RE: Range Rover V8 (L322): Spotted
Discussion
I ran a 2003 4.4V8 l322 for little over a year as a daily driver in 2016. I paid £5k for it. The same Giverny Green as the RR in the article.
Such a nice place to be and although a bit dated electronically I enjoyed the ownership. Cost me £300 for a squeaky rear bush and 8 hours of my life finding the cause of a discharging battery (rear amp had water ingress shorting the +12v and earth....). I imagine someone with no car knowledge would be taking it into garages to find the fault which could have proven costly... The pixels were going on the dash but again, not an expensive fix.
It had literally thousands of pounds worth of receipts from previous owners, gearbox / torque convertor / steering column / ignition barrel etc. etc.
Maybe I was lucky.
MPG is shocking. Terrible. what ever figure a seller tells you it does - half it.
Sold it 1 year later for £4900.
If the worst happens at £4-5K outlay they can be broken and the parts would be worth a fair bit especially if engine/gearbox are good. Recouping some cash.
The way I looked at it - if I had a year out of it and the worst happened and wasn't economical to fix then so be it. I would have "lost" £5K, but if I had leased a boring family mobile for the same period instead - I would have "lost" a similar amount of money in rent payments.
Such a nice place to be and although a bit dated electronically I enjoyed the ownership. Cost me £300 for a squeaky rear bush and 8 hours of my life finding the cause of a discharging battery (rear amp had water ingress shorting the +12v and earth....). I imagine someone with no car knowledge would be taking it into garages to find the fault which could have proven costly... The pixels were going on the dash but again, not an expensive fix.
It had literally thousands of pounds worth of receipts from previous owners, gearbox / torque convertor / steering column / ignition barrel etc. etc.
Maybe I was lucky.
MPG is shocking. Terrible. what ever figure a seller tells you it does - half it.
Sold it 1 year later for £4900.
If the worst happens at £4-5K outlay they can be broken and the parts would be worth a fair bit especially if engine/gearbox are good. Recouping some cash.
The way I looked at it - if I had a year out of it and the worst happened and wasn't economical to fix then so be it. I would have "lost" £5K, but if I had leased a boring family mobile for the same period instead - I would have "lost" a similar amount of money in rent payments.
I sold my 3.6 TDV8 last week, I will truly miss it. The only other car I have sold and regretted was the M3 CSL, but in all honesty I didn't have the money to keep the CSL and buy another daily for racking up the miles so it had to go.
I just wanted to get rid of having car finance, so I decided to sell my TDV8 and pay off our E350 estate and buy another ML for load lugging.
I loved the RR, but think if I bought another I would go petrol. The diesel V8 is probably the best diesel I have owned for refinement, but you still know it is a diesel and hardly frugal. I averaged about 24mpg in it, the 4.4 I bet would be about 3mpg behind it.
Anyway, great car, just something about the way it makes you drive is just so relaxing.
It will be missed.....
I just wanted to get rid of having car finance, so I decided to sell my TDV8 and pay off our E350 estate and buy another ML for load lugging.
I loved the RR, but think if I bought another I would go petrol. The diesel V8 is probably the best diesel I have owned for refinement, but you still know it is a diesel and hardly frugal. I averaged about 24mpg in it, the 4.4 I bet would be about 3mpg behind it.
Anyway, great car, just something about the way it makes you drive is just so relaxing.
It will be missed.....
We have a 2008 4.2sc FFRR and it is a great car for making progress while sitting in comfort, regardless of how much stuff and people it has to carry. It is not a daily driver and gets used for carrying, family trips and bad weather.
I agree that you need a good specialist and do not skimp on the maintenance.
Ed
I agree that you need a good specialist and do not skimp on the maintenance.
Ed
The problem with these kind of discussions is there's always total polar opinions. There's always a bunch of people who believe this type of car will fall apart the second you touch it and there's those who believe they're the greatest car in the world. JD power survey is often quoted and yes LR are towards the bottom but they're above Audi & BMW yet these guys are still perceived as being reliable.
They are an expensive car, when new they were £60/70k and any car of that price is going to be expensive to run & maintain so I'm always confused when people get surprised that big premium V8 4x4 is expensive to run. It'll be comparable to any other car in that price bracket with similar kind of tech.
Having said that I can't imagine many people would pay a main dealer £1k to change the pads & discs on a 14 year old car, you'd be using an independent or doing it yourself. The costs of the parts are pretty cheap so a few hundred is closer to reality of running something that age.
The gearbox on the early diesels was a poor choice & also coupled with fact they were sold as being sealed for life so people didn't change the fluid didn't help. The cooling system on the 4.4 BMW engine was pushed to it's limits so you need to keep an eye on it but there are some easy fixes for that now.
