About to take the plunge!

Hi Everyone,

I'm about to take the plunge with my first Rangey. I blame it on the person who parked one outside my house this weekend, a gorgeous Oslo Blue P38.

I've hunted a couple down on AutoTrader, both at independent dealers and around the £9500 mark. They are both 4.6 Vogues with lots of toys. One is a 2000, the other a 2001. Both look very clean and have 48k miles.

Despite loads of research, I've not been able to find a definitive buyers guide so can you help with what to look out for and the problems I might face with ownership. I'm a little bit nervous as the P38 seems to be prone to issues. So what's been your experience?

Also, is 48k considered high mileage and how much life can I expect before it falls apart.

If this has been asked and answered a million times before then apologies but I'd really appreciate your help before I take the plunge. (Which i'm still hoping to do once you've helped!! )

Thanks a million

AngryBritain.com

Hi, I had a similar dimma to you... in the end I was able to find an 02 L322 TD6 for £9,800. 100k on the clock but in excellent condition and having looked at the P38 against the L322 it was only going to end one way...

Bought it yesterday and am now COMPLETELY made up

Hiya mate

This site was a real sense check for me when I was were you are now, teetering on the edge of madness. i would say 48k is very low mileage for any 10 year old and in many ways that would bother me (even if absolutely genuine) unless it has absolutely faultless FSH with a better main stealer done by time rather than mileage.
Fact is that these babies tend to have problems with:
Air suspension (c£500 for bags, pump extra)
Alarm system/battery drain (cheap to remedy)
Overheating and engine failure (OMG??)
BECU problems (c£1200)

So check all of them for possible problems, i.e try the vehicle at all heights, check the oil filler cap and breather for mayonnaise. Try the locking and see if teh battery has been changed recently.
If you buy from a dealer they will be making around £2,000 on it - they have to, to cover warranty work - but if you get a decent warranty it could be worth it.

If you are a bit handy or prepared to learn (and the guys on here are brilliant) then you could do what I did and spend a lot less knowing it's going to cost you sooner or later. Mine is a second car cost me next to nowt and is a joy. I love it.

Top and bottom these are great cars, not always very good cars and sometimes absolute buggers but you will feel proud from time to time and it's all worth it. Somebody paid nearly £50,000 for my 4.6 HSE and had a few nice extras fitted (I think). I spent about £48,000 less on the same car and when he's clean he still looks and feels like fifty grand to me.

Consider a problem child at the right money, look for one that's had lots spent on teh right things, suspension, engine and so on, arrange and keep two grand back and expect it to be spent soon, buy roadside assistance. Chill out, bookmark this site, read lots, download the RAVE CD (excellent) and get ready to lord it over everone else on the country lanes. Buy some wellies just so you can sit on the tailgate and pull them on at a country show.

Go for it mate. The average new car will depreciate 30% in the first 18 months and that's more than your £2,000 repair money fund.


Nige:welcome2:

Thanks for the fast replies guys! While i'd love a L322, I cant bring myself to buy something with high miles. The P38 Im looking at is a one owner, and owned by the mother-in-law of the dealer. He tells me its got FSH and ill obviously ask to see it when I see the car. What else should I look for on the P38? - One thing that is slightly concerning me is that it doesnt seem to have piped seats, and the majority ive seen do. This one has what looks like very soft beige leather. Was that an option? I can already feel myself falling very deeply in love with it but dont want it to break my heart early on!

AngryBritain said:

One thing that is slightly concerning me is that it doesnt seem to have piped seats

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that's gonna be the least of your worries

the biggest problem is coolent run it look for water leeks,

Thanks J, how/where would I look for them?

look for marks around the pipe ends, all of them, then go round the car like any other you where thinking of buying, when you finish doing that look at the coolent again. if you put where you are some body may even offer to look at it with you..

oh and dont for get to LOOK AT THE COOLANT.

Hope you got deep pockets... and an understanding partner..... suspension can be a problem.... and you may want to invest in a sync mate .... and check you dont live next to a mobile phone mast.... dose the vehicle have radio code and the eka code.... should be in the hand book....... make sure you got them fellla....Rob ....

never had any problems with mine till becm went down cos i put wrong eka code in then needed another driver door door latch as that went just a few little problems but thats all the fun of owning a p38

Ok, so when I go to see this car I'm:

- Raising the suspension to full height to check the bags for cracks
- Checking the Oil filler for Mayo
- Checking the carpet near the transmission tunnel for wetness/sweet smell
- Checking the coolant (Could do with more help here)
- Checking the flap behind the tailgate for rust

I've read a lot about the battery drain/RF issue too and this is a worry as I run a wifi network at home, and there's a mobile mast a few hundred yards up the road. What model years were affected by this issue, the car im looking at is a 2001 is this likely to suffer?. The missus will be highly unamused if she goes out to it and it has a flat battery Day 1.

