Range Rover Supercharged

[griffgrog]

I'm going to get a RR SC when my company car goes back in a couple of months. I don't do a particularly high mileage, my current Mercedes will go back with 17K on the clock, so thought that fuel cost wasn't the biggest concern. I've got a budget of £30K to spend and there seems to be quite a lot of cars around at that price.

The local dealer has a nice one in. It's on a 56 plate and seems to have a lot of toys. What I don't understand is what options where there on the SC? The dealer didn't seem particularly sure either. I just want to know so that I can compare apples with apples.

Regarding reliability, I've run Merc's and BMW's for the last 10 years and they have been pretty much fault free. I've read plenty of horros stories on various forums about LR's build quality but I always feel that a certain amount of hysteria is created that doesn't reflect reality. What are Range Rovers like of this vintage.


He did say to expect 18mpg with average use. I was thinking more like 12-15mpg. Is he being overly optimistic?

Griff Grogg

[Triple7]

Hysteria is about right IMHO. Get as low as miles as possible. Get one with a full LR warranty i.e buy from main dealer. After 60k miles you can only get a Quasi LR warranty....

The supercharged comes fully loaded, so aside a bespoke Autobiography, you just need to choose the colour and trim, wheels etc.

Late teens for combined for mpg is about right, low teens to single digits around town and if you floor it.

Main issue with these are the front diffs which are now covered by a recall, so that sorts that. Electrcal issues are a possibility, but a used LR warrant will give you confidence there. Also check for corrosion around the window trim, Rangies seem to suffer from it.

[GKP]

Triple7 said:

Main issue with these are the front diffs which are now covered by a recall, so that sorts that.

Doesn't affect the later cars, just the BMW engined ones.


(and not really a diff issue, more a driveshaft coupling issue)

[Jem0911]

I took one out today.

A leggy 05 plate.

Awsome just the best.

Right up to the point it broke on the test drive!!!!!

Rear drive shaft I would guess, massive vibration under load.

I was B gutted.

Oh well thats life.

Onwards

[Aeroresh]

My '07 Supercharged is for sale in the PH classifieds at the moment (a bit more than £30K but I am open to sensible offers)

One thing Id say (as someone whose had an '04, '05 and '07 models, ie every incarnation of the L322 up and to the recent '10 models), is that the build quality seems to get better with every revision.

Ive been really impressed with the '07 and it was a big improvment over the '05 supercharged that preceded it which spent most of its life at the dealers!

I wouldnt go as far as to say it has been totally reliable but what has gone wrong has been pretty trivial and its more down to the ineptitude of some main dealers than the cars fault that it has had to return for the same problem to be fixed.

It will be missed tho' and Im struggling to find a replacement other than another Range Rover, however my wife's desire for a 7 seater and her distaste for Discoveries may mean a rethink

[Jem0911]

It was a 55 plate showing 97k miles not marked.
Asking £19950
hamworthy in Poole

have been told it was a binding caliper.

Am I barking to consider it still.

Was mad as a wasp in a jar!

7.1 to sixty! Hilarious fast for a Full Fat.

[rocksteadyeddie]

Get one. Best car I've ever owned. I love it to bits. 15-16mpg average is about par for the course I think.

[Giles993]

Hello all,

What MPG do they do on a run at, say, an indicated 90? I live in SW London so most of the time the fuel economy would make sod-all difference but my family is in Cornwall (580 miles round trip) and my wife's family is in the Midlands (230 miles round trip). Is 18MPG too optimistic?

Think I need to go and drive one - suspect my enjoyment of it would make the marginal cost academic!

Thanks,

Giles

[griffgrog]

Thanks for the replies guys. 15 is no problem with my mileage and once they get to 4 years old the depreciation curve is so much lower. It sometimes easy to get carried away with the fuel cost, but it's insignificant relative to the depreciation of most cars.

[Triple7]

griffgrog said:

Thanks for the replies guys. 15 is no problem with my mileage and once they get to 4 years old the depreciation curve is so much lower. It sometimes easy to get carried away with the fuel cost, but it's insignificant relative to the depreciation of most cars.

Griff, at last someone who sees the bigger picture. You are destined to be a Rangie owner!

[Phil.]

Giles993 said:

Hello all,

What MPG do they do on a run at, say, an indicated 90? I live in SW London so most of the time the fuel economy would make sod-all difference but my family is in Cornwall (580 miles round trip) and my wife's family is in the Midlands (230 miles round trip). Is 18MPG too optimistic?

Think I need to go and drive one - suspect my enjoyment of it would make the marginal cost academic!

Thanks,

Giles

If you are worried about MPG, I have a MY06 RR S/C with LPG that will be available to purchase in a month or so's time. PM if you're interested.

[Giles993]

Phil. said:

I have a MY06 RR S/C with LPG that will be available to purchase in a month or so's time.

Thanks Phil - looks very smart but black's not for me. I think my father would disown me!

[Phil.]

Giles993 said:

Phil. said:

I have a MY06 RR S/C with LPG that will be available to purchase in a month or so's time.

Thanks Phil - looks very smart but black's not for me. I think my father would disown me!

Understood. Mine has the clear windows so IMHO looks better then the tinted 'drug dealer' version

[pontypool]

Phil, what is the relative mpg like running on LPG (i.e. taking into account the worse real mpg vs. the lower fuel cost)?

My P38 is not long for this world after 5 years and thinking about moving up to L322 and can;t decide petrol or the dreaded.

Mileage probably only 8,000 - 10,000 a year but with the 911 as well on the drive i need ot think about total petrol costs.

[Phil.]

pontypool said:

Phil, what is the relative mpg like running on LPG (i.e. taking into account the worse real mpg vs. the lower fuel cost)?

My P38 is not long for this world after 5 years and thinking about moving up to L322 and can;t decide petrol or the dreaded.

Mileage probably only 8,000 - 10,000 a year but with the 911 as well on the drive i need ot think about total petrol costs.

As said above, it’s not really about ‘relative mpg’ it’s about overall ‘fuel cost’. The difficulty in trying to understand cost is that all LPG vehicles use some petrol when warming up and the RR Supercharged also uses some petrol when accelerating hard i.e. the system temporarily switches to petrol when under high load as the calorific value of the LPG is not sufficient to deliver the power required by the engine. The various ways of estimating fuel costs for LPG vehicles are described above.

[pontypool]

Most journeys would be a 30 mile commute ech way and so the issue of warming up I suspect is not too bad on journeys like this and the fact that during rush hour i drive in a very relaxed (slow) stlye is diesel going to be a better option than LPG?

Like the P38 will probably keep tillit falls apart so sell-on price in 3 years is not really relevant.

Edited by pontypool on Wednesday 3rd February 18:09

[Phil.]

pontypool said:

Most journeys would be a 30 mile commute ech way and so the issue of warming up I suspect is not too bad on journeys like this and the fact that during rush hour i drive in a very relaxed (slow) stlye is diesel going to be a better option than LPG?

Like the P38 will probably keep tillit falls apart so sell-on price in 3 years is not really relevant.

Edited by pontypool on Wednesday 3rd February 18:09

8k-10k miles per year is not really enough to warrant fitting a new LPG system so unless you buy a petrol with LPG already fitted for the same price as a petrol then financially, in fuel only terms, it's probably best to go for the diesel.