the Cheapest Range Rover in the EU with 447 100 km - Part 2

Considering the mileage, the underside of this high mileage Range Rover is not great, not terrible. Let's start with the front of the car. As you can see, the front subframe has some rust on it, which is not surprising at all. This is obviously not a reason to celebrate, but there are still no holes in it and I have seen worse, so let's move on to the control arms. The front control arms are still OK and the bushings in them are still in a good condition. On the other side, the front rear control arms have seen better days. The driver's side control arm bushing is cracked as you can see. And the ball joint has some play in it as well. Of course, this control arm is still not in a catastrophic horrible condition, but it should be replaced in the near future. The bushing in the passenger side control arm is in a similar condition, but the ball joint is in a much better shape on this side. However, the driveshaft on the other hand on this side has visible play in it. But the rubber boots are in a great condition and there are no symptoms of bad driveshaft during driving, so it's still not great, not terrible. The driveshaft on the driver's side has basically no play in it, so this one is still in a great condition. The other suspension components in the front are in a good condition and there are no visible leaks from the engine or from the front differential either. Moving on to the middle section, we can see the gearbox and the transfer case. As you can see, the transfer case is leaking a little, which is not the end of the world, but again, it's also not something which would bring me satisfaction. Then there is the transfer case actuator motor, which is known to fail sometimes on these cars. And as I said in the previous video, I got issues with engaging and disengaging the low range, so this motor can be faulty. It also has these numbers on it, but I have no idea if it was replaced in the past. But if you know what kind of a message is hidden behind these numbers, then you should definitely write it into comments. And let's check out visually the gearbox. The magnificent 5-speed General Motors automatic gearbox, which was made in France. A French made US gearbox, well, this doesn't sound very comforting, but at least it's not leaking oil, except this area where the shifter linkage is connected. Not the end of the world, but of course, it has other issues which you will get to know later. The back side of the underside is not very horrible either, although the rear differential looks like it has been sitting in a swamp with Shrek for at least a year. But it's still not leaking, so it will be better to just let it be, I guess. There is also some more rust in this area, but still, could be worse. Moving on to the rear control arm bushings, they don't look torn or worn out, which is good, although the subframe bushings are a little cracked as you can see. The rear shock absorbers are surprisingly not leaking, and the air struts are not leaking either, so that's positive. And by the way, if you have a Range Rover like this, or if you have a car with this kind of an air strut type, then you should definitely occasionally clean this area under the air strut itself. Because as you can see, over time dirt, tiny rocks and road salt will accumulate in this area. This is not ideal, because as the air strut moves, the dried out dirt will act like a sandpaper, since it's pushing to the rubber itself, which will result in wear, cracks and obviously air leaks in the future. When it comes to rust, yes, overall there is some rust on the undercarriage, but honestly, I was expecting a worse condition. Of course, the rear passenger's side jacking point is completely ruined, and there are some bigger rust spots here and there, but what can I say, road salt. As in the previous video, let me know in the comments what you think, is the underside condition acceptable, or just hopeless. Meanwhile I will show you the very basic maintenance I did. So while the car was up in the air, I changed the transfer case fluid. This is very easy, just don't forget to first unscrew the filler screw, and only then the drain screw. After this, screw back the drain plug obviously, and fill the transfer case. I used this kind of a cheap pump to fill it, but most importantly, I filled it with this kind of a more expensive, genuine special transfer box oil. I don't know what is so special about it, except the price, but generally speaking, it really is the best to use only genuine fluids if you want to change the transfer case or the differential fluids in any car. Next I changed the engine oil, which is also very easy. Unscrew the drain plug, drain it, change the oil filter and fill it. Of course, you can say that changing these fluids in this particular car is just a complete waste of time and money, and yes, it is, but it's also the least I can do and the car is still working. So at the end, it deserved it. But how is this high mileage Range Rover behaves on the road? Well, surprisingly good, but let's start with the seating position. You sit here like a king. The visibility is great, like from a castle, and there is more than enough room for your crew. Thanks to the big windshield and the big narrow side windows, you really get a great visibility from the interior. On the other side, thanks to these big windows, the interior also heats up more on a sunny day. But what about the driving? Well, just imagine a living room, a tank and a tractor. Combine all these things into one and imagine driving this combined thing. Why a living room? Well, I think I don't really need to explain this. But you know, space, comfort, leather seats and wood trim. Why a tank? Because of the weight and the body rigidity. Of course, this car weighs a lot. But this is understandable, since the body of this Range Rover is extremely rigid even after this mileage and 16 years of use. There is absolutely no noticeable flexing or various sounds from the body panels and it doesn't matter on what kind of a surface you are traveling or crawling. It really feels like it was made from a single piece of iron cube. And even the interior rattling noises are almost non-existent, plus the