newbie non owner wants opinions

Hello All,

First of all let me say i don't own a land/range rover (yet) but getting very close.

I have a rather large caravan to move about and used to have a Mitsi l400 (inc 3" body lift) for doing so, and latterly a skoda superb, for reasons a that are far to boring to list here (see skoda dealers not being so good...and trust me they really are THAT bad:frusty::frusty::frusty I have decide to change vehicles.

The wife will use the car for short work commute (5 miles each way) and ferrying kids to school etc. when its not on towing duty/family outings.

We went out today to look at Defender 110's, Discos and a couple of Range Rovers) and have found one we are rather taken with....(i loved the defender but the clutch is very heavy and i have a bad left knee from to many clutch changes in company cars when younger...so thats right out!). If its not basic its going to be 'the best' - if you see where i'm coming from! We are well aware of the running coxsts (fuel) of a big 4*4 and ok about that - maintenance costs on a mitsi i know - a Range rover I am less informed about)

2003 Vogue TD6 with 80k miles on it and two owners -
Wesfalia tow bar (though missing the removable socket and ball - ball bung and container still in boot though)

Needs some paintwork tidying (dealer is doing this tomorrow) - lots of small scratches etc - careless stuff nothing major

Needs new front tyres (drivers side scrubbed on inside and car pulls right while driving) - dealer to rectify.

It will have a a 12 month ticket on it and 12 month mechanical warranty (delaer seemed a bit put off when i asked if this covered the air suspension - he said it did as long as it was a 'mechanical fault' - dunno if rubber bags are mechanical or not myself!:doh:

Only got one key (dealer says they can get another and program it for about £90).

Aircon not working (delaer to rectify).

Some slight surface rust under rear wheel arches round the edges of the steel liner - 20 minutes with rust killer and black paint me thinks - nothing major to my eye

Service history (main dealer)every 12k miles apart from one stamp missing when it went 19k (22-40 k miles roughly)

The dealer is a land rover specialist (of many years/generations and its all they do).

Price on it & trade in offered are about right (book) -when pushed they wont source the rest of the tow bar (though they may reconsider this if i have my way) without extra £, or an additional key (see last bracketed comment!)....

Took a friend (mechanic who has worked on all landrovers from series 1 up and knows the dealer quite well) with us - he has driven the car and says its 'ok' -hes not going to stick his neck out obviously, but he didn't say 'run' - then again he drives a disco series two on springs and dosnt like air suspension or auto's......but does like landy's....

We do have another car, its small got the right number of seats (2!) and would fit in the back off (and possibly underneath) a range rover - mid mounted turbo and rwd - (so thats mine then!). As you can see with 2 kids the Range Rover will be our 'main' car and mine just shunts me to work and back and up and down the country to see clients.

Would you buy this car, discuss....

you dont mention cost

lol no i didn't - actually deliberately as its the car i would like opinion on but in the area (subject to negotiation!) of £15K

im surprised a dealer would have it up for sale with so many things that need sorting before retailing it, me? id shop around.

hmm they have their own workshops and i suspect the 'for sale' stuff goes through when they aint too busy -m mate bought his disco in similar circumstances from them (and the one he had before that too) and they look mint when he picks them up....

I think its just how they do it (thats what he says anyway and hes been buying landys for 30 years from them)....but i know what you mean - if your trading a car in you wash and polish it before showing it to the dealer....

Anyone got any opinions on the air suspension on the L332's - i know the p38 bags are circa £230 for 4 -the l332 bags are £375 EACH...(i had done some research and thought £220 well stop worrying) but £1400 a set is a but eye watering - i guess not many come up for changing yet and the price may well drop like a stone when demand is higher...but still

2004 LAND ROVER RANGE ROVER 3.0 AUTO VOGUE on eBay, also, Other Cars, Cars, Cars, Parts Vehicles (end time 24-Jun-09 16:00:22 BST)


2003 Land Rover Range Rover Silver hse on eBay, also, Land Rover Range Rover, Cars, Cars, Parts Vehicles (end time 19-Jun-09 16:38:32 BST)

Land Rover, Land Rover Range Rover, Other Cars items at low prices on eBay.co.uk


and thats just a quick ebay search, i would say there is better out there for that kind of money!

I have looked at one of those today....trust me it aint better in the flesh! (or should that be metal?) - The Derby one is perhaps interesting though.....to be honest i have spent the last 4 weeks running round the car dealing world and im just sick of traveling 80 miles to see the 'FSH' vehicle (that we checked on the phone had a FSH) only to find it didn't (thats happened more than once and at main dealers too!) - perhaps im just a bit jadded and need to think more out of the box again re location...guess you got a kis a lot of frogs to find a prince type thing going on

autotrader?

maybe make a check list of faults and get prices on the fixes??? obviously quoting dealer prices will help you haggle!

the kick inside said:

I have looked at one of those today....trust me it aint better in the flesh! (or should that be metal?) - The Derby one is perhaps interesting though.....to be honest i have spent the last 4 weeks running round the car dealing world and im just sick of traveling 80 miles to see the 'FSH' vehicle (that we checked on the phone had a FSH) only to find it didn't (thats happened more than once and at main dealers too!) - perhaps im just a bit jadded and need to think more out of the box again re location...guess you got a kis a lot of frogs to find a prince type thing going on

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if i were spending 15k on a r/r believe me i wouldnt rush into it and id spend loads of time finding the right one

To be honest in auto-trader it seems about 'right' money wise (give or take) - given the dealer will sort all the issues and put a 12 month warranty on it - other than the tow bar (£89-£180 to sort), and the key that he says is £90 - worst case he may get held to that!

