In my search for another car I found this Range Rover on CL:
http://columbus.craigslist.org/cto/3207295800.html
seller said:
I have a 1995 range rover for sale that my grandmother left to me since she is VERY ill and the car is too big for me it is a fine running car the leather is ok except on the driver seat wood trim is in great condition . New tires, fuel pump and other new items the truck is in good condition it just needs a little work... The car runs fine right now and runs smooth will get you where you need to be call or text 6147433632 I want 1500 for it
I have always wanted one of these. Is it a better choice than a Disco? I know the gas mileage is going to suck but it only seems a few mpg worse than a Cherokee.
Tell me why I shouldn't buy this.
I heart British cars, have pretty much always had at least one in my stable, tolerated their faults and foibles over the years and even I won't own a later Land Rover.
The Buick derived V8 hangs together OK, the axles etc seem to be pretty reliable but the power accessories are typically British. That's not a big deal until a power window quits in the rain, or the A/C barfs etc. I chased down some power window parts for one like that a couple of years ago, they are getting rare and that makes them pricey. On the same rig, the expansion valve for the A/C was NLA and the universal replacements don't work.
I had an 87 that I sort of loved. Loved how it drove, loved how it looked. Hated the fact that there wasn't a system on the vehicle that wasn't in some state of failure. Hated that many (most) parts were special order and expensive. Hated that it rusted like it was trying to maintain its British heritage. It sits in my backyard as a constant reminder to use a little more brain and a little less heart when buying cars.
mazdeuce wrote:
use a little more brain and a little less heart when buying cars.
I'm not always good at that.
Mine has been trouble free but is far from a DD, it is a toy
I love British cars, not to mention clothing and general sense of style. I wouldn't let you give me a Range Rover or Land Rover.
Nothing worthwhile depreciates as much as these do, and there has to be a reason for it. There's also nothing they do better than a host of other similar vehicles, other than look pimp, and that just doesn't do it for me. And they do look pimp.
In reply to EvanB:
Then by all means buy it. Range Rovers are proof that infifferent assembly by drunken English communists can defeat good engineering and quality materials every time.
Ojala wrote:
In reply to EvanB:
Then by all means buy it. Range Rovers are proof that infifferent assembly by drunken English communists can defeat good engineering and quality materials every time.
I'm just quoting this because it's oh so quote worthy. Lovely.
The thing with these trucks is that if you define "reliable" by answering the question "did it get me to my destination or not?" with "Yes"...
They're reliable.
Beyond that, hope you don't mind your power memory heated seats not working, the factory weatherband radio not work, interior lights being out, airbag suspension collapsing, etc etc etc...
I like these trucks. I'd like another.
Is a Cherokee a better vehicle? Absolutely. Just nowhere near as cool. The Range Rover interior is awesome, the seating position is awesome, and the visibility is incredible.
Range Rover Classics (as we have here) are great if you remember that they weren't originally designed to be the original luxury SUV. That kinda happened by accident. They're quite good off road. But yes, luxury tack-ons are not Land Rover's strong point.
By 1995, Rover had been developing and building the V8 for 30 years. Buick gave up on it after four. So it's a lot more of a Rover engine than a Buick one!
Now, the series that followed the Classic - that's one that even Land Rover fans consider unreliable...
Am I the only one that thinks that ad sounds a little fishy? At least they didn't mention the fact that it was only driven to church on Sunday.
Yea I don't really care about the luxury features failing, I just think they look awesome and it would be fun for the winter.
Do these have airbag suspension? I thought they were coils. Or is it just that you can replace the airbags with coils like an OME lift or similar?
I really want a series Land Rover but that is way out of my budget.
The latest BMW infused ones: when I worked for the Merc place, a customer had a 500SL and a Range Rover. I saw him a fair amount during the year, he's a heckuva nice guy and fun to talk to so it was always something of a treat when his RR broke.
I got a call from him ~March 2011, he needed to know how much he had spent on repairs the previous year for tax reasons. So I toted it up.
