Full Fat Range Rover Vogue SE (2010 L322, TDV8)
Discussion
The bonnet and tailgate struts were on their last legs - both soft/failing to hold up, and the rears looking scabby - so I replaced them. Not the most exciting tales, but a quick/easy replacement of parts that make the car feel newer.
I got a 'kit' of all 4 from a LR specialist called PowerfulUK. They're unmarked so I'm assuming cheap and cheerful:
They're the standard balljoint-retained-by-a-circlip fittings at each end. Takes seconds with the right tools and a shoulder to balance the weight of the bonnet/boot on.
Front:
Rear - scabby:
Replaced:
The only two tools I used - a pick to pull the circlip out and a trim removal tool to pop the balljoint off:
I got a 'kit' of all 4 from a LR specialist called PowerfulUK. They're unmarked so I'm assuming cheap and cheerful:
They're the standard balljoint-retained-by-a-circlip fittings at each end. Takes seconds with the right tools and a shoulder to balance the weight of the bonnet/boot on.
Front:
Rear - scabby:
Replaced:
The only two tools I used - a pick to pull the circlip out and a trim removal tool to pop the balljoint off:
MOT time for the L322, and my first with the car. The place where I MOT is friendly - they let you stand and watch and have a look around/under the car whilst it's up on the ramps. The owner of the garage has a couple of L322's of his own so knows his way around, and it was certainly the most forensic MOT I've seen done on a car...
Here he jacked it up as high as he could so he could inspect the top of the rear subframe and the brake lines that go over it, via the wheel arches. These are both items that corrode, unseen, apparently.
A clean bill of health bar some play in a front balljoint - good news.
I set about replacing the front lower arm that had the the worn balljoint - this turned in to a mission; I couldn't split the balljoint for love nor money. Over the years I've picked-up many a balljoint splitter, and thought I knew all the tricks (e.g. lump hammer dead blow, heat, etc) but this one wasn't budging.
The full arsenal was out and in force.
I nearly threw the towel in and called a mobile mechanic, but a bit of googling found a balljoint fork that was perfectly sized ( Laser 5496) which I ordered then went full medieval on:
(Not shown in this pic is the sledge hammer I swung to beat the balljoint splitter in with)
With a new arm fitted, and everything back together I celebrated by buying and fitting some new wheels and tyres to the car.
The tyres I had on were coming to the end of their life, and I really wanted to get the wheels refurbed + go up a size to 55 profiles so I could benefit from the latest Land Rover specific Pirelli Scorpions - these feature quite a bit of new tech in e.g. PNCS. My plan was to but a second set of ratty wheels and tyres to keep the car rolling whilst the originals were being refurbed, but one beer lead to another and I ended-up buying a set of nearly new L405 wheels and tyres in the spec I wanted:
It seems that lots of L405 owners take these off in order to fit 22" wheels with lower profile tyres on, as such there is a glut of the the 20" wheels and tyres for sale making them excellent value for L322 owners.
I've plonked them on for now whilst the original wheels are being refurbed, I'll then swap the new tyres across to those wheels once back.
Here he jacked it up as high as he could so he could inspect the top of the rear subframe and the brake lines that go over it, via the wheel arches. These are both items that corrode, unseen, apparently.
A clean bill of health bar some play in a front balljoint - good news.
I set about replacing the front lower arm that had the the worn balljoint - this turned in to a mission; I couldn't split the balljoint for love nor money. Over the years I've picked-up many a balljoint splitter, and thought I knew all the tricks (e.g. lump hammer dead blow, heat, etc) but this one wasn't budging.
The full arsenal was out and in force.
I nearly threw the towel in and called a mobile mechanic, but a bit of googling found a balljoint fork that was perfectly sized ( Laser 5496) which I ordered then went full medieval on:
(Not shown in this pic is the sledge hammer I swung to beat the balljoint splitter in with)
With a new arm fitted, and everything back together I celebrated by buying and fitting some new wheels and tyres to the car.
