Range Rover SDV8 Autobiography

Yes, it does everything I bought it for perfectly.   Still miss the 7 in many ways, but as a family truck I can’t think of anything better. 

The large mirrors help with road positioning as well, you can see the tops of the wheels on both sides so can get close into the edge of the road without risking damage.  If anyone comes at you in one due to being nowhere near the edge of the road, they’re just being an arse. 

I love that write up and he gets it so spot on -

"....A full-size Range Rover’s desirability doesn’t rest on tech, trend or tumblehome, but an unrivalled sense of regality that no rival has ever really been able to match.....There’s something almost intangible about the way a Range Rover goes down the road. Rather than being driven by technology or performance, a Range Rover’s desirability is drawn from the way you drive it, which is perhaps more akin to captaining than driving..."

I’ve just realised that I’ve had it 6 months today. I know that’s not a huge amount of time, but even so it doesn’t feel that long (it’s 25% of the time I had the 750).  It’s covered 5,700 miles so about 1/3rd as many as the same period last year, but I’ve been using the Golf more as well, I’ve done 4,000 miles in that over the same period.

Nothing much to add to what I’ve said about it already, it’s a very relaxing and luxurious way to travel, but more importantly it does a great job of carrying all 5 of us whether it’s day trips or a couple of weeks away with all the stuff you need for a baby.

That's a lot of oil! I think my car needs less than half that. How big is your sump?!

I seem to remember needing 5.5 litres of oil to service the various 3.5 litre Rover V8s I had. That was annoying, when oil comes in 5 litre cans and I almost never needed to top anything up between services. I ended up buying a 25 litre drum and making my way through that over a few years.

Time flies when you're having fun and all that, it was 12 months since I picked the car on Friday.

The fun facts first..... I've done just over 13,000 miles, spent £2,450 on fuel (28.1mpg calculated), £20 on Adblue, £640 on a service and £490 on another years road tax. The tyres don't seem to wear, I had a look at them about 5,000 miles ago and they had 8mm/7mm left, no idea whether they were new or had done 10,000 miles when I picked the car up but either way they won't need replacing for some time. The insurance has come down to £660, which is only £50 more than the renewal for the Golf (will be shopping around) and there haven't been any unexpected expenses other than the £10 excess paid to Autoglass to repair a chip in the windscreen.

It has only been into the dealer for the service as it hasn't had any issues at all. Hopefully not tempting fate, but so far my strategy of buying a post 2018 model that had spent 12 months in the ownership of JLR getting any niggles sorted out has worked out. It's had several over the air software updates for the infotainment, most fairly minor but the first one was a biggie as it made a significant improvement to the speed the system boots up (starts when you open the door rather than press start) and even if you get in and fire it up really quickly and beat it (can't remember the last time that happened), the reversing camera comes up instantly and doesn't have to wait for the system to come to life.  It wasn't something that bothered me when I first got the car, but I was expecting it to after watching reviews where it seemed to take an age to startup. 

I've written quite a bit about how it drives, so won't repeat myself (too much....).   What I will say is that it still feels like a very special place to be, driving it is such a comfortable and relaxing experience and it's surprisingly quick when you want it to be. The 6.5sec to 60mph doesn't do it justice, no launch control and it isn't super sharp from a standstill (definitely not a TLGP machine), but once it's up and running it feels plenty quick enough for a big truck and still surprises me how quickly it goes from 60-90+ leptons and is still pulling strongly.   It sounds good as well, plenty of V8 rumble and from inside, most wouldn't guess it was a diesel (it's more obvious outside).   When the weather is really bad, it's the perfect car to be in, especially in heavy rain when it just feels solid and you're slightly less impacted by spray. It's also perfect for family carrying duties, which was the reason for buying it, comfortable enough to carry 5 for several hours and despite having a slightly reduced boot length because of the Executive Rear Seats, it's still big enough to get luggage for a fortnights holiday (including pushchair and travel cot) under the load cover, let alone needing to strap a shed on the roof. I've used the built in picnic bench a few times and it makes a great baby changing table!

It doesn't feel like I've had it half as long as the 750, but I guess that's because in the same period of time I'd done double the miles (28,500). I must admit that I still do miss the 750, specifically the noise it made, how quick it was and the amazing stereo but I'm pretty sure I'd miss the RR a lot more if I swapped back and not because of the practicality! 

