90s-Era Range Rover Classic

4nthony

4nthony

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I'm pretty close to booking a flight to Louisville KY to take a look at a 1995 Range Rover Classic.

I'm curious if anyone here on FOG wrenches on these trucks, knows someone that does, and/or might be in the vicinity to offer any inspection assistance.

Cheers,
Anthony

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4nthony:
Do you have another collector's car?  I thought I remember a mid 1960's cream puff of a car that you posted once-maybe on a beach.  I searched for that posting but could not find.  If you are buying something out of the mid-west or East coast, stay out of the snow belt.  The road salt really eats out the underbody.  Louisville should be ok, but avoid anything up by the Great Lakes, especially unibodies.  I bought one out of Cleveland area once, will not do that again.
 
Those are the Range Rovers I remember from my youth.  Looks very nice.  Most of them in the UK have turned to dust by now.
Regards
Bob
 
[member=75283]4nthony[/member] that is a lovely vehicle. My ex had a 1994 or 95 model. British racing green exterior and tan leather seats. It was stunning.

The one she had was equipped with the air suspension. Apparently it was designed to balance out the ride and keep the body fairly level no matter what the terrain. She had computer and wiring harness problems with hers. My son said a replacement computer module was very difficult to source. Eventually she just scrapped it.

She picked it up used and I'm not sure if she got a hold of a bad one or if a lot had similar problems. It was a beautiful car though.

Ron
 
Yardbird said:
4nthony:
Do you have another collector's car?  I thought I remember a mid 1960's cream puff of a car that you posted once-maybe on a beach.  I searched for that posting but could not find.  If you are buying something out of the mid-west or East coast, stay out of the snow belt.  The road salt really eats out the underbody.  Louisville should be ok, but avoid anything up by the Great Lakes, especially unibodies.  I bought one out of Cleveland area once, will not do that again.
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I've had a 1966 Bronco for just over 10 years. These days, it sits in the garage getting dusty. I don't drive it often enough. It's also not very family friendly with a bench seat in the front and no back seat. I'll be listing it for sale soon on one of the auction sites or in the classifieds of some Bronco forums.

The plan with the RRC is to make it my daily driver. I mostly work from home and don't drive too much. I've been looking for examples that are either low-mileage, one owner situations or have gone through some restoration. The one near Louisville has seen some restoration work. It spent time in Georgia & Alabama before ending up in Kentucky and I'm told there was very little rust before it was restored. Not yet a done deal so we'll see how things go after inspection.

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bobtskutter said:
Those are the Range Rovers I remember from my youth.  Looks very nice.  Most of them in the UK have turned to dust by now.
Regards
Bob
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I've come across a few locally that have some significant rust issues. Lots of UK based videos of guys doing restorations, too.

rvieceli said:
The one she had was equipped with the air suspension. Apparently it was designed to balance out the ride and keep the body fairly level no matter what the terrain. She had computer and wiring harness problems with hers. My son said a replacement computer module was very difficult to source. Eventually she just scrapped it.
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I've learned it's fairly common to swap the air suspension to coils. Air suspension provides a nice ride but is difficult and expensive to maintain. The coils provide a slightly different ride but maintenance is much easier.  Electrical is also a known issue. The sellers have said they sourced new control modules for all the functionality that was kept on the vehicle. Seat and mirror control is also a common failure point. New modules leave out seat memory as the on-board batteries were prone to leaking and corroding the circuit board.
 
I drove landrovers, discoveries and range rovers exclusively for 15 years.  Spent too much time and money on them to ever want to do it again or endorse someone elses decision to have one as a daily driver.  Did a nuts and bolts build of a Landrover with a load of upgrade from a bare chassis up, same with another, TDi engine conversions, body swaps on discoveries and a bare metal soft dash RRC that broke me.

When they're right, they're pretty good.  When they go wrong, they'll ruin the whole experience for you.

Buy a Toyota Landcruiser. 

I wish I'd listened to that advice back in the day.  I'm passing it along to you now in the hope you'll make better use of it than I did.

 
Being in the car business for half my day I would simply say I want you to love love love this vehicle to own it. Statistically, its going to be expensive. Be sure this model is totally you and there are no other vehicles in this world that would change your mind. It's ok to make emotional choices on cars if you have the money. I support it.

