L494 RRS Engines

Author
Discussion

F12DDE

Original Poster:

168 posts

86 months

Tuesday 14th May
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Hi All,

Got to the point where I'm a bit sick of sports cars and after a bit of luxury in my life (my back will also appreciate it!)

L494 RRS are looking like a good bet for me with mix of comfort, size etc. Would love a FFRR but don't have the space for it to be honest. The RRS will be a push for space also!

From what I've seen on the internet, I need to avoid the V6s and I don't fancy the 4 banger hybrid, which leaves me with the V8s.

Has anyone on here had experience with either the SDV8 4.4 or 5.0 P525? Are they considered reliable? (by land rover standards!) Or at this point am i just better off going for the full on SVR? I'm not massively fussed about fuel bills as I'm used to MPGs in the teens with previous cars, my local petrol station knows me well!

Would be interested to know about servicing/warranty pricing as It seems to be a bit hush hush from main stealers listing prices, I guess it's a case of different groups having different pricings.

If anyone knows any good Indys South East England way would be helpful!

camel_landy

5,085 posts

190 months

Tuesday 14th May
quotequote all
The V8s (both petrol & diesel) are cracking engines. Personally, I'd be looking at the petrol, as you're not faffing about with Ad-blu.

As a 'Starter for 10', I'd suggest you familiarise yourself with the insurance issues which have been surrounding these (and other) cars.

M

cayman-black

12,922 posts

223 months

Tuesday 14th May
quotequote all
SDV8 is a great engine but if you go petrol get the SVR one of LRs best imo.

bakerstreet

4,826 posts

172 months

Wednesday 15th May
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I have an 11 plate L322 with basically the same 5.0 Supercharged V8...all be mated to old school 6 sped auto.

The 5.0 is a great engine, but being quad cam, I personally think the powerband is a little high up in the rev range for a FFRR. Might be better suited in the lighter and more nimble RRS.

Also the petrol means none of the usual diesel gremlins (Injectors, EGRs, Turbos blah blah blah). Mine is currently doing 14.8mpg, so you should expect more with a RRS. However, the thier poster is right to check insurance.

with limited use and a5k limit, a RRS was nearly £1k and a L322 was £700 and I think I did well to get that!

You are right to steer clear of the SDV6. Awful reputation. Same can be said for the 2.0 SD4 as well.

No matter what engine you get, you should consider investing in a Ghost immobilizer kit. Also work turn off the auto lock. It does mean you have to blip the key to get in and lock afterwards, but adding that feature in goes a long way to preventing a theft along with a faraday box in the house for the Key.


mike_e

588 posts

270 months

Thursday 16th May
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The Diesel is the sensible option. Coming from a sports car background then the SVR might be a better bet. 16mpg around town, 33mp on a run without using the load pedal too much. Parts can be expensive, main dealer labour is on a par with Mercedes, Jaguar, BMW etc. A good indy will keep the bills down. The SVR is the only car I've owned where the owners manual comes with a cabin noise level warning.

bakerstreet

4,826 posts

172 months

Friday 17th May
quotequote all
mike_e said:
The Diesel is the sensible option. Coming from a sports car background then the SVR might be a better bet. 16mpg around town, 33mp on a run without using the load pedal too much. Parts can be expensive, main dealer labour is on a par with Mercedes, Jaguar, BMW etc. A good indy will keep the bills down. The SVR is the only car I've owned where the owners manual comes with a cabin noise level warning.
Hmmm...the running costs are secondary compared to the risk of the diesel engine going bang which is high.

flight147z

1,080 posts

136 months

Friday 17th May
quotequote all
mike_e said:
The Diesel is the sensible option. Coming from a sports car background then the SVR might be a better bet. 16mpg around town, 33mp on a run without using the load pedal too much. Parts can be expensive, main dealer labour is on a par with Mercedes, Jaguar, BMW etc. A good indy will keep the bills down. The SVR is the only car I've owned where the owners manual comes with a cabin noise level warning.
There is no way you are getting 33mpg out of a RRS SVR...

My diesel L461 has averaged 36mpg over 6k miles and almost all of that is on the motorway

Car bon

4,922 posts

71 months

Friday 17th May
quotequote all
F12DDE said:
Would love a FFRR but don't have the space for it to be honest. The RRS will be a push for space also!
Is the 15cm difference in length the dealbreaker ?

They are the same height & width.......

