After selling our Cayenne we've settled on replacing it with a Range Rover Vogue TDV8. After plenty of Internet research it appears this is the forum to get my questions answered!

We're looking at the 3.6 TDV6, probably an '09 car, with 50-60k miles on the clock. Ideally black or Stornoway Grey with an ivory or parchment interior. There are quite a few cars out there both independent dealers and Approved Used Land Rover. I realise from previous experience that buying the car that has had the correct work done for its age is vital.

When a car is approaching 60k miles what should I be looking out for? Is there any engine, transmission or suspension work that is likely to need doing at this age? Are there any options I should try to get or avoid for risk of problems later in the cars life?

I also need to get a tow bar for a bike rack (we had roof mounted on the Cayenne but roof rails on the FFRR don't seem as neat a solution.) is it easy and economically viable to retrofit a tow bar or should I buy a car that has one factory fitted?

Thanks in advance!

Last edited by Mefster on 21st Jun 2013 7:29am. Edited 1 time in total

Check and see that's its had all its software updates and no recalls are outstanding with it.

Stornoway is the best colour to live with as it hide light marks and dirt much longer.

Are you looking local or national to get the one you want?

The one with the best history and condition is the one to go for also finding one that's been owned by the same owner since new would be good as you can often gauge better how its been cared for and how they have driven it

For the Towbar PF Jones in Manchester can sell the metalwork and the electronics from Dan @ Duckworth are about £80 IIRC and take a few hours to install

Theres a good few of us round this way if you need any advice on a particular vehicle that comes up for sale  FFRR MY06 facelift With TDV8 Alloys Zeros/ATR's
Mantec Sump Guard, Rigid Load liner, MY10 BT upgrade.

These 3 links might hopefully be of some help to you/ others potentially going to buy a RR (if you haven't seen them. There are many other threads by others too).

http://www.fullfatrr.com/forum/topic18648.html

http://www.fullfatrr.com/forum/topic18344....yer+beware

http://www.fullfatrr.com/forum/topic18536.html

Ps.. you might also get some useful info off the Wiki to the top right of the website screen.

From my own experience, make sure the FBH / Timed Heat works. It's £1500 to replace.  Graham

____
Gone: 10MY L320 RR Sport HSE, Ipanema Sand
Gone: 20MY Jaguar iPace HSE, Silicon Silver
Gone: 17MY RR Evoque SE Tech, Loire Blue
Gone: 08MY Discovery 3 XS, Stornoway Grey
Gone: 07MY FFRR TDV8 Vogue, Stornoway Grey

Thanks for all the replies guys: really helpful information, especially the links to the Approved Used buying saga.

It seems that wherever I source a car from it'll be a question on going through the service book with a fine toothed comb, good test drive and checking the many electrical gadgets work without fault. TO be honest my ideal car would be private, one owner. Unfortunately it appears the majority of cars are sold through a dealer so private sales are quite limited. I am happy to look nationally, but it appears quite a few cars are Cheshire, Yorkshire or Midlands to hopefully we shouldn't have to trek too far.

Interesting what you say about Stornoway Gray being more forgiving than black. My last 2 cars have been black and I agree they are difficult to keep clean but looked fantastic when freshly waxed. I didn't suffer too much from stone chips.

An '09 Vogue I looked at showed a surprising amount of stone chipping to the nose. I don't know if this was unique to this car or if it was softer paint or the slab like front of the FFRR compared to the Cayenne.

Out of interest, are there any benefits of spending a little extra to get a facelift 2010MY car (still the 6 speed 3.6 rather than the 8 speed 4.4) or are the major differences cosmetic? Am I better looking for low miles rather than a newer car?

Thanks again. I'll keep you informed of my progress!

. . . A quick tip from bitter experience

Check the roof ! It's a long way up and defects can be easily missed. I bought my last one from a dealer over the phone after having had them do a "walk around" demo. Two days after it being at home and whilst cleaning it I discovered a large amount of diagonal damage. I subsequently contacted the previous owner who told me a tree branch had fallen on it !

