14 months after selling my 2010 Overfinch L322 and living with a VW T5, I’m hoping to buy a 2008 3.6TDV8. It’s a 2008 Autobiography with 117k miles. Full history with receipts for remap, egr delete with blanking plates, full gearbox service, turbos tested, boost pipes replaced. Is there anything major at that age/mileage I need to be concerned about? Thank you...

Sounds good, not sure if it applies to the TDV8 as mines a TD6 but i would look at the following.

1) Torque converter, mine gave up at 115k, so may need doing if its been done then great.
2) Boot seals and water ingress into the left hatch, causes all sorts of gremlins.
3) Maybe charging system, make sure its over 14v,should be fine but again causes all sorts of gremlins.
4) Have a good look at the rear arches, ideally under the plastic lots going rusty, if its just bubbling there is bound to be more.
5) Check the subframe tubes, starting to see corrosion especially if its been knocked.
6) Check all air suspension bags, at that mileage some must have been changed, so good to know which ones.
7) give the car a good rock, listen for any squeaks at the rear, upper and lower bushes will be worn if not changed already.

I suppose just have a good look through the work done will tell you what's been changed.

Oh and take a look at the MOT history usually gives you a good indicator if work has been done on a needed basis or if its been done as per the service shedules.

Just some pointers.

Many thanks Snowy90.

I agree with Snowy, kgeddes.

You’ve owned an enviable list of RRs/LRs already...so you know how it goes.

I would suggest going into the next purchase being mindful that the 3.6 has to be 10+ years old now. With all the TDV8s, air leaks seem to be a common culprit. I’d think about inspecting all perishable lines, hoses and components, plus reviewing what has or what has not been renewed...

Keep us updated. 2012 4.4 TDV8 Westminster - Baltic Blue, Jet interior
1997 P38 2.5 DSE auto & 1998 P38 2.5 DT Manual
1988 Vogue 3.5 EFI - Manual, gone.
2004 Volvo C70 2.0T convertible, had since new.
2007 Mazda MX-5 2.0 Sport Roadster/Coupé, had since new.
2024 Mini Cooper S cabrio, JCW kit, 2.0, DCT auto

Thanks TDV8_Tommy.

I’ve just found out that the L322 (2008) has had 8 former keepers! The latest keeper has owned it from February 2016 which averages out at almost one owner each year for the first 8 years of its life!

Any ideas why a genuine Autobiography costing an eye watering amount of money would have so many owners in the early part of its life? It was registered in Wimbledon when new.

Thanks, as always...

Could have gone round a family, or been an ex corporate car which passed between different drivers within a company. Difficult to know really.

That does seem a lot of keepers, but bear in mind it’s keepers not owners..... There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
FFRR 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography Santorini Black.
Fiat 500x 1.4 multiair Lounge 2015
2010 LR D4 Commercial 2.7 TDV6

I should have said, if any one asks about should i buy a rangie, i always look at the amount of owners as whilst it may have genuine reasons for being passed around, the usual one is it kept going wrong.

In my limited experience, some are very good and some are always bad.

It’s a funny one.

Our C70 was owned by my mother in law from new. I then purchased it off her. I then sold it to my mum who kept it for a while. I then purchased it back off her!

So one family, but 4 keepers so far. Unless you knew that, it could put off a potential buyer. 2012 4.4 TDV8 Westminster - Baltic Blue, Jet interior
1997 P38 2.5 DSE auto & 1998 P38 2.5 DT Manual
1988 Vogue 3.5 EFI - Manual, gone.
2004 Volvo C70 2.0T convertible, had since new.
2007 Mazda MX-5 2.0 Sport Roadster/Coupé, had since new.
2024 Mini Cooper S cabrio, JCW kit, 2.0, DCT auto

Yeah, I'm buying one of my old cars back this weekend. This will be the 3rd time my name has been on the log book! I originally sold it to a friend who then passed it onto his wife when they split up (it was her car anyway) plus it was dealer registered from new.

That's 6 keepers on the log book but in reality it's only 2

Look at the mot history probably give a better indication of how it was looked after. Remember we had the recession then as well so RR were cheap and people bought them not realising how expensive they are to run

Didn’t buy it in the end...seller couldn’t back up some of the claimed preventative measures like EGR blanking, gearbox service etc. with receipts. Got a bad feeling that his advert wording was based on what buyers wanted to read....

Good decision to walk away. I had a 2003 L322 4.4 that I bought from a guy in Germany that had two previous owners and shipped it to Cameroon, where I was working from 2015 to 2017. I paid €10,000 (approx £7,500) for it. I had the usual L322 issues with it such as front air suspension bags failing, alternator failing, timing chain plastic guides disintegrating (resulting in £800 worth of spares parts sourced from UK and fitted locally by a resident French Land Rover mechanic) and cooling system issues. I maintained the car regardless of expense and it never let me down. When I left Cameroon, I sold it to a colleague for £8,000 (should have been £11,000 but he cheated me on the deal when I only had 4 days left in the country - some colleague!).

Returning to the UK, I was keen to buy a Supercharged L322. I bought a 2005 (55 plate) example from a private seller on Autotrader. I hadn’t been able to test drive it but the seller took me for a drive (or should that be a ride!) in it. I ignored all the buying advice I had used on my previous purchase. There was only service history up till the current owner had got it - he did all his own servicing of his “dream car”. Why not, he was a cherry picker mechanic after all (!!!) and the MOT was due in two days but “he couldn’t see any reason why it would fail”. One of the lower tailgate supports had rusted through, the camera image was blurry and the parking sensors didn’t work. Nonetheless, I paid my £6,000 (bargain!??) and drove it home.

I took it for its MOT on the Monday and it failed! All the tyres were the wrong speed and load rating so I had to buy 5 new ones (£540) and he had fitted amber lights to the sides of front and rear light clusters - illegal in the UK! There were several other issues that I had to put right. I contacted the seller to ask for a contribution but was told “private sale - sold as seen”. A little later I was experiencing a shove in the back when coming to a stop from speed. Found out that I needed a new gearbox! This would cost upwards of £4,500. I decided to cut my loses and px it for a Volvo V70 R AWD but it turned out that the RR had outstanding finance on it! I eventually managed to get written proof that this had been settled but I missed out on that deal. I then px’d the RR for a 2005 (05 plate) BMW 535d Touring as a straight swap.

The BMW had a 3 month warranty. Just as well as it turned out as it needed a new DPF that cost £1,800! Over the ensuing 2 yrs 8 months that I had the BMW, I spent in excess of £9,500 maintaining it. Having finally lost confidence in the car’s reliability, I sold it on Facebook market place for £3,200 and bought a 2008 (08 plate) L322 TDV8 Vogue SE with 92,000 miles backed up by FSH for £8,300 from a dealer. I took it to an independent Land Rover garage and they plugged in the diagnostics tool and it reported no faults at all. The car came with a 12 month warranty to include cover for the EGR valves which appear to have been changed. Three weeks in, we are still pleased with our purchase and achieve 23-32 mpg depending on road/driving etc and have calculated that it costs around 21p per mile in fuel. I usually top up the fuel tank when it gets half empty as £50 seems better than £132 for an empty tank!

Apologies for the lengthy reply but had you gone ahead with your purchase, your story could have reflected mine...

Wow. You got a good one in the end, fella.