I have owned my 2011 4.4TDV8 for around 18 months. The car has been under warranty during that period, and I have made some use of it. Under warranty I have had the tailgate replaced (the usual bubbling issue), plus a new oil cooler (belts were changed at the same time, this was a big job). Separately I have replaced certain wear and tear items - tyres, disks and pads. Recently we did the oil drain mod to prevent regular DPF warning lights (the car spends a lot of the week in town). Car is in superb condition, and runs beautifully. It has been serviced every 12 months, regardless of mileage. Just had the inspection 1 with brake fluid and MOT done, no issues raised.

So here is my dilemma. The car has just hit 101k. The warranty runs out in a few weeks, as a Land Rover warranty we can't extend on a car over 100k. I feel like I am stepping into the unknown. I'm weighing up my options (do I hold the car, do I chop it in, do I go for a third party warranty), and in doing so I'm interested to hear from other owners who have taken a 4.4tdv8 over 100k.

What are the most likely causes of grief over the coming miles? Gearbox and turbos spring to mind. I am struggling to find many stories of the 8HP70 going pop/causing problems - although appreciate it is a fairly new gearbox. Similarly, there seem to be a few stories of turbos going on the 3.6 car, but few problems to report on the 4.4. I think my other worry is the electronics/sensors. Apart from the aforementioned DPF issue, we have also had the fuel level sender fail, and sensors/electronics relating to the front shocks fail. All fixed fairly recently.

If the worst happens, I would expect a rather large bill for replacing the turbos. £3-5k for both? And if the gearbox needs rebuilding, £3k? Am balancing the size of potential bills against the likelihood of something actually going pop, and against the cost of a third party warranty (more on that below). I'm hoping that having lavished time and money keeping the car in good shape, the risks are relatively low. Famous last words.

I don't hear unmitigated praise for the usual warranty companies (WWise and WDirect). Both seem to want around £1000 per year, to just cover the gearbox and engine. I have read various reports about their warranties being useless - for example a seized turbo not being covered as it's wear and tear. Is a third party warranty a waste of time?

The other option is to sell, and move onto either the same car but with fewer miles and a LR warranty, or possibly a 5.0 petrol of similar vintage. I'm even thinking about stretching to a L405 with around 50k on the clock and the LR warranty - wondering if over a three year period it would cost me much more than holding our current car.

Thoughts welcome!


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You could always talk to Car Care Plan as they underwrite the genuine warranty. If it was £1500 a year that's cheaper than taking the Trade/Retail split for changing the car.

We were talking recently, planning ahead for later this year when our Approved Used warranty expires; do we take out extended warranty or put money aside? Here is our conversation and your thoughts rolled into one, if that makes sense....

You have said it yourself; there are no known issues with the turbos and gearbox on the 4.4 TDV8. The issues that have arisen are not remotely model-wide.

They've sorted the tailgate and oil cooler and everything is running fine. I would say that your car is just about run in at that mileage... it's a large capacity diesel designed to cover many miles.

Put some money aside each year for emergencies and just enjoy the car. Find a decent independent and buy some breakdown cover. If the worst come to be and the car is off the road, you can always hire for a few days......that's what we thought anyway.

But we will almost certainly not going to be tied to the dealer network by worrying and trading up or across; it's big step but many, many manage quite well so why not us? And you.

put money aside, you seem to have had most of the jobs done which need doing as part of the "things that break" category. As Dom said Car care plan underwrite the LR warranty and though you can't buy direct from them they do sell similar retail policies through dealers, branded as dealer group own warranties. Inchcape do one through hunters which is CCP, which is very similar to the LR warranty. I have one on my disco as it has a recurring fault, which costs 1500 quids each time it goes and goes roughly once every 18 months...... the warranty is £695, so over a period I'm generally up. However i hammer the car with trailers and building sites

on the RR i would be more inclined to put £150 aside each month for a couple of years, you will then have a fix it fund should anything go wrong. Trading in a car over 100k will put it straight to trade, and you will get less for it even if it is mint. You know the car, and whats been done, and milage is just a number at the end of the day. If you don't like looking at it switch the display to something else

thats not to say something won't go pop, but there don't seem to be the problem areas like on the 3.6, oil cooler aside, so it should be a random failure, which just makes it more fun  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

If you have been having DPF problems then maybe a petrol car would be better.

My 4.4 TDV8 has had various problems, listed on other threads on here, but when LR declined to honour their paintwork warranty in respect of my rusty rear wheel arches I decided I would not buy a warranty extension from them. I'm not a fan of the other warranties, just on the basis of general reputation. I will just take my chances and if the car becomes uneconomic to repair or an irritating money pit I would aim to sell it for whatever I can get and buy something else (probably another RR, as "what else is there"). Since the warranty expired I have had only routine servicing plus freeing off of brakes in 15 months, though leaking rear shocks and turbo may require work soon. I have arranged for £300 worth of paint work (stone chips and hindquarter corrosion). I don't regret not buying a warranty, I would have paid at least £2400 for two years' cover by now. I do have breakdown cover, which includes at my home and transport to a workshop of my choice.

I had my 2004 4.4 for over 6 years with no warranty. There were some pretty costly phases, and the engine eventually got to a stage where repair was uneconomic. I didn't try to calculate how my expenditure compared with the cost of buying warranties, and not all of the issues would have been covered, but didn't regret not buying warranties.

