Discussion
I bought one a couple of years ago, a 4.6 vogue.
It's had it's foibles. Thought I had some issues with the suspension but mainly it seemed to come down to me using the car for short journeys , which meant the pump was working a lot, which meant it would trigger the overheat circuit, which would stop it working, for days. Eventually got round that one by bypassing the short circuit circuit.
New air con condensor.
New battery.
New rear brake calipers.
Still has only 1 side of screen defrostng.
Non-working heated seats.
Very slight leak of 'o'rings in heater matrix.
Sat nav borked
Air con compressor is noisy, I fully expect it to go kaput as some stage soon.
Steering along country roads and cambers is probably as accurate as Captian Schettino found that of his cruise liner.
Engine and body computers lost sync of codes meaning it wouldn't start one day, needs man with computer to fix.
1 Random flat battery recently.
BUT... I f
king love it Cost me £2.5K, I use it for weekends tooling round town only. I've done about 2000 miles in 2 years. And spent the last week of the snow taking 'shortcuts' up and down kerbs, pavements and other random snowy bits.
I'm not sure I'd trust it to be my only car though!
It's had it's foibles. Thought I had some issues with the suspension but mainly it seemed to come down to me using the car for short journeys , which meant the pump was working a lot, which meant it would trigger the overheat circuit, which would stop it working, for days. Eventually got round that one by bypassing the short circuit circuit.
New air con condensor.
New battery.
New rear brake calipers.
Still has only 1 side of screen defrostng.
Non-working heated seats.
Very slight leak of 'o'rings in heater matrix.
Sat nav borked
Air con compressor is noisy, I fully expect it to go kaput as some stage soon.
Steering along country roads and cambers is probably as accurate as Captian Schettino found that of his cruise liner.
Engine and body computers lost sync of codes meaning it wouldn't start one day, needs man with computer to fix.
1 Random flat battery recently.
BUT... I f
king love it Cost me £2.5K, I use it for weekends tooling round town only. I've done about 2000 miles in 2 years. And spent the last week of the snow taking 'shortcuts' up and down kerbs, pavements and other random snowy bits. I'm not sure I'd trust it to be my only car though!
VidalBaboon said:
How bad are they? 4.6HSE spec....
I really want one, but won't buy if they're as bad as my current car which takes weekly holidays at the dealership every 8 weeks or so.
They're absolutely fantastic in 4.6 Vogue spec, especially when they're the 2001 model in Oxford Blue with cream leather, 93k miles and purchased from a fellow PHer...... I really want one, but won't buy if they're as bad as my current car which takes weekly holidays at the dealership every 8 weeks or so.
It's this one i'm in love with.
http://pistonheads.com/sales/3617816.htm
I'm assuming given the age and cost to repair that spares from specialist salvage companies are plentiful?
Thanks for the bork info above
http://pistonheads.com/sales/3617816.htm
I'm assuming given the age and cost to repair that spares from specialist salvage companies are plentiful?
Thanks for the bork info above
Edited by VidalBaboon on Thursday 16th February 13:39
VidalBaboon said:
Fixed that link for you..... 
C8PPO said:
VidalBaboon said:
Fixed that link for you..... 
I'm only looking to spend up to a max of 2k! Tis velly nice though
They really are great to drive and characterful, but there's a lot that can and does go wrong.
There are guides of what to look out for all over the internet.
A friend of mine did buy one sight unseen (as memory serves it was N or P-reg) with around 140,000 miles and beat the hell out of it for a long time. He got it very cheap from a friend who just said "I've got a 4.6 HSE...interested?"
I don't know what happened to it actually, either I never asked for I've forgotten the answer. It's likely as not still lumbering around the countryside.
There are guides of what to look out for all over the internet.
A friend of mine did buy one sight unseen (as memory serves it was N or P-reg) with around 140,000 miles and beat the hell out of it for a long time. He got it very cheap from a friend who just said "I've got a 4.6 HSE...interested?"
I don't know what happened to it actually, either I never asked for I've forgotten the answer. It's likely as not still lumbering around the countryside.
I had one. Only lasted about 5 months. Some of the following is cut and pasted from a previous post:
Alternator failed.
Outside air temp sensor played up, which in turn sent the demisting and air con haywire.
Non-working heated seats.
Cruise control stopped working.
Wet footwell, I think this is a result of "slight leak of 'o'rings in heater matrix."
Sat nav borked
Steering along country roads and cambers is probably as accurate as Captian Schettino found that of his cruise liner.
Ride was poor despite air suspension seemingly working.
Had a permanent list to one side when parked.
Mine was LPG as well, which came with its own problems. Could not get the system calibrated properly at all. And - 12mpg on gas.
Alternator failed.
Outside air temp sensor played up, which in turn sent the demisting and air con haywire.
Non-working heated seats.
Cruise control stopped working.
Wet footwell, I think this is a result of "slight leak of 'o'rings in heater matrix."
Sat nav borked
Steering along country roads and cambers is probably as accurate as Captian Schettino found that of his cruise liner.
Ride was poor despite air suspension seemingly working.
Had a permanent list to one side when parked.
