2006-2012 Range Rovers

So, I know GRM has nothing but bad things to say about the P38 Range Rovers. But, what about the Jag powered models? Especially the supercharged ones like this or the 5.0 models like this? Or even an earlier 4.2 model. 

They're so beautiful inside and out. And would replace my XJR and Excursion into one vehicle. Until I can afford me a G Wagon (all the ones I really like are 40k), which will be at least another year from now. I'm no stranger to working on supercharged Jaguar V8's at all. 

And nah I don't like the Lexus GX, their interiors are hideous to me. Mercedes GL450/550 do have my eye and I'm looking at those too. 

Doug deMuro had one and an extended warranty and it had $17k in repairs done in 5 years. Sounds about right. Even now they are consistently dead last or next to last in reliability surveys. 

Not sure if these have the same parking brake issues as the LR4 truck if so I would think twice as the LR4 system has been known to fully engage at speed. The repair is VERY expensive!!

I am also waiting for my G waggen. In my meantime I have a 200 series Land Cruiser 

I love the RR, just not enough to own one 

I won a 2012 Range Rover HSE & drove it for a year, around 6000 miles.  It had the 5.0 motor which I believe was built by Ford.  It was great for what it was.  Lots of understeer.  During my ownership everything worked as it should & nothing broke. 

dculberson said:

Doug deMuro had one and an extended warranty and it had $17k in repairs done in 5 years. Sounds about right. Even now they are consistently dead last or next to last in reliability surveys. 

Was he going to the dealer only? There's another article on a used Mercedes s600 that needed absurd amounts of money for maintenance but they took it to the dealer for everything even bulbs and tires lol. 

In reply to yupididit :

He used carmax and their extended warranty service.  Was a great series on jalopnik, not sure if the stories moved when he did though.

There was some small stuff like the horn and backup alarm system, but the air ride went out more than once, and some other big ticket items. 

In reply to RevRico :

I'll have to look for it. This is why G Wagons retain their value so much!

Nobody knows anything about them, generally. I had a 2010 Supercharged and LOVED IT. I would have another in a heartbeat.

The L322 is a BMW design that was more or less built by Ford. Avoid the 2006 models, which is what Doug DeMuro had and mislead people on. The 06s are known for being pretty crap compared to 07-12. 

2007-2009 are the most reliable option, they run the Jag 4.4L (if N/A) or Jag 4.2L (if Supercharged). The 2010-2012 have the Jag 5.0L in both N/A and SC form. It is NOT a Ford Coyote, but was developed using Ford money. It's direct injected, and can have timing chain guide issues. Long-specified oil change intervals lead to the plastic guides breaking down and then you're in for a big bill. The safest way to avoid that is to buy a 2012, as the 10s and early 11s were what was affected. My 2010 had 105k miles on original guides, though, and I was never too worried.

They all have Bosch electronics and a lot of FoMoCo stamped on parts. They are pre-wired for a 7-pin tow harness but you have to buy the stupid $100 part and install the connector. I towed my racecar with mine, and it was very happy to tow things on an open trailer. The chassis is too small once you move to even a small enclosed (mine is a 20' aluminum) - not enough wheelbase combined with soft suspension was not a fun time.

Speaking of suspension, the air ride is not super scary to deal with. Arnott and Suncore make aftermarket shocks/struts/whatever so you don't have to deal with OEM pricing if one fails. They do not seem to fail at the alarming rate of earlier LRs, and the best way to keep the airbags healthy is to cycle the ride height every so often. Mine worked flawlessly. You can trick it into giving you a few more inches of clearance off-road, too. 

The 2010+ have a full digital gauge cluster, which is cool but kind of useless, as it just replicates round dials that you'd see anyway. The infotainment in all of them is pretty basic. Mine had the Logic7 sound system which kicked some serious ass. 

2010-2012 S/C models have Brembo brakes with six-piston fronts. You cannot easily fit less than a 20" wheel to those models because of the caliper and rotor size.

These are heavy trucks. Mine weighed in at nearly 6,000 lbs. They will eat tires and brakes as a result. Typical to any BMW-based vehicle... front lower control arms are a wear item (bushings) so if you test drive one and hear it clunking around up front, that's what it likely is. The 5.0s can occasionally eat water pumps but they are not a strict 100k maintenance item like some BMWs can be.

I had all the records from mine, and it never needed much from what I could tell. I put 10k miles on mine in six months and it didn't go through anything weird in that time. Bought at 94k and sold at 105k, only because I needed a beefier truck to tow my new-to-me enclosed. I would have another in an instant. I towed the M3 with it, took it off-road a few times, and drove it daily to work and on road trips. It got E36 M3 MPG in the city (10 was common) but did okay on the highway (14 towing, 19ish unloaded).

In reply to Brake_L8 :

Awesome! I really appreciate actual first hand knowledge. I don't plan on towing anything like an enclosed, my trailer is an open deck. 

Did you replace the timing chain guides or not? I did them in my XJR and it wasn't too hard. My budget is under $15k and I hope to find the newest I can with the best records under my budget.

yupididit said:

In reply to Brake_L8 :

Awesome! I really appreciate actual first hand knowledge. I don't plan on towing anything like an enclosed, my trailer is an open deck. 

Did you replace the timing chain guides or not? I did them in my XJR and it wasn't too hard. My budget is under $15k and I hope to find the newest I can with the best records under my budget.

It'll pull fine with an open trailer. They are rated for 7700 lbs.

