Ownership Verified: The sheer unnecessariness and the expense. 2007 FFRR TDV8.

MXM

I paid for this title
Joined
Jun 9, 2004
Messages
5,631
Location
Finland
For the longest time, I didn't understand SUVs, crossovers and trucks. Didn't care at best, and frowned upon them at worst. Huge, heavy, expensive to run, mostly ugly. Some respect was reserved for the ones capable off-road, like your Defenders, G-wagens, Wranglers, Land Cruisers, etc, but again, it was not my area of interest, and definitely didn't understand the appeal of using one of these monsters in a city, when there are perfectly good luxury sedans if you're after luxury, and perfectly good wagons if you're after practicality. And even don't get me started on "sport" SUVs.

Funny how that works, just a few years later, and I'm totally focused on getting a massive SUV to daily in the city, and frankly, couldn't care less about it making any sense.

So here's my new "Full Fat" Range Rover L322 Vogue, 3.6 TDV8. This could get expensive 😬

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The newest car I have ever had and my first ever Diesel. It's got air suspension, absurdly long options list, it weighs more than 3 other cars I own, combined. Interestingly, it's shorter than my LS400, and less than 10cm wider, so not really any harder to maneuver in tight spots. Maybe even easier, thanks to it being so square, and with driver position so high up.

The way I arrived here is by process of elimination. After realizing I can't afford a new Jimny, I narrowed the scope to Land Rovers. I didn't want anything too classic and I wanted a certain level of comfort, as this will be now handing the duties of LS400. I feel like I lived Disco2 through Matt already, so I didn't want that :D Then I crossed Disco LR3 off the list due to its DIY-unfriendliness (body on frame, among other things), and crossing off RRS because it's really an LR3 under the skin. Then removing all Petrol RRs due to eye-watering consumption figures. The P38 reportedly has an appalling BMW diesel, so L322 Diesel is the most rational choice. Early TD6 BMW diesels are apparently rather lazy, and plagued by many issues, the biggest of which is an over-stressed transmission. And post-facelift 4.4 TDV8s are still too expensive. Thus 2006-2010 3.6 TDV8 is what it has to be, and that's what I got.

It's one of the most effortless driving experiences, to my taste. Not fast fast, but still surprisingly quick for a living room on wheels, especially off the line. I love the interior and the driving position. And how "chunky" and solid-feeling everything is, but still covered in premium materials. Not a fan of the outdated infotainment and the navigation. Gotta see what can be done about that.

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They say it's very competent offroad. Although the knowledge pleases me, it's not very likely that I'll be ever doing any hardcore offroading with it (I've got a rusty Panda for that :p), but it would be quite interesting to do some "green-laning". It came with a "venture cam", which is a little wireless camera, sitting in a charger-dock in the glove box, that you can give to a passenger (or mount somewhere) and it will send a video feed of a terrible analog quality to the screen in the car. Love it.

This one is mechanically sound, has been serviced well and documented. It had quite a bit of rust in the sills, starting from rear arches (typical spot for them), and on the trunk lid, but it has all been well repaired prior to my purchase.

Of course, it's a JLR product, so it's never totally without faults. The seat heaters don't work (the seat cooling does work, though!). I'm also pretty sure it has a fuel burning heater (Webasto), which is configured as auxiliary heater only, so only works when the engine runs. Except it doesn't seem to work at all. Diagnostic tool is giving a code for circulation pump, so that could be the reason. After I fix it, I want to see if I can program it with the IIDTool (came with the car) to allow pre-heating. The reversing camera is also working intermittently. And when it works, it's rather shit. Got an aliexpress replacement of far better quality on the way.

At first I wasn't sure about white, but the more I look at it, the more it feels like the best color. I ought to take better photos though.

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P.S. Title inspired by Dave.
 
This is unexpected.

