Buying a 1990 V8 EFi Range Rover Vogue
Discussion
Hello everyone,
I'm looking to buy one of the above as a second car / mountain bike transporter for the summer.
Can you point me in the right direction for some idea of the minefields and horror stories that I might expect when buying on a budget?
Can I seriously expect to buy a useable and reliable (only 300k a year ish) for around the £1500 mark?
Would a similarly priced Disco' be a "better" car for that money.
I used to work for Rover, and visited Solihull Landrover every now and again - I'm definitely not going US or Jap for what I want.
Your help and all advice is much appreciated.
I'm looking to buy one of the above as a second car / mountain bike transporter for the summer.
Can you point me in the right direction for some idea of the minefields and horror stories that I might expect when buying on a budget?
Can I seriously expect to buy a useable and reliable (only 300k a year ish) for around the £1500 mark?
Would a similarly priced Disco' be a "better" car for that money.
I used to work for Rover, and visited Solihull Landrover every now and again - I'm definitely not going US or Jap for what I want.
Your help and all advice is much appreciated.
£1500 will buy a lot of Rangie and you'll be able to pick and chose 
Look out for tailgates sills and obvious offroad damage. The V8 will take loads of abuse but stear clear of rattles and smokers. My old V8 vogue cost me a fortune to run but always brought a smile to my face happy landying Matt
Look out for tailgates sills and obvious offroad damage. The V8 will take loads of abuse but stear clear of rattles and smokers. My old V8 vogue cost me a fortune to run but always brought a smile to my face happy landying Matt
As alreadt stated, £1500 will give you plenty of Rangie. Main things to check for are rusting to tailgate, floor area around fuel pump access flap under the boot carpet and the underneath of the car.
The V8 is a pretty solid lump but listen for tappety noises and check the oil for the usual creamy deposits suggesting head gaskets etc.
Fuel pumps can be a problem but usually if they are not fuelling properly it can just be the fuel pump relay ( which I have recently discovered to my relief !!)
Listen for serious clunking from the auto boxes (although some minor clunking is not too serious apparently as the bands wear slightly on all of them) also any whining from the rear of the car indicates worn dif or transfer box ( which I recently discovered to my horror !!) Replacement's can be found recondition but still something you are best avoiding.
Have had mine 6 months or so now and has proved reasonably reliable considering the amount of car you get for the price (paid under £1k for mine and it is solid as a rock so far, apart from the above
) and considering it spends most of its time towing two v.large horses.
If you are considering any off roading at all do make sure you don't have the standard road tyres as they do not grip in mud very well (as I recently discovered as I slid into a very large ditch and had to call Mrs MoJo's dad with his Fourtrack to tow me out !!
)
Good luck with the search.
The V8 is a pretty solid lump but listen for tappety noises and check the oil for the usual creamy deposits suggesting head gaskets etc.
Fuel pumps can be a problem but usually if they are not fuelling properly it can just be the fuel pump relay ( which I have recently discovered to my relief !!)
Listen for serious clunking from the auto boxes (although some minor clunking is not too serious apparently as the bands wear slightly on all of them) also any whining from the rear of the car indicates worn dif or transfer box ( which I recently discovered to my horror !!) Replacement's can be found recondition but still something you are best avoiding.
Have had mine 6 months or so now and has proved reasonably reliable considering the amount of car you get for the price (paid under £1k for mine and it is solid as a rock so far, apart from the above
) and considering it spends most of its time towing two v.large horses. If you are considering any off roading at all do make sure you don't have the standard road tyres as they do not grip in mud very well (as I recently discovered as I slid into a very large ditch and had to call Mrs MoJo's dad with his Fourtrack to tow me out !!
) Good luck with the search.
Plenty of window shopping going on through the usual routes, but not taken the plunge yet.
There have been a few on ebay and autotrader that have looked pretty good value, and I am planning to seriously look toward the end of next month.
