Yet More Newbie Questions

Hi all,

Could anyone take pity on a prospective Rangie owner and give me some advice? I've had a look at some of the new owner threads and my head is spinning a bit

We're up in the rural north east of Scotland and need to get a 4x4 for the winter just to be able to get out. I'm looking for something that will get through bad snow, not be ridiculous on fuel, won't kill me to drive 64 miles round trip to work (bad weather only - she'll be a second vehicle) and will pull a smallish boat for short distances. We've been looking at Defenders (and I am told by a lot of people that nothing has the towing power of a Landy) but if I am honest I am a bit smitten with our neighbour's new Range Rover Sport Sadly I won't be getting one of those any time soon but I have done some reading up on P38s and am wondering if this would suit what we need.

If we do go the Range Rover route, 2.5 diesel or 4.0 THOR petrol with a legitimate registered LPG conversion?
How does mpg and reliability compare with the two?
What are they like to tow with?
Manual or auto (bit nervous of auto in the bad snow we get here, but I have never tried it so maybe being silly)
How do they handle? (apologies for being a lady used to having her bottom much nearer the floor, I am sure I could get used to it for the sake of a Range Rover
I'm guessing that they are much nicer than a Landy on a run (although to be fair I last drove a Landy 20 years ago, I'm sure they are easier on the wrists and ankles now!)
I have read up on the problems and will be looking for one with a thorough service history, if I can get one with FSH what sort of mileage do the problems start becoming frequent? (I need to make sure I can get to work in the winter, not to mention the 10 mile drive to get food!)

Sorry for all the questions, I am very tempted and trying to be sensible

Many thanks

Morg

300 tdi discovery. forget a Rangey there's so many electrical gremlins in them that they just can't be relied on in bad weather. Ok for summer sunday trips to the tip but apart from that they're useless.

get a 300tdi disco

Has anyone got one for sale?

Td5 disco.

Hate to agree (as a P38 owner) but for reliability you're probably better off with the disco - manual diesel. Auto a bit slow to pick up. Auto surprisingly easy on the snow but I'd still stick with the manual.

Ouch!

I'm quite sad now, I was never into the Discoveries (nobody shoot me please )so haven't looked at them, just Defenders and P38s ... I knew the P38 could be quite bad but maybe underestimated the problems. I think I might need to reconsider - getting stuck 10 miles from the shop in the snow would be a really bad thing And we are not completely incompetent at mechanics (not great either lol) but auto electrics have always totally baffled me.

Thanks so much guys for your advice.

If you're worried about reliability buy a KIA Sorento, dirt cheap - good tow cars, pretty reliable.

It's really annoying but I have to be - three winters ago we got snowed in as our Santa Fe got stuck on the hardcore track to the house (drifting snow). Phoned the council after a couple of days and they said all the snowploughs were out keeping the airport open and they couldnt do anything unless I needed an ambulance for a medical emergency Five days later, when we were about to run out of food, one of the local farmers took pity on us and dug us out, having noticed my jumping up and down in the yard and waving my arms

It occurred to me at the time that the Series 2 LWB we used to have would probably have driven through the snow and over the Santy .... but then I remembered the amount of welding that was having done even 20 years ago And I think my ankles would snap off after a 60 mile drive to work down the country lanes

I love Range Rovers - I absolutly will profess about them till kingdom come, but if you are that remote, the P38, even though it is a fecking marvelous machine, can be tempermental, and reliability is what you need in that kind of rural seting....

A Disco would be more robust, nothing pulls like a Landy thats for sure - and if you are keen on getting a Range Rover, take your time looking for one and get the very best you can afford - Diesels although a tad sliggish are by far the most reliable of the breed.

A diesle will return an average of 25mpg where as a V8 will turn in 12-15mpg....

Trouble with LPG is in the extreme cold they are not as efficent (as they require heat to efficently vapourise the liquid into a gas) , and also unless you have a local LPG station in the wilds of Scotland - you may struggle to find an LPG filling station.

They handle just fine aslong as you remember it is a Landy and they do roll - but you get used to that...

My Girlfriend is 5'3" and tiny, but she has driven all my Range Rovers with ease and no issues at all - she loves them.

Air Suspension Bags give out after 80k miles, gearbox needs TLC every 30k, regular oil changes every 6k, they will go on forever aslong as they are looked after....

Another bain with the P38, is the sudden lockout if the battery gets a lttle weak, this plays havoc with the ECU's and can result in needing to faff with the EKA code to remobilse the car...

Get a good one and look after it and she will give many years of faultless service, but due to their complexity many have been neglected due to cost and misunderstanding....

Range Rovers are the best - but horses for courses - if you are remote it may not be the wise choice.

If you want something that's going to work in the snow surely snow specific tyres are a must, proper tyres would make much more of a difference than type of 4x4 you have.

I have had my P38 4.6HSE for 7 years now.Driven it in South Africa out into remote areas in 40C temps and in the UK at -10c through heavy snow.It has let me down twice.Once on the M5 when the water pump failed and at a filling station in Hampshire when RF interference scrambled the BECM.It is now 17 years old.

An auto with All terrain tyres makes snow driving quite straight forward.

