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I was in the same boat as you about 18 months ago when my P38 caught fire.
I briefly considered the TD6 but ruled it out when I drove one, it just wasn't the car for me, especially not having read about the gearbox problems. A friend of mine had a BMW 4.4 Petrol with the 5 speed ZF box on it and he had some problems with his gearbox so I ruled that out as well.
IMO the 6 speed gearbox fitted to the newer cars is reason enough to rule out the cars with the 5 speed.
The TDV8 is a nice engine but it has the potential for big bills. EGR Valves, Turbo chargers, split pipes, etc. It was this that pushed me towards the Supercharged petrol.
In the end I bought a 2006 Supercharged with a 2012 facelift that ticked all of the boxes that I was looking for. I've had to do a couple of little jobs, tailgate seal, little bit of bodywork, a set of tyres and a new battery. It's been serviced twice by Team Valley in Gateshead too. It sits about all week and gets used at weekends. It's not uncommon for it not to move for a fortnight at a time. With the new battery in it I've never had to keep it on a trickle charger either, it always fires first time.
Using it the way I do, a tank of fuel tends to last around a month, sometimes a bit more. If we go away for a weekend though I fill it a couple of times a weekend. I average around 14mpg locally, and when on a run it will do 25mpg on the motorway with the cruise set to 70mph.
I've had mine 18 months now and have covered about 7000 miles in it. Every time I start it, the burble from the petrol V8 makes you smile and it's much quieter then the 3.6 TDV8 we had when you're in the car. When you press the loud pedal the noise from the car is lovely, the roar of the V8 with the whine of the Supercharger too. The Supercharged RR is a quick car that has plenty of poke to overtake slower moving traffic on smaller roads, and when you're used to how they handle they can be pushed pretty hard. I've driven one with cheap tyres on it, and I've driven mine with Pirelli Scorpion Zero's on it, the tyres DO make a difference to how they drive so that might be worth bearing in mind when you look at a car.
For £15k you should be able to get a nice facelift Supercharged car that you put the key in beside the heater vents rather then beside your left knee. I believe there were also suspension changes carried out at this time as well which is worth having if you can 
If you do take the petrol route, you can usually get a lower mileage car for less money then you would a diesel. Another point to note, if you do go down the SC route, until 2008 they were only available as a Vogue SE so will have all of the toys thrown at them.
I'm convinced I made the right decision for me, only you can decide what is right for you, however, using as a second car only at weekends the petrol will certainly give you more Smiles Per Gallon 
David. 2002 4.6 Vogue SE - Alveston Red with Lightstone 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
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) Now, if you intend to crawl around town from traffic light to traffic light, get the diesel. Around town mine gets about 15 mpg using those little, itty bitty USA gallons.
22nd Dec 2015 11:11am