KungFuPanda

4,450 posts

177 months

Sunday 19th May
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I had an L494 with the 5.0 Supercharged engine in. Was a lovely drive with smooth power delivery. The previous owner however had to spend a good few grand on renewing the timing chain and associated tensioners.

Dr_Rick

1,638 posts

255 months

Monday 20th May
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For a bit of variety in the discussion, we've just taken on an L494 with the D300 engine setup. This is the MHEV i6 layout, still with the 3.0 diesel. It's way smoother and quieter than the SDv6 and the electricery seems to get us away from a standstill faster than the previous engine.

Friends up the road had a 4.4SDv8 and then changed for an SVR. Don't recall why.

BRR

1,862 posts

179 months

Thursday 23rd May
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I've had the L494 with the TDV8 which was a lovely engine, smooth and bags of torque, the later D300 3.0Litre Diesel which was very good also, about 20% better economy than the V8 with very similar performance, I also had the P400 3.0 twin turbo petrol in a late HST model, that was a cracking engine, similar economy to the V8 diesel but a lot quicker and made a nice noise. I've heard the early TDV6's are to be avoided but don't have any personal experience of that engine. I never had a single problem with any of the engines in the cars I've had

CSK1

1,685 posts

131 months

Thursday 23rd May
quotequote all
flight147z said:
mike_e said:
The Diesel is the sensible option. Coming from a sports car background then the SVR might be a better bet. 16mpg around town, 33mp on a run without using the load pedal too much. Parts can be expensive, main dealer labour is on a par with Mercedes, Jaguar, BMW etc. A good indy will keep the bills down. The SVR is the only car I've owned where the owners manual comes with a cabin noise level warning.
There is no way you are getting 33mpg out of a RRS SVR...

My diesel L461 has averaged 36mpg over 6k miles and almost all of that is on the motorway
I agree, I’ve had three Range Rovers with the 5.0L Supercharged engine and could manage 23 MPG (12.5 l/100 km) on a long run at best.
Lovely engine by the way.

mike_e

588 posts

270 months

Monday 3rd June
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I did say 33mpg on a long run and no loud pedal. Sussex to Devon, gentle cruise and yes, 33.2 mpg. Drive it normally / as intended then expect 20-22mpg.

Chris2111

12 posts

4 months

Saturday 17th August
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I did a lot of research on the different engines across the range. The 5.0 V8 is definitely the least problematic and it’s a beast! I get around 16 mpg combined and taking it easy.

I think regular oil changes are very important.

The main issues are the timing chains and tensioners. Also the plastic coolant crossover pipes/coolant leaks can be more common on the V8.

Coming from a 3.0 tdv6 I can definitely say that the petrol V8 is more robust and the extra fuel cost is justified by not being back in the workshop every other week. My low mileage L494 diesel had issues all of the time EGR, DPF to name a few…

ru mep

3 posts

13 months

Saturday 24th August
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We have a 2017 RRS 3.0 diesel, have owned it for last 5 years. It is a lovely car and now has 106,000 miles on it. Its an HSE as I prefer the torsen type differential and no need of a transfer box as only stays on road or goes across grassy fields. Had a p38 RR for 15 years and used the transfer box 5 times when stuck in very wet fields- it got me out of 3 of these fields and the other two times had to dig it out so not really worth having the transfer box unless going hard core off roading/ rock crawling. Have had to replace EGR and DPF pump and rear window regulator in the last 5 years on L494 plus also have just had the timing belt replaced and we get it serviced every year at LR dealer. Think the crank issue was more prevalent on earlier cars and the discovery 3 and 4s. which were quite a bit heavier than the L494. believe LR improved the design over the years, LR Time seem to discuss it in their you tube site. I have also just swapped my 2017 BMW X5 for a D300 2021 L494 (seem very good value since new model came out). I don't think the D300 engine is that much different to my wife's SDV6 which is pretty smooth anyway. We get about 34-35 mpg as long term average out of SDV6 depending on motorway miles, it tends to be about 2 mpg better on average than the BMW X5. which I also have to drive more carefully to stop its mpg drifting down below 33mpg. RRS are just really nice places to be and after having had/ used other large SUVs, as a long term ownership prospect, it is just a nicer thing than most of the rest and is particularly good at staying clean if you live down muddy lanes. Not sure why they get such a bad reputation as seem about as reliable as X5 and a bit cheaper to keep on the road than the series 1 and series 2 Touaregs that have owned.