Hello everyone

Some advice please.

I have just bought a 2011 L322 4.4 TDV8. My first RR.

To give myself the best chance of getting a good one I bought from local garage, a Subaru main dealer.

However a local RR specialist has identified a number of problems, none of which seem too serious to a layman like me.

Front to rear brake pipes badly corroded
-Front brake pipes covered in grease
-OSF heated and cooled seat in op
-Drive access height switch in op
-Air condenser clasped
-NSR jacking point missing
-OS outer CV boot leaking grease (MOT failure)
-OS and NS brake reaction arms bushes split
-Rear exhaust heat shield fixing braking off
-Front and rear anti roll bar bushes worn and causing creaking
-Rear discs badly lipped, New discs and pads are required

I have written the garage insisting these items are repaired, there will no doubt be some back and forth on some on these points.

However, there is what I fear might be a bigger issue. I am getting a knock from the underside of the car under cornering. It’s like someone is tapping the underside with a hammer. It happens at low speed upwards and not every time.

My question is should I persevere with the car or reject it? I can live with sorting out most of the above with the dealer or even spending a bit of my own money as the engine and gearbox seem spot on, but I am worried about the knock and the amount of grease on the rear axle which the specialist pointed out. What’s hiding behind that!

£12.5K paid, 90K miles.

Thanks for your thoughts.

John

Get rid, there's plenty out there 👍

Reject. Gone to a good home: 2011 4.4 TDV8 Vogue SE Buckingham Blue with Ivory and clear glass = "Rory"
2025MY Defender D350 90 in Silicon Silver on coils
1974 Series 3 Lightweight = "Millie"
Many, many other Landies over the years
My preferred specialist: www.glenrands.co.uk
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I'd reject it, the knocking noice is likely a drive shaft issue, joint on the way out, probably linked to the leaking boots.

Front to rear brake pipes a bit of a job, condenser could be a worry, the rest is very fixable DIY if your handy with the tools but the parts would not be cheap.

Personally, unless he offered a significant discount, i.e. a few £1,000 off I'd walk away, I'm sure you'd get better for less through this forum, generally well looked after cars at sensible money, they do come up every few weeks if you're prepared to wait.

Andy Fuji White / Jet 2012 4.4 TDV8 Westminster

That needs to be less than £10k really. Brake pipes and bushings to be expected really. Had to have mine done a few years ago.

Have a look what others are about and maybe pay for someone to look over it.

Jacking point missing is a worry. Hopefully it’s not all corroded away. Wonder what other maintenance has been skipped. Do all the tyres match? Decent brand?

It can all be fixed obviously but then you’ll have spent 14 or 15k.

 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

Oh and check the coolant doesn’t have oil in it or is dark. Oil cooler leaking is a common issue on these.

 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 all for your replies and advice.

No rust anywhere. Fully stamped service book and all invoices from previous owner over last 3 years and 30K miles. Odd invoice from earlier. Drives perfectly, knocking aside. I have done 1200 miles in 3 weeks in it. 4 x Pirelli Verde all seasons 10K miles ago.

The LR specialist raised no concerns engine and gearbox wise so I trust I am OK there.

I am going to go and speak to the dealer principal in person and see if I can get the car into a LRMD to have the various works done. If they won’t entertain that then I think I will have to reject it.

I forgot to say they have had it in once already to address the knock, clearly not fixed so as I understand it I have them where I want them should I need to reject it.

I am hoping their reputation as a RAC approved/Saburu MD means they are going to behave as they should.

As for buying an alternative, yes I have access to another car so can bide my time if is the way to go.

Thanks again.

John

I'll say that's not a bad price from a dealer for a sub 100K miler with that list of faults if that's all the faults a specialist could find but if they didn't identify the knock you have to wonder how far they looked?
The dealer needs to agree to fix these without question;
OS outer CV boot leaking grease (could be the source of the knocking)
OS and NS brake reaction arms bushes split
Front and rear anti roll bar bushes worn and causing creaking 2012 TDV8 Vogue (L322)

Thanks Jaygee, that is helpful. If those are the fundamentals that need sorting, good to know.

I expect they will quibble on brake disks etc which to be fair I can understand.

I think this car has had anything that came up on MoT resolved but nothing that didn’t.

I have confidence in the specialists, they come recommended by my son’s colleagues. He works for JLR.

I shall let you all know how the convo with the dealer goes.