Haggling I am not worried about, or the price really (its worth whatever your prepared to pay for it after all!).

I probably wasn't really clear on the question - would a missed service stamp worry you (who knows it MAY have been done...but it MAY not), also would 88k worry you - and what sort of bills would you be likely to see in, say, the next 3 years (given an average of approx 6k miles a year) - is this a car you should run away from screaming - or that the suspension is likely to die on in the next 6 months - or a decent enough punt?

In all honesty im not a total numpty when it comes to cars (rebuilt bike engines - and frames/brakes/suspension on mitsi's etc) and I can spot a bad panel gap - or as in one case today a rebuilt front end where the gaps were ok but the new lights/grill/indicator repeater in the wing gave the game away) etc and i think the car is genuine and 'honest', but I lack the inside track on whats likely to go (expensively) wrong at 80-100k and six-ten years only on a l332 vogue....

Also probably made the body sound worse than it is - I am really picky (as into respray a bike tank/mudguards/side panels/tail piece took me 120 man hours....but it was spot on afterwards- and rough to start with!) mostly its stuff that would polish out (and the only dent is the size of a pea on the front corner top of the bonnet) - nothing is through the paint, most of its lacquer level, and to be honest after walking round a few car supermarkets in the last month weekend or two ago MOST of their stock - never mind what - is worse and under 3 years old - how some people do that to a car is beyond me - assuming its not greenlaneing etc of course!

the kick inside said:

To be honest in auto-trader it seems about 'right' money wise (give or take) - given the dealer will sort all the issues and put a 12 month warranty on it - other than the tow bar (£89-£180 to sort), and the key that he says is £90 - worst case he may get held to that!

Haggling I am not worried about, or the price really (its worth whatever your prepared to pay for it after all!).

I probably wasn't really clear on the question - would a missed service stamp worry you (who knows it MAY have been done...but it MAY not), also would 88k worry you - and what sort of bills would you be likely to see in, say, the next 3 years (given an average of approx 6k miles a year) - is this a car you should run away from screaming - or that the suspension is likely to die on in the next 6 months - or a decent enough punt?

In all honesty im not a total numpty when it comes to cars (rebuilt bike engines - and frames/brakes/suspension on mitsi's etc) and I can spot a bad panel gap - or as in one case today a rebuilt front end where the gaps were ok but the new lights/grill/indicator repeater in the wing gave the game away) etc and i think the car is genuine and 'honest', but I lack the inside track on whats likely to go (expensively) wrong at 80-100k and six-ten years only on a l332 vogue....

Also probably made the body sound worse than it is - I am really picky (as into respray a bike tank/mudguards/side panels/tail piece took me 120 man hours....but it was spot on afterwards- and rough to start with!) mostly its stuff that would polish out (and the only dent is the size of a pea on the front corner top of the bonnet) - nothing is through the paint, most of its lacquer level, and to be honest after walking round a few car supermarkets in the last month weekend or two ago MOST of their stock - never mind what - is worse and under 3 years old - how some people do that to a car is beyond me - assuming its not greenlaneing etc of course!

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:blah::blah:

Nathan is right mate, believe me. You sound smitten by the car, and rightly so - a million miles away from a mitzi, and Nathan isn't telling you not to get one - just not to rush into buying that one. I drive one the same year, around the same mileage and will be letting mine go in a few weeks - mine is about 400 miles into a new transmission - a common fault on that model around that mileage, check it out on the RR section.

ahh interesting...so buy one with no more than 40-50k then....

must admit i am less smitten when i looked at the pics on the dealers website and the towbar bits are stuck on the back of the car in 3 of the pics....so much for them never having had it....

thanks again guys!

when you buy one dont forget to post here!!!

lol right now im thinking mitsi's may not be flash but at least the cogs stay in the box's! (and ARB links are easy and cheap!)

the kick inside said:

ahh interesting...so buy one with no more than 40-50k then....

must admit i am less smitten when i looked at the pics on the dealers website and the towbar bits are stuck on the back of the car in 3 of the pics....so much for them never having had it....

thanks again guys!

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40/50K is about the right miles for that year IMO. Any more and it should be a lot cheaper. A dealer will expect to make at the very least 2/3 K resale on something like a RR.

Definately spend more time looking. I too have become smitten with the photos and description of vehicles before actually getting there and seeing it up close. It never ceases to amaze me that so many dealers/sellers have a totally different view on what they are selling. I can tell you I've seen some Mutts R Us vehicles when ever I've bought a car and I looked at probably 20 landies before buying mine.

Don't get disheartened and it really is a buyers market.