Hi all,

I'm new to L322 ownership and really appreciate this forum. It has helped a lot to get to know the car.

I previously had a Range Rover Sport for 19 years - from new to 400.000km. I had to give it up due to a rusty handbrake bracket... The repare would have set me back five times the worth of the car. The car was a loyal workhorse - with regular service, there were virtually no problems until the handbrake issue.

I live in Berlin, but dediced to get a RHD from the UK as we're moving to South Africa this year. I'll bring the car with me.

The car I decided for is a 2012 5.0 S/C autobiography in Santorini black with black and ivory and Grand Black Laquer trim. The car has the standard autobiography features + rear seat climate and reclining seats + tinted class on the side and rear windows. I would have preferred green or blue with sand interior, but you can't get it all. It had 73.000 miles when I bought it last year. The service history was not fully documented so I'm hoping for luck. I decided for this car as it has no rust (at all). I'm not sure where it might have been driven... or maybe mostly in the summer...

I've learned through this forum there is more to it than fuel consumption and performance when deciding for a L322 diesel or petrol (i.e. timing chains and supercharger). The engine offers spectacular performance. If I had to decide again then I would decide for a diesel as I think it suits the character of the car the better. Anyways, I'm very happy with the car.

The local land rover dealer in Berlin told me there is no issue with timing chains, nor supercharger. We'll see how long it lasts. I expect to have to do the timing chains at some point though.

So far I replaced a NA rear light box for a European version, made an almost full fluid service (transmission, engine, brake fluid, rear and front diffs, transfer case, engine coolant), bought a Westfalia tow bar, replaced the ashtray for a non smoking storage, got a dog guard, got an Invery bluetooth dongle, got a missing front towing eyelet cover, replaced a damaged fog light bezel, got new rubber and carpet mats, a rubber cargo mat and some missing cargo side nets, and roof rails with cross bars (now I have four cross bars, including those from the Range Rover Sport ).

I also fixed an Adaptive Suspension Fault, which turned out not to be an issue with the cable, but the connector got detached as the strut was turning and putting pressure on the connector.

I replaced the battery as I got all sorts of strange fault codes in the IID tool. It helped. Now there are no faults.

On my todo list is:
- Get a bike carrier (the original LR part would be perfect for my two mountain bikes)
- The coolant just started to leak...
- Get four new tires (probably General Grabber AT3) and do a wheel alignment
- Refurbish and paint the brake calibers
- Upgrade the DAB to DAB+ (I already have the D4-in2-djv2 module - thanks to this forum!)
- Refurbish the rims
- Maybe it's time to replace the front airbags soon as well
- I also had the battery installation / cables cleaned up by the land rover dealer, but he managed to destroy the blower housing where the ECM cables are lead through...

See you around!