Hello gents.

Many thanks for your input on my last post (buying questions).

I went to see a 55 plate 4.2 SC up at £12,850 today, spent a good hour with the car and conducted a short road test drive,
and I wish to ask for your input on a few items.

I used the feedback from my first post requesting buying advice, and also the guide produced by Patti whilst checking the car today.

A little background first:

It's a late 2005 model with more or less 99,000 on the clock, owned by the same person for the last 3 years. Full Range Rover service history up to 75,000, then the last 2 services most recent at 96000, done at a specialist 4x4 centre.

Paperwork all verified for this.

Excellent tyre condition with almost new brake pads.

Suspension transits through low, normal and high and back again with no issues and car sits level, verified externally. Can't even hear the compressor working.

The electric park brake works silently - I tried to gently move forward and it held the car no problem.

There's no noises whilst accelerating (except the V8!) and again whilst braking, and no pull to one side. The only thing that happened once was on a very light application of the brakes, the steering wheel wobbled from side to side. I couldn't reproduce it on further braking, both hard or soft. The car had sat for a while prior to my test drive however, but the brakes are almost new with very little wear and are not corroded. No grating noises.

Tyres are Continental 106Y's with even wear.

I selected every 4x4 program with no errors on the dash or the multimedia screen.

The car moves forward in low fine and there's no unexpected noises. Creeps quite quickly.

All electric seats, windows and mirrors tested. How do you retract the mirrors? I pressed the mirror switch but nothing happened. Only the ignition was live at the time however.

The bonnet continued to indicate open even though it was secure. I'm guessing this could be a microswitch? Is that an easy repair?

I took some pictures of the underside showing the brakes and struts:











I couldn't see any drips.....


Just a few items on the MOT certificate that I wish to check with you:





Are these major items that will cost a fortune in the future?

We intend to use the car on an occasional basis, probably around 8000 miles a year. It won't be used for commuting or long journeys.

Other than the bonnet indication and the items on the MOT, the car looked like it had been looked after, certainly from the interior and service history. It drove very smooth, the engine was very quiet when listened to with the bonnet open, no ticking, clicks clunks or thumps, the car itself was very quiet with no knocking, bumps or rattles. The gearbox reacted instantly and there was no noises when accelerating or braking.

Please see photos below.

What are your thoughts?

Thanks guys,

Nick

Nick, sounds good and fairly priced, - the S/C is a great car if you're not doing a huge annual mileage

I had the bonnet open warning, I think its quite a common thing. The link below might help...it sorted mine.



For retracting the door mirrors on the early S/C..make sure the circular switch on the drivers door mirror control is in the middle / straight up position then just press downwards from the top of the switch. Mine fold even with no key in the ignition. another press should open them again.

Good luck if you go ahead.. Carl

Its nine years old. That car was 58K when it was new ( I know cos I bought one ) If you want it buy it and hope for the best. If you want something you can rely on buy a ford focus.

I may be wrong but steering wobble when braking may be warped discs... don't quote me on that. I had it on a golf many years ago...