Part 1 - The First 2k Miles In The Nation's Cheapest Range Rover. 

"maristgrad" (maristgrad) 02/03/2016 at 10:10 • Filed to: range rover, winter beater, auction cars, copart, land rover

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Hello my favorite online community of jalops, car nuts, race car drivers, drifters, know it alls and assholes ( very small percentage of assholes but they exist) Here is an update on the saga that is my winter beater - a 2003 Land Rover - Range Rover HSE with the 4.4l V8 BMW Engine.

To understand how we got to this point in the story we must travel back in time just a bit. As some of you know, I buy and sell auction cars, specifically from !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! I’ve written a few stories about how much I love that place and how it makes me feel like Christmas morning finding a luxury car that has depreciated over $80k, its always provides an adrenaline rush, hard penises and wet panties. If you haven’t tried Copart, I would highly recommend it, especially if you’re a gearhead.

A few month ago I found not one but TWO Range Rovers in my price range, both of which actually started, ran and drove.

Excited about the Range Rovers, I took my typical inspection of the cars a day early. Here are more photos for reference.

Then auction day rolls around and both of the trucks are gone! I already inspected them and was ready to take the gamble but it would seem someone in the region would beat me to the punch every damn time.

This strange disappearance of decent - to basket case, Range Rovers within my price range continued to go on for a few auction cycles. I ended up with a few other cars in the meanwhile, never forgetting my ultimate goal, finding the perfect Range Rover Project that would suck me dry.

One day before a recent auction I ran into a guy like myself who buys and sells auction cars, however, I noticed he was almost exclusively looking at Land Rover Products. I watched from a distance as he started up each truck, went through his personal list of diagnoses, made a few phone calls and tagged the car.

I couldn’t help but strike up a conversation with this guy, His said his name was Sergei ( I would find out a little later that wasn’t true.) We got into a conversation about how much we love Range Rovers and we both got a laugh talking about the various forms of suffering through college just to own a p38. I came to find out he owns a shop and buys every single Range Rover off the lot before it goes to auction by sending a fair offer to the seller through an intermediary. He currently had regular HSE 4.6 to super charged, to a diesel (don’t ask me how he was kind of squirrelly about it) Range rovers, I mean this guy was the man to talk to if you ever wanted to buy a used Range rover from an auction or scrap yard he definitely knew his shit. So he asked me, “What’s stopping you from buying a newer body style Range” I sheepishly grinned and admitted the one’s I’ve found in my monetary range are alway on their last legs and I would like it to have enough juice left in it, to be a daily driver when I finally take in my poor poor Toyota Prius for the body work it’s been aching for.

Sergei asked me what I could come up with in 12 hours, which was about $16200 but I told him $3000. He picked out a dark blue 2003 Range Rover said he usually used it for camping and was daily driven for almost 2 years before he upgraded to the supercharged version. He let me test drive it and although the suspension was stuck in standard mode, everything else worked surprising well. The car auto levels its self back into stand mode once you park it. He told me the truck runs great and even offered a 3,000-mile powertrain and suspension warranty for $350 extra that’s the part that blew my mind, his confidence in how well the truck would run. He has all maintenance records and I could tell from driving it had been well maintained. Even the oil on the dipstick was pretty clean. Sure it had a few cosmetic problems, a PlayStation hook up in the back without a PlayStation, the hydraulic hinges for the trunk and hood are shot and frankly it could use a new paint job. All of these replaceable cosmetic issues didn’t even cause me to bat an eye. He gave me that title (which is when I found out his real Russian name and it definitely isn’t Sergei lol) he provided his ID and the truck was signed over into my name at the DMV for a total of $3350.

Let me put that in perspective, the last Range Rover I sold was a 99 HSE with 160K for $2800. My last Mac costs $3000 with accessories. My sister’s rent in Manhattan is $4950 A MONTH!!!

Let that sink in for a second.

After driving the truck like a baby for the first 1000 miles I decided to make a 600+ mile trip along the Columbia gorge (highly recommended if you haven’t before,) The truck performed wonderfully, here is a video.

Sometimes during the trip the cabin so was so quiet I didn’t realize how fast I was going half the time

The views of the river were amazing if you haven’t been able to watch the video, here’s a few more photos

Ladies and gentlemen, I think I just found the cheapest reliable Range Rover in America which is currently being used as my winter beater. Let me know what you thnk or if Im overlooking some critical problems which are typical of this make and model. So far I love it, well not the $180+ oil change

(bastards, I should’ve done the oil change myself)

Horrible interior shots coming soon. But if this can handle 4 hours of continuious intensive driving I think I’m set.

