sounds like a horror story , Ownership of a rrp can really test your wallet

The joys of buying a prestige car from a back street owner In most cases folk don't part with these unless they are faced with bills they can't pay. In most of these lists, items that wear or fail are probably age related. Everybody can expect to replace a battery on an 8 or 9 year old car. 2x TDV6. SE and HSE. Both returned to sender with issues👀
TDV8 Sport HSE...... Gone. Loved it but it didn't love me!!
Now rolling in MY10 Fullfat TDV8 Vogue. Slammed it to go round corners🙈
Cruising daily #56 mph in a Volvo V8. 😱
Lots of other toys in the cupboard...😜

In a year, on a 50k mile car, I have been into ARB bushes, a suspension pump, an aircon radiator, back brakes, a front diff and a gearbox flush. Still needs cam belts, a prop and probably a battery and brake light switch. Oh, and the heated rear window fixing. That is before anything else breaks. Which it will.

The engineering is truly shocking; lets be honest. 70's BL standard. Expect to fix them often and it will never be cheap. New ones don't seem much better. Back bumpers hang off and anyone can nick them.

But here is the rub: But when they work, they are nice. Not much else appeals.

But I doubt I would buy another as much as I like it. I never spent so much on repairing a car. One feels like a glutton for punishment. I'll probably keep this one as a second car till its worth zero and go German again next time.

If you have bucketfuls of spare money, a car to use when it is in dock, and a good indie, go for it. If you have come from Merc, Toyota or something that just works, one of these will amaze you with the bills they rack up.

Mine is 5 years old wth 53000miles and I haven't had to spend a penny in anything other than consumables, and even then that's only been one set of discs and pads. The problem with. Using second hand is the previous driver I find, you just don't know how they've abused it.

I'm of the opinion that where it's serviced has a lot to do with reliability too. For example, I have just discovered that mine is using some coolant since the last time it was in the dealership (for a replacement turbo). Yesterday I noticed, whilst checking/topping up the coolant, that the coolant hoses to the and from the FBH aren't clipped. The hoses are on but the clips are a couple of inches along the pipe and so aren't doing anything. There is some spray evidence around the area that this is where the coolant is leaking.

I've tried to move the clips but it's pretty tight access and my pliers only just fit. Looks like I'm going to have to waste an hour tomorrow taking it to the dealership for them to do the clips. The worry, of course, is what else hasn't been tightened correctly.

I shall not be using that dealership again if I can find somewhere else to take my vehicle. 2012 SDV6 - it's missing a couple of cylinders
2008 TDV8 - it was a labour of love and is much missed

Absolutely, a good mechanic noticing a few minor things at service thus stopping them becoming major issues later on can make all the difference. Not a big fan of dealers services myself, got a great independent locally who takes a lot of care over his cars.

It would seem the dealer I bought the car from had cheap Ebay discs and pads fitted which i contributed too, I was informed these were original, alas it's now having new L/R Brembo spec discs and pads fitted in my indi, As a case is now in the making with the original dealer in Derby I can not Name and Shame, however if your looking for a RRS then there is a dealer on Ascot drive derby which has many RRS and a number of other prestige cars on the forcourt which you may want to avoid.

just a note my Indie Lewis 4x4 in Neath South Wales is top notch and does all they possibly can getting the AA warranty to pay out on some parts such as the torque converter, I also have other cars with them for service and don't think I would take the RRS anywhere else Java Black 2007 TDV8 HSE (my first RRS)
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