Wanted a reliable, economical car, got a L322 Range Rover
Discussion
I have had the Alfa 159 ti now for over a year, and its time for a change.
I have spent a lot of time under the car, changing suspension parts and cambelts. The roads around here are absolutely terrible and my commute through the rural back roads of Oxfordshire and Berkshire decided that it would snap a suspension spring in half. Deep joy... I'm going to be under the car... AGAIN.
Fixing the thing is breaking my back, and I have a ruined back anyway. The car is a thing of joy on a flat bit of tarmac, but with 19" alloys and ti suspension, it's like driving a slab of concrete down the side of a very rocky cliff.
I don't drive often, I'm now based at home a lot. But when I do drive (2-3 times a week) its for several hours at a time. So I need something economical and comfortable. And after the Alfa... something that's not going to break.
Naturally, After a drink, and with an eBay window open I took a punt on an unseen L322 TDV8 Vogue. With every trimming possible. (Even has a remote, wireless infra red dogging camera thing)
I then moved swiftly on to google, looking up common faults. Yeah... That was an eye-opener. But, for the princely sum of £3,600, I could realise my street pharmaceutical distribution dreams and waft around in comfort. What could possibly go wrong?
Pictures and takes of woe to follow soon.
I have spent a lot of time under the car, changing suspension parts and cambelts. The roads around here are absolutely terrible and my commute through the rural back roads of Oxfordshire and Berkshire decided that it would snap a suspension spring in half. Deep joy... I'm going to be under the car... AGAIN.
Fixing the thing is breaking my back, and I have a ruined back anyway. The car is a thing of joy on a flat bit of tarmac, but with 19" alloys and ti suspension, it's like driving a slab of concrete down the side of a very rocky cliff.
I don't drive often, I'm now based at home a lot. But when I do drive (2-3 times a week) its for several hours at a time. So I need something economical and comfortable. And after the Alfa... something that's not going to break.
Naturally, After a drink, and with an eBay window open I took a punt on an unseen L322 TDV8 Vogue. With every trimming possible. (Even has a remote, wireless infra red dogging camera thing)
I then moved swiftly on to google, looking up common faults. Yeah... That was an eye-opener. But, for the princely sum of £3,600, I could realise my street pharmaceutical distribution dreams and waft around in comfort. What could possibly go wrong?
Pictures and takes of woe to follow soon.
I've done 28k in mine with zero issues apart from a seized turbo actuator rod which was fixed with WD40, silicone spray and a wire coathanger.
The only other things have been consumables, disks & pads front and rear along with replacement handbrake shoes replaced myself for under £400 and 3 oil/filter changes.
Great cars and a joy to drive.
The only other things have been consumables, disks & pads front and rear along with replacement handbrake shoes replaced myself for under £400 and 3 oil/filter changes.
Great cars and a joy to drive.
A few positives about my car to note.
4 x nearly new tyres. Michelin's and Continentals. So the previous owner must have been flush and looked after it.
Very good disks and pads all around.
Very new looking battery
TV's all around (Do they all have this)
Heated and cooled seats all around (Again, all have this?)
Air con works!
4 x nearly new tyres. Michelin's and Continentals. So the previous owner must have been flush and looked after it.
Very good disks and pads all around.
Very new looking battery
TV's all around (Do they all have this)
Heated and cooled seats all around (Again, all have this?)
Air con works!
And its time for a quick update.
I picked up the car and for the price, couldn't really say no. lots of new bits on it and with 4 new branded tyres, the owner must have taken good care of it. Fires right up, no smoke. pulls well and the gearbox is silky smooth.
The tracking, however, was off. and I can feel that the bushes are rather well worn. It has a TPMS warning light on and an adaptive headlight error light.
I figured that both adaptive headlight and TPMS could be due to the tracking. So took it to get aligned.
The garage decided they couldn't do the rear, because of the position of the fuel tank (is it an extended range one?) but managed to do the fronts. And in the process, left the ignition on and flattened the battery. Much swearing and buggering about with jump leads, they managed to get it started. Just.
