Hi All,
Newbie looking for a bit of advice.....I’m looking to take my first step into RRS ownership and have been looking at the 2012MY 3.0 SDV6 with 8 speed gearbox and have a few questions...

Have been looking at 40-60k mile examples at £16,000-£18,000 but wondering if I shouldn’t be overlooking 100k mile ones at £5-6k less?? I know service and maintenance history is the important factor, i will be doing approx 25k miles a year, is there anything that a say 50k mile car is likely to need doing over the next 20-30,000 miles that maybe a 100k one has already had done (assuming it’s been looked after properly)?

Also, is a 2010/11 model with the 6 speed box worth considering? Does the 2012 model actually drive any better/have enough updates to make it worth the extra money? I’m guessing the 8 speed box may give me a bit more MPG which would be welcome doing 25,000 a year! What kind of realistic MPG should I expect, my daily commute is approx 80 mile round trip made up of 90% A road/dual carriageway and 10% stop/ start.....

Any pointers as to what to look out for at this age and mileage are most welcome. Apologies if these questions have been asked over and over again, feel free to direct me to any relevant threads!

Thanks in advance for any info.

Steve

Hi Steve and welcome to the forum.

Personally, if I was doing your kind of annual mileage, I would look for a lower mileage example. If you go for one with 100k+ on it, in a few years it's going to be an extremely high miler.

The best thing to do is to just get out there and start viewing to get a feel for typical condition considering the age. You will soon pick up the good from the bad. As most people on here will advise, service history and receipts to prove work has been done to schedule is key.

When you test drive, try and perform a range of turns at different speeds and also on different surfaces if possible. Front end suspension knocks are incredibly common on these vehicles and they are very good at getting through front bottom arm and front ARB bushes.

Good luck in your search  Kev

MY2014 L405 RR Vogue SE 4.4 SDV8 in Corris Grey
MY2010 L320 RRS HSE 3.0 TDV6 in Stornoway Grey

A 2012 car will need the cam belt and HPFP (timed) belt changing as per the 7 year interval. With a service this will be about £1,000 (maybe a bit more or a bit less depending where you go). If you find one with this documented that is a good start as it would suggest that the owner has spent money on it's maintenance. When I was looking for mine there were a lot around that were being shifted rather than get it done which isn't a huge problem if it's been well serviced, but you need to budget for it.
I bought mine from an indi who did the belts, front/rear brake pipes, rear discs, front diff breather and turbo drain mod as part of the deal before I bought it.

I echo a lot of the points raised.
I am a new owner ( 2010 RRS ) and just paid £350 for the Turbo mod to be done. Its going in tomorrow for front ARB bushes and then in at the end of the month to have the rear ARB bushes done. If you can find an example where this work has been done recently thats a good benchmark along with all the other things to look for, timing kit, service history, dry carpets, smooth gear changes, and all electrics working.

Hi Steve144

If your heart is set on a Range Rover Sport then don’t be surprised if you face expensive maintenance and repair bills that normally come with an £80k car that you now hope to buy for £16k.

If a £16k Sport we’re reliable then it wouldn’t be £16k. I suggestion you read what the writer John Ruskin wrote about paying too little.

As for 8 speed v 6 speed then definitely 8 mainly because incidents of snapped crank shafts are much rarer on vehicles with 8 speed gear boxes. And a broken crank will set you back £12-15k.

If you do decide to proceed then go in with your eyes wide open and expect the worst. If you are exceptionally lucky you might hit on a rare winner.

I’ve been pretty lucky with my MY12 owned from new but I’ve only covered 37,000 miles. I doubt I would do the RRS journey again because JLR don’t care enough about their customers. RRS (MY13) Santorini Black SDV6 HSE luxuary
Gone: Evoque, Freelander 2, Mercedes 320 CLK, Porsche 911's

For those who can’t be arsed to look up John Ruskin’s advice here it is:

The quote attributed to Ruskin says,

“It's unwise to pay too much, but it's worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money — that is all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do.” RRS (MY13) Santorini Black SDV6 HSE luxuary
Gone: Evoque, Freelander 2, Mercedes 320 CLK, Porsche 911's

Swagmeister wrote:

I echo a lot of the points raised.
I am a new owner ( 2010 RRS ) and just paid £350 for the Turbo mod to be done. Its going in tomorrow for front ARB bushes and then in at the end of the month to have the rear ARB bushes done. If you can find an example where this work has been done recently thats a good benchmark along with all the other things to look for, timing kit, service history, dry carpets, smooth gear changes, and all electrics working.