At the end of the day if you buy wisely & look after them they're great cars - the most expensive single item required on mine in 14 years & 170k was a second hand gearbox ecu at £400. All the rest has just been the usual stuff you'd expect for that mileage & age - brakes, bushes & radiator
They are an expensive car, when new they were £60/70k and any car of that price is going to be expensive to run & maintain so I'm always confused when people get surprised that big premium V8 4x4 is expensive to run. It'll be comparable to any other car in that price bracket with similar kind of tech.
Having said that I can't imagine many people would pay a main dealer £1k to change the pads & discs on a 14 year old car, you'd be using an independent or doing it yourself. The costs of the parts are pretty cheap so a few hundred is closer to reality of running something that age.
The gearbox on the early diesels was a poor choice & also coupled with fact they were sold as being sealed for life so people didn't change the fluid didn't help. The cooling system on the 4.4 BMW engine was pushed to it's limits so you need to keep an eye on it but there are some easy fixes for that now.
At the end of the day if you buy wisely & look after them they're great cars - the most expensive single item required on mine in 14 years & 170k was a second hand gearbox ecu at £400. All the rest has just been the usual stuff you'd expect for that mileage & age - brakes, bushes & radiator
Edited by Jammez on Tuesday 23 January 10:52
Very sensible post Jammez.
If folks have personally suffered from FFRR unreliability that's fair enough, speak as you find and all that. But Range Rovers do seem to attract a lot of "my mate's brother said.........." type stories, perhaps because they are such iconic cars. Also, they've been in production for yonks, so I wonder whether people are often referring to some very old cars.
If folks have personally suffered from FFRR unreliability that's fair enough, speak as you find and all that. But Range Rovers do seem to attract a lot of "my mate's brother said.........." type stories, perhaps because they are such iconic cars. Also, they've been in production for yonks, so I wonder whether people are often referring to some very old cars.
cheddar said:
I'm just off of the phone to a mate who bought a 200,000 mile L322, I told him he was bonkers, he sells caravans for a living and tows them all over the country to customers, he's owned it a year now, travelled 13000 miles, most of them lugging a caravan and, despite ZERO mechanical sympathy, nothing has gone wrong but, as said above, he's just paid his local indy exactly £1000 for new discs and pads.
I'm mildly jealous but too scared to take the plunge.
Are they horrendously difficult to change? Complete pads and discs on the 4.4 come in at about £250 from my preferred supplier.I'm mildly jealous but too scared to take the plunge.
LordHaveMurci said:
Turkish91 said:
classicyanktanks said:
We had a cayenne turbo before which was as economical, better to drive, cheaper to run, service, more luxurious inside and far better off-road.
Lol
Oddly enough I just don't see many roving the streets where I live anymore. Not even the odd 2010+ model. I guess poeple just don't want to put up with them anymore. Shame what a great looking vehicle, I prefer it to the current version...
Now for 4x4 there is a nice article on PH about jammy fella living the dream bush bashing in the outback with a lovely Landcruiser.
L
Edited by ChawenHalo on Wednesday 24th January 08:43
ChawenHalo said:
LordHaveMurci said:
Turkish91 said:
classicyanktanks said:
We had a cayenne turbo before which was as economical, better to drive, cheaper to run, service, more luxurious inside and far better off-road.
LolOddly enough I just don't see many roving the streets where I live anymore. Not even the odd 2010+ model. I guess poeple just don't want to put up with them anymore. Shame what a great looking vehicle, I prefer it to the current version...
Now for 4x4 there is a nice article on PH about jammy fella living the dream bush bashing in the outback with a lovely Landcruiser.
L
Edited by ChawenHalo on Wednesday 24th January 08:43
Saying that the Range Rover was better for pushing pigs down the track into the trailer on abattoir days than the cayenne as it was a bit wider.
I do have to admit, for these SUV's the argument of petrol and diesel really doesn't matter, all comes down to preference. X5 diesel gets 24-26mpg, petrol equivalent gets 22-24mpg, difference being the petrol is faster, more power, no DPF too. Same figures apply to the RR, ML/GL, Cayenne etc. You really have to drive like a granny and drive as if you're driving a car with half the power to get factory figures - light acceleration to get up to speed limits, no speeding whatsoever, light foot everywhere. Sometimes however, diesels and their torque just allows these behemoths to get a move on more effortlessly, the X5M may be a fast driving car but I bet the M50d is much easier to drive. Again, same for the other marques too. All down to preference however, as I mentioned.
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