My Mexican Range Rover Sport
Discussion
Haven't done a reader's car thread in a long time, but it's a Sunday afternoon and I'm bored, so I thought why not?
I moved to Mexico just over a year ago, and cars weren't really an immediate priority, to the extent that I ended up driving around in a Dodge Caliber. A family member who'd owned it since new offered it to me for half its market value, so I went for it despite it being a pretty terrible car to drive.
After getting set up over here, my thoughts turned to getting something a bit nicer whilst still not having to dig into my savings, which resulted in a C6 generation Audi A6. It seemed like a good buy: FASH, 60k miles etc, but turned into a complete money pit, and I sold it after only a few months of buying it.
One of the things I learned through the Audi ownership is that there just isn't the same parts availability / independent garage support for premium European cars as there is in the UK. Stuff I could have fixed back home for £250 ended up costing me £2000, which was gutting on a sub £5k car.
I resolved to get something American: maybe a 2010 Escalade, or a Ram with the 5.7 Hemi engine. Easy to work on, good parts availability, and tough enough to withstand the terrible roads we have over here. Problem was, after looking at and driving them, it quickly became apparent that their owners took advantage of their reliable nature and simply didn't look after them: many had been crashed and poorly repaired, others had trim falling off, expensive sounding noises coming from the gearbox/diff etc. I literally couldn't find a single one in good condition, and I must have seen easily 20/30 of them.
A mechanic friend then offered to lend me his Range Rover Sport for the weekend. They're not cars I've ever considered before, or even particularly liked: they haven't aged well, and my main memory of them was seeing them flying around the streets of south east London on 22 inch black wheels, clouds of black smoke coming out of the exhaust. After driving one though, I began to warm towards them: they ride and handle vastly better than anything American that was in my budget, and I've always loved the 4.2 Supercharged engine, having had it in a couple of Jag XJRs before.
I began to search for them online, and found one locally: only two lines of description in the advert, but I liked the dark blue/cream leather colour combo, so I went to see it.
Turned out, it had been owned since new by an extremely wealthy family (they got one of their servants to deliver it to me!), 60k miles, had every bill from the Land Rover dealership, including a recent suspension compressor, gearbox oil change, and supercharger replacement, and they were willing to get it fully inspected by the dealer at their cost before I bought it. Looking around the car, the only things I could fault it on was some slightly curbed alloys, and shock absorbers which, although functional, looked like they'd been on the car for a long time.
The dealership gave it a clean bill of health, and I bought it for just under £10k.
Interior wise, I still don't like the plasticky centre console, but it has a good list of options: Harman Kardon Stereo, Bluetooth, Aux, fridge, sunroof, heated seats, as well as all the usual stuff you'd expect.
I mainly use the car at weekends (I still drive the dreaded Caliber to work as it's stop start traffic all the way, and it seems pointless using the RRS and spending double on petrol). Despite this, I've covered 10,000 miles in the few months I've had it - I love taking it on road trips, so it's been to Houston, San Antonio, Zacatecas, Real De Catorce, and many other places nobody outside Mexico has ever heard of
I take it off roading fairly regularly too, sometimes successfully
Sometimes less so
It came with near new Pirelli P Zeros fitted, which unsurprisingly aren't great in mud. I'll be getting all season ones once these are worn out.
In terms of running costs, the only bill so far has been £400ish for a pair of front shocks, which I factored into the purchase price, but other than that it's been faultless. I'm hoping it continues to be, as I'm going to be taking it to Miami and back at xmas, which as you can see, is a fair distance.
I'll probably do a thread on here for anyone who's interested. The fuel bill should be impressive if nothing else.
That's all I can think to say about it really: I'll keep this thread updated with any positives/negatives of the ownership experience. Here's a last couple of photos to finish off
I moved to Mexico just over a year ago, and cars weren't really an immediate priority, to the extent that I ended up driving around in a Dodge Caliber. A family member who'd owned it since new offered it to me for half its market value, so I went for it despite it being a pretty terrible car to drive.
