When it comes to Range Rovers, the second-generation P38 models seem to be the least well-liked. That’s not the case with today’s Nice Price or No Dice 2001, as it’s been liked well enough to do nearly 240K. Let’s find out if it’s priced to go the distance as well.
Do you want to know what I think drove Mazda to kill off the rotary engine as a primary motivator in its cars? I believe it was the Miata that committed the coup de grâce. At the time of the Miata’s introduction in 1989, Mazda’s only Wankel was the RX-7, and the Miata’s wild success proved a devastating blow to the larger, more expensive car’s sales. It was bad enough that Mazda decided to abandon the hard-edged sports car market, replacing the RX-7 with the weird four-door RX-8, a car that never really caught on.
That model, along with its rotary engine, went out of production in 2012, while the Miata soldiers on to this very day. We looked at a 1987 RX-7 Turbo II yesterday, with incredibly low miles and a blast from the past appearance. At $29,000, it was priced for the present, and that proved too much for even so nice a car to bear. Ultimately, that resulted in a massive 92% No Dice loss.
Hot potato
The British Marque, Rover, and by extension its Land Rover subsidiary, never got on the Wankel bandwagon. It did, however, experiment with gas turbine engines in several prototype road cars and a Le Mans racer jointly developed with BRM.
The engine in today’s 2001 Land Rover Range Rover is not quite so exotic. It’s a 4.6-liter edition of the all-alloy V8 that Rover bought from General Motors’ Buick division in the 1960s, and which has seen duty in everything from Morgan Plus 8s to Rover SD1s. That former GM engine isn’t the only corporate connection this Range Rover has in its rearview. Consider the musical chairs its parent played during this second generation’s model life.
Originally conceived and designed while Rover was owned by British Aerospace, its entire production run fell under BMW control as the German company bought Rover in the model’s debut year. Finally, the P38’s successor — which debuted the same year this model was built — was engineered by BMW but sold under Ford ownership, as the Americans had taken over by that time.
Not that P38
It should be noted that the P38 nickname given to the second-generation Range Rover is not a nod to the twin-engine Lockheed fighter plane from World War II. Its source is, instead, much more mundane, referencing the office building where the model’s development took place.
That development started with a modified ladder frame from the long-wheelbase first-generation Range Rover, atop which was placed a smoother, more refined body wrapped around an interior that fully embodied the model’s luxury SUV credentials. Along with the 222-horsepower V8, this P38 comes equipped with a four-speed ZF automatic transmission and full-time 4WD, featuring a two-speed transfer case. While originally air-suspended, this one has seen an update to Old Man Emu steel springs and shocks.
That’s not the only update this Range Rover has seen. According to the ad, the truck’s previous owner replaced the head gaskets (a noted failure point on these engines), while the current owner has had the HVAC controller rebuilt, replaced the coil packs, and mounted fresh rubber on all four corners, and the spare. Service records for the truck have been kept since new.
So many miles
That newness was a long time and fully 237,930 miles ago. Heck yeah, that’s a lot of miles. Why is it that we’re constantly told about how unreliable old Range Rovers and Land Rovers are, and yet they’re out there racking up amazingly high miles with little complaint? Certainly, there are signs of age and use on this truck. The seller notes some chips in the paint and a headliner that’s sagging like a day-old diaper, but overall it still presents very well in the ad’s pictures. It seems to be solid mechanically, too, as the seller claims it “runs and drives great, without any issues.”
Aside from offering slightly less headroom than when new, due to the headliner’s struggle against gravity, the cabin is in remarkably good condition as well. There’s no evidence of excessive wear on the seats, which feature beige leather with contrasting piping. Similarly, the door cards, dash, and load area all appear to be in good condition.
Cheap enough?
According to the seller, this Range Rover’s title is clean, and it has a recent passing grade from the smog tester. The reason given for the sale is the seller’s growing family, which requires something with more than five seats and a back window wide enough to accommodate stickers denoting each member of their expanding family. The asking price for this five-seat, high-mileage, but seemingly well-kept Range Rover is $8,500.
What’s your take on this truck for that many bucks? Does $8,500 feel like a fair price considering the overall condition and presentation? Or do the miles and reputation demand a lower asking?
You decide!
Los Angeles, California, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
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