Trying to give my credit card balance a good seeing to before going out and populating the drive with another car, plus my daily hack needs a pair of boots and an MOT soon.
Rest assured, there'll be plenty of pics on here when it arrives.
BTW, when did they switch to EFI, and from 3.5 to 3.9, then 4.2 etc?
Not that I care too much, but what is a realistic urban and motorway mpg for a V8?
There have been a few on ebay and autotrader that have looked pretty good value, and I am planning to seriously look toward the end of next month.
Trying to give my credit card balance a good seeing to before going out and populating the drive with another car, plus my daily hack needs a pair of boots and an MOT soon.
Rest assured, there'll be plenty of pics on here when it arrives.
BTW, when did they switch to EFI, and from 3.5 to 3.9, then 4.2 etc?
Not that I care too much, but what is a realistic urban and motorway mpg for a V8?
Cheers Steve,
I can live with 20mpg as a second car. Is looking for a car with an LPG conversion worthwhile .... ignoring the fact that "the keeper of the purse" Brown seems to be chucking darts at a bored to decide what increase in duty LPG should attract. Does it effect reliability?
I can live with 20mpg as a second car. Is looking for a car with an LPG conversion worthwhile .... ignoring the fact that "the keeper of the purse" Brown seems to be chucking darts at a bored to decide what increase in duty LPG should attract. Does it effect reliability?
I loved mine. 1986 3.5 EFi Vogie Auto with A/C (dealer fit Diavia) and a full length electric fabric "shooting top" (!) roof. (Apparently first owner was Keith Deller the dats player...)
IIRC the switch to EFi was in late 1986, the last of the ones with the metal vertical slat grille, rather than the plastic full width horizontal ribbed grille.
The switch to 3.9 was for 1990 model year cars (again IIRC), so there are some G reg 3.5 out there.
The only 4.2 in the classic shape was the long wheelbase LSE (again IIRC)
The changes to 3.9 in 1990 / 1991, also saw the fitment of the high pressure brake system with ABS as well.
Hope that helps, good luck with the search.
If the car you find has LPG, then get the name of the system, and contact your local LPG specialists with regards to parts availability & servicing - LPG specialists seem to only deal in certain sysytems, and will not touch other brands - my brother in law has that problem with his, the nearest LPG guy prepared to get involved with his Lovato system is nearly 100 miles away...
Chris
IIRC the switch to EFi was in late 1986, the last of the ones with the metal vertical slat grille, rather than the plastic full width horizontal ribbed grille.
The switch to 3.9 was for 1990 model year cars (again IIRC), so there are some G reg 3.5 out there.
The only 4.2 in the classic shape was the long wheelbase LSE (again IIRC)
The changes to 3.9 in 1990 / 1991, also saw the fitment of the high pressure brake system with ABS as well.
Hope that helps, good luck with the search.
If the car you find has LPG, then get the name of the system, and contact your local LPG specialists with regards to parts availability & servicing - LPG specialists seem to only deal in certain sysytems, and will not touch other brands - my brother in law has that problem with his, the nearest LPG guy prepared to get involved with his Lovato system is nearly 100 miles away...
Chris
It will need to be a decent LPG system in order to not cause problems. Single point systems are rarely up to the job of fuelling a V8, multipoint is better, multipoint sequential is best. Trouble is that single points are common and i only saw two multi-sequential equipped cars when i was looking for mine.
I have a 1990 3.9 and seldom see better than 12 mpg, but I think that's got something to do with tyres (235/85 MTs) - istr getting about 15 when it was briefly on road tyres.
Have a very careful look at the sills, floor, body mounts, rear inner wheelarches and rear body crossmember before you buy. Many of these areas are structural (and MOT-able), and have provided me with lots of interesting welding practice in the time I've had it.
Have a very careful look at the sills, floor, body mounts, rear inner wheelarches and rear body crossmember before you buy. Many of these areas are structural (and MOT-able), and have provided me with lots of interesting welding practice in the time I've had it.
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