After getting set up over here, my thoughts turned to getting something a bit nicer whilst still not having to dig into my savings, which resulted in a C6 generation Audi A6. It seemed like a good buy: FASH, 60k miles etc, but turned into a complete money pit, and I sold it after only a few months of buying it.
One of the things I learned through the Audi ownership is that there just isn't the same parts availability / independent garage support for premium European cars as there is in the UK. Stuff I could have fixed back home for £250 ended up costing me £2000, which was gutting on a sub £5k car.
I resolved to get something American: maybe a 2010 Escalade, or a Ram with the 5.7 Hemi engine. Easy to work on, good parts availability, and tough enough to withstand the terrible roads we have over here. Problem was, after looking at and driving them, it quickly became apparent that their owners took advantage of their reliable nature and simply didn't look after them: many had been crashed and poorly repaired, others had trim falling off, expensive sounding noises coming from the gearbox/diff etc. I literally couldn't find a single one in good condition, and I must have seen easily 20/30 of them.
A mechanic friend then offered to lend me his Range Rover Sport for the weekend. They're not cars I've ever considered before, or even particularly liked: they haven't aged well, and my main memory of them was seeing them flying around the streets of south east London on 22 inch black wheels, clouds of black smoke coming out of the exhaust. After driving one though, I began to warm towards them: they ride and handle vastly better than anything American that was in my budget, and I've always loved the 4.2 Supercharged engine, having had it in a couple of Jag XJRs before.
I began to search for them online, and found one locally: only two lines of description in the advert, but I liked the dark blue/cream leather colour combo, so I went to see it.
Turned out, it had been owned since new by an extremely wealthy family (they got one of their servants to deliver it to me!), 60k miles, had every bill from the Land Rover dealership, including a recent suspension compressor, gearbox oil change, and supercharger replacement, and they were willing to get it fully inspected by the dealer at their cost before I bought it. Looking around the car, the only things I could fault it on was some slightly curbed alloys, and shock absorbers which, although functional, looked like they'd been on the car for a long time.
The dealership gave it a clean bill of health, and I bought it for just under £10k.
Interior wise, I still don't like the plasticky centre console, but it has a good list of options: Harman Kardon Stereo, Bluetooth, Aux, fridge, sunroof, heated seats, as well as all the usual stuff you'd expect.
I mainly use the car at weekends (I still drive the dreaded Caliber to work as it's stop start traffic all the way, and it seems pointless using the RRS and spending double on petrol). Despite this, I've covered 10,000 miles in the few months I've had it - I love taking it on road trips, so it's been to Houston, San Antonio, Zacatecas, Real De Catorce, and many other places nobody outside Mexico has ever heard of
I take it off roading fairly regularly too, sometimes successfully
Sometimes less so
It came with near new Pirelli P Zeros fitted, which unsurprisingly aren't great in mud. I'll be getting all season ones once these are worn out.
In terms of running costs, the only bill so far has been £400ish for a pair of front shocks, which I factored into the purchase price, but other than that it's been faultless. I'm hoping it continues to be, as I'm going to be taking it to Miami and back at xmas, which as you can see, is a fair distance.
I'll probably do a thread on here for anyone who's interested. The fuel bill should be impressive if nothing else.
That's all I can think to say about it really: I'll keep this thread updated with any positives/negatives of the ownership experience. Here's a last couple of photos to finish off
SydneyBridge said:
Are there many range rovers in Mexico ?
Depends very much where you go. In Monterrey, where I live, and Mexico City, you see quite a few. In Mexico as a whole though they’re very rare - I’ve been to towns where the people have never seen one before in their lives.Krikkit said:
Great purchase, in anything other than black and diesel these are great looking cars.
What are the fuel prices like over there?
Thanks, if it had been black and diesel I definitely wouldn’t have got it!What are the fuel prices like over there?
