Having lived with a 99 P38 for the past 7 yrs, there are a couple of aspects which are most frustrating:
It requires a constant effort to maintain it in good reliable condition. SWMBO tells me it's my second job to being officially 'retired'!!!
Compared to the VX Commodore LS1V8, SWMBOs 2005AH Astra and a Calibra 2.5 V6 manual I had for several years, the P38 would have cost far more in time/$$ repairs than for 5 times its total mileage racked up by the other three vehicles put together... !
Its ride is nowhere as supple/comfortable to what I remember of the suspension of the early Classic which we used on field trips in CSIRO back in the very early 1970s... this maybe the Cooper HT tyres with their famed strong sidewalls... but with the air suspension it shakes the whatevers out of everything on broken bitumen etc... a big advantage of coil springs over airbags is the ability to engineer in a variable rate... OEM airsprings are linear for the most part...
The Thor engine has its max torque around 2600 rpm and there's a real dead spot in the mapping which cannot be engineered out due to the deliberate intent of BMW engineers to preclude any real adjustment when they put the Bosch Motronic system into the 3- and 7-series (and P38) in the mid-late 90s.
The engine characteristics may be OK if it were to be mated to a 5 or 6 sp automatic. As it is there's a substantial difference between the ratios and on long grades (e.g. Hume Hwy ... or Pacific Hwy) unless you're above the speed limit (around 120kph in top gear) in which case the vehicle fully loaded will "sing" and sail over all but the steepest grades. Drop back to 100-105 in top gear and it pants and you're back to third... and then you're left in the black emissions of Hilux/Navara diesels and other RR wannabes as they scoot past in the outside lane!! This is especially evident in the high country on the New England Hwy near Armidale...the engine seems to "die"... ooh! for a small turbo!!
The classic shape of the P38 with its sloping rear tailgate may be seductive in looks, but damned inconvenient in trying to pack a decent load for a trip.
All packed with 4 pax and luggage I average 12-12.5 L/100km on a long trip cruising just on/ below the speed limit.. Admittedly with a full load the suspension more compliant.
all that said, I enjoy it! It's put together like a Meccano set, RAVE has every connection listed / photographed like a MIL-spec manual and from a weekend spanner twirler I've replaced the ball joints/viscous coulping/replaced head gaskets/cam/ignition coil packs/heater o-rings etc.
On a 8,000+ km camping trip to Cape York towing a camper it was impeccably behaved and apart from adding a litre of oil I didn't put a spanner near it...
I've done a spreadsheet calculating the through-life cost of replacing it. I could spend another $10k on it and it would still take 10-15 yrs to realise the savings on a newer model instead...depreciation is the $$$ killer...
I have no experience of a D2 or D3... BUT if I were to 'upgrade" I would look for a decent D3 bearing in mind the need to splurge later on a rebuilt gearbox at some stage. I wouldn't buy another P38 (stuck with what I've got) and D2s likewise are reaching the end of their economic life.
A well maintained petrol V8 D3 over a 10 yr life cycle is probably cheaper than a diesel variant... and they are a big box which is great for practical stuff like carting furniture/camping etc.
The RRSport I gather is built on a shortened D# floor pan and is cramped by comparison and not really intended for spacious touring...others know more about this than I.
Whatever you decide, there are lots of willing folk here ready to assist!
MY99 RR P38 HSE 4.6 (Thor) gone (to Tasmania)
2020 Subaru Impreza S ('SWMBO's Express' )
2023 Ineos Grenadier Trialmaster (diesel)
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