Mariana Blue Full Fat Range Rover Vogue SE (2014 L405, SDV8)
Discussion
As part of successful ownership of an L322 we got the bug, so recently bought an early L405 SDV8 which will ultimately replace the L322 as the main family wagon.
The remit for the L405 was simple - a decent level of usable spec/toys (active cruise control, fast warm-up (fuel burning heater) and screen demisting (electric heated windscreen) plus the heated and cooled seats. But most importantly we wanted the 4.4L SDV8 engine and 8-speed gearbox. In the L405 this is geared to just under 55mph/1000rpm in top - so on a motorway cruise they float along at 1400rpm and return high-30s mpg. (We use the Range Rover for a lot of longer distance family trips).
I also wanted lower miles than we usually buy (<100k miles) to get myself a few years of peace and quiet before the continuous maintenance high-mileage RR's bring.
After a few weeks of looking and viewing a couple locally, one appeared for sale a few hours away which fitted the bill nicely. The private seller was a pleasure to deal with - answering a comprehensive series of emails with photos, documents and records. The car is a 2-owner, JLR-serviced 70k miler - the receipts and history showing it averaging a service each year and every 7k miles.
An early morning sunday drive over rewarded us with a straight forward purchase and drive home:
In the history was an invoice for a £700 detail and ceramic coating 18 months prior. I contacted the company and they sent me a couple of shots they had:
A pleasant surprise further confirming we'd bought well. After a quick wash the "3 year coating" appears to be holding-up well - I've never paid much attention to the latest car cleaning crazes (I think the last product I bought was a tin of Collinite, 15+ years ago!) but this is doing so well I may research more.
Plans? Over the xmas break I'll do a comprehensive service of all oils and filters - other than that (try to) keep it clean of family detritus, and enjoy racking up the miles over the various trips we have coming-up.
The remit for the L405 was simple - a decent level of usable spec/toys (active cruise control, fast warm-up (fuel burning heater) and screen demisting (electric heated windscreen) plus the heated and cooled seats. But most importantly we wanted the 4.4L SDV8 engine and 8-speed gearbox. In the L405 this is geared to just under 55mph/1000rpm in top - so on a motorway cruise they float along at 1400rpm and return high-30s mpg. (We use the Range Rover for a lot of longer distance family trips).
I also wanted lower miles than we usually buy (<100k miles) to get myself a few years of peace and quiet before the continuous maintenance high-mileage RR's bring.
After a few weeks of looking and viewing a couple locally, one appeared for sale a few hours away which fitted the bill nicely. The private seller was a pleasure to deal with - answering a comprehensive series of emails with photos, documents and records. The car is a 2-owner, JLR-serviced 70k miler - the receipts and history showing it averaging a service each year and every 7k miles.
An early morning sunday drive over rewarded us with a straight forward purchase and drive home:
In the history was an invoice for a £700 detail and ceramic coating 18 months prior. I contacted the company and they sent me a couple of shots they had:
A pleasant surprise further confirming we'd bought well. After a quick wash the "3 year coating" appears to be holding-up well - I've never paid much attention to the latest car cleaning crazes (I think the last product I bought was a tin of Collinite, 15+ years ago!) but this is doing so well I may research more.
Plans? Over the xmas break I'll do a comprehensive service of all oils and filters - other than that (try to) keep it clean of family detritus, and enjoy racking up the miles over the various trips we have coming-up.
Looks great! Im getting tempted to chop in my L322 for an L405 as well but its only just passed 100k miles and has the same 4.4 TDV8 engine.
You might want to get some preventative maintenance done while you still have the old one around. I'd change the 4 x intake pipes to silicone hoses and oil cooler pipe seal at the back that leaks.
You might want to get some preventative maintenance done while you still have the old one around. I'd change the 4 x intake pipes to silicone hoses and oil cooler pipe seal at the back that leaks.
Thanks All!
Took the L405 to Brugge for the weekend to catch up with friends...
And to do lots of this...
Four up with luggage in superb comfort/whisper silence, covering 500 miles at a decent pace and it gave 37mpg, Incredible!
Paddymcc said:
You might want to get some preventative maintenance done while you still have the old one around. I'd change the 4 x intake pipes to silicone hoses and oil cooler pipe seal at the back that leaks.
I'm a big fan of over servicing and preventative maintenance so will look into this! Took the L405 to Brugge for the weekend to catch up with friends...
