Buying a used Range Rover Sport (L320) - 2005-2013, Buying advice with Common Issues

The Range Rover Sport definitely has its own character, mainly with one of the V8 petrol engines. It is that kind of a car in which you can travel long distances comfortably and in style. On the other side, taking it off-road is also not a problem, since it shares a lot of the components with the Land Rover Discovery 3, which means that it has a separate frame so it does have a stronger body and better off-road capability than for example the BMW X5 or the Mercedes M-Class from that time. However, it's also heavier than these cars and most of the owners will never take it off-road. Because of the integrated body frame, the whole chassis can be separated from the body and if you need to change some specific parts, like for example the turbocharger, then this is the only way to do it. On the other side, this way you get at least a great access to all the suspension components and to the engine itself, so you can check everything properly. Removing the body takes approximately 8 hours, but some say that a skilled mechanic can do it in less than 2 hours. Because of the big side windows and a higher seat position, you have a very good visibility from the interior, and most of these cars are well equipped with various electronic features. However, the before facelift models, made before 2010, do have more outdated looking center console and some issues with the build quality. I mean, the materials in the interior are mostly durable, but cars which are used in hot climate areas can have quite often issues with the cracked plastic dashboard, which starts to crack mainly around the passenger airbag. And you can easily find cars with sagging headliner or sagging A-pillar fabric. You can of course fix the sagging A-pillar fabric or the headliner easily without bigger problems, but replacing the dashboard with a brand new part is obviously much more expensive and complicated. However, they completely updated the dashboard and improved the build quality in the facelifted models, so if you want a better and nicer interior, then choose these newer models. There should be no rust on the body panels, although cars used on winter salty roads will have most probably some rust on the undercarriage. And it's definitely worth checking the brake pipes, which can be already rusty mainly in the before facelift cars. As usual, it's important to check all the electronics and pay bigger attention to the following features. So, check the power folding mirrors, the parking sensors, the door locks can fail, issues with the battery draining can occur, and the alternator failures are common. If you can't open the tailgate, then most probably the tailgate switch is faulty and sometimes the wiring which goes from the switch is faulty. Problems with the incorrect reading of the fuel gauge can occur. Test the electronic parking brake and listen for strange grinding or other bad sounds from it, which can be the sign of the incorrectly adjusted parking brake, and if you continue using it with these noises, then you will end up with destroyed actuator, which are not the cheapest. Also, if the previous owner not used it regularly, then it can seize up. Mainly the before facelift cars can be affected with these problems, and some of the electronic issues are resolved by a new battery or a simple software update. On the other side, some of the strange electronic gremlins can be caused by water leaks into the interior. A very common water leak is caused by the sunroof drains. They can be either clogged, as in the other cars, or there can be an issue with the ending of the drain hoses. If they are clogged, then you just need to clean them with compressed air or with some thin edge trimmer line. However, in a lot of cases, the rubber ending of this drain hose can basically disconnect itself. The ending is located behind this plastic side vent on both sides of the car of course. If you remove this vent, then you will see that the rubber ending has to stick out. But since the rubber ending will disintegrate over time, then the rubber hose slides inside and all the water from the sunroof will end up inside the car, specifically, the main wiring loom will sit in water. To fix this, you can buy a new hose with the rubber ending, or you can just use some generic hose which is the same size as the old one. Ok, but let's move on to the suspension. As usual, pay attention to all those clunking, rattling, or knocking noises on bad quality roads. If you hear a knocking sound when applying the brakes sharply, from low speeds, then most probably the front lower control arm bushes are gone. And they can be worn out sometimes even after 60 000 miles. The anti-roll bar bushes can be more worn as well and be prepared that the wheel bearings can fail before 100 000 miles. Then there is the air suspension, which can suffer from 3 main failures basically. The air compressor can often fail. In this case, if you can't race the car and if you can't hear the compressor working, then it's most probably time to buy a new compressor. The next are the air struts which can leak as they are getting older. So, if one of the side of the car is lower than the other after sitting overnight, then you most probably have a leak in that particular air strut on that lower side. The last issue is related to the height sensors. If one of them is faulty, then you either get a suspension fault message or a warning light on the instrument cluster, or one of the side of the car will be noticeably higher or lower. You can even check the 4x4 info on the onboard monitor and look at the wheel animation. If the car is standing on a level ground, then all the wheels on this screen have to be in level and none of the