The premium fuel which the RRS needs is about 82ppl, the standard stuff I put in the Caliber about 75ppl. Not much in U.K. terms, but when you consider many people here earn £250-£350 per month, it’s quite a lot.
Boozy said:
Mexico to Miami, say no more 
If it was that type of trip I’d have a brand new one, not a 9 year old one si_xsi said:
Hi Matt, long time no See, last time I heard you were in South of France in an XJR! Is the job taking you to Mexico? Seems a long time since we went on a few early Sunday morning blasts. Hope you are keeping well and enjoying the tacos.
Si
Long time no see indeed! Feels like a century ago although I guess it’s only been a few years.Si
I don’t do the same job anymore, ended up here due to dating a Mexican girl I met whilst in France. Having a great time - I still miss those Sunday morning drives though!
What are you driving nowadays anyway?
Sounds like a bit of an adventure! I must admit I was very envious when you said you were off to live in South of France, it's a very special place for me for many reasons. I'm in a golf R32 at the moment, here is my readers cars thread when you have a moment, including a few road trips to Provence!
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
si_xsi said:
Sounds like a bit of an adventure! I must admit I was very envious when you said you were off to live in South of France, it's a very special place for me for many reasons. I'm in a golf R32 at the moment, here is my readers cars thread when you have a moment, including a few road trips to Provence!
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
Looks like you're having a great time with it. I do miss the South of France sometimes, and hope to return there on holiday soon. I don't miss the workload though!https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
Thought I’d do a bit of an update as it’s now been a year since I bought the car.
Good news - things are (mostly) good in Range Rover land. I’ve now covered around 25k miles since buying it, and it hasn’t let me down once. Here’s a picture of it cooling down after a long drive to Miami.
In terms of repairs, I had to replace a few bushes which resulted in stiff steering afterwards. The garage tried to fob me off by telling me they’d done something to the steering rack which was actually physically impossible on this car, but luckily after an alignment, it seems pretty much back to normal. Perhaps slightly stiffer than before, but I’d put that down to new vs worn suspension.
I also changed the headlight bulbs which actually isn’t that hard once you work it out. Does involve taking the front of the car apart though, typical modern car I guess.
I also decided to give it a polish and wax, as the previous owner had never done anything to the paint, and a combination of tree branches and my neighbour’s cats had left it in a bit of a mess. I used Meguiars products and a cheap buffer lent to me by a friend: didn’t get perfect results, but still a hell of a lot better.
Before:
After:
I still have one issue which I’d like to resolve though: over the last few months, the EML has been illuminating with increasingly regularity. The car drives perfectly and neither MPG nor performance are affected. The code it’s giving me is P2135, which is a throttle position sensor code. I spoke to a few experts who told me this was related to the throttle body, and changing it would sort it out. I went ahead and changed it (used a new, genuine part) and it didn’t make any difference. Wiring looks OK too, so the next time I’m in the US, I’m going to order a new throttle pedal assembly and see if that does anything. I suppose there’s no real need to fix it, but I know that when I eventually sell it, nobody will believe me if I tell them the EML genuinely doesn’t affect it, plus I’m OCD so I’d like to get it sorted. The weird thing is, the issue occurs far less when I drive it in the US, which I’m putting down to the fact that I spend most of the time on cruise control, not touching the accelerator. In Mexico, where there’s a lot more potholes / people pulling out / random hazards, you end up using the pedals a lot more. I believe the problem could also be caused by a faulty ECU, but as the car is behaving fine, I’m going to try the simple stuff first as I can do them myself cheaply and easily.
That’s it really: hopefully next year’s update will be similarly free of major failure
Good news - things are (mostly) good in Range Rover land. I’ve now covered around 25k miles since buying it, and it hasn’t let me down once. Here’s a picture of it cooling down after a long drive to Miami.