And to do lots of this...
Four up with luggage in superb comfort/whisper silence, covering 500 miles at a decent pace and it gave 37mpg, Incredible!
Edited by TurboRob on Sunday 10th December 18:21
As part of the usual 'giving any car new to the household a service for peace of mind' approach, I changed the oil over the xmas break on the L405. The car has done over 2k miles in our ownership so far already, and it was 7,000 miles since last serviced according to the history.
This has to be one of the simplest and easest cars to change oil on - with the right tools.
The L405's don't have a dipstick, but leave something similar looking to a dipstick tube, which is actually there for vacuuming out the oil. Draper do a 10L extractor which connects to this tube and sucked out 9L in sub-3mins.
In middle of pic is the suction tube with flexy from extractor connected:
And the oil filter housing is on top of the 'vee' so dead easy to replace it's element:
Oil of choice is the Smith & Allan 5W30 low-SAPs which I've switched to across a few of the cars this year. Replacing the 9L that came out then checking on the dash that we have a full complement - oil change completed. You can easily and cleanly do the whole activity in around 5 mins.
These cars with their DPFs and regen strategies are quite hot on the modelling/prediction of oil dilution - with some owners reporting a drop of service interval to <7,000 miles when used for short journeys. We don't do many short journeys but I'll stick to changing the oil every 7k miles or so as it's cheap, easy and preventative.
This has to be one of the simplest and easest cars to change oil on - with the right tools.
The L405's don't have a dipstick, but leave something similar looking to a dipstick tube, which is actually there for vacuuming out the oil. Draper do a 10L extractor which connects to this tube and sucked out 9L in sub-3mins.
In middle of pic is the suction tube with flexy from extractor connected:
And the oil filter housing is on top of the 'vee' so dead easy to replace it's element:
Oil of choice is the Smith & Allan 5W30 low-SAPs which I've switched to across a few of the cars this year. Replacing the 9L that came out then checking on the dash that we have a full complement - oil change completed. You can easily and cleanly do the whole activity in around 5 mins.
These cars with their DPFs and regen strategies are quite hot on the modelling/prediction of oil dilution - with some owners reporting a drop of service interval to <7,000 miles when used for short journeys. We don't do many short journeys but I'll stick to changing the oil every 7k miles or so as it's cheap, easy and preventative.
Edited by TurboRob on Sunday 31st December 12:32
[quote=
These cars with their DPFs and regen strategies are quite hot on the modelling/prediction of oil dilution - with some owners reporting a drop of service interval to <7,000 miles when used for short journeys. We don't many short journeys but I'll be keeping changing the oil every 7k miles or so as it's cheap, easy and preventative.
[/quote]
This makes me tingle in naughty places.
Keep the updates coming!
These cars with their DPFs and regen strategies are quite hot on the modelling/prediction of oil dilution - with some owners reporting a drop of service interval to <7,000 miles when used for short journeys. We don't many short journeys but I'll be keeping changing the oil every 7k miles or so as it's cheap, easy and preventative.
[/quote]
This makes me tingle in naughty places.
Keep the updates coming!
Looks a very nice purchase, lovley beasts!
I would check your car with a main dealer for recalls, particularly the front suspension recall that has recently come out;
Recalls
Nasty failure if it happens; long thread here detailing the journey to getting LR and the DVSA to take it seriously. Plenty of photos of what to look for.
I would check your car with a main dealer for recalls, particularly the front suspension recall that has recently come out;
Recalls
Nasty failure if it happens; long thread here detailing the journey to getting LR and the DVSA to take it seriously. Plenty of photos of what to look for.
TurboRob said:
As part of the usual 'giving any car new to the household a service for peace of mind' approach, I changed the oil over the xmas break on the L405. The car has done over 2k miles in our ownership so far already, and it was 7,000 miles since last serviced according to the history.
This has to be one of the simplest and easest cars to change oil on - with the right tools.
The L405's don't have a dipstick, but leave something similar looking to a dipstick tube, which is actually there for vacuuming out the oil. Draper do a 10L extractor which connects to this tube and sucked out 9L in sub-3mins.
In middle of pic is the suction tube with flexy from extractor connected:
And the oil filter housing is on top of the 'vee' so dead easy to replace it's element:
Oil of choice is the Smith & Allan 5W30 low-SAPs which I've switched to across a few of the cars this year. Replacing the 9L that came out then checking on the dash that we have a full complement - oil change completed. You can easily and cleanly do the whole activity in around 5 mins.