The car then proceeded to light up the dashboard with every error message it had. The garage promised to reset them all, and fix the TPMS and adaptive headlight error for me, if they could.
They could not.
With their tail between their legs, they charged me for the front tracking and I was on my way.
The car now drives rather well, the TPMS light went out on the way home (for a while), but the adaptive headlights remain an issue. I think the guy before me disconnected them and adjusted the headlights manually.
I got the car home and topped off the oil, by means of chucking most of it over the engine, rather than inside it, and gave it a splash of coolant. I don't think it is using either, but will keep an eye on the levels.
The job list....
Clean the thing... Properly
Fix TPMS - I either have a slow puncture or a dodgy system (Or pressure sensors)
Fix the adaptive headlight issues, or disable the warning light (not sure on legalities?)
Give it a routine service, including a gearbox oil change
Figure out how to use the dogging cam
Get a Sat Nav disk for it (why do auction houses always steel these?)
Figure out the DVD changer
Figure out the MP3 changer
Leather care and colour
Clean the thing.... again. Its really grubby.
I picked up the car and for the price, couldn't really say no. lots of new bits on it and with 4 new branded tyres, the owner must have taken good care of it. Fires right up, no smoke. pulls well and the gearbox is silky smooth.
The tracking, however, was off. and I can feel that the bushes are rather well worn. It has a TPMS warning light on and an adaptive headlight error light.
I figured that both adaptive headlight and TPMS could be due to the tracking. So took it to get aligned.
The garage decided they couldn't do the rear, because of the position of the fuel tank (is it an extended range one?) but managed to do the fronts. And in the process, left the ignition on and flattened the battery. Much swearing and buggering about with jump leads, they managed to get it started. Just.
The car then proceeded to light up the dashboard with every error message it had. The garage promised to reset them all, and fix the TPMS and adaptive headlight error for me, if they could.
They could not.
With their tail between their legs, they charged me for the front tracking and I was on my way.
The car now drives rather well, the TPMS light went out on the way home (for a while), but the adaptive headlights remain an issue. I think the guy before me disconnected them and adjusted the headlights manually.
I got the car home and topped off the oil, by means of chucking most of it over the engine, rather than inside it, and gave it a splash of coolant. I don't think it is using either, but will keep an eye on the levels.
The job list....
Clean the thing... Properly
Fix TPMS - I either have a slow puncture or a dodgy system (Or pressure sensors)
Fix the adaptive headlight issues, or disable the warning light (not sure on legalities?)
Give it a routine service, including a gearbox oil change
Figure out how to use the dogging cam
Get a Sat Nav disk for it (why do auction houses always steel these?)
Figure out the DVD changer
Figure out the MP3 changer
Leather care and colour
Clean the thing.... again. Its really grubby.
Prizam said:
Figure out how to use the dogging cam
If you go into 4x4 info on the touch screen display you will see an option at the top left saying 'Cam1', this is how you will activate your venture cam. You may need to pair it first, especially as the battery has been completely flat.
Michaelbailey said:
Seems very cheap for a TDV8. I believe the TDV8s weren't as bad as the earlier models so hopefully a bit more reliable. Been tempted by one of these myself so look forward to updates on how this pans out
I was about to say something similar - your post inspired me to take a look on Ebay - from what is for sale currently you've done very well price-wise, I can see why you took a punt!Prizam said:
Its on 150k. Engine seems solid. Being critical, its a tiny bit lumpy when cold but clears up after 20 seconds or so.
I've found that it's hard to over state how effective a bit of red ex (or similar product) and a real good thrashing can do for a car. Especially on a diesel. Diesel injectors have a very important job of atomising the fuel and when getting a little old the injector can become less effective with small particles of dirt causing that spray pattern to be compromised. Could also be fuel filter if it's never been changed but I'd start with the easier cheaper options first. Having read up on these cars the engineering is really quite remarkable and is genuinely class leading. When looking at what you've got and the money you've got it for it's hard to match in my eyes. Edited to amend typo
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