The tyres I had on were coming to the end of their life, and I really wanted to get the wheels refurbed + go up a size to 55 profiles so I could benefit from the latest Land Rover specific Pirelli Scorpions - these feature quite a bit of new tech in e.g. PNCS. My plan was to but a second set of ratty wheels and tyres to keep the car rolling whilst the originals were being refurbed, but one beer lead to another and I ended-up buying a set of nearly new L405 wheels and tyres in the spec I wanted:
It seems that lots of L405 owners take these off in order to fit 22" wheels with lower profile tyres on, as such there is a glut of the the 20" wheels and tyres for sale making them excellent value for L322 owners.
I've plonked them on for now whilst the original wheels are being refurbed, I'll then swap the new tyres across to those wheels once back.
Accelebrate said:
Glad you got the ball joint separated. Have you noticed any reduction in cabin noise with the new tyres?
I held back on replying to this until I'd given them some decent mileage, but the answer is yes - and remarkably so. The L322 is a quiet place as-is, but these tyres have taken it a step further - gone are lots of sounds that I never realised where there/I'd become so used to them I'd stopped noticing. Example - change of tarmac sections on motorways; the 'din' just isn't there in the first place.G111MDS said:
Lovely big wagon this, Like your Volvo too ??
Managed to squeeze a 4 day weekend in Devon at last minute, and lucked-in on amazing weather too. With a new addition to the household, the L322 is a great family car for trips like this as it swallows up all the associated crap that comes with babies. I think I've said it before on this thread, but the split tailgate means you can ram stuff in, close the bottom half, ram more stuff in then shut the upper...
Below is a pushchair, carrycot, ahead of them is a moses basket, and bags/cases for 3 people for 4 days.
Tailgate up and I could probably get the load cover down if I tried. This then leaves the cabin clear for the inevitable emergency pitstops for feeds/changes en-route.
We'd picked an Airbnb cottage in a remote location, down the usual very narrow Devon lanes. The L322 is surprisingly not that wide or wieldy - it didn't feel anymore so than the XC70. It was a squeeze on the small parking space the cottage had, with a working dairy farm next door needing to squeeze farm stuff past regularly too:
As mentioned, the weather was smashing, and we managed to get a bit of a tour in to a few different beaches:
Journey's end was just shy of 500 miles, 27mpg average and a thoroughly enjoyable trip.
The L322's ability to get on a motorway, stick the active cruise control on and devour miles is very impressive.
Below is a pushchair, carrycot, ahead of them is a moses basket, and bags/cases for 3 people for 4 days.
Tailgate up and I could probably get the load cover down if I tried. This then leaves the cabin clear for the inevitable emergency pitstops for feeds/changes en-route.
We'd picked an Airbnb cottage in a remote location, down the usual very narrow Devon lanes. The L322 is surprisingly not that wide or wieldy - it didn't feel anymore so than the XC70. It was a squeeze on the small parking space the cottage had, with a working dairy farm next door needing to squeeze farm stuff past regularly too:
As mentioned, the weather was smashing, and we managed to get a bit of a tour in to a few different beaches:
Journey's end was just shy of 500 miles, 27mpg average and a thoroughly enjoyable trip.
The L322's ability to get on a motorway, stick the active cruise control on and devour miles is very impressive.
Cheers. And yes, it's been a handy changing table much to the delight of other layby users...
Continuing the theme of weekends away, took the Range Rover up to the Lincolnshire coast for a four day break to see relatives. Blessed with another weekend of extraordinary weather, we spent the weekend visiting various secluded beaches.
c.400 miles and again, 27mpg trip average.
Continuing the theme of weekends away, took the Range Rover up to the Lincolnshire coast for a four day break to see relatives. Blessed with another weekend of extraordinary weather, we spent the weekend visiting various secluded beaches.
c.400 miles and again, 27mpg trip average.
I have been lazy keeping this thread up to date, so here's a bumper edition.
Continuing the theme of long weekends away in the L322, in November we did four days in Lancashire - in and around the Ribble valley. The L322 managed a surprising 33mpg on the way up, and overall trip average of 30mpg over 400 miles.