front seats are still completely solid without any kind of excessive play or squeaking old grandma chair noises. And lastly, why a tractor? Because of the loud engine. The engine is definitely louder than you would expect. Mainly from the outside, at acceleration, it sounds like a big loud diesel truck and at idle, it is like a tractor. The interior is on the other side pretty well insulated from the outside noises, considering the fact that the body has this big narrow boxy shape. Although in some cases, you can hear the engine in the interior a bit more than you would like. The next thing I want to discuss is the suspension of this Range Rover. As we all know, this car is equipped with an air suspension and with regular shock absorbers, so these are not electronically adjustable shocks. Which means that you can't change the stiffness of the suspension. But believe it or not, this Range Rover can automatically soften the suspension a little. How is that possible? Well, it's possible because of these magic boxes which are called interconnected crosslink valves. One box with this valve is in the front and one is in the back of the car. The front valve connects the front air struts and the rear valve connects the rear air struts. These solenoid operated valves are controlled by the air suspension ECU, so if you are traveling at 20 km per hour or lower, then these valves can automatically engage and this way they will connect the two air springs together, allowing the air to flow directly between them. This magical solution improves the off-road capability of the suspension and it also makes the suspension softer. After 20 km per hour, this feature is not available, but that's not really a problem since the suspension is really comfortable anyway. And on very bad quality roads, at lower speeds, the comfort level of the suspension is the most noticeable. On road imperfections like here, you can very well see the minimal movement of the body and the maximal movement of the shocks, which translates into an unbelievably comfortable ride in these situations. Everywhere you read or hear about this car, everywhere, they say how comfortable it is. And yes, it is, let's not pretend that it's not. However, when you suddenly hit a specific type of road imperfection at higher speeds, like at 70 or 90 km per hour, then the suspension can react like this. As you can see from the shaking of the camera, some of the specific road imperfections start to be more noticeable than I would expect. Of course, I still can't say that it's uncomfortable, because it's definitely not. And the stability of the car is very good as well. On the other side, at these regular speeds, the body roll in corners is surprisingly not that big as I would expect, considering the weight and the size of this thing. Plus, the steering is tight and very precise even after all these years and kilometers. And even though some of the suspension parts are worn as you could see earlier, the suspension components are not making any significant creaking, squeaking or rattling noises, which is definitely interesting. From the footage it seems like the car is driving without any issues, but that's of course not true. The first not good sign is this kind of a strange continuous whining or humming noise. If you listen closely, you can hear it. It's not always there, but a lot of times it is, usually from approximately 60 km per hour. This noise is coming from the center of the car, so maybe from the transfer case or from the gearbox. And of course, let's not forget the gearbox. Long story short, it is still working. But it's slipping more than it should and I have to change the gears manually. Because if I let it in the regular drive mode, then after warming up and accelerating, the revs suddenly jump up to 3 or 4000 rpm like this. And after 2 or 3 shuddering, the gearbox switches into limp mode, which means that it will be locked in 3rd or 4th gear, and in this mode it will constantly let the torque converter slip, and then the car will become extremely slow. But interestingly, after restarting the engine, the gearbox will switch back to normal mode. Although, after a short time it obviously gets into limp mode again, unless I will use the manual mode. In the regular drive mode, it can also shudder pretty badly, so it feels like the gearbox wants to jump out of the car. On the other side, when I use the manual mode, then I can more or less drive without any issues. Although, even here it starts to occasionally slip or shudder, mostly while changing some gears. However, if I manage to accelerate to 80 kmh or more, then the gearbox locks into 5th gear and I can travel happily without any slipping or shuddering, until the first slowdown. So that was the gearbox. Maybe I will at least try to check out in what condition is the gearbox fluid, but that's a topic for another video. Unlike the gearbox, the engine in this car is working very well, although let's not pretend that it's very suitable for this car. I mean, it is OK for regular calm cruising, and believe it or not, even for slower overtaking, as you can see, but I would just choose the newer bigger V8 engine, which is suitable for everything, except my wallet is not suitable for buying a newer V8 diesel Range Rover. But back to this old thing. Actually, the only things which should be changed immediately on this car are the brake pads and the brake hoses, because of the safety of course. First of all, the brake pads are noticeably worn, and as you can see the front brake hoses are cracked. Plus, the front steel brake lines are rusting pretty badly as well. This condition is not really acceptable and these parts should be changed immediately, if I would like to use this car on regular roads without compromising the stopping distance. However, since this Range Rover is used for short distances on roads like this, and on dirt roads like this, where there is basically no traffic, I'm just currently not gonna spend more money on it, because it doesn't make any sense. So what I'm going to do with it next? Who knows, maybe it will break, maybe I will get rid of it. And maybe I will just drive it until the wheels fall off. But all of this is just pure speculation, so thanks for watching.