$6700.00. 
That's just repairs. Didn't include gas, oil changes, insurance etc. I figure that pimpwagon cost him ~$2k a month when all was said and done. Don't get me wrong, Ashley can afford it. But OMG. That's insane.
EvanB wrote:
Yea I don't really care about the luxury features failing, I just think they look awesome and it would be fun for the winter.
Do these have airbag suspension? I thought they were coils. Or is it just that you can replace the airbags with coils like an OME lift or similar?
I really want a series Land Rover but that is way out of my budget.
1992-up I believe all had the atrocious airbag suspension. If you think a series Land Rover is out of your budget, just wait until you see how much the Range Rover costs to run for a year...you probably could have just bought one and had the truck you wanted in the first place.
I used to help one of my friends fix stuff that would go wrong with his Classic about 7 or 8 years ago. After about four sessions of this within one year I told him I really didn't want to work on it any more, as it was always a pain in the ass to even fix/maintain things on the vehicle that are EASY to do on other vehicles. Always needed some tool that my (extensive) collection didn't have, or always had some bolt break off or strip out or whatever. Just helping him do pads and brake rotors turned into an all-day job.
After I told him that he had a couple other things go wrong with it in the next 6 months and, thankfully, he took it to the dealer to get these "little" things fixed.
Soon thereafter he professed that he had already in 6 months spent more on the car than he could probably sell it for, so he just dumped it off as trade-in on something else (I won't mention what, as it would provoke even more eye-rolling from you than it did from me.....)
I've also helped a neighbor one or two times with his more recently, and thankfully he got rid of it soon thereafter as well....
Maybe I should just get a XJ instead. 
If it has the air suspension and it fails, dealer might replace it with a traditional setup for free. They ended up removing many of the air bags due to recall.
And if not, there's tons of conversions for relatively cheap.
I remember replacing the rear disks right after I got mine. You had to pull the rear axle shafts to get the disks off. That always seemed like a fairly weird way to do things. Lots of things on that truck seemed like fairly weird engineering.
I think I might be better off with this:
http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/200x-classifieds/78-cherokee-oh/54058/page1/
JDM-Yo!
http://cleveland.craigslist.org/cto/3215668495.html#.UEQ3ZVLyDMw
My RR classics were great vehicles. Very reliable and fantastic off road. Used one for years to get to remote mountian bike locations and as race support. I did install an Old Man Emu suspension and maintained it by the book. Always amazed at how I could drive right by other 4x4s on washboard/rough roads in perfect comfort while they bounced and rattled the occupants.
By a good one and treat it right-great rigs. Only thing it needed was about 50 more HP.
The old Series Rovers were overbuilt and tough as nails, if something did break you could fix it with a rock and a stick. They do not have as much power as a comparable CJ but IMHO are more off road capable. They tend to bring real high prices unfortunately and are not what I would consider a decent daily driver. The old flat fender Jeeps were the closest thing to them from this side of the pond but had the same problem of not being a good daily driver.
We found a '94 Rover 4.2 for $200 on Craig's list and put it in our Challenge TR8. It works good in a 2,000 pound car. And, with no mufflers, it does sound American. I did like the comment about wanting another 50 hp; but I'm always in favor of another 50 hp. :)
2012 SCCA Dixie Nationals photo "borrowed" from unknown web-site. Hi Perry.
Series trucks are only expensive if you want a perfect one. If you want one that's been used - a real one - they're not that bad. Series owners are cheap bastards, too, they fit right in to the GRM forum demographic.
I doubt a Land Rover dealer would want much to do with a Rangie Classic. If the air suspension fails, just go to coils. That's an easy enough fix. If the fuel pump goes, cut a hole in the floor instead of dropping the tank. I don't know a whole lot else about them, although I've seen Bill Burke put his poor old Classic into some amazing places.
I would really like a Range Rover Classic but I am bit sick in the head. 
I spent a decent amount of time around Discos when I was young. My uncle always had one as the truck for his butcher shop.