I hope it serves you well. :)
At least it's in Finland camouflage, to be less conspicuous :p
 
If I had to pick someone to buy a Range Rover, it would not be you! Obviously I really like these things, the place I visited to look at an MR2 for sale in 2021 had a TVD8 and it was very tempting. TDV8 is definitely the right choice and this facelifted design is pretty timeless. I can't blame you for not wanting a Disco 2, I didn't exactly sell it well. :LOL:

Really interesting to hear it has venture cam, I read all about it back then but didn't hear of anyone actually having it.

I'm not going to start looking on Auto Trader, I can't afford one... I don't need one... but I miss the luxobarge SUV feel.
 
Aw hell. There's a supercharged 4.2 L322 near me with all the right things replaced. No no no.
 
If I had to pick someone to buy a Range Rover, it would not be you! Obviously I really like these things, the place I visited to look at an MR2 for sale in 2021 had a TVD8 and it was very tempting. TDV8 is definitely the right choice and this facelifted design is pretty timeless. I can't blame you for not wanting a Disco 2, I didn't exactly sell it well. :LOL:

Really interesting to hear it has venture cam, I read all about it back then but didn't hear of anyone actually having it.

I'm not going to start looking on Auto Trader, I can't afford one... I don't need one... but I miss the luxobarge SUV feel.

Hah, can't blame you, as I said, I wouldn't have guessed myself either. I was joking that my midlife crisis is to seek comfort and luxury instead of sportscars. But maybe it's the 6 years with LS400 that made me rather addicted to luxobarging.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQ3BDsPFNow
Aw hell. There's a supercharged 4.2 L322 near me with all the right things replaced. No no no.

No, no. Of course not.

But then again... maybe.
 
Looks good! Good to have another white, diesel, Luxobarge SUV on the forums.
 
Again, quite unexpected.
On the other hand, I guess is makes more sense than a lifted crossover.
Congrats!
 
This was unexpected, but 100% approved. Always liked the Full Fat Range Rover, although the FFRR abbreviation was new to me. Big diesel is where it's at in a car like this.
 
After some research, it seems there is a product called NavTool, which plugs in between navigation unit and headunit, and pretends to be a navi, while actually serving carplay or android auto video feed to the headunit. Somehow also gets touch input from that navigation bus.

The good part is that it's totally plug and play, no destructive mods, and no original functionality lost (it allows to escape back to original navigation menu).
The bad part is that the audio is fed via analog aux-in and not via optical (MOST). Or perhaps it's good enough, need to experiment first.

Made and sold in USA only. $600 + import taxes.. So not really cheap, but might be worth it :unsure:


Additionally, this week I'm discovering just how many parking places have a 2T weight limit here. Including the parking building at work ☹️
 
How hard is it to take a radio out in your car?

Well, with L322 you start by taking the passenger side sill cover off... and after an hour or two you end up with this

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I wasn't actually taking the radio out, but I was removing the two little trim pieces on either side of the radio. Two small screws caused this whole procedure.

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I was in fact replacing the shiny pianoblack trim with matt walnut veneered ones. I got an unused old-stock kit from ebay that includes all dashboard pieces, side vents and rear console pieces. Sadly, the door card inserts are not that easy to find, so those stay black for now.

I really disliked the piano black trim, so I had this planned when getting the car already.

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Really happy with how it turned out!

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And I guess the video I posted earlier doesn't qualify as a proofpic, so here's another try

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Crikey that kind of dash dismantling makes me nervous. Worth it though.
 
Much better!
 
I went the opposite way in the X5, but the timber look just works so much better in this interior.
 
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This was outrageously expensive, but due to the lack of a natural resting place for a smartphone in the car, and my intense hatered of phone holders hanging in front of vents or controls, I probably won't be regretting it.

Really neat, totally non-destructive, plug and play installation and retains all original functions of the infotainment. Also gives me option of adding additional cameras to the car, and HDMI input. Obviously resistive touch control isn't super responsive, and no multitouch, but it's workable.

The only problem is that audio is analog through aux-in. I couldn't find any ready solution that would use the MOSI bus, unfortunately. But maybe it's just fine, I haven't had a chance to test it much yet.
 
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