L322 Owners - step forward...
Discussion
From what I've read, and I can well believe it given the BMW 6 diesel was in plenty of cars, it's about a safe a bet for reliability for such an engine but clearly not enough oomph for the mass.
Gearboxes are frequently regarded as being made of chocolate.
If doing limited miles I think I'd be after a 4.2SC or 4.4 Jag V8, believe it's possible to get either one or both of them with the refreshed interior (2006/2007?) but they're very rare to find in amongst a sea of 3.6 V8's on original turbos.
Gearboxes are frequently regarded as being made of chocolate.
If doing limited miles I think I'd be after a 4.2SC or 4.4 Jag V8, believe it's possible to get either one or both of them with the refreshed interior (2006/2007?) but they're very rare to find in amongst a sea of 3.6 V8's on original turbos.
Edited by Patrick Bateman on Saturday 30th December 13:43
On my second after a bit of a false start with an 08 3.6 vogue, I now have a 2009 4.2 autobiography.
While it was a lovely thing, I had plenty of problems with the 08, suspension, handbrake, headlights but it was a high mileage one and eventually after a reasonably large quote from a specialist I decided to give in as it was pretty grotty.
The 09 is a wholly different feeling car. The engine is like silk and the seats are the later autobiography style and has the half leather autobiography armchairs so it’s properly comfortable to waft about in.
I think I’ll always have one now. Unfortunately the 5.0 l322s seems to be going up in price at dealers for some inexplicable reason, whereas the 405s are coming down. So the spread is working in favour of the newer shape if I was to change.
Maybe a very late 2012 4.4 tdv8 might work but I just love the petrol too much. So it’s hold on to it until a cheap 5.0 turns up or an l405 5.0.
Pic of mine when it’s clean!
While it was a lovely thing, I had plenty of problems with the 08, suspension, handbrake, headlights but it was a high mileage one and eventually after a reasonably large quote from a specialist I decided to give in as it was pretty grotty.
The 09 is a wholly different feeling car. The engine is like silk and the seats are the later autobiography style and has the half leather autobiography armchairs so it’s properly comfortable to waft about in.
I think I’ll always have one now. Unfortunately the 5.0 l322s seems to be going up in price at dealers for some inexplicable reason, whereas the 405s are coming down. So the spread is working in favour of the newer shape if I was to change.
Maybe a very late 2012 4.4 tdv8 might work but I just love the petrol too much. So it’s hold on to it until a cheap 5.0 turns up or an l405 5.0.
Pic of mine when it’s clean!
Patrick Bateman said:
Very nice, must be one of the very last 4.2 SC cars!
I suppose it is likely to be! Whoever bought it in 2009 must have got a stonking deal, or was very impatient heading into summer 😂. Fast forward 15 odd years and I’d have to pay double for a decent enough early 5.0. Deeply annoying since I am partial to the leather headlining on the later cars!
I've found myself clicking on some of these for sale recently. I know nothing about them so just had a quick read. I hear a lot of issues here with the diesels but no one mentions problems with the 5.0 sc engine. So is that accurate, emissions control related issues as with all reasonably modern diesel engines and the good old fashioned petrol is less problematic?
Which does increasingly lead me to think if you can tolerate 17mpg, a late 4.2 SC is about as safe an L322 you can get.
The trouble is you see some good looking 3.6 cars out there for not a load of money but I feel they'd need to be extremely cheap for fear of the turbos going. A 6 grand L322 suddenly needing 3 grand plus of work before it can move again would be a punch in the gut.
I've been scouring ads for quite a while now due to my masochistic tendencies and I've only found one current ad that mentions new turbos at 90k miles and that car is currently on...180k miles.
The trouble is you see some good looking 3.6 cars out there for not a load of money but I feel they'd need to be extremely cheap for fear of the turbos going. A 6 grand L322 suddenly needing 3 grand plus of work before it can move again would be a punch in the gut.
I've been scouring ads for quite a while now due to my masochistic tendencies and I've only found one current ad that mentions new turbos at 90k miles and that car is currently on...180k miles.
ATM said:
eliot said:
timing chain tensioners on the 5.00 seems to be the issue and continued into the early L405’s - i think it was about 2014 before it was sorted.
And how does this show up. Is it catastrophic failure or something less disastrous like it develops a misfire or something?Patrick Bateman said:
Which does increasingly lead me to think if you can tolerate 17mpg, a late 4.2 SC is about as safe an L322 you can get.
The trouble is you see some good looking 3.6 cars out there for not a load of money but I feel they'd need to be extremely cheap for fear of the turbos going. A 6 grand L322 suddenly needing 3 grand plus of work before it can move again would be a punch in the gut.
I've been scouring ads for quite a while now due to my masochistic tendencies and I've only found one current ad that mentions new turbos at 90k miles and that car is currently on...180k miles.