In December we had a dusting of snow and a deep freeze for a week. The L322 started on the button and I particularly liked the preheat function - a small fuel burning heater that you can activate from a fob before you head out, warming the interior through.
There was something reassuring about seeing the L322 outside in the snow, ready to go anywhere:
After one of the -7degC nights, with frozen snow on the car/windscreen, the drivers side wiper linkage popped off the ball joint. Bit of a weird one - it was just dangling down under the scuttle. Here it is reattached (LHS of image behind the scuttle drain - it popped straight back on):
At the time I thought water had leaked from the scuttle drain in to the ball and socket, and then frozen, causing it to pop off. More on this later...
Over xmas I went round the car and replaced all the wheel nuts with fresh ones. Some were getting soft/swelling so an imperial 12 sided socket hammered-on made light work:
A 20+stone mate sat on the tailgate and snapped one of the straps. This is pretty common as the HT wire corrodes under the plastic sheath. I replaced both sides with new, bathing them in dinitrol before fitting:
The L322 has a pretty neat intake system - part of the Land Rover approach to making them half decent offroad. In this case, to maximise wading depth, the air inlets are through the inner wing via the famous vents in the wing behind the front wheel, but also this intake between bonnet and wing:
The airbox then feeds from the inner wing via this hole:
Mine was missing the rubber boot between air filter box and inner wing, which for some reason was triggering my OCD for all things mechanical. I ordered a replacement from JLR and fitted, allowing me to sleep at night again:
After the week of very cold weathers it then got mild quickly, and the headlights misted up:
Taping silica bags to the inside of the bulb-access hatches for a week or so cured this.
Another long UK weekend away in January saw me heading down to Newlyn in Cornwall after work on a Friday night. As I went past Exeter it started to properly rain and as I went over Bodmin Moor the drivers side wiper decided that it wanted freedom from the rest of the wiper system again and stopped in the middle of the screen. The passenger wiper continued its arc, until it reached the stationary drivers wiper and they became entangled and ultimately bent/broken.
I stopped at the next layby where I got the passenger side sorted but the drivers was buggered for good this time.
Fortunately the rest of the family had travelled down a few days earlier so didn't have to partake in the remainder of the journey down the A30 in the middle of the night, horizontal rain and flooded roads. With one wiper.
The rest of the weekend was pleasant and sunny/calm, and the L322 delivered 26mpg over 600 miles:
When I got home the following week I set about stripping the wipers down to get them repaired and sorted:
Getting the whole assembly out and on to the bench in the garage allowed me to see the cause of the balljoint separating on the wiper linkage was an excessively worn (plastic) socket on the arm. The rest of the assembly was all good so I made a stainless sleeve that fits over the female (socket) arm and located the male (ball) joint back in to the socket, then lock wired this in place, making it fit for a further 160k miles:
Which brings us up to date for high-mileage L322 ownership. Still love it
Continuing the theme of long weekends away in the L322, in November we did four days in Lancashire - in and around the Ribble valley. The L322 managed a surprising 33mpg on the way up, and overall trip average of 30mpg over 400 miles.
Accelebrate said:
Congratulations on the new addition! The fold down tailgate looks like a perfect mobile changing table.
A la:In December we had a dusting of snow and a deep freeze for a week. The L322 started on the button and I particularly liked the preheat function - a small fuel burning heater that you can activate from a fob before you head out, warming the interior through.
There was something reassuring about seeing the L322 outside in the snow, ready to go anywhere:
After one of the -7degC nights, with frozen snow on the car/windscreen, the drivers side wiper linkage popped off the ball joint. Bit of a weird one - it was just dangling down under the scuttle. Here it is reattached (LHS of image behind the scuttle drain - it popped straight back on):
At the time I thought water had leaked from the scuttle drain in to the ball and socket, and then frozen, causing it to pop off. More on this later...
Over xmas I went round the car and replaced all the wheel nuts with fresh ones. Some were getting soft/swelling so an imperial 12 sided socket hammered-on made light work:
AndrewCrown said:
Wheel Nut Corrosion
Whilst you are upgrading everything. I came a cropper with an emergency on road tyre change recently.
