RE: Shed of the Week: Range Rover (P38)
Discussion
bazza1603 said:
Had mine for nearly 2 years and I love it to bits. Parts are easy to find and cheap...
Mine is a 1994 4.6 HSE and I manage 9 mpg if I am lucky. If I take my time and stick to 50 I can manage 18mpg. It's still on Air and is a dream and hoot to drive.
Always keep it on air mate Mine is a 1994 4.6 HSE and I manage 9 mpg if I am lucky. If I take my time and stick to 50 I can manage 18mpg. It's still on Air and is a dream and hoot to drive.
even if it means your pockets are doOoOmed!!Here in Asia I have a mate who does classic restorations he does a conversion for the air suspension, and a conversion to Twin Su's rips, out the whole fuel injection system, harness and fits a bespoke manifold with SU into the V, done over 40 cars and the owners are happy, fuel consumption is not an issue at 20p a liter not emission checks the MOT equivalent.
Ahonen said:
My only P38 experience was from when I worked at TVR from '98 to '00. Peter Wheeler had a brand spanking one and early one morning I had to drive it to Donington. The best part was that this one was white, like a Police one. I felt like Moses driving down the M6 as the traffic parted in front of me. It was amazing. The easiest journey I have ever taken.
Nice story ! Any Griff memories ?sleepera6 said:
This is normal.
Also, disconnect the key fob aerial in the boot - it works on the same frequency as Wi-fi and being pinged by internet connected things causes it to constantly ping the BECM and usually settle the suspension as it keeps re-levelling. Flattens the battery nicely, too...
Yes I had one ,and despite being warned by Land Rover engineers [specialist garage],I went ahead anyway as I thought that it could not be as bad as they were telling me, and that I had owned a few other Land Rovers in the past without many issues.Wrong,wrong,wrong, and as the article and the many contributors have more than adequately described these vehicles are some of the worst ever made and sold in the UK, especially the diesel version with the BMW engine which I had !
So without going into a rant, I would very strongly advise that anyone which was intending to travel this path [road] think twice , as there are other many vehicles which are available out there that will be far more reliable etc than these...except of course for the Mk1 Freelander...but don't get me started on that one...................................
Going against the general consensus here but I bought mine for £900 in 2010 as a spares or repair project with 205,000 miles on the clock. Did the repairs (lots of them) and started using it. Two weeks ago I drove it to Latvia with an Audi A2 on a trailer hanging off the back. Cruised it at 70-75 mph for 1500 miles. Then drove home via Hamburg and The Hague with a drum kit, a couple of keyboards and a set of wheels and tyres on the trailer. Before I set off everything, and I do mean everything, worked as it should but I have to admit that it did develop a couple of faults during the 3,600 mile journey. The rear washer nozzle clogged up and the drivers side heater blower bearing started to intermittently grumble.
It's now 21 years old and has 376,950 miles on the clock and I would get in it now and drive it anywhere, confident that it would get me to my destination. Like anything, look after it and it will look after you, neglect it and you're in deep s
t. Having done the initial maintenance and got everything as it should be it now gets 5.5 litres of 10W-60 fully synthetic, a couple of filters and a set of NGK spark plugs every 10,000 miles along with 35 quids worth of LPG every 200 miles. Cheapest, most reliable, most comfortable and most capable car I have ever owned, there's not much else that could tow a 4.5 tonne boat and trailer combination for 950 miles across Europe.
It's now 21 years old and has 376,950 miles on the clock and I would get in it now and drive it anywhere, confident that it would get me to my destination. Like anything, look after it and it will look after you, neglect it and you're in deep s
t. Having done the initial maintenance and got everything as it should be it now gets 5.5 litres of 10W-60 fully synthetic, a couple of filters and a set of NGK spark plugs every 10,000 miles along with 35 quids worth of LPG every 200 miles. Cheapest, most reliable, most comfortable and most capable car I have ever owned, there's not much else that could tow a 4.5 tonne boat and trailer combination for 950 miles across Europe. I've never owned a P38, in fact as a garage owner and seeing the troubles they give to customers I've never WANTED to own a P38!
But, the old original 3.5 litre jobs I had three of them. SO much less to wrong with coil springs, little to no electronics, carbs and points...you get the picture.
But strangely I only ever had one engine (which was a good one!) so every time one of them needed more welding then I felt like doing I'd just buy one with a crap motor a year or two younger, swap my engine into it and and carry on. I only stopped when I couldn't find any halfway decent rolling chassis anymore. But they would go anywhere, just about anywhere at all! Especially good in floods, the carbs and the distributor where right on top of the engine (about level with the base of the windscreen) so up to that point you could not stop them.
After that, different matter but in low ratio first it was surprising how far you could drive one along on just the starter!
But, the old original 3.5 litre jobs I had three of them. SO much less to wrong with coil springs, little to no electronics, carbs and points...you get the picture.
But strangely I only ever had one engine (which was a good one!) so every time one of them needed more welding then I felt like doing I'd just buy one with a crap motor a year or two younger, swap my engine into it and and carry on. I only stopped when I couldn't find any halfway decent rolling chassis anymore. But they would go anywhere, just about anywhere at all! Especially good in floods, the carbs and the distributor where right on top of the engine (about level with the base of the windscreen) so up to that point you could not stop them.