These cars with their DPFs and regen strategies are quite hot on the modelling/prediction of oil dilution - with some owners reporting a drop of service interval to <7,000 miles when used for short journeys. We don't many short journeys but I'll be keeping changing the oil every 7k miles or so as it's cheap, easy and preventative.
Do you have a link to the Draper extractor? Itching to do my SDV6, tempted to go to 5w-40 C3/C4 oil as recommended by a few owners. My car apparently still has* it's DPF, EGR and AdBlue and with* these still in place, it's been faultless.This has to be one of the simplest and easest cars to change oil on - with the right tools.
The L405's don't have a dipstick, but leave something similar looking to a dipstick tube, which is actually there for vacuuming out the oil. Draper do a 10L extractor which connects to this tube and sucked out 9L in sub-3mins.
In middle of pic is the suction tube with flexy from extractor connected:
And the oil filter housing is on top of the 'vee' so dead easy to replace it's element:
Oil of choice is the Smith & Allan 5W30 low-SAPs which I've switched to across a few of the cars this year. Replacing the 9L that came out then checking on the dash that we have a full complement - oil change completed. You can easily and cleanly do the whole activity in around 5 mins.
These cars with their DPFs and regen strategies are quite hot on the modelling/prediction of oil dilution - with some owners reporting a drop of service interval to <7,000 miles when used for short journeys. We don't many short journeys but I'll be keeping changing the oil every 7k miles or so as it's cheap, easy and preventative.
Any MOT testers or government officials on here DO NOT read this bit
- = the opposite... apparently. It was bought like this.
It’s one of the nicest things about working on them to be honest.
Easy oil changes, no reason not to do it more frequently, as you are planning to I change mine every 6k miles.
I’m currently trialling using 5W40 C-3.
This is based on the LandRover Time people using similar oil in the Lion TDV6.
I can’t see that it can do any harm on the V8 though they don’t suffer the same issues it’s getting older.
Easy oil changes, no reason not to do it more frequently, as you are planning to I change mine every 6k miles.
I’m currently trialling using 5W40 C-3.
This is based on the LandRover Time people using similar oil in the Lion TDV6.
I can’t see that it can do any harm on the V8 though they don’t suffer the same issues it’s getting older.
nc107 said:
Looks a very nice purchase, lovley beasts!
I would check your car with a main dealer for recalls, particularly the front suspension recall that has recently come out;
Recalls
Nasty failure if it happens; long thread here detailing the journey to getting LR and the DVSA to take it seriously. Plenty of photos of what to look for.
Thanks! Yeah that was researched and checked as part of the buying process. My VIN falls outside those affected, but is still on the visual inspection list every time I jet wash the arches out. I would check your car with a main dealer for recalls, particularly the front suspension recall that has recently come out;
Recalls
Nasty failure if it happens; long thread here detailing the journey to getting LR and the DVSA to take it seriously. Plenty of photos of what to look for.
BenS94 said:
Do you have a link to the Draper extractor?
Et voila Sir - Draper 77057
Stick Legs said:
I’m currently trialling using 5W40 C-3.
This is based on the LandRover Time people using similar oil in the Lion TDV6.
I can’t see that it can do any harm on the V8 though they don’t suffer the same issues it’s getting older.
Be interested to hear how you get on. I'll monitor oil consumption on 5W30 and switch up to W40 if excessive.This is based on the LandRover Time people using similar oil in the Lion TDV6.
I can’t see that it can do any harm on the V8 though they don’t suffer the same issues it’s getting older.
Its Just Adz said:
Great choice, lovely spec.
Thanks!Bobupndown said:
Loved your L322, hope this is equally good.
Surprised this doesn't need a C1 spec oil?
Thanks! The S&A oil mentioned is C1...Surprised this doesn't need a C1 spec oil?
A bonus 15mins free gave me the opportunity to start changing the ACE fluid. ACE is Land Rover speak for hydraulically operated ARBs - a neat bit of tech that makes the L405 drive more like a normal car. They have their own hydraulic pump/circuit and header tank, but no obvious drain points so I sucked out what I could in the header tank (around 250ml) and replaced with new.
The system takes 2L I believe, so will progressively suck more/replace over a few weeks.
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