I recently viewed a 2007 TDV8 FFRR, apart from being a bit dirty there was no rust on the body, the rear arches and tailgate were basically rust free which I know is rare.

However as I am new to looking at these cars I was slightly concerned by the rust under the car and in and around the suspension, of course I expect to see rust but does the below look normal? Maybe the exhaust is what is catching my eye the most…

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Thats normal for a 15 year old car

Cool thanks. So guessing mostly surface rust.

Understand these are not great shots!

The rust in your first picture is on the exhaust, in the 2nd picture it’s on a shock absorber, and in the 3rd it’s on the exhaust again and the rear wishbones.

All of those are parts that you can remove from the car so if that’s as far as it goes I’d be more then happy

For a 15 year old car, if that’s all you could see then I’d buy it!

David. 2002 4.6 Vogue SE - Alveston Red with Lightstone Leather
2007 Range Rover Supercharged in Java Black with Ivory Leather
2012 Range Rover 5.0 SC Autobiography in Indus Silver with Jet/Ivory Interior
2012 Range Rover 4.4 TDV8 Autobiography in Baltic Blue with Sand Interior

Thanks.

The front seats need a good reconditioning too (SE seats with screens). Any recommendations in the south east for this?

Yes: http://www.benchmarkleather.co.uk

Great thanks.

Sent him an email with some pictures to get an idea of price. Thought I would start totting up the bills on the to do list so I have an idea of spend if I go for the car. It’s quite dirty but I think there’s a good clean car under it all.

I would go along with what David said, except your car is much rustier than mine in those three areas so check under the cill covers, mine are quite bad yet the rest of the car looks better than yours.

David Range Rover 4.2 Supercharged 2006
Ford Focus EcoBoost 1.5 2017
MG TF 2003

Previous Cars of note
Land Rover Discovery 2
Jaguar Mk2 3.8 - Company car
MG Midget 1974 - Concours

Ok thanks. Thought it looked like it all needs changing sooner rather than later.

Here’s the arches. Small bubbling at the back of the rear passenger arch but the rest looks good to my untrained eye.

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The bad rust happens behind the plastic sill panel, get a trim tool and pull the trim away where the red line is, you only have to pull it an inch or so, then use a torch and look down behind where the arrow is...

Also stick it in off road height, open a door to stop the suspension levelling and have a look at the rear jacking points, the sill cover is cut around them so you can see the bottom face of the sill. albeit a small part, see how rusty this is, if rust scale comes off in your hand you really need to take the whole sill trim off (if the seller will let you) to see the extent of the corrosion....

The corrosion pattern can differ greatly, some with little visible rust like yours can have huge holes in the sill and this can work back through to the rear subframe mount and cost thousands to repair, others with bubbly arches on the outside have little rust within the sill... If you have doubts or the seller won't let you remove the covers then IMHO walk away....

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Great advice.

Much appreciated.

I've been through this recently... as has been said above the only way of knowing is to take off the trim. Mine car looked OK no sign of any rust.. but underneath the trim I was greater with this.

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Good to know.

I am still in 2 minds as to if I will buy a L322 in the first place!

Just went to see a low milage (60K miles) 2009 FFRR in Buckingham Blue in decent condition. It had some brief tailgate rust but also at the rear arches, and only at this spot. The car also had deployable sidesteps.

The seller wants premium money for it as it is well maintained been looked after by indie twice per year keeping an proactive approach and low milage. The main bits that has been replace is an front control arm, brakes all around and generator (what I know so far).

Based on the pictures in the link, how bad do you believe it could be under the sill covers? Should I walk away or bite the bullet and budget for a rust job? (L322's rarely come to sell in Sweden).

Additional rust pictures = https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1At...KDkfddRZCV

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Typical for these cars which were never designed to last more than 5 years...... 2012 TDV8 Vogue (L322)