That's the tow car sorted - Cheap L322 Range Rover Content
Discussion
As some may be aware I purchased a racing car at the end of last year with the intention of running it in various events this year. One thing I still needed to sort was how to get it around the place when it wasn't possible to steal one of the transporters from work. Having sold my RX8 and Kangoo Cup (both of which are being very much missed to be honest) I had some budget to go looking, not a lot of budget though..... in fact absolutely cock all budget to quite frank!
Cheap Navaras were a no go as the two I had a look at both had significant chassis rot, there was a Ssangyong thing but I just couldn't live with that, I looked at some X5s but they were all either massively Barried or broken in some way, then a friend suggested a Range Rover. As we all know Range Rovers are absolute drama and one should always buy the newest, lowest mileage, most warrantied one that it is possible to do....... so I went and purchased the cheapest, highest mileage 4.4 Vogue that there was on e-bay
It's brilliant!
And if you closely, past the massively worn steering wheel, you can just make out why it was so cheap:
Yep 203,743 miles, it has absolutely no service history and smells mildly of excited spaniel but everything works properly, including the heated wheel and air suspension, it drives really nicely with a perfectly smooth gearbox and came with a proper tow bar fitted. The body isn't even that bad and the rear tailgate has a bit of lacquer peel but not ever any rust on the edges. There is a tiny bit just starting at the bottom of the rear doors but having pulled the sill covers back this is only surface. It needs a headlight as one is holed and the parcel shelf is AWOL assumed eaten by the previous canine boot residents.The paint has many, many scuffs, dings and chunks out of it but then hey it's been a working vehicle.
The price? £2500 with some fuel left in the tank and 9 months MOT. Absolute lunacy IMHO for a fully working length of fairly recent looking, not that bad Range Rover!
The job list on this one is pretty short, it was going to include fit a hands free kit but it came with an Chineseium Android head unit fitted which seems to do most of what is needed, including Google maps. It's got a rattle from the front suspension over bumps so likely to need ARB drop links and/or bushes and/or control arms etc. (this could be the budget busting bit), rear tyres are low but the fronts are recent Rainsports so another pair of those will go on the back and I'll give it a big service including the box oil and filters. I'll have the sill covers off properly and deal with the surface rust down there along with flapping down and repainting the rear arch inner lips and may even treat it to a rattle can of the right colour to blow in some of the bigger paint damage. Aside from that and seeing if there are any pertrol refineries left open after midnight that I might be able to access (14mpg
) I'm just going to see how long it lasts!
Cheap Navaras were a no go as the two I had a look at both had significant chassis rot, there was a Ssangyong thing but I just couldn't live with that, I looked at some X5s but they were all either massively Barried or broken in some way, then a friend suggested a Range Rover. As we all know Range Rovers are absolute drama and one should always buy the newest, lowest mileage, most warrantied one that it is possible to do....... so I went and purchased the cheapest, highest mileage 4.4 Vogue that there was on e-bay
It's brilliant!
And if you closely, past the massively worn steering wheel, you can just make out why it was so cheap:
Yep 203,743 miles, it has absolutely no service history and smells mildly of excited spaniel but everything works properly, including the heated wheel and air suspension, it drives really nicely with a perfectly smooth gearbox and came with a proper tow bar fitted. The body isn't even that bad and the rear tailgate has a bit of lacquer peel but not ever any rust on the edges. There is a tiny bit just starting at the bottom of the rear doors but having pulled the sill covers back this is only surface. It needs a headlight as one is holed and the parcel shelf is AWOL assumed eaten by the previous canine boot residents.The paint has many, many scuffs, dings and chunks out of it but then hey it's been a working vehicle.
The price? £2500 with some fuel left in the tank and 9 months MOT. Absolute lunacy IMHO for a fully working length of fairly recent looking, not that bad Range Rover!
The job list on this one is pretty short, it was going to include fit a hands free kit but it came with an Chineseium Android head unit fitted which seems to do most of what is needed, including Google maps. It's got a rattle from the front suspension over bumps so likely to need ARB drop links and/or bushes and/or control arms etc. (this could be the budget busting bit), rear tyres are low but the fronts are recent Rainsports so another pair of those will go on the back and I'll give it a big service including the box oil and filters. I'll have the sill covers off properly and deal with the surface rust down there along with flapping down and repainting the rear arch inner lips and may even treat it to a rattle can of the right colour to blow in some of the bigger paint damage. Aside from that and seeing if there are any pertrol refineries left open after midnight that I might be able to access (14mpg
) I'm just going to see how long it lasts!
With anything like this I think you have to go into it with the understanding that anything costing more than £500 or so to fix it means it's going back on e-bay as a spares or repairs.
It only has to work for a couple of thousand miles this year and I'll have got my monies worth vs renting something that can tow..... and where's the fun/challenge in that
It only has to work for a couple of thousand miles this year and I'll have got my monies worth vs renting something that can tow..... and where's the fun/challenge in that
rich12 said:
£2500 is a decent price. If you had the time and space, you could sell all the parts for a lot more than that.
Did it start this morning?
Yep started on the button. Doesn't even have timing chain rattle from cold start! Did it start this morning?
Remote central locking appears to be 50/50 though but I'll try a battery in the remote as a quick fix
I'm suffering from a slightly squeaky bum on your behalf. I've just chopped in an almost identical petrol 2004 L322 with 75000 fewer miles because it had got to the point where I thought the downside of the next episode with it would exceed the value of the vehicle. Be ready to weigh the bugger in the moment something big happens.
Recent expensive fixes, all requiring the assistance of the AA or equivalent: it was on its third gearbox, the front spheres had collapsed specularly, the water pump had exploded taking out the alternator, two new batteries in a year, £600 of parts and £1200 of labour to get through the last MOT. I had not spent a penny on non-essential bits in four years.
Anyway, a great car and great shedding. Enjoy!
Recent expensive fixes, all requiring the assistance of the AA or equivalent: it was on its third gearbox, the front spheres had collapsed specularly, the water pump had exploded taking out the alternator, two new batteries in a year, £600 of parts and £1200 of labour to get through the last MOT. I had not spent a penny on non-essential bits in four years.
Anyway, a great car and great shedding. Enjoy!
There’s a long story behind this which I won’t bore anyone with, but turns out I know PPBB from a previous life and today I was lucky enough to see this, the 996, the ‘207’ and lots of other very exciting metal in the flesh in his ‘workshop’.
The rangie looks ok, from a distance.
Bork potential is huge, but then this thread would have been boring if he’d said ‘that’s the tow car sorted - old Land cruiser content’
The rangie looks ok, from a distance.
Bork potential is huge, but then this thread would have been boring if he’d said ‘that’s the tow car sorted - old Land cruiser content’
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