Another what should I thread! (p38?/l322?)

[misterzed]

Hello all!

Potential owner looking for some advice about range rovers.

At the moment I've got a ford focus which is alright but just that. So I've been looking around for an upgrade! I was having a look around the local car dealers to see what there is (much more likely to buy privately) and had a sit in a L322, was really impressed! made the other stuff I'd seen that day seem quite cheap and nasty in comparison! I liked the interior, automatic gearbox, genuine offroad capability, great view and just a nice place to be for 9/10+ hours a week.

Recently got myself a new job, involves 60+ miles of motorway and a bit of countryside (and might be more next year), none of this needs a big 4x4, but when snow happens not getting there isn't an option!

Thing is I don't really want to spend much more than £4000, which makes me think a p38 might be more sensible? What should I got for with that much money in mind? model/engine/age/mileage wise? mpg isn't a big deal, reliability is though. I've got another car but wouldn't want it to be making regular trips to the garage, what would you be looking for? Another option would be to spend £2000 and just hope for the best!

Thanks for reading, any advice would be much appreciated!

 

[biketeacherdave]

buy a p38 for 1500 save the rest for repairs

 

[Saint.V8]

Range Rover.......reliability.......

Hmmmmm......

I am their biggest fan and sing their praises....but even I have a spare car for 'those occasions'

If you rely on the Range Rover.....think carefully

 

[misterzed]

see this is my worry.. it ticks every box other than that. I guess the same can be said of many older cars but i can't afford regular car problems :/ I fell like if i got one and there were issues I'd only have myself to blame! if I could throw some money at it and it'd stay fixed that would be alright, but suspect it doesn't work that way!

I had been looking at the x5, other similar stuff too, but they aren't nearly as nice inside, more expensive and probably not nearly as capable in the rough stuff.

I'm used to older bikes/cars, being cheap I'd swap them around allot safe in the knowledge if it exploded I'd get another, but now I've got a bit more disposable income i would like something that i could keep for a few years!

 

[xs2man]

It doesn't sound like you have the budget / time really. Certainly for an L322. Any L322 that does pop up in budget is bound to have some issues needing almost immediate rectification. And you've already blown your budget getting the car.

£4k should get a very nice diesel P38 (if that floats your boat, I find the V8's slow enough, but maybe 16-18mpg wont work for you?). But realistically, you should spend only a couple grand, and bank the rest for the repair fund. Even the nicest P38 you find will inevitably come with it's own problems down the line.

A RR certainly isn't a motor you should be relying on. I think you will find most, if not all on here run a second motor, at least one. Things go wrong, and they are not young motors. That being said, I am only recently pack in a P38 after a year break from my old one, which I LOVED and missed more than I knew.

It may well be worthwhile hanging onto the Focus as-well, if possible, and investing in winter tyres for if it is necessary. My BMW, despite being RWD and having a ton of torque, is really pretty good in the snow with winter tyres on.

 

[StuckAgainSteve]

My P38 was pretty reliable as a daily driver over 50K+ miles - however that really is pot luck - you might get a good one - you might not and of course I kept on top of maintenance - for a P38 that means replacing stuff before it breaks not oil change and kick the tyres! Even the newest ones are pretty old now. Mine got to the point where it started to feel really tired and I just haven't got time at the moment to replace the number of parts that I think it required. I had an emergency Honda CR-V tucked away for when the p38 wasn't available - and to be honest I only needed it once.

I won't say "go for it" because there's no certainly when buying a P38 - you might get a goodun - you might get a shed. I spent roughly £2-3K on parts over a period of 5 years.

Non service items replaced were:
Battery replaced
Blend Motors and heater matrix seals replaced
New alarm receiver to stop battery drain in town.
NEW MAF sensor
New front airsprings
New front suspension dampers
Brake accumulator replaced
New water pump and OAT coolant
New steering damper
Coil packs and HT leads changed
Trackrod assembly (MOT Advisery)
New rear airsprings (dunlop)
EAS Driver pack and compressor seals
New front prop
New timing chain and sprockets, new (original equipment) oil pump.
Front discs and pads (EBC Greenstuff), bled with 5 litres of DOT 5.1.
CKP sensor.

 

[misterzed]

Thanks for the honest advice!

I could spend more but have other priorities really :/ I used to work on all my bikes and am fairly mechanically minded but I just won't have time to tinker about like I used to :/ real shame because the interior was really quite special compared to everything else I've tried outside of the proper "executive" sorta cars.

That's a fair sized list! yeh its looking like I'd need to spend much more than I'm prepared to for a daily runner. So as i said thanks for the honest advice! perhaps in a few years..

I've got access to a ford fiesta so I had been thinking of getting it a set of snow tyres, use that for the worst of the weather. Tbh i drove the mx through some bad snow as well and it did pretty well!

Anything else you'd consider? say you had to choose something else?

 

[Saint.V8]

The L322 is a fantastic vehicle so please don't be too down hearted about our advice....but you specified 2 things which Range Rover aren't - Cheap and Reliable.