wheels should be moving or should be higher or lower than the others. So the car itself has to stay perfectly in level on a even ground. And it's of course good to test the air suspension by raising and lowering the car at least a couple of times. Definitely check for all those whining, growling and humming noises from the front or rear of the car which can indicate problems with the differentials. The car has to drive without these strange noises. Check the transfer box as well. Put the gearbox into neutral and push the LO button to engage the low range mode. It has to engage smoothly and without clunks or strange sounds. It can make a quiet noise from the outside as the system changes over, but obviously nothing loud. If you think that's all for the suspension, then you are wrong. Because some of the cars are equipped with the dynamic response package, which means that the car has active hydraulic anti-roll bars. It's a great feature which helps reducing body roll in corners and in this case there is an additional hydraulic fluid reservoir in the engine compartment. But long story short, the hydraulic units on these sway bars can start to leak and buying a new sway bar and changing it is definitely not the cheapest. Since this Range Rover is a very heavy car, then be prepared to change the brakes and tires more often. Check the tires for uneven wear and all of the tires should be the same size and preferably the same brand. Because keep in mind that cheap tires can indicate cheap maintenance. There are not many issues with the petrol engines, but when it comes to reliability, then the older engines without the direct injection are the better choice. Of course, they can have those usual petrol engine issues, but other than this, there are no bigger problems. The newer 5.0L engines are equipped with direct injection, so issues with the injectors can occur, although not that often. However, there is a possible problem with the timing chain mechanism. Basically, the timing chain guides can fail to be exact, sometimes even after 50,000 miles and mostly on the supercharged 5.0L engine. The timing chain tensioner will make a hole into this weak timing chain guide as you can see, which will cause that the chain is going to have reduced tension. And yes, that worn out spot should be even. In this case, there can be a rattle or a clicking sound on cold start and sometimes even at idle from the front of the engine. Then the engine can throw some fault codes or it will go into limp mode and in the worst case the chain can skip. And you don't want that. No, you don't. But interestingly, they redesigned the tensioners and the guides and as you can see, the new guide does have a metallic pin on the spot where the tensioner is pushing against the guide. I would not recommend choosing the 2.7L V6 diesel engine for various reasons. First of all, it's not very powerful, and then there are cases of broken crankshafts on these engines. This will cause a suddenly seized crankshaft or you will get a hole in the cylinder block. Which is definitely not very positive. Some say that the crankshaft itself is the problem, some say that the crankshaft bearings are causing this, and some say that the low oil pressure or the long oil change intervals are part of this issue. But long story short, this will destroy your engine, basically. The good thing is that this is not like very common, so it usually happens only after 300 000 km, but there are of course cases when it happened before 200 000 km. Now, the bad thing is, that surprisingly, this issue already occurred in some of the newer 3.0L TDV6 engines as well. Sometimes before 100 000 km and sometimes around 200 000 km. So you can find newer models with replaced 3.0L engines, usually under warranty. And actually, this kind of a knocking, tapping sound from the engine can be the early symptom of this issue. If you already have one of these engines, then don't panic, change the oil after maximum 10 000 km and don't abuse it. This way you most probably won't have these issues, but if you have more than 300 000 km on the car, then you should be prepared for everything. Then the turbochargers can fail usually only on the abused diesel engines, but more often on the weakest 2.7L unit. However, in a lot of cases, only the turbocharger actuator arm will seize up, which is not expensive to fix. Then the EGR valve can fail again mostly on the older 2.7L V6 engines. And mainly, the 8-cylinder diesel engine can have cracked intercooler hoses, so it's good to occasionally check them, and if one of them is cracked, then it's good to change the other as well. Most of the engines are equipped with timing chain, which can be worn usually just in high-mileage cars, except the timing chain guides in the 5.0L V8 engines. The 2.7L TDV6 engine has a timing belt, and it's good to replace it with the water pump a little earlier than the original interval. This Range Rover can be equipped with the 6-speed or with the 8-speed automatic gearbox. Definitely check them properly before buying and check them for oil leaks. The older 6-speed version can have issues with the torque converter, so check it for slipping, hesitation or fluctuating revs. These are usually the symptoms of a bad torque converter. To summarize things up, it's better to avoid the V6 diesel engines, buy only a car with a proper maintenance history, find a good independent specialist, change all the fluids in time, and keep at least 6000 Euros for the possible repairs. And if you want to do the maintenance at the dealer, then you should keep even more money. As usual, check the car properly before buying, and if you have personal experience with this car or more information about it, then you can write it into comments. Thanks for watching.