Range Rover Sport (or similar)

=adrian=

We are considering moving further out in the countryside. I would need a car that I can hit the roads whatever the weather. Snow, ice, mud, water... Also looking for comfort for family and myself as I would have to be the family driver, so spending quite a lot of time in the car.

Looking for opinions from owners or ex-owners of said car. Budget won't be massive, so I am considering older cars, from 2005 to 2009-10. Read online about astronomical costs of running older RRS. Would like to know how much truth is in it.

djbsom

Not really the answer you were looking for but,  we hired an x-trail for a week in May and it was much better than I was expecting. Very comfortable and quiet with plenty of room and kit. Panoramic roof, 360° camera, heated wheel/seats level of trim.
My point is that you could buy an x-trail much newer than an equivalent range rover for the money and benefit from much better reliability.
Also, I was so impressed with the x-trail that I looked into possibly buying one back in Britain on our return and I discovered that the x-trail is actually one of the worse SUV's currently available. This must mean that the likes of the CRV and Sante Fe must be really very good.
My suggestion to you would be to test drive a few of the cheaper SUV's and see how you get on.

noiseboy72

Old Land Rover premium products = big money on fixing them! It's not that they go wrong more often than any other 4x4, but they get abused and used as Tonka toys, so problems tend to go unnoticed until they become serious. Things like suspension compressors and control boxes tend to be hugely expensive.

Living in the sticks doesn't require a 4WD - trust me, we lived in the middle of nowhere for years with nothing more than a tricked up HiLux, Discovery, Shogun and Suzuki SJ... We probably "needed" the 4WD capability on road on a handful of occasions and used the full abilities for green laning, 4x4 fun days and for the wife's gardening business.

If you need the ability to get through snow covered roads, then you also need big M/T or A/T tyres as standard road tyres on a 4WD will probably get you just further enough to get properly stuck!! Icy roads are more dangerous in a 4WD, as you have more weight to stop and precious little extra stopping power. Winter tyres on a lightweight front wheel drive car are probably all you would need to keep moving.

Have a look at the Peugeot 3008 - Hybrid if you can find it. Very good to drive and not bad when it gets slippery as well. I would also suggest SUVs as a good halfway house - or a Subaru Legacy. Every farmer and his dog drives them around here, as they are comfortable, quick and will take some abuse. The younger guys prefer a pick up - normally a Mitsubishi L200 Warrior at that age, but I've never been a fan. Fuel economy is terrible and the ride worse.

=adrian=

The idea is to be able to get to shops, hospital, etc. whatever the weather. The final bit will have no tarmac on and in winter will be problematic. Not only it's about snow, but also huge potholes which in winter freeze over and other times are like wee mud lakes. I reckon I need quite a capable car. I also reckon many of these "SUV" are not really up for the job. Too delicate and mostly designed with school runs in mind. I need something that can take the abuse and also will be quite reliable, aka a tank. Also with comfort.

I have been trawling Autotrader for the last few days, but other than Jeep Grand Cheeroke (which is not that popular in UK and not many of them around) and various Land Rover's, I am struggling for ideas.

Land Rovers are another solution, but they tend to be more industrial. I'm not sure I want to go that far. The car will spend most of the time on roads, but needs to be good off road too. That's why I have eliminated stuff like Hondas or Peugeot's.

There is also Toyota Land Cruiser, but I don't really like the looks.

There are also pickups, but the newer ones are very expensive and the old one are quite poorly equipped.

That's why I got to RRS. It seems to offer everything I want. Comfort, good on roads and off raods, but the huge costs in case of problems are worrying.

ian475

I have had a couple of cayenne’s,the 2nd gen ones,very capable cars and extremely comfortable.

noiseboy72

Have a look at the Mitsubishi Shogun. It's cheaper on running costs, handles well and has more than ample off road ability for an unmade road. You can get full leather and all the toys for sensible money.

In my experience, Land Cruisers are every bit as expensive as Range Rovers to fix and are not as bullet proof as some might suggest. Audi Q7 and even the BMX X5 will handle a few pot holes, but aren't very comfortable over the rough stuff.

None of these vehicles will handle flood water over the level of the axles without the risk of damage. If you need to be able to ford deeper water (We did at one of our homes) you need a wading kit. This consists of axle breathers and a higher level air intake kit.

If you do go for a Range Rover, get an unmolested one, from a LR dealer, with a good warranty. The V6 diesel has known (very) expensive issues - with crankshaft bearing failures leading to a new engine - about £15K...

=adrian=

I'm not sold on looks on the older ones to be honest. Also I would think they would also be quite expensive to run.

That's the reason I was considering mostly V8 petrol engines in RRS. 4.2 or 4.4. Thirsty, but also more reliable (at least from what I read). Might even consider converting it to LPG to keep the cost down. There is also the 3.6 diesel that is meant to be more reliable than the 2.7 diesel, but in current climate, I'm not sure I want to go down the (old) diesel route.

Hopefully I won't have to deal with deep water, but you never know.

These Shoguns are not cheap either And 99% of them are diesels too.

Forgot to mention, there are only 3 of us, so we don't really need a 7 seater.

It looks like I have really talked myself into one of these RRS... and I know I might regret that in future.

I'm surprised there are no people who owned one here though. I would really love some real world feedback, as all I get online on various forums are mostly people who never owned one telling everyone how expensive they are to run.

MAG77

Trust me don’t get a 3.6 diesel rangerover, that’s the v8 diesel and it’s even more problematic than the 2.7 diesel and even more expensive so fix! £2.5k each turbo and they go wrong a lot and you need to replace them in pairs or your asking for trouble! That’s if they don’t destroy the engine when they fail!
Generally they only last about 80k miles so if it’s done more than that it’s probably already had some if not it’s a ticking time bomb!
The most reliable engines are the v8 petrols but I won’t recommend converting them to gas unless you want valve problems!

=adrian=

I thought petrol could be the best bet. Interesting about LPG. There seem to be a few for sale with LPG conversion. I wonder why

I have spend the last couple of hours digging through internet trying to find some reliable info. Not easy. But it seems like the costs could be astronomical if anything breaks. Especially around the pneumatic suspension. Plus servicing is not cheap either.

noiseboy72

I would suggest that if buying a RRS is going to max out your budget, you may be better with something with lower running and repair costs. You probably need to budget 50% of the purchase cost for repairs over 2  years.