Inexplicably the LR supplied, original and unused wheelbrace would not fit the OEM wheel nuts.
Luckily i was helped by a passerby with a brace that fitted.
On discussion with LR parts dept, the wheelnuts have a thin metal cover over them…overtime water gets underneath and the whole unit expands just a few microns…sufficient to cause the problem.
Thank you for the heads up Andrew Whilst you are upgrading everything. I came a cropper with an emergency on road tyre change recently.
Inexplicably the LR supplied, original and unused wheelbrace would not fit the OEM wheel nuts.
Luckily i was helped by a passerby with a brace that fitted.
On discussion with LR parts dept, the wheelnuts have a thin metal cover over them…overtime water gets underneath and the whole unit expands just a few microns…sufficient to cause the problem.
A 20+stone mate sat on the tailgate and snapped one of the straps. This is pretty common as the HT wire corrodes under the plastic sheath. I replaced both sides with new, bathing them in dinitrol before fitting:
The L322 has a pretty neat intake system - part of the Land Rover approach to making them half decent offroad. In this case, to maximise wading depth, the air inlets are through the inner wing via the famous vents in the wing behind the front wheel, but also this intake between bonnet and wing:
The airbox then feeds from the inner wing via this hole:
Mine was missing the rubber boot between air filter box and inner wing, which for some reason was triggering my OCD for all things mechanical. I ordered a replacement from JLR and fitted, allowing me to sleep at night again:
After the week of very cold weathers it then got mild quickly, and the headlights misted up:
Taping silica bags to the inside of the bulb-access hatches for a week or so cured this.
Another long UK weekend away in January saw me heading down to Newlyn in Cornwall after work on a Friday night. As I went past Exeter it started to properly rain and as I went over Bodmin Moor the drivers side wiper decided that it wanted freedom from the rest of the wiper system again and stopped in the middle of the screen. The passenger wiper continued its arc, until it reached the stationary drivers wiper and they became entangled and ultimately bent/broken.
I stopped at the next layby where I got the passenger side sorted but the drivers was buggered for good this time.
Fortunately the rest of the family had travelled down a few days earlier so didn't have to partake in the remainder of the journey down the A30 in the middle of the night, horizontal rain and flooded roads. With one wiper.
The rest of the weekend was pleasant and sunny/calm, and the L322 delivered 26mpg over 600 miles:
When I got home the following week I set about stripping the wipers down to get them repaired and sorted:
Getting the whole assembly out and on to the bench in the garage allowed me to see the cause of the balljoint separating on the wiper linkage was an excessively worn (plastic) socket on the arm. The rest of the assembly was all good so I made a stainless sleeve that fits over the female (socket) arm and located the male (ball) joint back in to the socket, then lock wired this in place, making it fit for a further 160k miles:
Which brings us up to date for high-mileage L322 ownership. Still love it
The L322 swallowed up a 400 mile round trip to see family over the Easter weekend - it's comfort and practicality continue to make it the family roadtrip car of choice.
On the return leg I got the 'Coolant Level Low' red warning message of doom on the dash again. I had this last year and replaced the level sensor which fixed it. Unconvinced a simple hall loop sensor could fail again I checked it's output with a multimeter and sure enough it was fine. The culprit was the float inside the expansion tank so time for a replacement tank:
This was <£30 and took <15 minutes to change, clamping off the hoses and reducing coolant loss meant only a couple of minutes to bleed too.
On the return leg I got the 'Coolant Level Low' red warning message of doom on the dash again. I had this last year and replaced the level sensor which fixed it. Unconvinced a simple hall loop sensor could fail again I checked it's output with a multimeter and sure enough it was fine. The culprit was the float inside the expansion tank so time for a replacement tank:
This was <£30 and took <15 minutes to change, clamping off the hoses and reducing coolant loss meant only a couple of minutes to bleed too.
Year 1 cost of ownership
Earlier in the year the L322 passed the one year mark with us. I keep a tally of costs of maintenance as I'm interested in crunching the numbers and justifying it's existence (a la man maths).
