Hi guys, my name's Greg. I joined this fine forum in November 2016 as I shifted from browsing to serious about buying my first Range Rover.

I'm since addicted - to both the forum and the Range Rover and I post regularly. But seems a lot of people do a thread for their own trials and tribulations.

So I thought I'd get going with my own.

To start, I thought I'd wind back and build a complete post from the beginning.. So if you fancy a read, here’s the story of a first time Range Rover owner.

The early L322

I remember when the L322 first came out. The design was a show stopper. The cropped circle lights were breathtaking design at the time:

Great post. Love it and totally agree.
Had a P38 then a L322. Next was an L494 sport and now ( RS4 interim ) back in an L 322.

Life kept me busy in other ways and, despite a desire, I buried it, using running costs as a reason to pass.

The TDV8:

Weirdly, I remember this clearly - one morning in 2007, I was sitting with my wife having a lazy Sunday breakfast in Carluccios (told you I remembered it well), reading the Sunday Times. How nice is that? I reckon the sun was even shining! Straight to the Motoring section (naturally), passing my wife the Property section. There was big news - a new V8 RR, probably a Clarkson write up (brilliant pieces those), and in it was a crazy number. It wasn't speed, torque or power. It was MPG and the figure gave me a twitch. It was something like 25mpg.

' It looked like a Princess Motor Yacht. '... they meant it to. Gerry McGovern pointed this out to me on the Press launch of the L322.

Mate lays down a challenge

About 18 months ago, I thought I could justify a second car. I pointed out a couple of Range Rovers to my wife. She was encouraging but I was just testing the water and I didn't push the subject.

Then my mate bought a Cayenne. So I started looking at prices (Range Rovers not Cayennes). I always wanted one but my mate... Well he absolutely had to be outdone. I looked at 322's. I looked at Sports too. Thankfully, that was a blip and I was quickly back to a 322. But I was just a long term admirer, I knew nothing about owning, running or maintaining one. So I looked in brackets around 7k, £10k then £15k, trying to understand what the differences were (other than year) and it seemed I could try for a budget of maybe £15k and see what my wife says.

One thing was definite though, I wanted Stornaway with a cream interior.


My wife says NO

So I floated the subject again a month or two later, to be honest with you I thought it would be quick 'no'. But I nearly fell out my chair because she said "Get one! How much are they?"

I told her OK well we can spend a little, a medium, or a lot - these babies start at 7k and they go up to 70k. (I was never thinking 70k, just making the point that the ceiling is pretty high), I was more at, without much research, getting the best one I could find for around 12-15k.

A bit more confident now and I was seeking a £15k sign off. Maybe I'll land on 13k after a haggle. Well guess what? She said "NO...

...spend more." How cool is that? She said; "If you're going to get one, get a nice one". I would have been perfectly happy with a £15k budget. But I showed her a few, and she said "let's go into the low 20's. Can we get a nice one for that?"

Err - Hell yes I reply, picking myself up off the floor. That took the bracket up into a much newer vehicle than I was originally thinking. She's so great. And I quickly got to a shortlist of a MY09/10 3.6 diesel - with low miles. Or a very high miler MY10/11 4.4 diesel. By this time I'd joined the forum as was a complete newbie. If only I'd realised I didn't need the underscores in my username. Damn it. But huge gratitude to you guys here who helped me figure that out. Not the underscore thing, the 3.6 vs. 4.4. Everyone said get a 4.4.

That meant I'd be looking for one of these:

“ she said NO spend more......”

Now then , how much was that house in the property section ?  Filters are in fact so good that in certain circumstances, when the ambient air is already polluted, a diesel car will tend to extract more particles from the air than it emits. Emissions Analytics worked with........etc etc

He who dies with the most toys wins...

Then I found this guy:

I'm very jealous. That's exactly what I'm looking for! Perhaps I need to adjust my mileage filters as well!

Loving the write up! 2010 4.4 TDV8 Vogue SE

It's interesting your perspective on the original 2002 launch. I was wowed like you, but for different reasons.

I really liked the overall design, but didn't notice the details. It looked much bigger yet was a brilliant re-invention of the classic. It looked really fresh, and different to other SUV's.

What I really liked about it was how much they'd modernised the technology. Finally a monocoque with independent suspension that still worked off road. Goodbye to pushrod engines.

Here was a true luxury RR that you would swap an S class for.

With all the preamble and the story up to the collection day, I wanted to explain my what my impressions were from test drive to the first couple of weeks of Range Rover ownership.

Having never driven a RR except for a few test drives choosing one, it's quite a leap of a vehicle. To say the least. Certainly moving from any kind of normal car.