Nibby > maristgrad 02/03/2016 at 10:13

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“My sister’s rent in Manhattan is $4950 A MONTH!!!”

What does she do? o_o

maristgrad > Nibby 02/03/2016 at 10:21

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Global securities analyst for Merrill Lynch, some apparently complicated finance job I don’t really care for

Nibby > maristgrad 02/03/2016 at 10:22

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Oh, that’s a sweet gig. Good for her.

R Saldana [|Oo|======|oO|] - BTC/ETH/LTC Prophet > maristgrad 02/03/2016 at 10:24

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So you must live in a place that does not require regular emissions inspection.

Opposite Locksmith > R Saldana [|Oo|======|oO|] - BTC/ETH/LTC Prophet 02/03/2016 at 10:34

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Why do you say that?

Opposite Locksmith > maristgrad 02/03/2016 at 10:35

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God I want a cheap truck so bad. And I haven't driven in years.

Opposite Locksmith > Opposite Locksmith 02/03/2016 at 10:35

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And i have a wrx

R Saldana [|Oo|======|oO|] - BTC/ETH/LTC Prophet > Opposite Locksmith 02/03/2016 at 10:38

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long time rover owner here. SAi is the bane of my existence.

gin-san - shitpost specialist > maristgrad 02/03/2016 at 10:56

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Three grand is pretty decent for a couple of tons of rolling luxury you can take off-road.

If the condition doesn't change too much during your ownership, I'd be surprised if you couldn't recoup most of the purchase price when it comes time to sell it yourself.

Needmoargarage > maristgrad 02/03/2016 at 11:05

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I’ve probably asked before, but am going to ask again as I apparently can’t remember. How did you go about getting a license for Copart? Do you do it using a standard business license or do you have a dealer’s license?

Vicente Esteve > maristgrad 02/03/2016 at 11:10

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Cool on you for taking the gamble and coming out of it happier. I do like Range Rovers, but would not buy without a warranty.

TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. > maristgrad 02/03/2016 at 11:48

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That’s awesome, here’s hoping the vehicle continues being reliable. Also let me guess, your sister lives in the West Village right? The rent around here is fucking insane.

CaptDale - is secretly British > maristgrad 02/03/2016 at 12:51

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Damn lucky you are. I would love to have one of these as my camping and trail beater!!

Tohru > Opposite Locksmith 02/03/2016 at 12:59

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Buy my truck, then. I’ve got it on CL right now.

Opposite Locksmith > Tohru 02/03/2016 at 13:47

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Would you trust it to drive from Texas to Ohio no problem?

Tohru > Opposite Locksmith 02/03/2016 at 13:53

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It’d go through a quart of power steering fluid and it only gets 15mpg, but she’d do it.

thebigbossyboss > maristgrad 02/03/2016 at 14:08

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4950 PER MONTH? It’s like I live a totally different life completely haha. I don’t even gross that much in a month never mind taxes.

maristgrad > R Saldana [|Oo|======|oO|] - BTC/ETH/LTC Prophet 02/03/2016 at 17:11

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I live in Portland area which requires vigorous emissions testing

maristgrad > Opposite Locksmith 02/03/2016 at 17:15

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Maybe. I was driving in 45° weather so I’m not sure how it would handle continuous driving in 90° + weather.

Makoyouidiot > maristgrad 02/03/2016 at 18:58

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You are my hero....I always wanted to upgrade to a RR after I sold my Disco, but never had the stones.

dannyzabolotny > maristgrad 09/14/2016 at 12:45

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Super late comment, but I just picked up a 2004 Range Rover HSE for $3000 a few weeks back. Didn’t run because it needed a fuel pump, but after I replaced that with a BMW X5 fuel pump for $200 it ran perfectly. I’ve been daily driving it for a few weeks now with no real issues other than some typical M62tu oil leaks (which I’ll fix this weekend). My Range Rover has a total of two previous owners, with the first owner having the Range Rover from 2004 to 2015. So it’s been taken care of relatively well.

You got ripped off really badly with the oil change. The M62tu takes Mobil 1 0W40 (that’s actually compliant with BMW specs) which you can buy 5 quarts of at Walmart for $23. Two of those 5-quart containers is more than enough for the oil change, and the oil filter is $10 or less for a good one, so you’re looking at like $50-60 for an oil change if you do it yourself.