What mileage, what cost for the ARB bushes, might help the OP get an idea of running costs/ what to negotiate with?

What mpg are you V6ers getting? What mileage are you getting out of tyres?

As knw says, I looked at alot of "very good condition" cars at various dealers that were far from that. I ended up with 45k mile 58 plate 3.6TDV8 (6 speed), it's is running at 28mpg following purchase and holiday duties (i.e fully loaded) of around 600miles. It's my first RR and it certainly eats the miles in comfort, good luck


Bit of research for you re real world MPG:
http://www.fuelly.com/car/land_rover/range_rover_sport 2008 TDV8 Buckingham Blue- SOLD

Thanks everyone for the replies. Naturally I will be going in eyes wide open, I’m fully aware of the potential running costs of a car that was £70-£80k new (currently running a 2014 Jaguar XJ), just good to know the potential common issues.

I’ll be looking out for something with a good service history and receipts for work done, ideally with a lot of the common issues already addressed.

Interesting to see 28mpg from a TDV8....wasn’t expecting much more than that from a V6, maybe that V8 burble could be tempting!

Will go out there and try a few to get a feel for things.

Thanks again for the info.

Steve

Never managed to get more than around 24mpg out of my old TDV8.

Cheers
Col

Get a TDV8. Much better than the 3.0 TDV6 - lovely low speed grunt, nice noise when asked, crank is fine, needs TLC for the turbos but is otherwise good in the engine bay. Only comes with 6 speeds in the L320 but doesn't need 8 anyway. As for fuel economy - if you want it, don't buy a RRS of any sort.

Whatever you buy, if it's done more than 50k miles, budget for a gearbox flush. Indeed, budget for one at 50k. Laggy response at low speeds is common - known issue is lack of throttle response pulling away from junctions.

Suspension bushes are consumable items. Any knocks means bushes need doing somewhere. RRS should be quiet on broken tarmac. Any heavy steering shimmer on the brakes indicates front arm bushes need changing.

Check for oil leaks underneath. Everything should be dry (of oil). Any "they all do that sir" is a warning flag. Nothing leaks unless something is wrong.

Check everything works. Check it again. Handbrake (EPB) should make a slight sigh when moving. Any screeches etc are bad. Low range swaps with a slight clunk heard with door open. Make sure it operates in to low and back to high. Ensure suspension changes height ok. It should be quick to operate and should be able to go from access to normal smoothly and quickly. Give it 30s and ask for off road height. If it goes very slowly then the compressor is tired. Check everything works again.

SatNav is clunky, DAB isn't great and suffers from poor reception. Heated seats are effective but if there is a very hot spot then a heater pad needs changing. Not difficult/expensive.

Oh, and check everything works... 2012 SDV6 - it's missing a couple of cylinders
2008 TDV8 - it was a labour of love and is much missed

Col wrote:

Never managed to get more than around 24mpg out of my old TDV8.

Cheers
Col

RRSTDV8 wrote:

Get a TDV8. Much better than the 3.0 TDV6 - lovely low speed grunt, nice noise when asked, crank is fine, needs TLC for the turbos but is otherwise good in the engine bay. Only comes with 6 speeds in the L320 but doesn't need 8 anyway. As for fuel economy - if you want it, don't buy a RRS of any sort.

Whatever you buy, if it's done more than 50k miles, budget for a gearbox flush. Indeed, budget for one at 50k. Laggy response at low speeds is common - known issue is lack of throttle response pulling away from junctions.

Suspension bushes are consumable items. Any knocks means bushes need doing somewhere. RRS should be quiet on broken tarmac. Any heavy steering shimmer on the brakes indicates front arm bushes need changing.

Check for oil leaks underneath. Everything should be dry (of oil). Any "they all do that sir" is a warning flag. Nothing leaks unless something is wrong.

Check everything works. Check it again. Handbrake (EPB) should make a slight sigh when moving. Any screeches etc are bad. Low range swaps with a slight clunk heard with door open. Make sure it operates in to low and back to high. Ensure suspension changes height ok. It should be quick to operate and should be able to go from access to normal smoothly and quickly. Give it 30s and ask for off road height. If it goes very slowly then the compressor is tired. Check everything works again.

SatNav is clunky, DAB isn't great and suffers from poor reception. Heated seats are effective but if there is a very hot spot then a heater pad needs changing. Not difficult/expensive.

Oh, and check everything works...

Excellent post thank you