Mine was LPG as well, which came with its own problems. Could not get the system calibrated properly at all. And - 12mpg on gas.
VidalBaboon said:
Hmm, so air suspension & o-rings to the heater matrix and some random problems with the air-con.
Not looking massively bad, I must say.
Ha ha, you sound like an ideal candidate for the pleasure/pain of P38 ownership. Not looking massively bad, I must say.
To be honest, if you're happy to tinker and you're not gonna throw a wobbly when something's not quite working correctly, then you'll be fine!
There is LOTS of information on line detailing every possible fault and how to fix with detailed photos.
Piersman2 said:
VidalBaboon said:
Hmm, so air suspension & o-rings to the heater matrix and some random problems with the air-con.
Not looking massively bad, I must say.
Ha ha, you sound like an ideal candidate for the pleasure/pain of P38 ownership. Not looking massively bad, I must say.
To be honest, if you're happy to tinker and you're not gonna throw a wobbly when something's not quite working correctly, then you'll be fine!
There is LOTS of information on line detailing every possible fault and how to fix with detailed photos.
I think between myself an VW it's cost about 10k in repairs over 2.5 years, and as a final swan song, the oil pump has just let go & i'm awaiting another 4 figure bill. So a P38 sounds like some light relief.
Are they mechanically sound? Any FI problems?
GTO Scott said:
Do it - I'm looking to own another P38 within the year if things go ok, but if you get one on LPG go for the 4.0 rather than the 4.6 - the bigger lump blows it's head gaskets if thrashed on LPG.
P38 & GTO TT to quote another PHer on here, that appears to be Ninja-Combo borkage 
I'm going to get looking
The P38 is a fine old bus to waft around in. Of course, I would say that; but, I've replaced mine with an L322 which has just as much potential for disaster and/or expense, but once driven.....I can't see me changing mine for anything other than another one any time soon.
As said above, the majority of the faults on the P38 are "known" faults and as such you will usually find at least 4 or 5 different sites detailing the repair procedure. Further, if there is a workaround which fixes things cheaper or more easily, someone's invented it and dicumented it for you.
A lot of the jobs are very simple even if they appear daunting at first. For example, mine used to sit down a bit at the back when parked. I diagnosed a split in the rear air spring. Whilst it took a while to read and understand the instructions for changing it, I'm fairly confident now, having done it, that it would take me 10 minutes tops per side.
They give you a terrific "sense of occasion", even the older ones.
As said above, the majority of the faults on the P38 are "known" faults and as such you will usually find at least 4 or 5 different sites detailing the repair procedure. Further, if there is a workaround which fixes things cheaper or more easily, someone's invented it and dicumented it for you.
A lot of the jobs are very simple even if they appear daunting at first. For example, mine used to sit down a bit at the back when parked. I diagnosed a split in the rear air spring. Whilst it took a while to read and understand the instructions for changing it, I'm fairly confident now, having done it, that it would take me 10 minutes tops per side.
They give you a terrific "sense of occasion", even the older ones.
They are, without a doubt, the worst thing ever to come from the Land Rover factory, even worse than a Freelander. Monumentally dreadful, unreliable, nasty plastic dashboard, choice of unreliable petrol or pitiful diesel.
Customer had one for 3 weeks before it st itself terminally and he lost 3k, friend had one that lasted about 2 months, 51 plate about £10k and a total waste of money.
Buy one if you're brave or daft.
On the plus side, you won't find a worn out or rusty one, mainly because they spend most of their time inside workshops so they're protected from the elements.
Customer had one for 3 weeks before it s
t itself terminally and he lost 3k, friend had one that lasted about 2 months, 51 plate about £10k and a total waste of money.Buy one if you're brave or daft.
On the plus side, you won't find a worn out or rusty one, mainly because they spend most of their time inside workshops so they're protected from the elements.
C3PPO said:
They give you a terrific "sense of occasion", even the older ones.
This.As an aside, a friend of mine owns a 2001 P38 4.0 Westminster. It gets used and abused heavily for 5 weeks, left for 5 weeks while he's at work and same all over again when he gets back. Apart from the exhaust rotting and the tyres wearing, it's been as reliable as the tides for the 4 years he's owned it. My old 4.0 only suffered from a fault with the LPG, the car itself was fine.
Choose the right P38 and you'll love it - you do feel a little hemmed in by the dash, which I like, and it's so big a two-fingered salute to the eco-hippies that you can actually see them wilt and die as you waft past.
I love them.... there's nothing like the sense of occasion you get driving down the road in a smart looking P38.
Yes they have issues, and yes some of those issues can be expensive but they're an expensive car originally, so having high running costs isn't really a surprise.
That said.... I chickened out and now have 2 Jeep Grand Cherokees... the cost less to buy, do almost everythnig the P38 does and are reliable.
Would I have another P38 though........ in a heartbeat.
Yes they have issues, and yes some of those issues can be expensive but they're an expensive car originally, so having high running costs isn't really a surprise.
That said.... I chickened out and now have 2 Jeep Grand Cherokees... the cost less to buy, do almost everythnig the P38 does and are reliable.
Would I have another P38 though........ in a heartbeat.
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