Buying a RR classic

hello,

i currently have a Series 3 that i use as my daily runner, however my job is going to take me some distance away in the middle of 07 and i dont think my ears, arse, arms, back ...etc will take doing 250 mile round trips in my S3, hence why i am here, the RR classic seems like the natural progression for me, (i originally aspired to a P38 but price for a good one and the nickel engines(as advised) have put me off) i have a mate with classic who loves it but i need a little more advice from across the board, i am a bit of a cheap bar steward (small budget of about £1500) and like to get my hands dirty (though, i like less is more!) hence why i currently run a Series landy. This looked like quite a nice one but i am not sure about whether i want Hydraulic suspension, even if it is in working order (more to go wrong, expensive???),
so all advice is welcome please
regards
andyd

My best advice is to do alot of searches. Ebay, Trader, salvage, auctions are some of the best sources. Avoid air suspension, big mileage and crap projects. I was going to buy a 93 tdi rrclassic in gold, but I went and viewed it and it was an absolute nail with 140k and the guy wanted £1600 !! About a month later i found a k93 rr vogue se without leather - the spec I wanted with 75k, one scab on the whole body and a fat folder with every bit of history you could need. Some haggling later I paid £875 for it, BARGAIN.

Thats good advice.
When i bought mine i looked at loads. There seem's to be a lot of rubbish being sold under the servicing and hard work of the few and the assumption because its Land Rover (Range Rover) its going to be good. I drove for two and a half hours once to look at one, being sold as "...a really clean car, 12 month's mot..". When i got there the first thing he said when asked was this the car, " I don't bother to spoon em up mate..." and "You'll only need a bit of welding for this mot " !!! It was an absolute dog. I thought i'd covered everything on the phone. I was so cross i was shaking when i walked away, with "What do you want for 4 grand " ringing in my ears.
I eventually bought a two owners from new 3.5 on an F plate from the house just round the corner that my mother was born in and the no's in the reg matched part of her phone no. He'd bought it of his company for his wife's horse box and she then upgraded to a horse transporter ! I payed £1450 for it, just had a new top and bottom tailgate but it did need four new shock absorbers which was why no one had bought it. The shock absorbers had the wrong size mount holes in them, The noise was terrible. I kept it for 4 years and it was brilliant.
The air suspension and gadgets part of this are the crunch. If like me everything has to work properly and you don't mind fixing it yourself then get the less sophisticated 3.5 because i could fix almost everything on my Classic and i can't on this (p38). The problem being that even the simple stuff has a brain. Coil springs do break but they dont decide theres a fault in the outside lane at 80 mph nor do they leak when a loose cable (from god knows where) get stuck in the seal (pump the car up, dive underneath, listen for the leak.)However the ride is superb and the air bags not expensive (but still twice the price) if you search.
They are just more user friendly (if you dont mind getting the spanners out)and i would have another at the drop of a hat.

Cheers, Nick.