Agreed about going petrol if you can tolerate low MPG. Just be wary of it dipping below the teens when pottering around locally.The trouble is you see some good looking 3.6 cars out there for not a load of money but I feel they'd need to be extremely cheap for fear of the turbos going. A 6 grand L322 suddenly needing 3 grand plus of work before it can move again would be a punch in the gut.
I've been scouring ads for quite a while now due to my masochistic tendencies and I've only found one current ad that mentions new turbos at 90k miles and that car is currently on...180k miles.
I don't agree about the turbos on TDV8s - mine's on 170k miles and there's no mention of turbo replacements in the history. Nor was it really a big factor when I was looking to buy - I formed the opinion that duty cycle of the EGR and oil dilution from this/oil change frequency are most likely to wear the turbo bearings out. Additionally a car that doesn't get up to temperature on most drives won't burn off the condensate/associated acidity from the engine. A car that's accrued mileage at a decent rate, and had regular oil changes is therefore not an unsafe bet, in my humble opinion!
That's fair enough but if I was looking at a 3.6 on those sort of miles and I knew turbo failure (which could be extremely sudden and definitely more likely than the 4.4 TDV8) was going to do me for 3 grand plus change in one hit it'd have to be in the forefront of my mind going in, bearing in mind the purchase price is likely to be similar.
Edited by Patrick Bateman on Monday 1st January 17:33
Not that I check that regularly as it is a second car, but with reference to MPG, I checked today and the average is 14.6.
Mostly local use, but it will give acceptable mpg on a run, comfortably above 20. I don't think that is terrible. Other car is a 6 month old xc90 T8 plug in hybrid, and if you don't plug it in, that gets about 24 mpg.. Not a huge amount in it.
I prefer to take the Ranger Rover given the choice, it just feels proper.
Mostly local use, but it will give acceptable mpg on a run, comfortably above 20. I don't think that is terrible. Other car is a 6 month old xc90 T8 plug in hybrid, and if you don't plug it in, that gets about 24 mpg.. Not a huge amount in it.
I prefer to take the Ranger Rover given the choice, it just feels proper.
4.2SC owner here, love it to bits. Mine’s an early 2009 car, in Autobiography specification with Buckingham Blue paint and cream leather interior:
|https://thumbsnap.com/SNMskPCs[/url]
I do most of the maintenance myself which cuts down on bills, but they are not cheap cars to run. Mine had a ZF gearbox rebuild last year (worn stator bush, gearbox out and full overhaul), and I’m currently changing all the suspension airbags/struts. I’m on 104,000 miles.
I previously had a TDV8 L322 which was great, loads of torque and 30mpg but that died due to turbo failure at 172,000 miles so I scrapped it on my drive and kept loads of spare parts for my 4.2SC. The old one was pretty rusty around the rear arches and also around the bonnet. My SC is much better on rust, but I’ve spent hours underneath it rubbing bits down and rustproofing. That pays dividends long term.
They are amazing cars but they need a lot of attention to stay on top of maintenance and you have to occasionally deal with a big bill (£4k for my gearbox overhaul). When I was looking 5.0s were out of my price range, but they are also great if you can find one with the timing chain tensioners already done for you.[url]
|https://thumbsnap.com/SNMskPCs[/url]I do most of the maintenance myself which cuts down on bills, but they are not cheap cars to run. Mine had a ZF gearbox rebuild last year (worn stator bush, gearbox out and full overhaul), and I’m currently changing all the suspension airbags/struts. I’m on 104,000 miles.
I previously had a TDV8 L322 which was great, loads of torque and 30mpg but that died due to turbo failure at 172,000 miles so I scrapped it on my drive and kept loads of spare parts for my 4.2SC. The old one was pretty rusty around the rear arches and also around the bonnet. My SC is much better on rust, but I’ve spent hours underneath it rubbing bits down and rustproofing. That pays dividends long term.
They are amazing cars but they need a lot of attention to stay on top of maintenance and you have to occasionally deal with a big bill (£4k for my gearbox overhaul). When I was looking 5.0s were out of my price range, but they are also great if you can find one with the timing chain tensioners already done for you.[url]
Edited by fanders on Wednesday 3rd January 18:23
For info, here is the maintenance schedule I've developed for my 4.2SC L322, it's based on items in the Land Rover service sheets but with more conservative intervals (for example, they call for diff oils and transfer case oil changes at 80,000 miles/5 years and transmission oil changes at 144,000 miles/9 years which I think is way too long an interval). I do the visual checks and corrosion control tasks in addition to these service items.
ATM said:
The recent engine work is a bonus, that’s probably a 4-5k cost. I just got almost same spec, a lot higher mileage though. Photos don’t show a parcel shelf- with reclining rear seats they use a different shelf to “standard” Range Rovers and are apparently very hard to find used for sale.HTH
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