Hi Everyone,

I have owned my 2013 RRS Diesel for just over 2 months now and I still absolutely love it. It will not be used as a daily drive, we have a second car which is our run-about and we are both retired so no commuting mileage. Currently we use the car about once or twice a week on drives out, etc; I do not drive the RRS hard or fast (I have another car when 'I feel the need for speed'), I just tend to enjoy 'floating' along in such a comfortable car. So I recon that we will do well under 500 miles per month on average.

I have been advised by a long term Range Rover Sport owner that only using the car occasionally can cause problems with EGR valves and the turbos. His advice is to warm the car gently and then drive the car hard once a month by holding the car in lower gears and approaching the rev limit through the gears. Any thoughts on this advice; good or bad?

Any forum advice on the above recommendation or any other suggestions for maintaining a RRS that is only used occasionally would be much appreciated?

Thanks

Steve

While not exactly a long term test, I've had my RRS for a year now with only occasional driving and no issue's yet.
I work abroad 4 weeks on/off and while I'm away I ask my wife to try and drive it at least once a week just to keep brake disks clean and everything moving. She calls it her Wednesday car! More often she'll forget though so it'll go 2 weeks without a run, we just treat it as normal, just filling up and servicing when required. Even when I'm home it can go several days without a drive, 500 miles a month would be a heavy use month for it.
I've done this for a lot of years now and having had several diesel and petrol vehicles I've not found any issue's other than brake disk corrosion if not moved for a while. As long as it's driven every week or so then you'll not likely find any problems. 13MY Range Rover Sport Autobiography SDV6 - mine
14MY Range Rover Evoque Dynamic SD4 Black Pack - wife's
99MY Defender 90 TD5, Soft Top Conversion - my toy, and bairns favourite

Hi insiorc,
Thank you for your reply and your reassurance regarding occasional use of my RRS. Forums are a great place to get 'real life' experiences such as yours
Regards,
Steve

I used to work abroad 3 months at a time then home for 2 or 3 week's, parked up all the time I was away never had any problems with either car TDV8 or S/C, just left connected to a ctek charger. Just gave them a good run when I was home.

Cheers
Col

I fully support Col's advice above. You may well run into battery problems if the car is only used for occasional short (less than 50 miles) journeys. A CTEK charger will allow the vehicle to be put on a "maintenance" charge and keep you running without problems. There are various means of connecting this charger depending on what is most convenient for your circumstances. For me, who only uses the RRS for +/- 6000 miles per year (but sometimes 1000 miles in one trip!) it has been a life saver.

Old Jock 2018 (MY19) Jaguar F-Pace R-Sport 300PS Petrol in Caesium Blue with many bells and whistles.
2015 RRS HSE SDV6 Firenze Red with Santorini Panoramic Glass Roof, gone but not forgotten.

Thanks Col & Jock55 for your advice, I will certainly be purchasing a CTEK charger and making sure that we give the car a run once a week if possible

Steve

I fully supports purchasing a CTEK charger (make sure it's of appropriate capacity - there are plenty of threads on this subject) and have routinely had to charge various cars as I do such low mileage. However, I have been surprised with my RRS how well it has kept its charge despite low mileage, and have not yet had to resort to charging it even though it's only done just over 2,000 miles in its first six months. It always, for example, operates 'stop-start' successfully even though this is apparently one of the items that appears not to work on low states of charge. I also have the battery condition indicator on my CTEK 'comfort connector' which always shows healthy.

Despite these low mileages, I have never had any other problems with diesel Ranger Rovers in five years of ownership, including not having problems with the DPF which some tend to suffer, nor the EGR valves (if I've got them!), or turbos. Nothing has siezed or stopped working either. However, when it comes to rusty brake discs, mine are always rusty!

Warm it gently, give it a good run and then let it cool and spool down the turbos before switching off. Give everything a play once in a while - raise and lower the suspension fully, select low range and drive it a few yards then back into high range. This will exercise the range change solenoid and motor. Selecting rock crawl when in low range will exercise the centre diff lock too. You'll probably never use them in anger but better not to have them seize through lack of use. Use it or lose it, as they say.

I'd vote for the Ctek too. Good bits of kit. 2012 SDV6 - it's missing a couple of cylinders
2008 TDV8 - it was a labour of love and is much missed

I've had my 2005 2.7 TDV6 since May this year and it's not driven everyday. When I do use it it's only for short runs. I agree with all of the above comments, especially giving it a blast now and again and giving the suspension & turbos some fun time. Maybe still early days for me but no problems to date. I do charge the battery occasionally albeit has never let me down. Enjoy. Barrie.
2017-Jan 2024: 2005 RRS 2.7TDV6. Best car I ever had - until now!
Current: 2018 Ford Ranger Wildtrak 3.2

Second the ctek and you can use it via towing electrics with an adaptor from the site shop. Search on here or Disco3 site and all will be revealed.
http://www.disco3.co.uk/shop/tow-electrics...c-p45.html
Agree on playing with its "tools" regularly
Giving it a blast up the motorway is also good for DPF regeneration too
Some folks chuck in a cleaner via fuel from time to time to clean out EGRs etc.
http://www.rrsport.co.uk/forum/topic48633.html
http://www.rrsport.co.uk/forum/topic48639.html
 Visitor from fullfatrr.com
* GONE. 2012 RR Sport HSE SDV6 Orkney Grey. Now being piloted by RRSTDV8
* GONE: 2011 4.4 TDV8 Full Fat. Amazing piece of kit.
* Current. 1974 Lightweight 2.25L petrol. Old skool
* GONE. Freelander GS TD4 Manual MY2013. Orkney Grey with privacy, cold and clearview packs, armrests (a must!) and a spoiler.
* GONE. Range Rover Classic '93 200Tdi Factory fit
* 1949 80" in family since 1975

When my dad had the 2.7 sport he used it every day for the 1st 18 months. Then after he broke his hip he never drove it again, I used to take it out once every 6 to 8 weeks, but never drove it hard. It covered between 600 and 800 miles a year at this point as I did use it to go on holiday a couple of times. Other than the battery being low on a couple of occasions, and the hand brake shoes sticking and needing replacing, it went on for 3 1/2 years like this. I now have the car and use it every day, I have removed the egr's but that was just me wanting to remove them, and lower bushes, but its been fine. I don't drive it hard at all and I do around 4000 to 5000 miles a year