Hello to All ,
So new year and i have decided ignore the head and my next car will be one i really want/like , that is an L322 ( this has nothing to do with me working for JLR !!! ). So my post here is to "pick the brains" contained in this "cloud" , I have done what seems like a lot of searching through forums and a couple of Facebook sites for hints and tips , and this is what i have gleaned so far , based on my budget of £5000 to £8000 .
I commute about 50 miles a day , the vast majority on motorway and dual carriageway , so i feel the best engine is the 4.4 BMW unit as petrol is cheap at the moment and i can LPG it at some point in the future ( there is a conversion garage near me ) takes to LPG better than the Jaguar engine and it seems to be a stronger unit than the 3.0 TDI .
So i have been searching over the past few weeks , but not had chance to see any in person due to work , this will change in the coming weeks , so my questions are this ;
I have seen a couple of possibles online , one is clean unmodified 1 owner but is 200+ miles away ( so any warranty is useless ) , the other is nearer ( Sheffield ) but looks in the photos to be immaculate ,a later model with more of the options i would in an ideal world like but has 180000 on the clock as opposed to 105000 for the one further away . My main concerns are the big stuff engine/gearbox going as any 2nd hand car will have niggles and it is a Range Rover after all !! , i have owned 2 Nissan Bluebirds in the distant past so i am not expecting that level !! and i assume that most of the big jobs will have been done on a car with the age/milage that i am looking at .
I realise this is subjective but does a 4.4 approaching 200000 miles with full history and lots of bills for work done seem a massive gamble ? My plan is to try and buy the "best " i can and run it for a year to see what happens .
Any thoughts and advice would be very welcome

Sorry , just been looking again and the 180000 mile car is probable the Jaguar engine 4.4 NOT the BMW unit !!!

Hello and Welcome

Welcome. That's a huge mileage, but if an engine is well maintained it's irrelevant. It's just the risk associated with it's wear and tear. Personally I'd pass that one up. P38's are mechanically overcomplicated with air suspension n first generation EMU etc. Why not consider a late model Classic Vogue with the V8? There's plenty of them around.

The bottom line is can you afford to run it ? and petrol will eventually increase in price.

Hello and welcome

Hi , thanks for all the help and advice , although the vehicle in question was snapped up by someone before i could view it , so the search goes on .
I do accept they are cars that you can't run on the cheap , but the other things i liked Audi A8 etc are no cheaper and i have always wanted a L322 , so thought i would get it out of my system once and for all , this will either mean i end the ownership a bankrupt !!! or i love it and end up as a full time Land Rover lover !!!!! time will tell .
Thanks agin for the advice , i am sure i will call on your help before the search is over

John S said:

Why not consider a late model Classic Vogue with the V8?

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beat me to it.
appreciating in value, much simpler, lighter and deserving of their designation. Iconic.

High miles on a well looked after car is not necessarily bad as you'll probably find that many parts have been replaced over time.

Don't discount the TD6 diesel. It's a standard BMW lump and is a reliable unit although it does tend to be worked hard lugging around a heavy old L322. The main issue with the diesels is the gearbox which has a torque convertor which tends to wear badly and dump metal filings all over the place which causes the valve block to fail. Having said that, if the car has more than 100K miles chances are that the gearbox will already have been replaced.