Tuesday 29th October 2013

Range Rover LSE: You Know You Want To

Harris's Range Rover has died, is this LSE its replacement?

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For once, this is as much about the dealer as the vehicle in question. Actually, the sad demise of my own Classic Rangie last week has left me looking for a replacement vehicle and, much as I want to do the sensible thing and buy a Land Cruiser Amazon, I just so enjoyed burbling about in a Rangie these past few winters that I think I want another. But one without quite as much rot.

That's a Brooklands bodykit, dontcha know

Now, as many of you will know, this chap Greame Hunt has been asking top dollar for old Rangies for some time, but he is surely best known for the fantastically flowery descriptions of his stock. Everything is gendered and described as if assuming the vocabulary and delivery of Godfrey from Dad's Army.

When I first read them, they made me a little queasy, but now I find them rather comforting, in the way I do some of the off-peak shows on Radio 4. I secretly read up on the new arrivals when I break for a cup of tea. I suppose they're my guilty pleasure.

The car in question is, we're told, a potential part-ex that has on further inspection proved to be too good to release to the vagabonds of the motor trade. The car is 'tickety-boo', a 'cracker' and is, according to the standard Hunt-discourse gendered as female. Everything four-wheeled is female, naturally.

Certainly not a complicated interior layout

I don't much want a long-wheelbase LSE on air suspension, for me it's kind of the bogie-specification for a Classic, but this one just looks right. As for the price, who knows with these things right now? Mr. Hunt is asking £72,500 for a Velar development car and if he's actually achieving the prices he's asking for CSKs then I want to shake his hand personally.

In fact I've decided to do that when I get back from this trip. There's an outside chance he might stitch me into a comically over-priced Range Rover Classic, but I think I might just enjoy the experience so much I won't care too much. So long as prices keep rising.

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RANGE ROVER LSE
Price: £15,750
Why you should: It's a tickety-boo example of the original Range Rover
Why you shouldn't: Not exactly ideal spec

See the original advert here

[nagsheadwarrior]

Hmm,its lovely but would you want to use it and abuse it through the winter?

£1500 smoker with teddy bear cloth for me please.

ETA- Details on what killed the previous one?

Edited by nagsheadwarrior on Tuesday 29th October 09:46

[Zumbruk]

Run, do not walk, away. LSE's are a whole heap of trouble, on top of the usual RR Classic woes. And they look like a tart's boudoir inside.

[PaulD86]

Just had a look at some of the other RRs he has for sale. Wow! Are they REALLY worth that much? Interested to note one of them is under offer at what I thought was a mental price, so maybe to someone they are!

[The Danimal]

'Market leading' prices.

[BeirutTaxi]

Zumbruk said:

Run, do not walk, away. LSE's are a whole heap of trouble, on top of the usual RR Classic woes. And they look like a tart's boudoir inside.

I would still take one over a sanctimonious Prius though.

[AudiWurst]

Harris said:

if he's actually achieving the prices he's asking for CSKs then I want to shake his hand personally

I suspect he knows what his well-heeled Kensington customers want (even those awful flowery descriptions), and gets pretty close to the advertised prices.

[jerrytlr]

For anybody without deep pockets the boat has already sailed as far as getting a decent classic is concerned.

Fortunately, IMHO of course, P38s are starting to look pretty cool.......

Cheers

Jerry

[GarethStubbs0801]

Classic Rangie is the ideal winter smoker. Incredibly pricey but I LOVE this one...

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/l...

[pacoryan]

Fantastic family car, loved ours and the sensible rear leg room is a real bonus. Ignore the air suspension paranoia, it isn't expensive to fix and our LSE's never missed a beat, but it did handle well as welll as being very comfortable. The 4.2 gives a little added pep, what's not to like.

£15k is punchy though when there's been a few proper, sorted Overfinch's around for that money.

[Trusty Steed]

Come buy mine!!

[TNH]

I had no idea these commanded such high prices.

Absolutely blooming awful in my eyes!

[chris182]

A working classic is a beautiful thing and I absolutely would want one but that is insane money.

[Graham]

There is a 79 2 door locally with 5000 miles on the clock. 25k has been turned down for it already, and that was from another dealer unseen !

[tedzwedz]

LSE is of course a 4.2 Litre, not standard 3.9 litre.. mmm. Shame they never came on Air suspension. Graeme has quite a lot of Overfinchs in, including a BEAUTIFUL Metallic Brown?Dark Green/Gold one one, immaculate.

[LewisR]

Trusty Steed said:

Come buy mine!!

How much ???
Is it advertised anywhere?

[pacoryan]

tedzwedz said:

LSE is of course a 4.2 Litre, not standard 3.9 litre.. mmm. Shame they never came on Air suspension. Graeme has quite a lot of Overfinchs in, including a BEAUTIFUL Metallic Brown?Dark Green/Gold one one, immaculate.

Refer to my post above, LSE's had air suspension as standard!

[grosserbaby]

This one on ebay keeps catching my eye, I have bid before but only in the hope of stealing it but the reserve is obviously high. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/350907811131?ssPageName=...
Where is that red one advertised, tis lovely.

[TheRoadWarrior]

Under Why wouldn't you you forgot:

- Because it's a fifteen-thousand-pound Range Rover classic


....Looks nice though

[m9fdb]

blimey these are making good money now

I let a white ex Diplomat one pass me by a couple of years ago for less than £500 and it had loads of welding done and was solid underneath !!!

I could kick myself now !!

[Wolands Advocate]

tedzwedz said:

LSE is of course a 4.2 Litre, not standard 3.9 litre.. mmm. Shame they never came on Air suspension. Graeme has quite a lot of Overfinchs in, including a BEAUTIFUL Metallic Brown?Dark Green/Gold one one, immaculate.

That would be the colour they called "Mosswood" which was an LSE-only colour.

My father had a Roman-registered 4.2 LSE in Mosswood (thankfully without the slightly naff Brooklands kit) around the time I was learning to drive. It was universally known as "Boris" and we all loved it - a great family car. I do however recall that trying to thread a LHD LSE through the backstreets of Chelsea aged all of 18 was quite tricky. If I recall correctly, the steering doesn't exactly self-centre which takes some getting used to.

Actually managed to find a pic of it (with a very young yours truly behind the wheel) - enough to give an idea of the colour:

Edited by Wolands Advocate on Tuesday 29th October 11:45