So I wouldn't bother with a warranty, but rather keep the car maintained and try to have money available for repairs, accepting that some will be required. Only Range Rovers since 1988

Thanks all. I'm inclined to agree - keep the car and enjoy it, and maintain a slush fund instead of a third party warranty. I have a great indy just around the corner to keep her in top shape. Here's to many miles of trouble-free motoring!

My take on it is this (without knowing, or wanting to, your financial position) :-

Do you worry about the neighbours/gravitas of the age of the car? Yes? Private plate then. No? Non-issue

How much will you spend to upgrade? And how much of that will you lose in depreciation over the same ownership period as you've just done now? You need to compare that against the cost of another 3/4 years' heavy heavy maintenance/repair and depreciation on your current motor (depreciation curve likely to be shallower on a car getting up on the miles point-to-point). I am fairly sure I know the answer financially will be far less than buying new - so in my mind thats another win.

Is the worry over repairs a cashflow one - ie you need the warranty there to pick up the bill as you dont have much liquidity? If so I can see why a single monthly payment which gets you a newer car with warranty is attractive. However see point 2 above - it will be costing far more. As others have said, chuck £100/200 a month in a pot for eventualities. So a non-issue unless something proper major needs doing in the first six months. That's what credit cards are for!

Are there options missing that you'd get on the new model, that you really need? Most things have a retrofit/aftermarket solution. Non-issue.

Is it the case that you just want a new car (and you have the budget for it), or circumstances have changed ? This to me is the only thing I can't say non-issue about!!!



Why not get it along to a trusted good-reputation independent, pay them a decent decent drink, get them to look over it thoroughly and give their feedback - say what's in your mind, and you can build an idea of planned maintenance/repairs, then all you need to worry about (!!) is the unexpected. They'll be good to build a relationship with anyway irrespective.






To quantify the above, prev to the FF we now own, we had a Galaxy, trouble free for five years, an all round good motor for what it was. Before that we'd always had high end cars but then the economy collapsed so we cut our cloth. One of the key things was keeping the cost of unexpected things down. So looked at the cost of an egr on a galaxy vs one on an audi/merc for example. When it came time to change the galaxy a year ago, times were a bit better and had been for a time, so we spent more and went backwards in age and mileage to get back into a proper high end motor, the FF. But did so on the basis that we had to have a decent budget for repairs, and partake in quite a bit of planned preventative maintenance. So far - two alternators (one a freebie with the labour refunded), a battery, two intercooler hoses, two egr valves, a thermostat housing, discs and pads, lower arms, currently in the midst of an FBH repair. Oh, and servicing. Bloody expensive, but largely expected. But we love the car, love it. 2007 Vogue TDV8 with 255/55/20's fitted

^^^ Couldn't agree more  Regards
Mark

2012 Westminster
GONE - 2007 Java Black FF Vogue, with Ivory interior

Mine has just turned 113 k, and the tailgate was replaced under warranty soon after I bought the car. I have since, at my own expense, worked through a list of repairs, discs & pads, all front suspension arms, rear brake pipes, wheel nuts, etc. I had budgeted for these items when I bought the car, and maintenance is obviously an ongoing process, as with any car. As we all know, LR spares prices are towards the higher end of the spectrum, so a contingency fund is essential. The only item that surprised me was the tailgate, as the car was just over 4 years old when that job was done.
I've recently had the oil cooler attended to, and next on the list will be serpentine belts and idlers. What I now have is a keeper, as I don't change cars every couple of years, and as the owner of a run-out 322, I consider it my duty to preserve it for future generations ! Mileage concerns ? Nope, the engine is so understressed that it never breaks sweat, 70 bhp per litre leaves plenty of headroom. Gearbox is perfect ( at the moment! ) but shouldn't say that really, best way to put a hexe on it !
My local indy guys are capital fellows, so although my fingers are crossed, I'd say that I'm as confident as any ff owner can be...
Risk is a constant, but on balance I'd say hang on to it ! And, as has been said before, the best toolkit is fresh oil ! I had every drop of oil replaced when I took mine on, engine, gearbox, transfer case and diffs.
Bon chance !

Kenny  The best 4.4 x far

All the above are extremely wise words and I totally agree. interesting nobody has said change it! Why would you. You know the car.

As an aside..I think people underestimate how much you can do to cars like this yourself too. planned maintenance has already been mentioned. I plan to do all my own from now on and keep photos / receipts etc. Even if you choose to keep the service up to date at an indie there is nothing stopping you enjoying the maintenance side of thisngs too and adding that little bit of TLC to keep things in good shape.

I've just brought a 10 litre pneumatic oil extraction pump for £90.00 and have priced up all service items - for £390.00 (pollen, air x 2, fuel filter, oil filter, engine oil, autobox oil, transfer case oils, front and rear diff oils).

I'm keeping mine and looking after it.

Enjoy it!  405 AB exec seats Baltic and Cirrus
93 RR Classic efi

Remember it's easier to get forgiveness than permission!

Gone in order:
4.4 TDV8 SE - gone to a good home
93 Classic hard dash Plymouth Blue
03 L322 Oslo Blue
2000 Disco TD5 ES Epsom Green
98 P38 Rioja Red
89 Classic Cairngorm Brown