I did not do the chain guides on mine, but if I had kept it much longer, probably would have found a shop to do them preventatively. Beyond that you just kinda roll with Land Rover's maintenance schedule. The trans on all of them is a ZF 6HP and I was told that if it's shifting fine, don't even bother with a drain-and-fill of the fluid. LR does want you to do fluid changes on the differentials every 60 or 100k, can't remember which. It's all pretty straightforward.

If your budget is $15k, I would strongly recommend finding the nicest 07-09. You will likely find a better example of that generation for the money, versus a kinda raggedy 10-12. You will lose out on the keyless start and digital dash, but otherwise most things are the same or just little visual differences. 

Oh, other small point to make. Avoid any of them that are on aftermarket wheels, have "upgraded" blingy grills, etc. These are trucks that really, really benefit from having well-to-do older owners who just took them to the dealer for everything. If it's clearly been through a vagrant youth or two, avoid it.

Oh, two other things.

At least one of your links in the OP is to a Range Rover Sport. That's a smaller vehicle on a different chassis and not a real Range Rover. It sounds snobby but truthfully, the FFRR (full fat Range Rover) is the one to have. Otherwise, get a LR3/LR4.

For parts, Atlantic British is a very good resource.

Brake_L8 said:

Oh, two other things.

At least one of your links in the OP is to a Range Rover Sport. That's a smaller vehicle on a different chassis and not a real Range Rover. It sounds snobby but truthfully, the FFRR (full fat Range Rover) is the one to have. Otherwise, get a LR3/LR4.

For parts, Atlantic British is a very good resource.

I didnt even know that, thanks!

That 2010 for 16.9k I really like.The interior is beautiful and the color is great. 

yupididit said:

Brake_L8 said:

Oh, two other things.

At least one of your links in the OP is to a Range Rover Sport. That's a smaller vehicle on a different chassis and not a real Range Rover. It sounds snobby but truthfully, the FFRR (full fat Range Rover) is the one to have. Otherwise, get a LR3/LR4.

For parts, Atlantic British is a very good resource.

I didnt even know that, thanks!

That 2010 for 16.9k I really like.The interior is beautiful and the color is great. 

That 2010 you linked has a gross steering wheel cover thing sewn on to it. I'd pass based on that alone, hah. Something like this looks a bit better to me.

Yeah, I like that one for sure. Once I sell my diesel Excursion I'll seriously look!

yupididit said:

dculberson said:

Doug deMuro had one and an extended warranty and it had $17k in repairs done in 5 years. Sounds about right. Even now they are consistently dead last or next to last in reliability surveys. 

 

Was he going to the dealer only? There's another article on a used Mercedes s600 that needed absurd amounts of money for maintenance but they took it to the dealer for everything even bulbs and tires lol. 

 

Exactly.  When I bought my v12 benz I got all that bs from people,  but I’m not the type that goes to the dealer and it’s been fine. Well,  let me clarify,  yes it does break and is a very complicated car,  but I’ve been able to work through all issues without going to the dealer.  Most parts,  outside of the ignition coils,  have also been pretty reasonably priced.

I now have a desire for one of these, even though I have absolutely no use for an ultra-luxury SUV that will be driven approx 250 miles per month.

In reply to Cotton :

Just sell me the s600 already. 800hp 4 door biturbo v12 benz needs to happen. 

z31maniac said:

I now have a desire for one of these, even though I have absolutely no use for an ultra-luxury SUV that will be driven approx 250 miles per month.

I've owned 17 vehicles so far, and the L322 Range Rover is one of two I've sold that gives me immense pangs of "want" every time I see another nice one on the street. 

z31maniac said:

I now have a desire for one of these, even though I have absolutely no use for an ultra-luxury SUV that will be driven approx 250 miles per month.

Dude I dd a diesel excursion 12 miles a day 20days a month if that. I have 1 kid 1 wife 1 cat. Talk about having too much for little use. The RR then G wagon will get slightly more miles but a lot less towing. 

Though I've put more towing miles on it than I have dd miles in the time I've owned it. That's besides the point lol. 

Somewhat related: I saw this guy battening down the hatches on his Range Rover on my lunch break today ahead of some impending rain: 

yupididit said:

z31maniac said:

I now have a desire for one of these, even though I have absolutely no use for an ultra-luxury SUV that will be driven approx 250 miles per month.

 

Dude I dd a diesel excursion 12 miles a day 20days a month if that. I have 1 kid 1 wife 1 cat. Talk about having too much for little use. The RR then G wagon will get slightly more miles but a lot less towing. 

Though I've put more towing miles on it than I have dd miles in the time I've owned it. That's besides the point lol. 

For me work is an 11 mile roundtrip, 3 days per week. Then maybe running to the grocery and/or going out to eat or a show on the weekends. 

Now that my girlfriend works from home full-time, I think she hasn't put gas in her car since September.

In reply to z31maniac :

That's some light driving. You can practically drive whatever you want and not have to worry about mileage and excessive wear on the car. My wife commutes a lot for work. 

In reply to yupididit :

Here's a good list of the stuff that happened in the first 3 years of Demuro owning the Carmax Range Rover. It was an 06 for the record. Kinja has a similar search to here, but Doug was nice enough to link everything in one article. 

yupididit said:

In reply to z31maniac :

That's some light driving. You can practically drive whatever you want and not have to worry about mileage and excessive wear on the car. My wife commutes a lot for work. 

That's why I bought the 135 thinking, "Meh, it can't cost me that much right?" In the 4200 miles since purchase, rear tires, air filter, cabin air filter, plugs, new battery, battery coded to the car, and all the computers updated by my indy shop.

Now it sounds like the PS pump may be starting to make noise. If it is, it's going to be gone ASAP. I have no desire to constantly drop money into something (that isn't fun mods) for something driven so little.