Sale of goods act is your friend here - you've paid strong money for the piece of mind that a retail purchase should bring with it; they don't have any wiggle room and all of your issues should be fixed, but expect a fair bit of resistance from the dealership.

The only one on that list that has me wanting to know more (assuming everything else is accepted and corrected), is the missing jacking point - is this just the pad within it, or has a repair been carried out and it is no longer there in any shape or form.

... if it's otherwise the colour / condition / specification that you wanted, keep it once they have prepared it how they should have done in the first place. 2011 Range Rover Vogue SE 4.4 TDv8

Thanks all for the various bits of advice. As a couple of you have called out the Jack point as a particular concern, I took a picture. I think it’s a simple case of the rubber fixture having been lost rather than anything more sinister, no evidence to my untrained eye of any welding etc. Front as it should be, rear missing.

I'd say some of these are pretty minor:

- the jacking point is a 2 second fix. I've seen these rubber mounts fall off and easy just to replace.
- corroded brake pipes is common on a 13 year old L322. Not a particularly quick fix, but straight forward enough.
- front brake pipe covered in grease - sometimes a sign of a careful owner - some (inclulding myself) use light oil on the metal parts of brake pipes to help reduce corrosion.
- rear exhaust shield - quite common and often due to catalytic corrosion between the aluminum heat shields and the steel mounting bolts - often I've used large washers if it is the heat shield that has corroded. Harder if the mounting bolt has rusted away but usually easy to fix. Can make loud knocking as a car goes over bumps but which is easy to fix.
- anti roll bar bushes - not a huge issue on a car of that age and easy to replace.
- rear brake discs - consumable items and easy to replace.

Others could be more significant:
- Air condenser clasped - presumably you mean the aircon condenser has failed. Again not surprising on a car of this age. Could be quite expensive to replace.
OSF seat - could be anything
Drive hight switch - could be lots of things, but important that this works
CV boot leaking - important to get fixed
Not sure what a brake reaction arm is - but if you're talking about control arm bushes, they are a bit of a pain, but not that hard to replace.
Knocking - important to know what this is (could be the heat shields).

Sounds like the Subaru dealer took the car in part exchange and haven't even done a basic once over before they sold it on to you. I would have said most used dealers would do a pre-delivery inspection and picked up and fixed at least some of these.

The local RR specialist is always going to find things that a generic dealer wont see. If you get them all fixed, it could be a good car. Current:
- 2017 L405 3.0 V6 Autobiography
Sold:
- 2013 L405 4.4 TDV8 Vogue
- 2004 L322 4.4 Vogue (BRC LPG)
- 2002 L322 4.4 HSE (having fixed timing chain guides)
- 2000 P38 4.6 Vogue (BRC LPG)
- 1981 2-door In-Vogue
- 1980 Ex-Army SIII LWB
- 1976 SIII LWB
- 1968 SIIA
Stripped for parts:
- 2003 L322 4.4 Vogue

Thanks all again. A swift conclusion here. I went over and spoke to the dealer unannounced earlier. He clearly sees me as a customer he can live without! That’s not to say in any way that he was at all unhelpful or obstructive, quite the opposite in fact as he has agreed to refund me and take back the car. My writing to him listing the faults has I think moved me into the ‘too much trouble’ category. For my part I offered without being asked to accept £500 less than I paid as I have driven 1200 miles in the car. Honour satisfied all round. I will start over but this time insist on an expert inspection before agreeing to purchase. I may be returning a fundamentally sound car here, but I shall sleep better tonight.

As mentioned before, the guys here regularly sell through the forum, so a quick shout out with your available budget and spec you want and you might get yourself a good deal and a nice motor at a private price, albiet likely without a warranty though.

A. Fuji White / Jet 2012 4.4 TDV8 Westminster

I'd also add (now that you're getting your money back), that with some careful searching you can probably get at least as good for 2/3rds of the price this one cost and then use the balance to make it perfect / save that additional money for a rainy day.

My own was the colour I wanted, a better specification & condition than I had envisaged, all the common problems had already been attended to and one 'extremely well healed' previous owner that kept it garaged throughout its previous life (so it really does have no rust on the tailgate!) and always had every piece of advised work carried out.

The fact that it also happened to be just 20 minutes from me in Surrey was a bonus.

Of course I expect it to have problems over time, but... 2011 Range Rover Vogue SE 4.4 TDv8