New car time... V8 4x4 time

[xs2man]

So, with the sale of the e46 I have some coin burning a hole in my wallet.

I was just about to pull the trigger on another P38, as I do very much miss my old one. However, a 2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0 Litre Limited has popped up locally with what appear to be very low miles.

Now I seem to remember some people on here mentioning their love for these Jeeps, although I believe they were talking about earlier ones?

The P38 is a known motor. I know the last 2 owners, and know that it has been well looked after in that time. It's a 2000 plate, so THOR engined, but alas it is only the 4.0 not the 4.6

The Jeep did catch my eye because it was such low miles, and low owner car, with full service history though.

Any ideas on what these 4.0 Jeeps are like?

 

[xs2man]

Isn't the 4.0 a Six not a V8?

I rented one once and it was a 6 cylinder 4 litre I am fairly sure...

I stand corrected. Looks like a straight 6. That's that one out the window then. If I'm going to suffer sub-20 mpg, I'll be driving a V8 for it.

Cheers.

 

[xs2man]

Use what the Arabs use..Nissan Patrols and Toyota Amazons.

Pah... I'm not looking for reliability here. Don't want some Japanese 4x4 that actually just works. Much prefer something with a bit of character.

I have been considering an early 4.4 L322 also, but then I have to double my budget (and a little more), and it will still be a stop gap motor. So I'm leaning more towards a cheap P38 until I decide if I want to move the F11 on for a 4.4 TDV8, or keep it and save for a 3.6 TDV8...

 

[xs2man]

Don't want some Japanese 4x4 that actually just works. Much prefer something with a bit of character.

That jap stuff has no character
snipped the rest...

As I said, I don't want some Japanese stuff that actually works.

Also, to be honest, I can't be bothered re-upping a load of photos to show how dire and agricultural the interior is of every single machine you linked. And no doubt there will be zero out there anywhere close to the budget of a P38 anyway.

Sure, they will no doubt be great off-road. And if that's all I wanted, then fine. But I do like a bit of comfort for the other 95% of the time the vehicle gets used. Not that I would consider the P38 an overly luxurious interior, but it certainly beats the interior of every other 4x4 in the same price bracket.

 

[xs2man]

In fact, no, I'll just do it to make the point.

I'd have to up my budget to L322 money anyway to get a decent Hilux or Landcruiser anyway, which would be about the only Jap 4x4's I'd likely consider, but they look like this...

Hilux:


Landcruiser :


Compared to a Range Rover that looks like this :


But even the P38 has a nicer interior than the Jap stuff :

 

[xs2man]

Yep. Love motors. Asking about £2k motors, get links for £16.8k motor...

 

[xs2man]

Very first post is about P38's and a 2002 Jeep. 2 grand motors. Then went on to doubling the budget for an early L322, as it would be necessary for the likes of the toyotas that were imaged. But that's 4-5k, still nowhere near 10-15k.

 

[xs2man]

My mind is made up pretty much. The Jeep wasn't a serious contender really, just wanted to know what they were like because it was very local, low miles and cheap. All that Landcruisers and other Jap stuff require at least doubling of my budget, into L322 territory, and look terrible.

Jez, that was a consideration I had yesterday after looking at yet another motor. I'm off to JLR today to see if the math works.

 

[xs2man]

Yep. Love motors. Asking about £2k motors, get links for £5k motor...

 

[xs2man]

Make up your mind man

Make up my mind? I basically did to be fair. Hence all the talk about P38's/ You can pick up decent P38's around the £2k mark, so why I would spend early L322 money on a P38 is beyond me. I did say I had been considering doubling my budget for a L322, but that does not equal doubling my budget for a lower mileage P38.

Sure, it is relatively low miles, and a "special edition" but you buy a car like this on condition, not mileage, so the fact it is low mileage reduces the premium I would pay for it. I mean, it's no better specced than the average 4.6 anyway, and only has the 4.0 in it too.

Problem is that once you've had something modern like his 2013 F11 you won't want to step back in time a decade and get into an L322. They are great cars but they are not modern cars and show their age. Which is fine at lower budgets but not coming from a 2013 5 Series, depending on the age of L322 he picks he might even end up in one with the electronics system out of an E39 in it! So he'd need to wait for a current model to be in budget which could take some time.

I was in JLR today, and pretty much this. I COULD swap straight into a 4.4 TDV8, but it will be around a 2011, and have more than double the miles of my F11. This doesn't necessarily bother me much, but I'm not sure if I want quite such a backwards step just now.

It depends if he wants a 4x4 specifically though. If he does then an L322 is his best bet as the value of his F11 wont touch an L405.