It's a nice looking car.
 
Paul_HKI said:
Buy a Toyota Landcruiser. 
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A few years ago, Toyotas were my first choice. I really like the FJ55 but looked at FJ60-62s. The wife wasn't as stoked on them because of the lack of airbags. I considered an 80-series but I'm not as much of a fan of their rounded/bloated look.

From there, I transitioned to looking for an RRC. I like the boxy aesthetic and history of the line. It also has a couple airbags. Having airbags brought the wife on-board but I'm very much aware of their reputation.

Anyway, I'm hoping to find the right one but if I don't, thats ok too.
 
Everyone that I have ever talked to that had a Range Rover said they would never buy another one.  They break easily and the parts are crazy expensive.  Sorry, not my opinion but I have never run into a single happy Range Rover owner. I have a good friend that wholesales used cars and he said he bought one once and will never buy another one. 
 
afish said:
Everyone that I have ever talked to that had a Range Rover said they would never buy another one.  They break easily and the parts are crazy expensive.  Sorry, not my opinion but I have never run into a single happy Range Rover owner. I have a good friend that wholesales used cars and he said he bought one once and will never buy another one.
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I've owned many Volvos, but somehow came to the idea that I should get a Land Rover for the kind of driving I do (long cross-state freeway drives, with 40+ mile stretches of washboard gravel mixed in).  I compromised and bought an LR2, because it doesn't have the problem-plagued air suspension, but it does have a Volvo engine.  It's been the perfect fit, the only thing that would make it better would be a tailgate.  I've done basic maintenance, and replaced a water pump and tie rod ends, and I would say that all of those repairs have been reasonably priced.  It handles uncannily on snow and loose gravel, it's like magic.

But I have an innate suspicion about the reliability of any vehicle built in the 1990's outside of Japan.  New features and processes were being introduced, and I don't think automakers had things figured out very well until the mid-2000's.
 
I dont know about the newer ones.  I was speaking more about the 90's to early 2000's not sure when they got it right. 
 
I knew a wealthy couple who had “his and hers” versions of this same Rover that they purchased new in the 90’s. Their running gag was they needed two so they had one to drive to the bank to fetch money to pay for repairs when the other was in the shop.

I would second eschumac’s input, if you really love it buy it, but do so eyes VERY wide open and be prepared to spend lots of cash to own an expensive, unreliable vehicle.
 
I agree with the above to a certain degree. I’ve owned two old RR’s over the years, and they’ve both been money pits. But so is my 1957 Morris - and I absolutely love it. We don’t buy old cars expecting them to be flawless, ultra-reliable machines, and we often just have to accept that these vehicles are all very much ‘of their time’ and tolerate their less-than-perfect levels of reliability - because the fun outweighs the heartache. But that’s why we have breakdown insurance and towtruck roadside recovery insurance plans in place.

This is most definitely a decision you’re going to have to make with your heart - and amen to that. Just be mindful of the fact that it’s your head which will possibly have to take the brunt of your heart’s choice at some point down the line. FWIW I’ve also owned two LR Defenders. Totally different experience - mechanically and electronically way simpler and more robust, easy to fix, and the TDi engine is good for a quarter-million miles as long as the oil and filter are changed every 10k. Utterly bombproof. No accident that it was the #1 choice of the British Army for decades.

Hope you get fixed up.
Kevin
 
Paul_HKI said:
Buy a Toyota Landcruiser. 
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Well, I'm not having much luck finding a Range Rover, but I did test drive this 89 FJ62 this morning.

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It presents very well for a car with 190k miles and drives well. The scale is still weighted towards the RRC but this Cruiser is very tempting.

Everyone I've talked to has nudged me in this direction. [poke] Perhaps it's a sign?
 
Your opinion is the only one that really matters, but since you're asking, my enthusiastic vote is for the Cruiser.

 
Buying an old / classic type car you have to love it or move on. You love it you pay. You like it well enough your mad every time it breaks down. I've had almost 80 cars.
More relevant, I've had friends with RR's. Some were really good, some were a nightmare. From what I remember hearing it all came down to what model year range. As someone mentioned, I'm also pretty leery of 90's cars.
If it were me I'd go with the Toyota. Whether the Toyota will be any cheaper to fix is doubtful but you can probably beat it more.
 
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