After that, different matter but in low ratio first it was surprising how far you could drive one along on just the starter!
I never liked the Range Rover "Metrocab" when it was new (more of a "Classic" man myself) but time has been quite kind to the styling of the P38, especially the "facelift" model. It looks quite clean and simple compared to the "overstyled" new ones. My best friend at school's mum had a Discovery 1 300TDi, which I always really liked and this was replaced by a P38 Range Rover with the BMW diesel engine. I think that she would have had another Discovery (I think they might have moved onto the Disco 2 by then) but my friend and his dad (who didn't drive) bullied her into getting a Range Rover. I only rode in it once and it's actually the only Range Rover that I've travelled in but it was super comfortable with a suitably imperious driving position. I kind of lost touch with him a couple of years into University, so I'm not sure whether it turned out to be a good one or a bad one. Lots of my family had Rover group vehicles in the 90s though and in typical Rover fashion, they were either very good or unreliable pieces of c***!
Maybe this is the way to go with a Range Rover though if you can't afford a new one with warranty? I love the L322 Range Rover but they're still fairly pricey and have the potential to bankrupt you. Pick one of these up for "shed" money with 12 months MOT, be prepared to live with a few minor issues or fix them yourself as and when and if it suffers a catastrophic failure or bombs its MOT 12 months down the road then don't feel too sad about walking away because you're only 2k or so into it and got to own the best 4x4xfar for a while! I had a bit of an unhappy relationship with a WJ Grand Cherokee a few years ago. Paid a bit too much for it because it was low miles and clean, sunk a bit too much into repairs and then the transmission died and I had to take quite a hit. Are these any better and how do they compare to drive? I'm also of the opinion that if it has got this far and is still on the road then it's probably one of the good ones! Worth a punt for 1300 in my opinion.
Maybe this is the way to go with a Range Rover though if you can't afford a new one with warranty? I love the L322 Range Rover but they're still fairly pricey and have the potential to bankrupt you. Pick one of these up for "shed" money with 12 months MOT, be prepared to live with a few minor issues or fix them yourself as and when and if it suffers a catastrophic failure or bombs its MOT 12 months down the road then don't feel too sad about walking away because you're only 2k or so into it and got to own the best 4x4xfar for a while! I had a bit of an unhappy relationship with a WJ Grand Cherokee a few years ago. Paid a bit too much for it because it was low miles and clean, sunk a bit too much into repairs and then the transmission died and I had to take quite a hit. Are these any better and how do they compare to drive? I'm also of the opinion that if it has got this far and is still on the road then it's probably one of the good ones! Worth a punt for 1300 in my opinion.
I had two.
1. M380 UFC. 4.0SE. Purchased new Jan 1st 1995. Ran for just over 2 years and 80,000 miles.
Towed 3 times. First time was a month into ownership. Stopped in snow at 6PM for gas on Western Avenue. Went in to pay and locked the car. Came back out and the car would not unlock. Got the code from the dealership and that did not work. Got towed home to Oxford. Turned out the dealer had given me the wrong code....
2nd time the air suspension decided we were off road and would not go more than 30 MPH on high level. I was 200 miles from home. Car once again onto a flatbed. A short while later the steering wheel audio controls (an upgrade on the SE) somehow fried the electrics requiring a new loom.
3rd time I was on the M1 just passing Watford Gap en route from North Yorkshire to Dorset when the oil warning light came on. Coasted in to the services and called the AA. Car was once again loaded on to a flatbed and taken home, I missed my parents 40th wedding anniversary party. Full engine rebuild required.
2. 1999 4.6HSE bought with 70k miles on it as a winter car when I moved to the US Midwest and realized the new RWD 6.2L Camaro 2SS I'd bought would be useless when the snow came. Apart from a new door lock and the replacement of the original suspension airbags it gave me 3 winters and 30,000 miles of enjoyable and trouble free motoring. Never saw less than 12 MPG either. Replaced it with an L322.
1. M380 UFC. 4.0SE. Purchased new Jan 1st 1995. Ran for just over 2 years and 80,000 miles.
Towed 3 times. First time was a month into ownership. Stopped in snow at 6PM for gas on Western Avenue. Went in to pay and locked the car. Came back out and the car would not unlock. Got the code from the dealership and that did not work. Got towed home to Oxford. Turned out the dealer had given me the wrong code....
2nd time the air suspension decided we were off road and would not go more than 30 MPH on high level. I was 200 miles from home. Car once again onto a flatbed. A short while later the steering wheel audio controls (an upgrade on the SE) somehow fried the electrics requiring a new loom.
3rd time I was on the M1 just passing Watford Gap en route from North Yorkshire to Dorset when the oil warning light came on. Coasted in to the services and called the AA. Car was once again loaded on to a flatbed and taken home, I missed my parents 40th wedding anniversary party. Full engine rebuild required.
2. 1999 4.6HSE bought with 70k miles on it as a winter car when I moved to the US Midwest and realized the new RWD 6.2L Camaro 2SS I'd bought would be useless when the snow came. Apart from a new door lock and the replacement of the original suspension airbags it gave me 3 winters and 30,000 miles of enjoyable and trouble free motoring. Never saw less than 12 MPG either. Replaced it with an L322.
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