A year already? Sounds like it's been a great motoring year with it. Hope it continues!

It is for a service and slightly early MOT today. I’ve had it 18 months now and covered just over 20k miles. Pleased to say that there isn’t anything to report, still completely issue free, the worst complaint I have is the auto wipers occasionally operate on normal speed when they should be on intermittent. I’ll take that. It continues to be a great vehicle to travel in and is even better in bad weather

Wasn’t so easy sorting the service, although COVID rules were to blame. The last service was completed in Bedford, but when I called I was put through to a central call centre and the operator wouldn’t give me a booking at first as it was less than a year since the last service….then they booked it in only to call be back an hour or so later to say I couldn’t wait for the car due to their COVID rules, so I cancelled. Northampton LR had the same rule, so third time lucky, I booked it into Milton Keynes. There isn’t much of a difference in miles / time between the 3 so not an issue really.

Excellent first impression. You drive up to a door at the side of the building, it opens and you pull into a ‘tunnel’ that runs the full length of the building. One of the service team comes to the drivers window, greats you by name, books you in on a tablet, then escorts you through the service reception area. Welcomed by name again, the advisor checks they’ve got the work required listed correctly, explain what’s going to be done, any questions etc. Then offered a workspace, brought a coffee and biscuit Really good start, as long as it goes to time I’ll be happy.

Expensive month though. On top of the £650 for the service / MOT, I’m extending the warranty (inc breakdown) for a year which is £1,222 and all the live/connectivity features and the tracker subscription, so over £2k. All budgeted though.

That's how my local Jag and Land Rover dealer operates since they moved to a new premises. All very efficient. 

I confess that I'm pleasantly surprised it's taken this long and it's hardly a major issue, but it's annoyed me for the first time in 2.5 years this week.

About 10 days ago the service due message came up, with 1,100 miles to go. Slightly annoying as it's just under 10 months and 11k miles since the last service plus 2 months ahead of when the MOT is due, but at least I had a months notice to get it booked in. The following day, after a 190 mile journey it was down to 650 miles, so I booked it in for the 1st November which is the only time I have free in the next few weeks. A couple of days later after a 60 mile round trip it was showing 300 and I drove to Birmingham yesterday (c50 miles) and apparently it's now due.

The expected service intervals are 12 months / 16k miles and it went just over 13k miles last time, so it can't be too happy with the oil quality for some reason. It's a major service (48 month/64k miles), but as it's now over 3 years old the cost does come down a bit, so it's not too horrendous at £666, about £100 less than expected.. Plus MOT of course. Both the 535 and 750 did 19-20k miles between services and thanks to a service pack I didn't pay anything for the first 50k miles, which was the whole time I had the 750.

I just don't think these service indicators are at all accurate, in any brand. Our Mini flashed up a warning that it needed new rear brakes in 1200 miles time. 500 miles later it said in 250 miles time. And it's not been driven any differently. It went in today (showing 150 miles after about 550 miles).

And I'm sure that some manufacturers still make it really hard for independents to re-set them properly. Our Peugeot Boxer based horse lorry had the service required indicator flashing for many years, because despite the independent garage we use saying they'd reset it, it came back on after about 100 miles each time. Took it into Peugeot for a faulty lock to be fixed and hey-presto - no more service indicator. 

Final picture.   It was a great car, really enjoyed owning it and it made it to a week short of 3 years with me without any issues.  Always felt special and such a nice place to be when you've got a long journey ahead or the weather was bad.   Despite its replacement, I was sad to see it go. 

Final stats - 39,338 miles / 29.0 mpg (£9,004) / 3 x services (£1,936) / 4 x tyres (£1,025) / 18 months extended warranty (£1,902).  

Add depreciation and that works out to almost exactly £1 a mile.  I did 48k miles in the 750 over 26 months and helped by lower fuel prices, a service pack and higher average miles, that cost just under 80p/mile.  Ignoring mileage, the cost per month was 35% higher, but you have to balance it out across the 2 as I sold the BMW/bought the RR at the height of Covid, when prices were a lot lower than they are now.

HP: option to purchase at end of agreement: £10. I got stung like this on the T-Cross, not mentioned in the example payments. With HP, you are buying outright and you know that from the start, so what other option is there as you will own the vehicle? I've never come across this before

Well, it clearly isn’t as they’ve got it listed!

Looks good.