, especially when you can see how lovely that red with silver wheels one just posted looks. Although on the plus side the gangster wrap hides the dirt better than white, everyone else will think you're a wrong un & leave your car well alone & you don't have to worry about scratches like the O/P states so I'd leave it (+ I'd be too scared to see what may be lurking beneath!!!)

[RS Grant]

Zetec-S said:

Really fancy the idea of one of these, but quite frankly I don't have enough brave pills

Exactly where I end up after reading threads of ownership joy on here.

I'm not risk averse, I have owned Subarus which I was told would melt all their pistons if not given octane booster with every tank of 99RON and BMW M cars which the internet tells me will grenade themselves if I don't change the rod bearings on a monthly basis.. but when it comes to JLR stuff, I really like the styling of most FFRR/RRS and respect their breadth of abilities but after a while looking, I always get to the point of realisation that I'm lacking the size of stones required to take that final plunge and purchase one.

Not sure I'd have been able to turn this down for £11k though, that sounds like a fantastic deal.