Oh, and one last thing, what's your realistic MPG, i'm not expecting miracles, just a rough idea of what to expect. Its all fairly traffic free country roads round here and i also do a bit of motorway now and again. I used to have a Cayenne S which did about 17mpg so its not going to come as any great shock if the RR does the same.

Cheers again for all your help, I'm really hoping to join the club soon

Iv got a 2001 4.0 HSE and I get 16 out of mine on average doing a combo of long and short runs.
There a great car and one with such a low mileage should be fab, anything short of that I wouldnt touch it at that price.
All the cheap ones I looked at were basket cases, I guess you either spend the money up front or it catches up with you very shortly.

Hi AngryBritain

If you want it, buy it!

Mine is year 2000, it had 48.000 on the clock when I bought it 4 years ago. Its now got 81.000 on it and it ran sweat as a nut. I paid £11500 for it then. It had a FSH which I think is very important. I do have a misfire problem now but after 4 years you expect to have to do something to them!

I was told to look for oil leaks so have a good look underneath.

Dont forget you only hear about the bad things that happen!

If you want it buy it!

Year 2000 should have the new type RF receiver. BUT make sure that you get the owners manual and most important the EKA code. (Emergency Key Access code)

Maybe ask for a sniff test on the coolant.

So, a day spent talking on and off to the dealer and we seem to be well on the way to having ourselves a deal. With a little bit of luck, we'll be picking it up before the weekend and I cant wait

So, we've established that provided I do all the checks, see the FSH and get the manual and EKA code and all is well, a 2001 model should be a reasonably safe bet for all the little niggles to have been ironed out.

So, on to the fun stuff then - How can I get an iPod hooked up to the radio? I dont want to use an FM transmitter, I want something that 'replaces' the changer, like the Denison Icelink that seems to have been discontinued. What are you guys using?

Desticado said:

Hi, I had a similar dimma to you... in the end I was able to find an 02 L322 TD6 for £9,800. 100k on the clock but in excellent condition and having looked at the P38 against the L322 it was only going to end one way...

Bought it yesterday and am now COMPLETELY made up

Click to expand...

That sounds a bargain.

AngryBritain said:

So, on to the fun stuff then - How can I get an iPod hooked up to the radio? I dont want to use an FM transmitter, I want something that 'replaces' the changer, like the Denison Icelink that seems to have been discontinued. What are you guys using?

Click to expand...

The Harmon Kardon system doesn't lend itself to easy additions and be warned, you can't just pop the head unit out and replace with a fancy new one due to the complicated wiring and system of door subs stations plus rear sub and amp. The HK system is great if in good order - the only other option really is to rip it out entirely and start from scratch which is a huge job unless you've got a lot of experiencedoing such things!

A good FM transmitter works well via the HK, but Denison etc is not going to work unless you trash the HK system completely and do a brand new installation.

The P38 is a grand old girl - I love my 1999 Vogue 4.6 special edition, even though she is more or less "replaced" now with an X5, I haven't been able to bring myself to sell her yet. Mine was just under 50K miles when I bought her as second owner in 2004 - first owner paid just under £60K !!! I paid £15K, no regrets, first three years of ownership no problems at all, just consumables, then the more expensive stuff started, but with great attention paid to frequent oil changes and services, she still runs sweet as a nut at 134K miles.

Good luck if you go ahead with the purchase and I hope the P38 serves you as well as mine has served me!!!!:welcome2:

Uh-oh, this may be a show stopper. Can any of you chaps tell me if a 2001 Vogue will have IsoFix mountings in the rear seats? I have a 9month old who has an IsoFix set up and if this won't transfer to the P38, this might well kill the idea

Mine doesnt have them (2001), why let that put you off, rather than keep swapping seats over I bought a nice recaro junior for my little. The better quality seatbelt type seats are not far off being as safe as an iso. No point letting £150 stand in the way of a 9k car.