I moved back to East Africa recently, after living somewhere where you don't need a car.

I really wanted an L322. Many people counseled me against this. I caved and bought a Land Cruiser Prado, and spent my free time here, reading about FFRRs, pretending I had one.

Life happened and I needed another car. After much searching, I found that someone had shafted the Japanese exporter I'd used for my other vehicle. They'd "bought" an L322 in Japan, promising to pay on arrival, didn't pay, and so there was a 2006 Java Black 4.4 V8 sitting in the port, that the Japanese seller just wanted to get rid of. I pounced.

As we're now just past the first 5,000km service, it seemed like a good time to introduce her.

On day 0, I thought I'd made a huge mistake. Upon collection at the port, the ignition didn't turn. I replaced the battery and all was well...until I switched off again. A few hours of head scratching and googling revealed that the only way to start her was to pull fuse 18 in the glove box to reset the malfunctioning security bit thingy (the technical term).

I don't live by the port, so I did a quick oil and filter change, got new tyres, loaded up on spare fuses (I kept dropping them when pulling out Fuse 18 ), and set off on an 800km drive to see what would happen.

She performed astoundingly well, daintily sipping petrol as we barreled up the country. The V8 burbled contentedly inhaling the kilometers with a spine tingling roar when provoked. The oncoming tucks were only mildly suicidal. The traffic police were almost pleasant in their routine harassment. Life was good. Maybe this wasn't a huge mistake after all?

The ignition was easily repaired, following a youtube video to add a wire from the driver footwell light to the steering column, so that whenever the door is open, the necessary bit gets some current, and allows the key to turn.

I took her into Kenya, around Kilimanjaro. After a few days gentle offroading we went to Nairobi to get the gearbox serviced as an act of preventative maintenance.

Since then we've replaced rear brake rotors and pads as the rotors were grooved. Front sway bar links and bushes also had a change.

Given the tinting and colour, I can only assume her previous owner sold (ahem) recreational substances in Japan, so life is a bit different for her now. She seems to take it all in her stride and dare I say, enjoys the mud and dust a bit?

Anyway, having comprehensively jinxed it all, here she is:

Welcome.

Sounds like you are enjoying your new RR. Love mine. Longest I’ve ever kept a car.

Plenty of knowledgeable folk on here who are always willing to help, as you’ve probably read already.

I’m assuming yours has the BMW engine as opposed to the Jag unit? Can’t remember the exact time the Jag unit was used, but I know it wasn’t very long.


 2011 Range Rover Vogue SE 4.4 TDV8

Previous cars :
2003 Range Rover Vogue TD6
1999 Discovery Td5 ES
1995 BMW M5 3.8 6 speed
1992 Range Rover 3.9 Efi Vogue
1992 BMW M5 3.8
1988 BMW 735i SE
1989 Ford Sierra XR4x4 2.9i
1981 Ford Fiesta Supersport

Thanks! She's been a lot of fun so far. So much so that another is inbound, also from Japan.

Both are Jag V8s with the 6HP26 gearbox. I did consider the BMW's for a long time, but ultimately decided against them as there's no simple way of doing the bigger preventative stuff (like VANOS overhaul) here. Without being controversial, I was also cautioned against the gearbox that comes with the BWM M62. Terms like "cottage cheese" and "chocolate" were thrown around.

Those are the terms generally used for the GM gearbox in the TD6. Though I know the ZF units in the early cars can sometimes have issues.

 2011 Range Rover Vogue SE 4.4 TDV8

Previous cars :
2003 Range Rover Vogue TD6
1999 Discovery Td5 ES
1995 BMW M5 3.8 6 speed
1992 Range Rover 3.9 Efi Vogue
1992 BMW M5 3.8
1988 BMW 735i SE
1989 Ford Sierra XR4x4 2.9i
1981 Ford Fiesta Supersport