After a quick phone call to the rather red faced dealer, I got some readies back !

Best advice I can offer is :
As few owners as possible
As much papaerwork as possible

Works for me everytime !

 Where do you go after one of these . . . ?

The facelift cars have an improved interior as well as exterior. Digital dash, better sat nav/entertainment interface, newer style steering wheel controls etc. prices are steadily falling now the new Range is out. Regularly appearing at £30k now. Lloyd Barnes

Current
Crendon 427 Sideoiler Cobra in build... 7 litres of madness!

Gone
2008 TDV8 Vogue - Black with Ivory/Grand Black Lacquer
2008 VW Touareg 3.0Tdi
6.3litre Dax Cobra - 12.34 Second 1/4mile at 114mph

In my opinion for what it,s worth, if you can afford it, go to a LR main dealer.

As you are looking at a four year old car then you will have a LR select warranty, as the vehicle is older than three years. It,s a good warranty but it is less generous that their approved one. I have the select warranty on my 06 RR and only used it once for an MOT failure on the top rear suspension joints. No problem the main dealer who serviced it and did the MOT sorted it.

You will get bad main dealers but I think in general they are ok. The vehicles do get checked before the warranty is put on them. If you don,t know the vehicle, which appears to be the case, then try and get someone who has some knowledge to go with you. I would be surprised if any mechanical fault is found but you may see some cosmetic problems, if so challenge the sales person and get it fixed. You,ll be surprised what they are willing to do.

In my case I found no problems with the vehicle at all but to do the deal I wanted a towbar and a full set of rubber mats inc the boot. The sales guy approved but then came back to say the cost of the towbar was £1500+ and they would like a contribution of £400 towards it. I had an appreciation of the cost of the towbar, so I was not surprised when he came back after doing his figures. I agreed and the deal was done.
However, it does illustrate how much movement they have on the selling price.

Also as a final point if you do have a problem you have the facility of LR customer support to complain to. '88 RR Classic, '90 Classic, '93 Classic, '02 Discovery TD5, '55 Discovery 3, '01 P38 4.6, '06 L322 Vogue TD6, 2012 L322 Vogue TDV8, 2017 L405 Autobiography
Wife. '01 Freelander, '07 Freelander 2.

Rear shockers leak for a past time and are 10x more expensive than a 2008... Leather wear, the seats are wearing much much quicker on 09> vehicles...

Thanks for the continued advice: it's really helpful to look at cars with the experience of people who've lived with these cars for a good period of time.

Although the price of the facelift models are dropping towards the £30k mark, the ones I've seen advertised at £30k tend to be a higher mileage than I'd want to get. £32k seems to be the floor for black or grey cars with less than 60k miles.

Craig, it's interesting what you say about seat wear on the 2010MY cars. I took a look at one today. Which needed some real TLC spending on it but the drivers and passengers seats look very saggy and tired.

I also saw a car with rusted wheel hubs. Is this a common problem? although only cosmetic it looked a real mess and I'm guessing is costly to fix. The other think I've noticed on a few older cars is the rubber seal on the bottom edge of the glass on the rear boot separating a little. I'm guessing there's a risk of corrosion later in the cars life.

The price point and colour preferences I'm looking at seem to bring up plenty of 'Westminsters'. From what O can gather, wheels, steering wheel and boot badge are the only differences. Mariana black is also the colour rather than Santorini. From what I can see Mariana has a blue fleck in it. How desirable is Mariana and will it be better or worse for resale in the future?

Rusting Hubs is VERY common and is very easy to fix with a quick sand and then Hammerite Black or Silver paint. 15 Minutes each wheel max. The rear rubber seal is removed completely on post 2007 cars and serves no sealing purpose.

And for good second hand cars, Gazellio has a very good reputation on the forum, so have a quick look at his website and maybe ask him to do a search for you  MY 2010 5.0 SC Galway green and sand interior!!
Have the Faultmate MSV2 Extreme to be tinkering with the settings etc. !!

I have one possibly for sale Mefster. Sent you a PM.