My first time

When I first tried a 2011 it was actually breifly daunting. Adding to it is that you don't want to look like a newbie in front of any dealer. You want to look like you've owned eight, including a classic and you're trying to be 'Don't try that patter on me mate, I'm seasoned'. But I tell you, first time behind the wheel, it was a foreign as getting into a cockpit of a 747. Normal cars have gearsticks, handbrake levers with a little release button on the end, and ignition switches to put your key into and turn. Cars have had these basic controls since forever. Not this beast, it has none of these things. Plus it's got buttons and lights everywhere. Like a 747. Which is also very cool.

On that first time it's so hard to play it cool with the dealer, you're baffled by all this stuff. Yet you're also like a kid in a sweet shop on an everything's free day. It's a mash of emotions. If I smoked, I'd need a cigarette after all this.

Ok, what do I do now? I'm sitting in the drivers seat. Salesman is sitting there next to you banging on about something or other and you just want to ask him to not speak. Relax, think... foot on the brake, shall I press the start button? Ok that worked out. What about gears? There's a beautiful knob where the gear lever would normally be, but it's hiding, buried in its flush, polished gunmetal plate home in the console. Whilst staring at it, the dial pops up automatically upon start. Phew. It's up but it's a dial. What the hell do I do with that? Wait, I recognise those familiar letters - a P R D etc. Flick it to D. Fine again. Handbrake next, again completely unfamiliar. It's a big switch. Like a beautiful breaker switch. Do I pull or push it down? I'll go with the push, what could go wrong?... Nothing explodes. Phew again and all seems fine. The whole time, the mighty 4.4 TDV8 has been rumbling patiently in the background and only my foot on the brake holds this 700nm titan back.

So what's it really like?

Once you're used to these different controls it's all fine. If anyone's ever switched from a PC to a Mac, it's the same weird feeling of unfamiliarity. But once acquainted with the basics, I can look up and out and I can appreciate the vista view out the front. It's like a floor-to-ceiling window in an architectural home, looking out at some sprawling-mountain panorama. There's no car I know gives you this view. And forget jumping back into anything else, you feel like the roofs been chopped.

Swivel your head to the living room area behind you and on a clear day, you can almost make out the rear tailgate in the distance. Parking, whilst a bit like trying to put a 40ft shipping container into a 42ft space, is made easier by the front and back sensors, together with the reverse camera. Mine's got the surround cameras too which really help. The cabin is so vast, I'm sure I've actually hired vans with less cubic meterage.

This is no van though, the 2011 interior is just stunning. Whilst still very true to the original design concept (see above), it's had nine years of incremental changes, updates and improvements. The final evolution of the interior (before the L405 wipes the slate fairly clean) is just beautiful. The finishes are sublime; mines ivory with perforated seat inlays (for the heat/cool front and rear). Piano black accents and flashes of brushed stainless/gunmetal around complete a beautiful cabin experience. The new, squarer speaker grilles in the door cards are very special. It's all so premium. There's no wood in sight on mine due to the piano black inserts and I love how clean, yet detailed it looks. But I might add a touch of wood at some point. I love the L332 Ultimate treatment. A project is looming there. Don't worry, I'll be subtle. No ebay wood kits will be entering this one.

I'm sure say a 2009 owner would notice some small steps up to the 2011. But a 2003-4 owner would, naturally, find it whilst very familiar, as if a bit of a time machine journey had occurred. Mostly in terms of tech. The TFT dash screen is mesmerising - I love how, at a glance, it looks like a regular dash with a tach and speedo. But I find myself pressing the menu key on the steering wheel to reveal itself as the computer screen that it actually is. Start pressing the terrain response panel switches and things liven up on the TFT. A lot. The whole speedo shifts to the right, (half off the screen) when you put it in low range and makes room for extra, off road info in the middle, between the dials. Smart because you'll only need the low speed end of the speedo when you're in low-range. And when you shut it all down, a serene sunset shows on the screen and says 'all is fine my friend'.

It's also the little things, as any 322 owner can appreciate, such as what I call the 'doubles'. Double glovebox, double cubby bin areas, double sun visors (a nice surprise when I found those!).

I love all the steering wheel controls, and the electric adjustable steering column. The electric seats. I love how you can long-press the remote lock and all the windows - and sunroof closes.

And I love all the they-didn't-need-to-but-makes-it-so-Range-Rover-things. Like the fairly unessessary but so wonderful door lights. Only a door on a Range Rover has this many lights - there's puddle at the bottom, door handle interior, footwell, exterior mirrors pointing down. I think there's one more on the door card somewhere. Oh, it's the door pull (interior). And on mine, illuminated treads.

But what I love most is not any one single feature or design. The whole combination of the design, the tech, the finishes, the driving position, the deep rumble from the V8, the panoramic view, the 1200w sound system, the gadgets, all those lights in the doors, and the sheer expanse of this superb vehicle, and so many more things - all these all combine to create an experience which is so incredible, that it's hard to quantify.

