marjon said:

We have had our 4.4TDV8 since 2013 (my how time flies).
I always find with forums when you search you only find the problems but that’s the nature of a forum to help others fix things.
Our personal experience is very good, it has always been serviced well and I would say has probably not cost anymore overall than any other brand. A few things that would not be considered normal for the age, but those that seem common to the model.
We don’t do huge mileage at the moment, but have done and it has been out of the country on many occasions and back under its own power Towing for many of those miles too. You never hear of the miles some put in with no problems.
Keep looking for a good one they are out there, save a bit more while your looking. As has already been said you know what to steer clear of.
Happy hunting

J

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I think the OP's main problem is the budget, keeping back £2 to £3K for fixing the inevitable problems leaves a tiny budget

Datatek said:

I think the OP's main problem is the budget, keeping back £2 to £3K for fixing the inevitable problems leaves a tiny budget

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Which was why I said to keep looking and save a bit more.

J

I dread to think what your engine and gearbox nightmare cost.

old pilot said:

I dread to think what your engine and gearbox nightmare cost.

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Gearbox was around £2k. Sadly early gearboxes are made of Swiss cheese, so it is unavoidable.
The engine , is a different story. It should have been a simple skim job, had the mechanic been honest at the start, and admitted he was out of his depth. Instead it cost me a botched repair job, £3k, a new ( recon) engine approx £2k, fitting , etc, approx £1k. So approx £6k , plus around 4 months off the road. However, I do not at any point say this is an L322 issue. It cost that amount because of incompetent mechanics, plain and simple. Before that the original engine ran beautifully. So much so I had a former mechanic say to me 'I thought you bought a diesel', as it ran so quietly.

Don't let the tales of woe put you off. Just ensure you have the ability to have her looked after, be that yourself, or a indy who knows what they are doing. Yes, keep money aside, because no-one gets rid of one of these when they are running perfectly. They have either put loads of money into it already , and sense has taken over. Which is a bonus, as they have done lots of work , and baulked at another £1 or £2k. Or they don't want to do the maintenance and have got rid at the first sign of spending money on the horizon. So check all the receipts, and buy the one with lots of receipts