Servicing - stuff you've got to do/shouldn't avoid:
When I got the car I did a oil and all filters service
Total £147
Replacing bits that broke/worn out:
ARB droplinks, lower arm, O/S/F CV boot, coolant expansion tank, etc.
Total £320
Additional servicing - optional bits I wanted to do:
These are things like gearbox powerflush and axles/transfer box, PAS tank and fluid, etc
Total £508
Upgrades/restore/improve:
Optional bits to spruce things up like new remotes, EGR blanking, wheels, wheelnuts, etc etc
Total £503
Earlier in the year the L322 passed the one year mark with us. I keep a tally of costs of maintenance as I'm interested in crunching the numbers and justifying it's existence (a la man maths).
Servicing - stuff you've got to do/shouldn't avoid:
When I got the car I did a oil and all filters service
Total £147
Replacing bits that broke/worn out:
ARB droplinks, lower arm, O/S/F CV boot, coolant expansion tank, etc.
Total £320
Additional servicing - optional bits I wanted to do:
These are things like gearbox powerflush and axles/transfer box, PAS tank and fluid, etc
Total £508
Upgrades/restore/improve:
Optional bits to spruce things up like new remotes, EGR blanking, wheels, wheelnuts, etc etc
Total £503
- Not included is car tax, MOT, insurance etc
Accelebrate said:
Given the vehicle involved that’s impressively reasonable!
Obviously a different engine and apropos of nothing, I’ve been enjoying watching ‘LR Time’ on YT rebuild a Disco 4 with a snapped crank recently -
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhbQfjsQCnPNo60...
Thanks Ian. It doesn't include things like insurance and tax (that alone is £55/month).Obviously a different engine and apropos of nothing, I’ve been enjoying watching ‘LR Time’ on YT rebuild a Disco 4 with a snapped crank recently -
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhbQfjsQCnPNo60...
Tom4398cc said:
Thanks for posting that 1 year cost summary TurboRob. Very interesting and impressive.
The lesson for me as an owner, sorry custodian, of a much earlier L322, is just how much £££ you can save if you can wield the spanners yourself. Your total spend of c.£950 on servicing I think is just on parts. Whereas my annual spend over the last 5 years, albeit with a much older 2004 L322, has been £3k to £5k per year, because I’m using garages to do the work. When I get a minute, I think I’ll go back through my service costs to look at the split between parts and labour each year.
It’s great to see how well your TDV8 is running and working as a family car. Long may the good running and modest costs continue.
Thank you Tom! Yes the £950 is just parts. Easy to see how that number can treble each year if paying for labour. The lesson for me as an owner, sorry custodian, of a much earlier L322, is just how much £££ you can save if you can wield the spanners yourself. Your total spend of c.£950 on servicing I think is just on parts. Whereas my annual spend over the last 5 years, albeit with a much older 2004 L322, has been £3k to £5k per year, because I’m using garages to do the work. When I get a minute, I think I’ll go back through my service costs to look at the split between parts and labour each year.
It’s great to see how well your TDV8 is running and working as a family car. Long may the good running and modest costs continue.
Not a great deal to report since last update other than the first fault appearing in the form of an 'Adaptive Dynamics Fault' message appearing on the dash and the suspension switching to a fairly obviously stiff mode.
A google of this brings up a common fault on later L322s with adaptive dampers - the two wires that connect to the dampers where they poke through the inner wings become brittle and break.
The IID tool told me straight away which one it was.
And <10mins on the drive with the soldering iron, some spare wire and heatshrink had this fixed.
Returning the ride to the plushest of all cars I have/have driven.
In other terrribly exciting news I bought some replacement number plates from a LR dealership in Lincolnshire who support a number of forums and offer p+p on all things. I'm not too fussed about the dealership markings, but did want the correct sized plate as the L322 has an oversized aperture on the boot and looks odd with a standard sized plate in it.
Other than this, it continues to motor-on doing all the tasks expected of a family car.
Onwards!
