I need help buying a Range Rover

[bmilcetich]

I have always desired a Range Rover. I am currently looking at purchasing a 1987 Range Rover or a 1990 Range Rover. I was hoping someone could tell me what to look for in those model years. I am generally looking at late 80's or early 90's. I really like the design of those models.

My concern is what I am getting into. I have heard the stories of Land Rover having poor reliability. Are parts/mechanics/repairs hard to find and expensive? This will also be a family hauler, so safety will be important. I'm coming from owning a couple of SAAB's who also had a reputation of poor reliability, but have had good luck with the models I have owned. Can I expect the same thing from a Range Rover? Am I in for headaches? Will my wife think I am crazy for not wanting a mainstream car?

I hope I will become a Rover owner. Please provide me with any insight you can give me into Land Rover ownership. Thnak you in advance.

[Pedro]

All can say is look a the chassis,make sure its sound and not rotten,
Im sure more guys will be along with mor ideas ...Hello

[Kevin88RRC]

http://rangerovers.net/ has a lot of info for you.

[John C]

>I have always desired a Range Rover. I am currently looking at purchasing a 1987 Range Rover or a 1990 Range Rover.>

1987-1988 had the 3.5 litre engine with LT230 Transfer Case and no ABS.

1990 (and other years) had the 3.9 litre engine with the BW Transfer Case. I prefer the LT230 TC instead of the BW.

I also prefer the older years cause there are less things that might go wrong. Obviously they are under powered for such heavy vehicles.

>I was hoping someone could tell me what to look for in those model years. I am generally looking at late 80's or early 90's. I really like the design of those models.>

Biggest problems are rust on the floorboards, B pilars, tailgates and a few other spots. Headliners sag, seats switches get dirty or go bad, fuel pumps go bad or the connections corrode, shock towers rust, SLU go bad, etc etc... Not all older RRs have these problems but some of them do.

>My concern is what I am getting into. I have heard the stories of Land Rover having poor reliability. Are parts/mechanics/repairs hard to find and expensive?>

Parts hard to find... not really, it's getting easier and easier nowadays to find new or used parts at a fraction of the dealer cost. A lot of people have cross referenced parts with other manufacturers. For example, the fuel pump on my 88 RR is from a 70s Cadillac and I paid only $80 for it (brand new), seat switches are the same as Mercedes Benz and cost $69.95 at GermanStar.com compared to $125 at AB, BP, etc.

>This will also be a family hauler, so safety will be important. I'm coming from owning a couple of SAAB's who also had a reputation of poor reliability, but have had good luck with the models I have owned. Can I expect the same thing from a Range Rover? Am I in for headaches? Will my wife think I am crazy for not wanting a mainstream car?>

I think they are very safe.

>I hope I will become a Rover owner. Please provide me with any insight you can give me into Land Rover ownership. Thnak you in advance.>

If I were you I would look into a RR like this one:http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...spagename=WDVW

I am not affiliated with this seller. You also might want to consider a 95 LWB with the Disco style dashboard.

Just my opinion.

Good luck and let us know what you decide.

John C

[hermanpj]

i bought a 1991 Range Rover Classic a few months ago and love it. here are my ideas.
-join a local land rover club. someone in the club is a mechanic or owns a landrover shop usually. also someone in the club may have a great vehicle for sale. you can ask everyone in the club their opinion of the vehicle.
-get the thing checked out by a qualified mechanic. pay $100 or whatever it costs to really have it looked at.
-dont buy one with air suspension. this is the single biggest pain in range rovers. vehicles from years with air suspension are often converted to springs & shocks. great if someone else has done it... expensive if you have to pay for it.
-buy a rust free vehicle: look in Texas or Southern California. Some place with no ice.
- if you plan to offroad, look into the short wheel base models, and look for one that already has offroading accessories installed (buying these already installed on a used vehicle will save you a ton)
- if you do not plan to offroad the truck, buy the long wheel base
- the reliability concern on range rovers comes from two main areas (others may disagree, but this is what i see): 1) the aforementioned air suspension which is to be avoided at all cost 2) the Lucas electrical system/components, especially things like window lifts, door locks, etc. all of these can be fixed, and you'll have to expect some things to need replacement on a 20 year old car. i will say this though. i have 189K miles on my Range Rover and it runs great. i have driven this truck up and down trails you would not believe. i'm willing to overlook the occasionaly hiccup, especially those i can fix with the internet and some elbow grease.

- email me if you want to talk more

[Moeras]

"I have heard the stories of Land Rover having poor reliability. "

Someone said - Land Rovers has been called unreliable for the last 20 years. They are so good at it that they can remain unreliable for more than 20 years.

Here in South Africa there is a friendly fight between the Land Rover & Jeep owners.
When the Jeep Guys call Landys unreliable - the Landy answer is " Show me a 20-30 year old Jeep! (There is none!)

One this you have to realise - a Landy will demand you time and attention. If you take care of it it may even outlast you wife.

Moeras.

[Carlos]

bmilcetich:
Besides what has been said,if you're looking to buy in U.S. look for the "county" model,(lots of extra gadgets),if you're in Europe,look for the "vogue" model.

Carlos

[dardo1]

Rovers get a bum rap, although they do have a lot of problems, but not with the powertrain, which one of the best in the business. Electical problems are abundant, but most of the time its a simple swith and parts are so easy to get at Atlantic British and Pacific British and at very good prices. So my point is you can easy swith out switches and other little simple electical issue your self. The air suspension in the models up to about 98 are horrible but i can say that the Air suspensions have improved a lot since around 98 and especially after 1995. I have three and love them. I have a 2000 Range Rover SE and have not had a single problem with and everything works perfectly. Scheduled maintanance is probably more importnant with Rovers than any other car. The year you are looking at, make sure to look for rust and make sure all the dummie lights work in the dash but that none are on indicating a problem. Good Luck...

[ArmyRover]

Keep the saab for the gas mileage lol I added a saab recently to the stable and have had great luck with it. A few minor hiccups but nothing major.

Parts are easy to find for the RRC(Range Rover Classic) good mechanics are harder to find. Most of us though have found that using the forum, a manual, common sense, and a good set of tools will save you tons of cash, impart a sense of accomplishment and knowledge. This is the route I would go if your the least bit mechanically inclined. Nothing on a rover is that hard to do time consuming mainly. Ok the electrical gremlins can be a pain in the ass but, I for the most part have been lucky on that one.

The drivetrains are very reliable when maintained. The key phrase being the when maintained, just like the saab a RRC will treat you well if you take care of it.

On the rust issue I will put it in a little simpler terms on where to look. Look at both front floor pans right where they meet the inner fender they tend to rot there, also check the rear seat belt bolt anchors that are on the wheel well another common spot, check the upper tailgate, also check under the carpet and padding in the rear cargo area.

I am partial to the 3.9 liter with fuel injection yes you do loose the better transfer case but the borg warner unit is actually pretty darn good overall. I think the trade off for a little more power is worth it and with the prices you can find a Lt230 transfer case and linkage for anymore it's worth it to me.

I agree with finding a local club having friendly helpful insane people like yourself can make finding the right rover and having fun with said rover a lot more fun. Post up where your at and I'm sure someone will let you know what's local.