I write a few How To's for LandyZone to try and help people keep their maintenance/repair costs down, as I can seldom afford Garage fees...but the L322 is a phenomenally complicated vehicle electronics wise....with a list of ECUs which looks a little like this (extracted from my 'Diagnostic System Failures' thread):

This evenings fun and frolics....

Took the opportunity to have a go at some fuse removal, each fuse listed below was removed one at a time and each time I tried to connect to the diagnostics....

RED = K Bus, BLUE = I Bus, Green = CAN Bus Orange = P Bus Purple = Diagnostic DS2 Bus

F1 - Instrument pack
F1 + F45 +F46 - Instrument Pack
F5 - Diagnostics, Automatic Transmission ECU
F6 - PDC ECU
F8 - Audio and Telephone
F9 - Light Check Module
F11 - Drivers Door Module
F12 + F34 + F52 - HeVAC unit
F15 - BCU, Diagnostics......Although didn't do the All Comms test as on removing this fuse all the interior lights went out and the Alarm BBus sounded....thought better put this one back!
F17 - BCU, Interior Lights....this one was found to be blown, replaced with another 5A fuse, but still no Diagnostics
F18 - Steering Lock ECU and Engine immobiliser.....with it out, I couldn't turn the ignition key so couldn't try diagnostic connection, on reconnection of fuse I couldn't turn key and it took me 5 minutes to get the key to turn in the steering lock!
F20 - LH Seat Switch Pack
F21 - RH Seat Switch Pack
F22 - Telephone
F24 Passanger Door Module
F27 - BCU....lights went out again but no alarm, still no diagnostics!
F31 - Engine ECU, Steering Lock ECU....with it removed, I couldn't turn key again!
F32 - RH and LH Xenon Lamps
F33 - Transfer Box ECU
F41 - BCU and Rain Sensor
F49 - Audio System ..... must wait 3 minutes for the system to sleep before removing this one!
F51 - ABS ECU, Secondary Air Injection and Steering angle Sensor
F54 - Automatic gearbox ECU
F55 - ABS ECU
F57 - EAS ECU (EAS ECU is on the K and CAN Buses)
F58 - Sunroof ECU
F60 - BCU

Instrument Pack is the Gateway to all the Buses bar the ISO 9141 Diagnostics Bus as this has to remain totally separate to the rest by law
P Bus items are connected to the BCU
Engine & Gearbox are also on the ISO 9141 K Line Diagnostics Bus
ABS, Steering Angle Sensor are also on the Diagnostic DS2 Bus
Didn't dare unplug the SRS ECU for fear of faults that I can't clear as yet.

All to no avail....still no further forward, and still no diagnostics...

Might be time to physically unplug each one now - what a ball ache as they are usually buried under the dash and behind trim that is bound to get broken after never being moved for 11 years!

Ho hum, the joys of Range Rover ownership!

It took me over a year to sort out the issue...and even then I am still not sure what the hell was wrong - Long Story short - HID bulb blew...car went mental....diagnostics system went bandy...and everytime the lights switched on the car threw a hissy fit!

£4k will buy a shed of an L322, but a reasonable P38...but both will empty your bank balance rapidly when they fault/fail if you have to rely on garages to help out or plug in the computer (unless you get your own like most of us have on here!)

The golden rule is:

Never, ever buy a Range Rover on a limited budget. Or one that has a fault no matter how minor unless you appreciate, understand and fully respect the amount of time, money, frustration and heartache it can be to rectify.

If I was to have anything else....an E38 7'er 740 or 750iL.....love 'em to bits too....

 

[xs2man]

The problem your going to have is that almost any "luxury" motor at this budget will be old, and have it's own set of problems.

I will admit though, would LOVE a nice 750iL too. That would make for an epic cruising machine. Realistically though, that might be too much car still. Audi A4 or similar would probably make a reasonable compromise.

I'm not trying to put you off though. I do love my P38. But you have to go in with your eyes open. As said above, you may get a good one. My first one gave me little problems. But then I only had it a year / 8k.

 

[Datatek]

P38 diesel on that money. Cheap parts and mine has never let me down in 6 years apart from the EAS going down from time to time. Lots of niggles, lots of bits replaced but parts are cheap, you do need to keep on top of the maintenance.
The L322 is more expensive to buy, very complicated and the parts are more expensive. Age for Age, it's looking like they will be less reliable than the P38 and they are certainly a lot harder to fix mechanically and electronically.

 

[StuckAgainSteve]

If you want a cheap car with a wonderful interior for £4Kish just buy a post 2000 Jag XJ8 4.0 - they are pretty reliable (compared to Range Rovers) are quick, extremely comfortable, handle nicely and are surprisingly good on fuel when cruising (30mpg at 65mph) - don't bother with the 3.2 - same mpg for much worse performance. Pre 2000 XJV8 did have chain tensioner and nikosil liner issues - but then some of those (mine included) went on to rack up intersteller mileages faultlessly. The only expensive common fault is front wishbones at £750 a pop - they need doing every 75K miles and will present themselves as a shimmer at the wheel at motorway speeds.