A google of this brings up a common fault on later L322s with adaptive dampers - the two wires that connect to the dampers where they poke through the inner wings become brittle and break.
The IID tool told me straight away which one it was.
And <10mins on the drive with the soldering iron, some spare wire and heatshrink had this fixed.
Returning the ride to the plushest of all cars I have/have driven.
In other terrribly exciting news I bought some replacement number plates from a LR dealership in Lincolnshire who support a number of forums and offer p+p on all things. I'm not too fussed about the dealership markings, but did want the correct sized plate as the L322 has an oversized aperture on the boot and looks odd with a standard sized plate in it.
Other than this, it continues to motor-on doing all the tasks expected of a family car.
Onwards!
Familymad said:
Great thread and lovely thing
Glad you're enjoying and thank you.A bit of reactive, proactive and servicing work over the past couple of days, ahead of its MOT.
Oil change. Anyone familiar with these will know it's a messy job as LR put the sump plug(s) adjacent to crossmembers. With c.10L of oil in the sump it has a decent head on it and shoots out all over the place. I gave vaccing it out a go before dropping the final bits of oil from the sump plug and to my surprise found the trusty old vac pump to get the lion's share out, with only a 100ml left to come out from the sump plug after. This saves a lot of ballache for future oil changes.
I forgot to take pics but just had a look back at the security camera on the driveway and have a still of the vac pump sat doing it's job:
Front o/s lower arm. Last year the n/s needed replacing due to a worn OB balljoint advised on the MOT. I'd planned to replace the otherside too as I'm a bit OCD for replacing things in pairs, but only got round to it this summer. Bit of a fight of a job but remembered the splitter I'd bought to do the otherside, and going nuts with a sledgehammer to break the joint:
Rustproofing. Whilst in the wheelarches I pulled the splash guards to have a good look around. All well but some surface rust starting to form. Back when I bought the car I looked at a lot and found a huge variance on rust. Generally they were all solid but a bit scabby visually. The steel they're made from is plenty thick enough, I just think they weren't that well protected from the factory and get bashed around a fair bit. This car was one of the better ones - not perfect but it had been undersealed early on in it's life by a previous owner, and I knew part of the L322 ownership experience would be keeping on top of corrosion.
Under engine is a large tubular steel subframe. This was looking a bit ginger around the sides and under the front bumper:
I jetwashed off all the crud, knocked back all the flakey bits with various wire brushes, degreased and applied a couple of coats of Bilthamber Hydrate-80:
This 'converts' the oxidised steel to a black acrylic surface coating:
I then coated with two layers of brushed on Dynax UB, ran some Dynax-S50 inside all the voids I could get to and sprayed a few layers of Dynax UC over the rest of the metalwork:
I'm not a particular Bilthamber fanboy, I just seem to have amassed a shelf full of their products over the years as find them easiest to use and readily available at autojumbles etc.
The above work ended up not just rustproofing the front subframe but also the wheel arches, chassis rails, turret tops and most of the front half of the car. Hope to get the rear half done before the winter months appear.
Quarterly update on the L322!
The maintenance must've paid off as a clean MOT pass was awarded:
And since then it's been completely reliable, doing the nursery/work run daily and family trips away at weekends. We're not far off 170k miles.
I treated the headlights to a polish and sealant. The facelift L322 headlights are real gems, with lots of detail, and highly effective. This has the active bi-xenons, so they turn with the steering wheel, auto dip and turning lights. The LED indicators are comically bright at night - you can see them reflecting off roadsigns 500yds away.
I bolt a Holts kit but ended-up going off-piste, using Farecla G3 then G10 on different pads. Sealed with the spray that comes in the Holts kit which smells a lot like furniture polish.
This time of year - with miserable, wet and cold starts/end to the day - make the Range Rover really appealing. Onwards!
The maintenance must've paid off as a clean MOT pass was awarded:
And since then it's been completely reliable, doing the nursery/work run daily and family trips away at weekends. We're not far off 170k miles.
