Help - To Buy or Not to Buy?

Hi, firstly i would like to say i am new to this forum, so hello everyone.

My 2004 Ford Focus is coming to an end due to bad corrosion underneath. My last MOT cost me £700!!

I have never owned a Land Rover/Range Rover previously, and the stories of poor reliability, high costs of running a Range Rover is kind of scary to be honest. I have never driven an automatic before, nor something the size of a Range Rover lol

My friend purchased a 2013 Range Rover Sport Black, V6 3 litre diesel auto from Stratstone Land Rover in September 2016. It was sold with the Land Rover Approved 2 year warranty. Whilst he says he likes the RRS, he travels a total of 100 miles per day so has decided to sell it. The RRS has approximately 18 months of the warranty left and was serviced recently. He has been offered £25k by an online used car buyer. However he has offered it to me for £24k.

The RRS currently has 65k miles on the clock.

Now my questions?

Is this a good deal?
Are there any things i should look out for on this 2013 (old shape) model?
Is the approved Land Rover warranty transferrable to me?

I am keen to buy a vehicle that is reliable, that can last me a good few years. I always service my cars on a yearly basis.

When i checked the previous MOT on this vehicle, carried out in July 2016 before my friend purchased it from Stratstone Land Rover, it had the following advisory:

Advisory notice item(s)
nearside rear Brake pad(s) wearing thin (3.5.1g)
offside rear Brake pad(s) wearing thin (3.5.1g)

My friend wasnt aware of this, however, shouldn't Stratstone have sorted the brake pads before selling it?

Does anyone know if there is any MOT Warranty included as part of the Land Rover Approved Warranty? From ehat i understand Land Rover will cover the costs for any work required on the first MOT?

My last car (Ford Focus) cost me £7k in 2005, when one year old. So spending £20k + is rather daunting as i am not filthy rich.

I am aware that Range Rover sports do hold their value. I visted my local Farnell dealership earlier and they had a 2012 RRS with 47k miles and were asking £28k

Any feedback would be appreciated.

The advisory was just that, an advisory. I wouldn't be changing pads that are a bit thin.
The service interval on range rovers is low, so probably more than once yearly services, my v8 was every6000 miles. Consider that, and who's gonna service it? Expensive cars are expensive to maintain.
I'd be surprised if the warranty is transferable. And you want to have the car for a good few years. Modern cars don't seem to last that long, so I wouldn't bank on it.

Is it time to reward yourself, buy it and enjoy it for what it is, remember luxury costs, but it will make you smile more than any focus did

Budget £1500 to £2500 annually to maintain / service at an independent.

On my 5th modern Land Rover in 6 years and my second (closely related to a RRS) Disco 4 and I do about 35,000 miles a year, so plenty of relevant experience here.

The bad bits first - this car will be expensive to run and can be catastrophically expensive if a fault isn't covered by warranty. How many miles will you travel a year? Expect about 28mpg (much less if you live in town) and check out the cost of an extended warranty when the 18 months runs out, also check the cost of VED. These costs will utterly dwarf the costs of a couple of measly brake pads!! Tyres will cost around £200 a corner and must be bought in pairs, or fours. Do not buy this car and expect to run it on a tight budget! Also, make sure that needing a lot of space to park it won't be a problem! Check the cost of insurance too.

Getting on the slightly brighter side, the approved warranty is good and it does come with a £750 insurance policy against the 1st MoT. You'll need to check with a dealer if it's transferable though. Mine have also been pretty reliable!

On the plus side, these cars are brilliant, but it will be very different to the Focus. I did about 140,000 miles in Freelander 2's before I knew that I had to have the real deal. The RRS is going right in at the deep end, be sure you can live with it.

The worst bit that I've found is that now I've had two Disco 4's for about 45,000 miles, everything other than an equal LR or RR is a bit s*it now and nothing less will do. I'm bloody stuck now!!



PS: Wlcome aboard

[QUOTE="Tigger Eeyore & Roo, post: 3932852, member: 59948"

The worst bit that I've found is that now I've had two Disco 4's for about 45,000 miles, everything other than an equal LR or RR is a bit s*it now and nothing less will do. I'm bloody stuck now!!

That's how they get you!!

Thanks for all your comments! I appreciate them.

freelance said:

[QUOTE="Tigger Eeyore & Roo, post: 3932852, member: 59948"

The worst bit that I've found is that now I've had two Disco 4's for about 45,000 miles, everything other than an equal LR or RR is a bit s*it now and nothing less will do. I'm bloody stuck now!!

That's how they get you!!

Click to expand...

is the same with my D3, is so nice to drive

could never see me going back to a smaller landy,

know if i wasn't able to do the work myself i wouldn't be able to afford one

Tigger Eeyore & Roo said:

On my 5th modern Land Rover in 6 years and my second (closely related to a RRS) Disco 4 and I do about 35,000 miles a year, so plenty of relevant experience here.

The bad bits first - this car will be expensive to run and can be catastrophically expensive if a fault isn't covered by warranty. How many miles will you travel a year? Expect about 28mpg (much less if you live in town) and check out the cost of an extended warranty when the 18 months runs out, also check the cost of VED. These costs will utterly dwarf the costs of a couple of measly brake pads!! Tyres will cost around £200 a corner and must be bought in pairs, or fours. Do not buy this car and expect to run it on a tight budget! Also, make sure that needing a lot of space to park it won't be a problem! Check the cost of insurance too.

Getting on the slightly brighter side, the approved warranty is good and it does come with a £750 insurance policy against the 1st MoT. You'll need to check with a dealer if it's transferable though. Mine have also been pretty reliable!

On the plus side, these cars are brilliant, but it will be very different to the Focus. I did about 140,000 miles in Freelander 2's before I knew that I had to have the real deal. The RRS is going right in at the deep end, be sure you can live with it.

The worst bit that I've found is that now I've had two Disco 4's for about 45,000 miles, everything other than an equal LR or RR is a bit s*it now and nothing less will do. I'm bloody stuck now!!



PS: Wlcome aboard

Click to expand...

must admit i was really taken back going from a hippo, ( which was a modern landy to me ) , then onto the D3

the D3 -D4 has the same chassis as the rr sport doesn't it

Yes, the 1st generation RRS and the D3 and D4 share the same chassis.

Never mind all this D that an D this an RRS. Get your self a realy good p38, save a shed load of cash, realy enjoy it and dont worry about the cost cos you will av lots of cash left over.

I wish

Tony e said:

Never mind all this D that an D this an RRS. Get your self a realy good p38, save a shed load of cash, realy enjoy it and dont worry about the cost cos you will av lots of cash left over.

I wish

Click to expand...

think land rover should have installed a system into the dashboard with the caption

"please insert notes here "

Tony e said:

Never mind all this D that an D this an RRS. Get your self a realy good p38, save a shed load of cash, realy enjoy it and dont worry about the cost cos you will av lots of cash left over.

I wish

Click to expand...

Ah, but without mugs like us, buying all of the new/newish stuff, you wouldn't have a ready supply of cheap to buy, cheap to run and completely reliable p38's to buy