L322 vs x5- new car time opinions please

Hi everyone so had a fl2 few years back, then back to estate (insignia-worst car ever) then disco 2 then ford mondeo estate, however not quite got the feeling for it and one major design flaw is when’s strapping the little one in his seat any rain on roof pours in through door, down my back or onto seats so it’s going,

Options up to now are x5 around 2006 (1st gen) with 3.0td engine and 6 speed zf box or l322, either 3.0td6 with dodgy gm box or later 3.6tdv8 (same price but more mileage), iv always wanted l322 but what iv noticed is they seem to rust a lot more compared to x5, subframes, tailgates, sills and arches and interior plastics seem to have the finish wear off. However it’s a Range Rover which have a certain something about them, the x5 would handle better and better on fuel but have the image “bmw driver” and without winter tyres aren’t known to be great in snow, finally if anyone can say, how common does engine failure on 3.6tdv8 happen or turbo issues, iv seen it around but like a lot of things everyone comes to internet when it goes wrong not when it’s done 150,000 miles trouble free so any opinions are welcome
Cheers
Rich

You don’t say what your budget is but gut feel is that the L322 will be a better bet than the X5, particularly (or should that be in spite of) as they age.

It also depends on how you are intending to service the wee beastie - is this something that you can take on or are you wholly dependent on the local independent and his ever-growing pension fund? Spares for the L322 will be widely available (avoiding the dreaded blue boxes...) and any other parts should be available via breakers and secondhand options when needed.

I’d avoid the 3.0L if possible and would suggest you see if you can stretch to the 4.4L V8 - better fuel consumption (strange but true...) and obviously a newer vehicle, aim for 2010 or later with less issues being reported than the 3.6

Rust - rear arches are the real pain... when it gets in there, it travels and can be an absolute sod to catch and cure - look for vehicles with original mud flaps which will have prevented ongoing ingress of water. Condition and service history is critical - there are lots out there (more than you will find with X5’s) so take your time to find the right one.

Doesn't the 2010 have the chain tensioner problem? I would suggest a 2008 or 09 for L322.
I seldom read about problems with this particular Jag engine.

Budget is around £5-6000, this allows for around £1500 repairs fund. Servicing and repair would be done by myself unless it requires major tools or specialist knowlage like auto boxe overhaul etc. Budget defiantly won’t get me in a 4.4tdv8 so it’s either 3.0td6 or 3.6, iv heard 3.0 is the most solid and reliable but least powerfull and weakest autobox, 3.6 more powerful and same gearbox as x5 but engine has potential to destroy Its self, or is this issue blown out of proportion?
The x5s don’t seem to suffer the rust issues but I think for family comfort etc the Range Rover is better, like I say open to all opinions and advise.

3.6 doesn’t seem to have a set routine, near me on autotrader is 1 with 120,000 sold as non runner turbo fault and another is 250,000 miles sold as drives great.

£1500 will not get you far if the transmission fails. You could probably repair the engine but not the trans. Something to consider.

I would suggest to save your sanity a nice little Suzuki Jimny.

Jimneys are funny cars but no chance of carrying family and work stuff. £1500 would get the gm box rebuilt by a local firm who I spoke to regarding another gearbox issue on a mates car, brought it up in conversation with them who replied, “yea it’s usaly valve block wear on them, full rebuild and sleeves and torque converter is around £1500, downside is we don’t have a recon box just to swap so would need to rebuild yours so takes longer without car”. For anyone who’s owned a Gm box 3.0td6, what do the revs sit at around 60/70mph?

rich28uk said:

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The x5s don’t seem to suffer the rust issues but I think for family comfort etc the Range Rover is better, like I say open to all opinions and advise.

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Just on this point re family; I have an early l322 [edit: 3.0 td6] and two little boys, both in need of child seats. Almost incredibly, there is less room for those back seat passengers than I have on a Citroen c4 picasso (the 5 seater (50cm shorter than l322), not the 7 seater).

The boot on L322 is massive and the front seats have lots of room, but my wife is pretty short and my 3yo son regularly uses her seat as his foot rest, much to my annoyance as those creamy leather seats (with plastic backs) look filthy pretty much every time he's in there. Luckily the other one is much younger/smaller and can't perform the same trick on my own seat. Anyway, I don't know how this stacks up vs the X5, but I am genuinely surprised by how little room there is in the back of a range rover. Don't get me wrong, it's not comparable to say an audi TT back seat, but for such a massive car, it really surprised me how little space there is in that car.

For the pluses; that stadium seating, especially combined with the additional boost of a child seat, gives both of my children a fantastic view, and, if you don't have a child seat in there (either take them out or if we're carrying another adult between the two child seats), the room is more than fine, I just think with a child seat, you have all that padding around the seat which pushes the child a good 10-15cm forward, then the front seats are so plush and comfy that they take up much more room than on my citroen (I realise a citroen vs an L322 is not a common comparison) that all of that space in the back just disappears.