I treated the headlights to a polish and sealant. The facelift L322 headlights are real gems, with lots of detail, and highly effective. This has the active bi-xenons, so they turn with the steering wheel, auto dip and turning lights. The LED indicators are comically bright at night - you can see them reflecting off roadsigns 500yds away.
I bolt a Holts kit but ended-up going off-piste, using Farecla G3 then G10 on different pads. Sealed with the spray that comes in the Holts kit which smells a lot like furniture polish.
This time of year - with miserable, wet and cold starts/end to the day - make the Range Rover really appealing. Onwards!
Patrick Bateman said:
Jealous. Ideal for this time of year.
What were the lenses like before up close?
I need to get my Jag ones done but I'm not sure if they've deteriorated more on the inside.
It's always hard to tell on photos, but don't think they were this bad. Yours look like bad road rash on the outside, so got to be worth a try! What were the lenses like before up close?
I need to get my Jag ones done but I'm not sure if they've deteriorated more on the inside.
lost in espace said:
Have you pulled out the plastic sill mouldings at the rear yet? Mine was full of crap, and there is double skinned panels which trap mud and rot. You can get them off far enough without removing the side rails. My 09 120k RR was awful, rotted and rusty. Took real cleaing to get all the crap out. All hidden by the plastic moulding.
Good point - I thought I'd put this on the thread but looks like I missed it:In the first few months after getting the car I pulled the plastic sill covers and bungs in the sills off to give a good going over. No rust or corrosion in the sills. A previous owner has treated the car to some kind of rust prevention treatment at some point as there's a waxy residue inside most places I've looked - plus the underside of the car has been "shutz'd".
Where there was corrosion was on the rear wheelarch lip, but very early days. I wire-brushed anything that looked flakey, converted with bilthamber over 24hrs under clingflim then brushed on Finnegans No.1 (brown). The back of the arch lips were cleaned out and loaded with Bilthamber Dynax on a brush. This has held up very well to date!
The L322 has proved so successful in the household that it was getting used more and more, and becoming the main steer of choice for day-to-day work and family trips away. No problems as it's been very reliable and always a pleasure to drive - the preventative maintenance and servicing have paid off well. But we decided we wanted the bigger (4.4 TDV8) engine and 8sp ZF box, plus a bit more modern package/tech.
So the search started a month or so ago and within a few weeks a 70k miles L405 SDV8 Vogue SE in Mariana Blue was purchased and has been pressed in to service as the mummywagen of choice since.
The L322 has stuck around since, in the hope it would still get used but apart from a couple of runs out has sat languishing.
So over the Xmas period she'll be getting a decent clean and sent up for sale. Obviously this is the worst time of year to sell so chances are (hopefully) it'll be around for a while longer yet...
So the search started a month or so ago and within a few weeks a 70k miles L405 SDV8 Vogue SE in Mariana Blue was purchased and has been pressed in to service as the mummywagen of choice since.
The L322 has stuck around since, in the hope it would still get used but apart from a couple of runs out has sat languishing.
So over the Xmas period she'll be getting a decent clean and sent up for sale. Obviously this is the worst time of year to sell so chances are (hopefully) it'll be around for a while longer yet...
RayDonovan said:
Lovely, did the new one come from a Garage near York?
Thanks Ray - no it was a private sale from the East Mids.HawthornBowTie said:
Nice one !
So, how does it compares ?
Thanks HBT, I'll do a detailed report soon once I've run both side-by-side for a bit longer. In short - so far I prefer the way the L322 drives: more character, more sense of occasion, posher materials around you, better headlights.So, how does it compares ?
Stick Legs said:
Marina blue is nice.
Great to see another on 20” wheels looking tasteful.
Yep big fan of the colour! I like how it goes from a regal black to a very deep metallic blue depending on light.Great to see another on 20” wheels looking tasteful.
I'm not a fan of RR's on big wheels/low profile tyres - a combination of the state of the roads around here plus looks.
I've enjoyed your thread on your 2015 over the past couple of years.
DaveyBoyWonder said:
Great read - despite horror stories I still really fancy an L322
Now's better than never - the ability to own/drive cars like this is getting harder and more expensive as each year goes by! 
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