RANGE ROVER
Buying a Range Rover is like joining an exclusive club. It makes you stand out from the crowd. And the good news is if you have a budget of £10,000 you will have a very wide choice – because Range Rovers have been around a very long time.
Since 1970 there have been four generations of Range Rovers. The original (and many would say the best) was the vehicle we now know as the Range Rover Classic, although it was known simply as the Range Rover from its launch in 1970 through to 1994, when its successor, the P38 model, was introduced. Badged now as the Classic, the earlier model continued in production alongside its younger sibling for a further two years.
Unfortunately, the Classics are prone to very serious rot – just about everywhere. Unless you buy one that has already been completely restored, you will have a very expensive and/or time-consuming project on your hands. But you will still find a good one for 10k. V8 petrol engines are very thirsty, so consider a late-model 300Tdi and you will also get a reliable and economical vehicle perfectly capable of keeping up with modern traffic.
The second-generation P38s don’t go rusty, but they have a reputation for stuff going wrong. Land Rover’s engineers stuffed a lot of new technology into this model and not all of it was adequately tested. There isn’t much you can’t put right if you understand modern vehicle electronics, though.
In 2002 the L322 third-generation Range Rover was introduced and it suffers none of the faults of its two predecessors. There are no rust issues and it is very reliable. Unfortunately, when things do go wrong, they can be costly to put right. Parts and service items are pretty expensive, too.
The fourth-generation Range Rover, the L405, introduced in 2012, is still way outside our £10,000 budget – which is exactly what you’d expect from a car that probably cost over £100,000 and is still in production. PRICES
A budget of £10,000 will buy you an excellent first-generation Range Rover. If you’re looking for an early three-door classic, you could find one for this sort of money, but if it’s an everyday vehicle you’re looking for we’d recommend a late (200Tdi or 300Tdi) diesel.
Check every steel part for rust, which means bulkheads, sills, inner wings, footwells, floor and rear tailgate. Funnily enough, chassis rot isn’t usually an issue.
If you like solving complicated problems and enjoy diagnostics, then you’ll be able to buy just about the finest P38 on the market for £7000 – and still have £3000 to put right the things that will probably go wrong.
If you want an L322, you’ve got plenty of choice and £10,000 will buy you a car that was as expensive as a terraced house when it was new, 15 years ago. In fact it will buy you an excellent one, perfect in every respect, so get it checked over. The early diesels were built by BMW, later ones by Ford. Both are reliable, powerful and economical.