Hi!

I am looking at buying a 2014 RR Sport SDV8 200+K kilometers that is up for sale. The seller has made the remark "Vibrations in the car during normal driving". Which is pretty vague. What could it most likely be?

I have no service history and the car is on auction so no opportunity to test drive before buy.

So the big question is simply, could this be an engine related problem or some other problem that is costly? If it's just the wheel suspension, it's no problem, that is consumable parts meant to be replaced. But I'm not so keen on a car with a broken engine.

What would you guess is wrong?

Thanks for any tips and advice!

I just check out the service history online. It has all regular services done every year until 2021. All on Land Rover certified workshops. Only one owner. https://osh.landrover.com/service-history. Drive belt replaced 2020. No other repairs done that are out of the ordinary.

So I guess the wheel suspension has never been fixed yet. This is a 10 year old car almost, so it might be time for just that.

It is in the auction for a reason!

I'm gonna have a punt at this 1.........its fecked.

I reckon you're on to something there BTD!

I'll chuck my tuppence worth in though as I had to recover my L322 from Cornwall due to a "Gearbox Fault" and a coolant leak. A local Indy diagnosed my car as needing a driveshaft and a full gearbox rebuild as it was was juddering sometimes. I would describe it as driving on a rumble strip at the edge of the motorway but ti only did it at low speeds (sub 40) often while turning slightly left but also would hold on to 5th gear until about 75mph.

Got the car home, took the winter tyre off the NSF and replaced it with a quite worn Pirelli Scorpion from the boot that matched all the other tyres for type and wear. The car hasn't vibrated since so it is perhaps something as silly as a mismatch on the ABS/Traction control as these are buggers for that sort of thing. Found a small (10mm) split in a boost hose and resolved that. Gears now shift perfectly again dropping into 6th between 50-60mph.

I could be something very simple but when I was bidding on my L322 I budgeted a LOT of money for repairs because nobody puts a perfect working one of these in an auction! I got lucky with mine, spent almost what it is worth in total but have a car with longevity and it's fully sorted. There's a video about it on YT if you're interested.

I'd be very cautious knowing what I know now but if you can do the work yourself then you could come out on top. Do the math, for round numbers £10k at auction for the car, £6k in repairs and a working one is £18k with a sort of warranty, is it worth it? I have no idea of the retail value of what the OP is looking at. If a working with warranty car is £28k then I'd go for a punt but be prepared not spend a lot putting it right and then enjoy it for a couple of years after that. There are no cheap RRs, some you can buy cheap but ultimately it will cost you and I was told (pretty accurately I would say) you need £1000-1500 per year to spend to keep one of these on the road. Buying the car is only the beginning of the spending with these things; they are lovely though.

Auction = gamble.

biketeacherdave said:

I'm gonna have a punt at this 1.........it’s efecked.

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I think ur right , have just checked with my crystal ball, lol

The Range Rover goblins say 1: buy it. Go on buy it. It's a cheap Range Rover
2: Awwww go on buy the car you cannot test drive
3: as it is a Range Rover, with a fault, you must buy it

As the song goes WALK away Renee Walk away.

The question.... Hmmmm,
My question is, would you be prepared to buy an expense car with unknown history and no guarantees?
Second question, are you prepared to do a possible repair that previous owner decided not to do for a very good reason at what may be an expensive mistake?

gold rover said:

The Range Rover goblins say 1: buy it. Go on buy it. It's a cheap Range Rover
2: Awwww go on buy the car you cannot test drive
3: as it is a Range Rover, with a fault, you must buy it

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, lol

Plus it’s run in

God damn it guys. This is not to replies I was hoping for. But probably the answers I needed!

I thought this could be a good buy even with that kind of milage since its been serviced properly. About 9/10 of all used RR Sports around 10 year old I see have had one/two oil changes and barely serviced. People are absolute idiots buying preium cars and running them like Toyotas. So whenerver I come across one that has been servied properly I am enthusiastic.

What year/milage of a RR Sport do you guys suggest I should be looking for if I want to have a sensible balance between buying price and service costs?

Thanks for your help and the wake-up

StickyMittens said:

God damn it guys. This is not to replies I was hoping for. But probably the answers I needed!

I thought this could be a good buy even with that kind of milage since its been serviced properly. About 9/10 of all used RR Sports around 10 year old I see have had one/two oil changes and barely serviced. People are absolute idiots buying preium cars and running them like Toyotas. So whenerver I come across one that has been servied properly I am enthusiastic.

What year/milage of a RR Sport do you guys suggest I should be looking for if I want to have a sensible balance between buying price and service costs?

Thanks for your help and the wake-up

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Whatever year/mileage you buy, you risk it turning into a money pit.

StickyMittens said:

God damn it guys. This is not to replies I was hoping for. But probably the answers I needed!

I thought this could be a good buy even with that kind of milage since its been serviced properly. About 9/10 of all used RR Sports around 10 year old I see have had one/two oil changes and barely serviced. People are absolute idiots buying preium cars and running them like Toyotas. So whenerver I come across one that has been servied properly I am enthusiastic.

What year/milage of a RR Sport do you guys suggest I should be looking for if I want to have a sensible balance between buying price and service costs?

Thanks for your help and the wake-up

Click to expand...

To be honest any land rover is a risk, the higher the new purchase price of the car the higher the risk buying used, they were all expensive cars to run when they were new, and they do not get cheaper to run with age.

StickyMittens said:

God damn it guys. This is not to replies I was hoping for. But probably the answers I needed!

I thought this could be a good buy even with that kind of milage since its been serviced properly. About 9/10 of all used RR Sports around 10 year old I see have had one/two oil changes and barely serviced. People are absolute idiots buying preium cars and running them like Toyotas. So whenerver I come across one that has been servied properly I am enthusiastic.

What year/milage of a RR Sport do you guys suggest I should be looking for if I want to have a sensible balance between buying price and service costs?

Thanks for your help and the wake-up

Click to expand...

That is the great thing about this particular site. We are all green oval enthusiasts but we will not feed you BS
@gstuart is the sport guy, as he knows his Disco inside and out, and as such also knows the DiD very well

StickyMittens said:

. . . . . .
I thought this could be a good buy even with that kind of milage since its been serviced properly. . . . . . .

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In the first post you said "no service history". do you mean you haven't seen it, or it doesn't have any ?

Bottom line, never buy a car without at least driving it. Auctions are fine for guys like Mike Brewer, etc. who have teams to sort the cars out. Big risk for the rest of us. eBay auctions can be better provided the seller lets you test drive.

Does Sweden have the equivalent of our AA Inspection ? Probably worth getting one done as they are usually a fraction of the car cost.

gold rover said:

That is the great thing about this particular site. We are all green oval enthusiasts but we will not feed you BS
@gstuart is the sport guy, as he knows his Disco inside and out, and as such also knows the DiD very well

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lol, convinced my disco throws a tantrum every so often when i don’t give it attention , this often works, lol