Hi all, I am new here and did try searching but came up blank. I am a MUD member and drive a 100 series Land Cruiser that I work on mostly myself. The wife has been wanting a RR for quite a while so yesterday we started searching. We are looking at a couple of different 04 models and other than it being a BMW motor and a nice vehicle I am not even close to in the know. Few questions:

What do I need to stay away from?
What do I look for specifically such as maintenance and upkeep history?
What are the maintenance intervals and what should be performed?
Any place to do a VIN history lookup, the dealership would not provide any info since I don't currently own the vehicle? I say that privacy law is Bunk!
Anything else that I need to know?

Thanks in advance for the help!

 

if your getting a BMW engined truck then only go for the 2005,
as it has the updated NAV system,
its better than the 03 04 versions, and has a lot of the bugs worked out.

 

If you can get the vin, you can use carfax or autocheck to look up the history. I would be concerned about the transmission and EAS mainly, but also the stability of the electronic. As stated, 05 or newer is probably your best bet. Also, 06 on up use a Jaguar derived V8 which are awesome engines.

Here is a link to simply check for free if the car is a theft recovered, flood, or salvaged vehicle: https://www.nicb.org/theft_and_fraud_awareness/vincheck

 

Thanks for the responses.

The NAV system did seem quite antiquated and most likely would need an update disc at a minimum. Is that stereo/nav unit easy to replace, seems pretty tied into the vehicles other electronics?

I did get an auto check from the dealer and it came up clean with two owners and I just did the vin check from the above link and it comes up clean as well.

 

03/04 nav systems use a 12 CD set for the nav. to function

the 05 and later use 1 DVD and its fiber optic connectivity,
easier to buy the new version already installed in an 05 than retro fitting,
though some have done this option