With the value of the F11 he could get a reasonably good L322, it'll probably be a Jaguar based one (like mine) for that budget rather than a really late model, but they are still pretty good. The electronics are fairly old fashioned compared with an F11 but the fundamentals are all there. They have HFP bluetooth, A2DP bluetooth audio streaming, touch screen navigation (No idea what the resolution is on it, but its high, nothing like the terrible old E46 era stuff), digital TV, Harmon Kardon Logic 7 amps and subs everywhere etc.

Depends what he wants from the car obviously. Nothing is free in this world, if he wants bang up to date infotainment in a car like a Range Rover then he will need much deeper pockets than F11 money

I did drive a 2012 TDV8 Westminster today, and it would have done me, but the math didn't "quite" work on it. It was nice enough tech wise, and the interior was also nice enough. But as Fox states, I'm not sure if I'm ready to swap out my nice, current gen, F11 for a car that, lights aside, looks 13 years old.

I think the plan now is just hunt down a nice P38. Build some equity rolleyes in the F11 while the price of L405's drop. In a couple years (if I last that long with the F11) then I should be pretty much in a position for an early L405. In the meantime, I will at least have the space I require out of the P38, a car I like anyway.

I may get bored of it in 9-12 months mind you, and swap it out for a L322 then, or a D3/4 depending on how they are priced at the time. If it's just the second car I don't mind so much what engine is in it (I would prefer, ultimately, a V8 petrol in my second motor, but I could live with the SDV6). But equally, I rarely keep a second car for over a year, life is too short.

 

[xs2man]

So, I bought a P38 this morning...

It's just a 4.0 V8 HSE but it will do me for now. Decent enough condition, a folder full of receipts / history, and the all important (to me) memory seats (although I'm sure they must all have these really).

Anyway, everything on it works, so that's a bonus. Gonna give her a full service, ordered the parts already. And new discs and pads all round too. They came supplied with the motor. And needs new tailpipes welded on.

It's currently sitting on the 19" winter set-up, but I'll probably through the 18" summer set-up on when doing the brakes.

It has recently had new airbags all round and a new compressor though, so that's one less thing to worry about. That was one of the main reasons for going for it. Any that had the spring conversion done were immediately ruled out.

Anyway, I like it, that's the main thing.

 

[xs2man]

Yes, indeed. It is quite clean for it's age / mileage. A few things needing done, but spot a P38 that doesn't need something doing.

I'll get some pics up when I get a chance.

 

[xs2man]

Probably because they were leaking? That would be the usual reason.

My guess is you are thinking of airbags in the sense of if the motor crashes, rather than the air suspension ones to which I refer.

 

[xs2man]

That's a lot of car for 2k!

It was a little under £2k and came with an extra set of wheels and tyres (it is currently on the winter wheels with Vredstein winter tyres in 19" guise, but came with 18" summer wheels too).

It does have 135k on it though, but with a big folder full of receipts for money spent, so should be good. Well, as good as it can be.

I know the guy who has been servicing it the last few years, as he is the guy who does all my work, so he has given me the low-down on recent work. Whilst he thought it wouldn't be for me (as it isn't mint, and high miles compared to some of my motors), he did say that for a runner for a year or so, it would be a great motor, as it has had all the big basic stuff done, so it's just the little stuff still needing seen to.

You mentioned that the insurance company don't like the light bar on the front, how come did they say why? I'm just curious

Looks like a decent purchase, how much do you foresee spending to make it "right"?

I don't know why the insurance underwriters said no. I guess it's a pedestrian safety thing.

As for foreseen spending, it doesn't need much. Got a service kit on it's way, and a MAF as it looks like it's needing, then the engine oil for the service, that's coming to, wait for it, £95 for all that. Then it's my time fitting it all.

The new discs and pads again came with it, so again, my time fitting it all. Then beyond that, it needs new tailpipes. So another £150 budgeted for that I would think. To be honest, that should be about it as far as spending goes, on what I know anyway. I would like to stick a BT headunit in there, but then that requires making up an appropriate cable to keep the HK system in play. Probably another £100 or so there then, but I plan on ripping that back out of the car when I'm finished, so not really too much "expense" there.

But, the real bonus with this car is the "extras" it came with. The extra wheels and tyres should be £300 all day long. The bull bars seem to be on ebay for £200-300 (I'll count that at £200 if I'm lucky), and the dog guard another £100. Around another £80-100 for the light protectors. So that's around £700 in "extras" on the motor, meaning I would need much less than I spent on it to see my money back if I strip all that off it (which I will).

I only plan on keeping her for 12-18 months, depending on how she does in her MOT (due in November). At that point, with 150k on it, and a couple of services done by myself to keep up with the recent history, then she should still be worth £1500 I would think, even stripped of all the extras. So shouldn't, in theory at least, cost me too much over my ownership, assuming something catastrophic doesn't happen, and even if that does happen, I should get most of my money back in parts anyway. The bodywork is all good, new battery and lots of new-ish parts on there, all add up.