Thread: Best model/series

g'day cloudy
late 80's RR classic would be my pick mate. peanuts to buy, peanuts to maintain. apart from the efi everything else is mechanical, ergo fixable. even efi is cheap to service. avoid later car's air suspension and anti lock brakes.

if you could live with things like the jag's a.e.d. then an RRC will be a doddle. like jag you get undatable design, crashworthiness, creature comforts and you can tow a trailer without b^ggering up your suspension. plenty of room for the g.l.w.'s chariot in the back too.

As above. The earlier ones with the LT230 are my pick, the Borg-Warner Viscous coupling transfer are okay but can be costly to repair but if you have no intentions of going off-road they're fine.

Also look at the 90-91 3.9's which are a step better and well appointed as well.

The earlier EFI system (pre 3.9) are a bloody PIA and need to be maintained to a degree or they'll be troublesome. They all seem to overfuel on cold startup and flood badly (the 87 Hi-line did as well as the 88 Rangie I have currently) but once warm they run as they should. Hi-Lines are better appointed but I prefer the 'dunga spec' basic model for the lack of frills (and less crap to go wrong such as electric windows and mirrors, etc..).

Don't pay too much, anything over $3K for a late 80's Rangie is too much unless it's mint. Plenty of cheaper ones going around on e-bay but you need to do your homework and most are sold unreg and could cost you a small fortune to get back up to roadworthy state unless you do the work yourself. I paid $850 for my 88 Rangie, spent $600 (power steer box and new front seats, the old one had a busted frame and had to buy a pair from a 91 Vogue so they would match) but still had it on road for less than $1500 before rego. Not bad value IMO.

Anyway, good luck with it.

Trav

1986 to 1988 Range Rover auto with LT 230 (Center diff lock) The early efi are quite robust and if some one can use a multi meter should not cause much grief.

Cheers Tony

Taking it a step further, is there a lot of difference (Apart from appearance) between the Land rover (Discovery, Freelander) Forget diesels. Don't like them.

Originally Posted by cloudy

Taking it a step further, is there a lot of difference (Apart from appearance) between the Land rover (Discovery, Freelander) Forget diesels. Don't like them.

The 89-99 series 1 discovery is built on a classic rangie chassis and uses pretty much the same mechanicals (although updated), i would look at disco's as well as classic rangies are getting on and will require constant maintainance where as a series 1 disco up to 99 is basically the same vehicle but newer and a little simpler as far as elctronics and features go and you will get a newer car for roughly the same price.

I love the classic rangies but in your situation a newer vehicle may suit you better.

"series 1 disco up to 99 is basically the same vehicle but newer and a little simpler as far as elctronics and features go and you will get a newer car for roughly the same price.

I love the classic rangies but in your situation a newer vehicle may suit you better."
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That's pretty much the way I'm thinking loanrangie.

I had a look at a '95 Ranger & was blown away by the finish & appointments, but was not encouraged by the comments & experiences some have had here.

It reminded me of what steered me away from an XJS Jag. "Can't beat them when they're going but the sickness is contagious when they're not"

Originally Posted by cloudy

I had a look at a '95 Ranger & was blown away by the finish & appointments, but was not encouraged by the comments & experiences some have had here.

It reminded me of what steered me away from an XJS Jag. "Can't beat them when they're going but the sickness is contagious when they're not"

Up to 1995, even in the top model Vogue SE, there is not a lot that can't be fixed reasonably cheaply. Many have already had the air suspension removed. The EFI hot wire system is pretty reliable. If the ABS packs up you can convert it back to non-ABS at not much cost as long as you do the work yourself.

If you are going to buy any Rangie classic, find one that someone has got rid of because they got sick of spending money on it. That way you are likely to get one with the many wear items replaced.

perceived wisdom is that rangies were built UP to their price whereas discos (all points north of the chassis and drivetrain) were built DOWN to their price. they are ALL old now but all the negative things you've read about rangies here are generally about the parts common to both.
to further use the jag analogy, think series 1 vs series 2 XJ's. i know which one i'd rather have........(or rather HAD , '73 XJ12)
series 2's (contemporaries of the XJ-S) were subject to bloat, cost-cutting and built by a disaffected workforce. it wasn't 'til '83 that the quality started to return.