Am I mad? I want to buy an old Range Rover!

[sandman77]

I have had my current car, a BMW e86 Z4 Coupe, for 2 years now and during that time it has been 100% reliable. And even better than that, it appears it hasn’t dropped a penny in value either. I’m pretty confident I could sell it for what I paid for it.
So am I mad to consider selling it and spending £8k on a 3.6l TDV8 L322 Range Rover?
I have always been a fan of range rovers and for the money I don’t think there is anything else that will be as luxurious to waft about in. I also currently tow (and launch) my boat behind my wife’s ix35 and the RR would be far better for this task.
My concerns are the RR will be worth half what I pay for it in 3 years time and any I have looked into so far never get through their MOT first time. Fuel costs and tax costs don’t concern me much but I don’t want to be spending £1000 a year to keep it going.
My head says I am bonkers to even consider this but my inner car guy says buy one.
Does anyone have any positive cheap L322 Range Rover stories they can share to help me over the line?
I have previous had a Discovery 2 and loved it but I did need to replace the rear diff on it and I was constantly cleaning oil/water/other fluid of the driveway.

[J1990]

If £1k/year is an issue I'd avoid it like he plague. It's not that it will definitely cost you that, it's that there are so many expensive things that can go wrong that if you're not particularly handy with Cara and willing to hunt around scrap yards for decently priced parts then you're going to struggle.
Yes you can get lucky but you could also find yourself 6months in to ownership and looking at a £2k bill. If it's also your only car then you're also going to have less flexibility in regards to taking time to source parts and save money on maintenance.

[Walter Sobchak]

I bought a cheap TDV8 last year, it needed a few bits doing on it-rear subframe bushes, A/C condenser and pipe, a good service and for peace of mind I changed the gearbox oil and filter too, not a cheap outlay but it’s now pretty mechanically sorted.
It’s been fine so far and I’m happy with it, it also cost me nowhere near £8k, unless you need to have the facelift with the virtual dials etc I’d not bother spending that much on one.

[sandman77]

Walter Sobchak said:

I bought a cheap TDV8 last year, it needed a few bits doing on it-rear subframe bushes, A/C condenser and pipe, a good service and for peace of mind I changed the gearbox oil and filter too, not a cheap outlay but it’s now pretty mechanically sorted.
It’s been fine so far and I’m happy with it, it also cost me nowhere near £8k, unless you need to have the facelift with the virtual dials etc I’d not bother spending that much on one.

I wish I bought one last year the prices seem to have gone nuts in the last 12 months. I’m struggling to find a 3.6 with under 100k mikes for less than about £7.5k.

[Dave.]

This might persuade you one way or the other....

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLe7uZ25H8yakBsq...

TLDW;

If you can do your own spannering, and have use of another car while you fix it, you might just get by spending a grand a year on parts.

Edited by Dave. on Tuesday 4th May 20:50

[How u doing]

Someone wise said of old cars, allow 5% pa running costs of the new purchase price. Anything less is a bonus.

Old rangies are a bit crappy to drive too.

[sandman77]

Thanks for the YouTube link. I start watching those videos over the next few days.
I am now thinking that £8k is too much to spend on one of these. I think I’ll keep looking but lower my budget to £5-6k which is how much they were this time last year.
If this was closer to Glasgow I would take a look at it.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202105032...

[cpl_payne]

I think I saw a post of someone selling their Range Rover which had air suspension replaced with conventional dampers and springs. If you're interested, have a look at best smoker barges 1-5k thread, should be about 20-30 pages back from end

[Walter Sobchak]

How u doing said:

Old rangies are a bit crappy to drive too.

They are and they’re not imo, compared to a newer one?, or a more modern 4x4 yes, absolutely I’d agree with you.
Compared to others that were around at the time?, not really, dynamically they’re not as good as a Cayenne but interior is nicer.
If you want to use one as a workhorse they’re far nicer to drive than stuff like Shoguns or Landcruisers of the same era but admittedly they’re far more likely to go wrong too.
If you’re going into it expecting it to drive like an old,boaty 4x4 they’re alright but coming from more modern stuff into one I can fully see why someone would think they’re crap to drive.
I find mine quite relaxing, never really drive it fast it’s just not that kind of car, although the TDV8 can pull it along surprisingly well for something that big and heavy if you ask it to.

Edited by Walter Sobchak on Wednesday 5th May 20:19

[Walter Sobchak]

sandman77 said:

I wish I bought one last year the prices seem to have gone nuts in the last 12 months. I’m struggling to find a 3.6 with under 100k mikes for less than about £7.5k.

I paid just over £3k for mine last year and have had to spend £1500 sorting it out, happy enough with that if it does me for a couple of years and could move on/px for 1500 when the time comes.

[Caddyshack]

Walter Sobchak said:

How u doing said:

Old rangies are a bit crappy to drive too.

They are and they’re not imo, compared to a newer one?, or a more modern 4x4 yes, absolutely I’d agree with you.
Compared to others that were around at the time?, not really, dynamically they’re not as good as a Cayenne but interior is nicer.
If you want to use one as a workhorse they’re far nicer to drive than stuff like Shoguns or Landcruisers of the same era but admittedly they’re far more likely to go wrong too.
If you’re going into it expecting it to drive like an old,boaty 4x4 they’re alright but coming from more modern stuff into one I can fully see why someone would think they’re crap to drive.
I find mine quite relaxing, never really drive it fast it’s just not that kind of car, although the TDV8 can pull it along surprisingly well for something that big and heavy if you ask it to

Agree, we had a 4.4v8 and it was great to drive. Very comfy, went well and handled well cross country for such a big thing. I have a newer shape full fat now.