Personally my vote is the l322 over the X5, an L322 with good service history will probably mean it has been well looked after. Then give the auto box a nice bath ASAP, just treat it right, you'll get more than enough time to save up for a replacement box if (some will say when, and I bow to their greater experience on this) it ever came to that.

rich28uk said:

For anyone who’s owned a Gm box 3.0td6, what do the revs sit at around 60/70mph?

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around 22-2400 I would say from memory. I will drive up motorway later today to visit the mom, I'll try to remember to record this more accurately.

rnddave said:

around 22-2400 I would say from memory. I will drive up motorway later today to visit the mom, I'll try to remember to record this more accurately.

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Brilliant thanks, just trying to get a feel if it would be screaming it’s head off on motorway as most of our uk holidays are either very bottom or very top of the country so always good few hours on motorway.
Regarding space iv heard someone else say L322 isn’t the most spacious in the back, at the moment we’ve just the 1 15 month old in his seat but then child seats take a ton of room up.

I can tell you on the runs, especially when in cruise control, it is amazingly quiet actually, maybe outside is louder, but the sound proofing is top stuff for sure. The only time I hear it is when you hit a steep incline, then she roars. I'll see (read; try to remember to do it) if I can perhaps record some motorway miles later as an fyi

Brilliant much appreciated. Has yours had the gearbox sorted or still original? How many miles? Most in my budget are around 100,000-140,000 do you find it ok on hills or struggles? I live just outside of Manchester so plenty of hills to contend with, one thing that got to me about my td5 disco, great if it was locked in 3rd with torque converter locked and run up to it but if I had to then slow on a hill and get going again it made a lot of noise and not much action.

One reason I’m looking into x5s as they get a higher power td6, and a good 6-700 kg lighter.

rich28uk said:

Brilliant much appreciated. Has yours had the gearbox sorted or still original? How many miles? Most in my budget are around 100,000-140,000 do you find it ok on hills or struggles? I live just outside of Manchester so plenty of hills to contend with, one thing that got to me about my td5 disco, great if it was locked in 3rd with torque converter locked and run up to it but if I had to then slow on a hill and get going again it made a lot of noise and not much action.

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I paid £5k + change for a 54 plate with 112,000 and full land rover history. Gearbox is original, LR (Swindon) still try to tell me it's sealed for life and that it doesn't need a flush until 130-140k depending on how it's been driven (which obviously I don't know) but they'll take my money if I insist on it, in the end I went to an independent for same work at about 60% of LR quote (from memory).

I thought it felt pretty smooth before I had the work done, but I think I was comparing the shifts to those on my citroen, and indeed after the work it was smoother, I didn't really notice anything else and my wife thinks it's in my head anyway, but I think the changes are silky smooth now.

Re the hills; Wiltshire is definitely less hilly than some of the land around you for sure, but the hills I've come across, it doesn't struggle, it is loud when you're giving it the welly, but it keeps pulling all the way up.

I'm a bit embarrassed to say this, but I suppose most of us have done this; pulled up at traffic lights and realised I was in the wrong lane, my answer to this was to give it the welly at green and again, loud, but on level ground, that truck does shift when you need it to.

I saw an earlier post and it is a good point; there's a lot of these about, it's worth holding off until you find the one that you really want, although sometimes easier said than done right...

The x5, again, never been in one and never really looked at them, but that's a pretty decent diet compared to an FFRR.

Goes to show that not every gearbox has failed, this is trouble with internet, start reading about faults and suddenly every car has a problem but plenty more driving about without issue, this is what lead me to 3.6, is it generally ok or is the turbo / engine failure common.
Sounds fine on hills then, I don’t mind noise so much as long as it pulls, like I said before that td5 disco made a load of noise but crawled up hills unless torque converter was locked up.
Certainly right about waiting being harder, for me iv always liked range rovers but age/ insurance has always been a show stopper but now at 31 insurance is fine, only £8 extra on top of what I’m paying on a mondeo per month so not bad, but definitely need something because as much as the mondeo is cheap to run, great to drive etc the way water pours into car when doors are open is crazy, get more soaked than in shower.

60mph = 21-2200, 70mph = 2500.

I did record the noise, but you have my son nattering on as well.. here:

Thanks for doing that vid, much appreciated, noise doesn’t seem as loud as I expected, probably because iv only heard them outside th car, they definitely have a throaty growl, not a bad noise for a diesel. 6mph seems relaxing enough which is my main speed now with little one in car and such just stay in lane 1 nice and peaceful. Consumption seems fine too, if your average is about 28/29 that’s about same as what my td5 disco did, then about 35 on a run.

So quick update by chance got talking to customer of mine who was selling his 06 x5, 90,000 miles with full history so decided to take it off his hands, £4500, immaculate inside and mostly out with just couple of slight marks, 3.0 diesel pulls like a train and very smooth and quiet, obviously not as spacious as L322 and as good off road or in snow due to its 285 tyres but for work and family duty should do the job

looks tidy!