In terms of repairs, I had to replace a few bushes which resulted in stiff steering afterwards. The garage tried to fob me off by telling me they’d done something to the steering rack which was actually physically impossible on this car, but luckily after an alignment, it seems pretty much back to normal. Perhaps slightly stiffer than before, but I’d put that down to new vs worn suspension.
I also changed the headlight bulbs which actually isn’t that hard once you work it out. Does involve taking the front of the car apart though, typical modern car I guess.
I also decided to give it a polish and wax, as the previous owner had never done anything to the paint, and a combination of tree branches and my neighbour’s cats had left it in a bit of a mess. I used Meguiars products and a cheap buffer lent to me by a friend: didn’t get perfect results, but still a hell of a lot better.
Before:
After:
I still have one issue which I’d like to resolve though: over the last few months, the EML has been illuminating with increasingly regularity. The car drives perfectly and neither MPG nor performance are affected. The code it’s giving me is P2135, which is a throttle position sensor code. I spoke to a few experts who told me this was related to the throttle body, and changing it would sort it out. I went ahead and changed it (used a new, genuine part) and it didn’t make any difference. Wiring looks OK too, so the next time I’m in the US, I’m going to order a new throttle pedal assembly and see if that does anything. I suppose there’s no real need to fix it, but I know that when I eventually sell it, nobody will believe me if I tell them the EML genuinely doesn’t affect it, plus I’m OCD so I’d like to get it sorted. The weird thing is, the issue occurs far less when I drive it in the US, which I’m putting down to the fact that I spend most of the time on cruise control, not touching the accelerator. In Mexico, where there’s a lot more potholes / people pulling out / random hazards, you end up using the pedals a lot more. I believe the problem could also be caused by a faulty ECU, but as the car is behaving fine, I’m going to try the simple stuff first as I can do them myself cheaply and easily.
That’s it really: hopefully next year’s update will be similarly free of major failure
Final update - the I got the EML sorted last year. It turned out to be a simple matter of changing the accelerator pedal. I wish I’d listened to my £10 eBay scab tool as that’s what it always said in the first place! I bought the pedal in the US for $30, got it delivered to my friend’s apartment in NYC, then brought it back with me in my hand luggage (TSA agent was more than a little confused).
Fitted it myself and the light went out immediately and never came back on. Always nice when you can fix a problem on a car like this for such a low amount of money.
Since last year, nothing went wrong whatsoever. I took it on many more road trips to the US and Mexico, until I finally decided to sell it. It went last week - I swapped it for a 2017 Sentra, plus cash my way. Sold the Sentra a couple of days ago, so with the money from that plus the cash the buyer gave me, I’ve actually made a few hundred profit on what I paid for it almost two years ago. Add that to the fact that it only cost me about £600 per year to run, and it’s been a pretty cheap way to own a Range Rover!
I still love the car, and would buy another tomorrow, but we’re using the money to buy land and build a new house. Interest rates are really high here, so the more money you can put down in cash, the better. I have another car I can use, and hopefully in a couple of years once everything’s done, I’ll be able to get back into something interesting again.
One final photo in its natural habitat:
Fitted it myself and the light went out immediately and never came back on. Always nice when you can fix a problem on a car like this for such a low amount of money.
Since last year, nothing went wrong whatsoever. I took it on many more road trips to the US and Mexico, until I finally decided to sell it. It went last week - I swapped it for a 2017 Sentra, plus cash my way. Sold the Sentra a couple of days ago, so with the money from that plus the cash the buyer gave me, I’ve actually made a few hundred profit on what I paid for it almost two years ago. Add that to the fact that it only cost me about £600 per year to run, and it’s been a pretty cheap way to own a Range Rover!
I still love the car, and would buy another tomorrow, but we’re using the money to buy land and build a new house. Interest rates are really high here, so the more money you can put down in cash, the better. I have another car I can use, and hopefully in a couple of years once everything’s done, I’ll be able to get back into something interesting again.
One final photo in its natural habitat:
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff