01 or 02 RR as a Daily Driver
 

Well my Suburban puked out it's head gaskets so I'm in the market for a new vehicle and I'm seriously looking at 01 and 02 RRs. *It would be used as my daily driver and kid hauler. I do about 50 miles a day. I do it in a Suburban currently so the 12-14 mpg is what I'm used to. I know condition plays a big part and I'm planning on buying a warranty of some sort for at least a year or two. Am I nuts for considering this? *I know RRs get a bad rap but I figure that if they were really as bad as people think that no one would buy them. *Any thoughts or advice would be much appreciated. I have to buy something in the next 2 or 3 days.

Take care,

Jim *

fifty bucks says the vehicle you buy will have leaks as well from the headgaskets along with the air bags and everything else.

These vehicles are not cheap to work on and not cheap to own. Welcome to LR where everything is expensive.

How much are you looking to spend Jim? As Roving4life said, chances are any 01 or 02 rangie will probably have leaky head gaskets. This seems to be a problem with rovers that have the BOSCH engine management. Although, still an issue, head gasket and engine problems do not seem to be as big of a problem on GEMS rovers. Rovers are good cars, but a lot of the little things go out on them. However, you are used to a suburban so I can't see how much different it would be :) . The main differences are part prices and labor costs. Are you a DIY mechanic or do you send your vehicle to a mechanic when things fail? If I were in your shoes, I would look into getting an L322 Range Rover 2003 on up. Anything from 99 to 02 (BOSCH) is just OK in my opinion. And 95 to 99 (GEMS) were great, but are just too old. Good luck on your search what ever you decide.

JMOONEY,
All I can say is that I love my 2002 RR P38 and I did plenty of research to find this was the year before major changes were done. It had great ratings. More computer components were added to the newer models 2003 to the present and the more stuff they put in these rovers the more that can go wrong. These vehicles are very expensive to keep, but keep in mind you and yours will be as safe as in an armored car when on the road and off. Best on luck on which model you decide.

All right guys, if you do the labor yourself the parts are not that much more expensive. I bought mine and drove it for one year racking up about 22K and all I need was new rear air bags. Of course these are more service demanding and doing it on time and not cutting corners is what it is all about. The only reason I do not drive it for work anymore is my company gave me a work vehicle, which I hate and as soon as the mileage is up I am going out of the car program again to drive the Range.

Buying a RR however is not a rush job, you will ned to take your time and look for a good one, since the stigma of costly repairs is out there it could mean that the previous owner did not do what is needed; that is why you look a lot.

All good advice. I bought mine in March of this year and have put about 6,000 miles on it so far, no big issues to report. Largest purchase I have made is new tires. If you do your research on the Rover you buy and get a good one it should treat you pretty well.