They do have their odd quirks which if you aware of and know the solutions they are relatively simple to look after.If you are not mechanically minded and not prepared to do routine mantenance/minor repairs yourself then stay away from them.Bear in mind the youngest one you will be able to buy will be 10years old and even with a full service history it does not mean that items like suspension airbags etc have been replaced.It could well be the case that the owner decided to part with it before having to do so.
Good Luck

The P38 has lots of niggles but for the most part as SV8 has said are reliable. Diesel is best and the engine is better suited to the auto. If you get one, first fit a good battery, (battery megastore on line 135Ah 1000CCA is the biggest that will fit, no affiliation) check the car has the latest RF receiver for the central locking, always have 2 working key FOB's overhaul the EAS, not expensive, and unless you are unlucky it will run for ages with nothing more than LR niggles. They are also pretty rust free unlike the Disco rot boxes.
If the budget will stand it, look to get a late one, year 2000/2002 as they seem a little better for electrical problems.

The problem is p38s need to have seen a garage of some sort through their life time.
The earlier Landy's could cope with no maintenance. It was the transition from farmyard bog trotter to refined car with gadgets.
Pick one with a good service history and bills to prove and you will be okay, get one for a monkey and you get what you pay for.
Basically budget to get a Nanocom evo or similiar to talk/reset your fault codes and you will be okay

Thanks so much everyone for your replies! You've given me a huge amount of good information to think about.

I think I will look to see if we can get a 2000 onwards auto with FSH if we get a Rangy - I am speaking to a guy locally who has one with 94000 miles, FSH from Land Rover, new battery and RF receiver. It's LPG conversion so I will take into account that I may have to use the petrol when it's really cold - and I will ask the relevant questions about EAS and frequency of oil changes. Also been looking at a 2000 2.5 diesel a little further afield, bu may steer clear of that as it doesn't have the history of the other one.

I actually quite like working on cars, my problem is last time I was doing it a lot, was in the days of Series IIs and Ford Capris so more modern stuff is a bit over my head I don't think either of us would mind too much getting our hands dirty and doing some day to day maintenance.

I have been thinking till now that I would prefer a manual as that's what I am used to both towing and in the snow, but if the engine is happier on auto transmission, I'll learn to drive an auto

Rob, everything we drive in the snow has ATs, there's no choice up here (although some muppets do still try without and get stuck on the hill up to the house!) The problem with the Santy was that the snow was higher than the bumper and it just didn't have enough torque!

I'm also going to do some looking into the up-till-now neglected Disco.

I'll let you know how we get on. Thanks again

Morgaine said:

It's really annoying but I have to be - three winters ago we got snowed in as our Santa Fe got stuck on the hardcore track to the house (drifting snow)...
It occurred to me at the time that the Series 2 LWB we used to have would probably have driven through the snow and over the Santy ....

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What tyres did you have? The tyres are 95% of the equation on snow, a series 2 vs a Santa Fe on snow is down to tyres. I remember driving my brother's old Series Landy in the snow on mud tyres, it was bloody deadly, wouldn't go, stop or steer. My P38 on General Grabber ATs is brilliant in the white stuff, GG ATs are particularly good in the snow.

Morgaine said:

Thanks so much everyone for your replies! You've given me a huge amount of good information to think about.

I think I will look to see if we can get a 2000 onwards auto with FSH if we get a Rangy - I am speaking to a guy locally who has one with 94000 miles, FSH from Land Rover, new battery and RF receiver. It's LPG conversion so I will take into account that I may have to use the petrol when it's really cold - and I will ask the relevant questions about EAS and frequency of oil changes. Also been looking at a 2000 2.5 diesel a little further afield, bu may steer clear of that as it doesn't have the history of the other one.

I actually quite like working on cars, my problem is last time I was doing it a lot, was in the days of Series IIs and Ford Capris so more modern stuff is a bit over my head I don't think either of us would mind too much getting our hands dirty and doing some day to day maintenance.

I have been thinking till now that I would prefer a manual as that's what I am used to both towing and in the snow, but if the engine is happier on auto transmission, I'll learn to drive an auto

Rob, everything we drive in the snow has ATs, there's no choice up here (although some muppets do still try without and get stuck on the hill up to the house!) The problem with the Santy was that the snow was higher than the bumper and it just didn't have enough torque!

I'm also going to do some looking into the up-till-now neglected Disco.

I'll let you know how we get on. Thanks again

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no learning for autos, its just stop n go. piece of wee wee.

I put GG ATs on everything - glad to get a 2nd opinion, we had them on the L200 so I loved them, but I'm no expert. The poor old Santy was just a bit low I think at the front, adn the drifting came overnight and caught us out - it was up to its bumper by the time we woke up and couldn't dig as fast as the wind could blow

Glad to hear that about autos. I think I am just a control freak about the gearbox

Morgaine said:

I put GG ATs on everything - glad to get a 2nd opinion, we had them on the L200 so I loved them, but I'm no expert. The poor old Santy was just a bit low I think at the front, adn the drifting came overnight and caught us out - it was up to its bumper by the time we woke up and couldn't dig as fast as the wind could blow

Glad to hear that about autos. I think I am just a control freak about the gearbox

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Go for the diesel, LPG doesn't function in severe cold and the V8 is fragile at best, even more so on LPG

Datatek said:

Go for the diesel, LPG doesn't function in severe cold and the V8 is fragile at best, even more so on LPG

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Yes Keith i agree. Diesel engines if looked after, are far more reliable than petrol engines. The cooling system on the 4.6 V8 is marginal at best, blocks weakened by over boring and badly designed liners make them a failure waiting to happen. The V8 lovers are worshiping a false god i am afraid.