The best way I can describe it is that Euromillions feeling I got on that first drive back from the dealer, that I get (still) every time I jump in and drive off into the sunset. Or the shops. Or just off to work.

I look forward to every single journey. So I'd better take my foot off that brake pedal. The V8's getting impatient.

continues... Cheers, Greg
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2011 Vogue SE 4.4 with lots of toys in Stornaway

Last edited by GGDR on 31st Jan 2018 7:22am. Edited 3 times in total

Greg
You summed it up exactly. I remember the first time I drove a 2003 one, with the dealer sat next to me - the same feelings. Am I going to look a newbie in this!. And just recently (3 weeks a go) when I moved from my 2004 to my 2012. So much of my 2012 has the same feeling in it to the 2004, the same commanding position, the same sense of home, but yet its still different. The same sense of agony though when I haul myself back into either of them and lower back into the driver seat after 90minutes of Crossfit! You'd think after 5 years I'd remember to lower the thing when getting out at the gym.

Certainly the 2004 has some of the lights in the door card, but the 2012 seems to out do it. But you missed the one set of lights I love - which both models have - the little green ones in the headlining that light up the centre console. That for me, that's the Range Rover magic right there

Love it
Nick Current Fleet:-
2018 Discovery 5 3.0 HSE
2021 Ford Ranger Wildtrack
2019 Ford Mustang Bullitt 5.0 V8
1993 Defender 90 200TDI Pickup

Gone - not forgotten
2016 L405 4.4 SDV8 Vogue SE
2012 L322 4.4 Westminster
2004 L322 4.4 V8 Autobiography LE
2000 P38 RR 4.0 HSE (ex Clarkson test car)

Thanks Nick. Range Rover magic; a perfect expression!

The next instalment: Snagging it.

So there I was Mr. Happy in my new toy, living the life, cruising around in my new Princess Motor Yacht, err I mean Range Rover and then, within like a week, a few minors occurred. First the fuel gauge started having spasms. Then one of the surround cameras under the mirror died, with an ominous blue screen showing. I bit of googling suggested a new camera loom, but did not seem like a too well documented fault.

Then the DPF yellow light came on. I'm thinking - only a couple of weeks in, what's all this about? I live in central London and my commute is quite short. I'm not on the Motorway much either. Maybe once every two months. Even a 50mph stretch of road is 30 mins away if the traffic is kind. Turns out all this makes me an especially poor candidate for a DPF diesel. Hmmm. Have I done the wrong thing? Oh crap, in the time it took to write that sentence, the Yellow Warning turned to Red and I am in limp mode.

Is it falling apart? Have I been fleeced? I didn’t research DPF’s. Rang the dealer and they say bring it in. He's around the Enfield area on the Herts/London border. They have Mercs, Porsches even Rolls Royces in their stock. They're not bad to deal with but they were not, let's say, welcoming me back with open arms. The camera for example they would not commit to fix, only to take a look. But they know I am within rights and despite a slight fob off tone to the conversation, I'd limp it back in, take the train back to London, leaving it with them.

It was a long week waiting for it but they called and said come up and get it. I was literally on the next train. They did a forced regen on the DPF. I’ve now learnt the hard way to get it on a 50mph stretch as soon as practical once you see Yellow. Like the next time you drive it.

The fuel gauge is a known issue (plenty here on the forum about it) and I gave them the bulletin info when I dropped it off. They said it was fixed. Corrosion of the gauge connectors in the tank if anyone hasn’t heard about it.

I think they were worried about footing the bill for a replacement surround camera. Probably a pricey one, but lucky for them they found a loose connector. Seems easy. Camera was (and still is) working so fine by me.

And with that I drove off Mr. Happy once more. Ahhhh that feeling again. Quite addictive that. Especially when you go cold turkey for a week. Are we driving the crack of automobiles? Range Rovers are, after all, an expensive habit! And when they break they leave us wanting them more!

After all the highs, I’d now had the low of the classic "bring it back in for an unspecified time” trip to the garage. I now felt properly initiated now into the Club. Because a trip to the garage to sort something broken seems a given with owning a Range Rover. Touch wood.

Will this be a trend that continues? Only a >100k Range Rover will really test that out.

Greg

. Cheers, Greg
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2011 Vogue SE 4.4 with lots of toys in Stornaway

Great write up
I can relate to a lot of it, having recently bought my 2010 AB Black. Too many toys, not enough time

2011 4.4 TDV8 AB Black

I bet you really regret selling her now Greg!  2021 L405 Vogue SE 4.4 V8 DIESEL ~ #17

John w: Hang on to that feeling, it's why I wanted to do this write up.
And capture this incredible experience.
Vogue: Not sold? No plans either.

Cheers!
Greg Cheers, Greg
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2011 Vogue SE 4.4 with lots of toys in Stornaway