2nd car, Range Rover

[Bluehorseshoe]

Gentlemen:
Considering picking up a 2012 Range Rover Autobiography. Last year of the old body style. It is amazing how expensive these things are even after four years. Still trading for roughly 60 percent of original MSRP.
Anyone have an '11 or '12 full size? Have you enjoyed it? Any problems? I think this vehicle is a very nice compliment to any sports oriented car, particularly for those residing in cold climates.

I had a 2011 and sold it a couple of years ago, been missing it ever since. Right after I sold it I planned to buy a used 2012 around 2016/17 timeframe.
Enjoyed my '11 Supercharged (all black) for two years, never a single problem. Solid like a vault, ride smooth as velvet. Felt very comfortable carting toddlers around, no safety tests that I've seen but I have to believe that they are very safe. Dream to own an Autobiography with all that glorious leather. Been looking for a '12 for almost a year and think that I finally found the one. (Would love to share pictures but unable to post them anymore via app or website.)

[JtheW]

My wife drives a full size '12 HSE and loves it. We've had it for about a year and a half with no problems except for the battery needing to be replaced.

[TazOjla]

Originally Posted by Bluehorseshoe

Gentlemen:
Considering picking up a 2012 Range Rover Autobiography. Last year of the old body style. It is amazing how expensive these things are even after four years. Still trading for roughly 60 percent of original MSRP.
Anyone have an '11 or '12 full size? Have you enjoyed it? Any problems? I think this vehicle is a very nice compliment to any sports oriented car, particularly for those residing in cold climates.

I had a 2011 and sold it a couple of years ago, been missing it ever since. Right after I sold it I planned to buy a used 2012 around 2016/17 timeframe.
Enjoyed my '11 Supercharged (all black) for two years, never a single problem. Solid like a vault, ride smooth as velvet. Felt very comfortable carting toddlers around, no safety tests that I've seen but I have to believe that they are very safe. Dream to own an Autobiography with all that glorious leather. Been looking for a '12 for almost a year and think that I finally found the one. (Would love to share pictures but unable to post them anymore via app or website.)

Personally I'd buy a Porsche Cayenee. I've driven both and used to own the Cayenne. I think the Cayenne has a better interior and it's a lot more exclusive, atleast here in the UK it is. It's also a lot more engaging to drive. It's just a pain trying to find one with a reasonable spec. The RR is still a grat car but IMO the Cayenne is better.

[GladiatorOwner]

Originally Posted by Bluehorseshoe

Gentlemen:
Considering picking up a 2012 Range Rover Autobiography. Last year of the old body style. It is amazing how expensive these things are even after four years. Still trading for roughly 60 percent of original MSRP.
Anyone have an '11 or '12 full size? Have you enjoyed it? Any problems? I think this vehicle is a very nice compliment to any sports oriented car, particularly for those residing in cold climates.

I had a 2011 and sold it a couple of years ago, been missing it ever since. Right after I sold it I planned to buy a used 2012 around 2016/17 timeframe.
Enjoyed my '11 Supercharged (all black) for two years, never a single problem. Solid like a vault, ride smooth as velvet. Felt very comfortable carting toddlers around, no safety tests that I've seen but I have to believe that they are very safe. Dream to own an Autobiography with all that glorious leather. Been looking for a '12 for almost a year and think that I finally found the one. (Would love to share pictures but unable to post them anymore via app or website.)

Which dealer are you using? Been looking as well but not settled on a dealer near me or even you.

[Bluehorseshoe]

Using cargurus.com and autotrader.com for the past several months. I'm looking for gray or silver so I'm not looking at any one dealer because none of my local dealers have anything other than black or white. If I buy it will be likely from an out of state dealer. Getting it certified for sure, 6 years or 100k miles. The miles will never be a factor for me just the time. I'm looking at one that was originally sold 11/12, so my warranty would run through 11/18.

Noticed that there are almost no deals to be had on HSE or Supercharged with low miles as they are all well above 50 percent of original MSRP. The real deals--which still aren't that great--are on the autobiographies. You can find used autobiographies selling for almost the same price as Supercharged.

I always have to laugh at some dealers never willing to deal and always marking everything up to the maximum. These are the dealers to avoid. They are usually low volume dealers located in small affluent towns, they must think that people are stupid or just lazy or just don't care that they likely lose a lot of volume. This is true for new and used.

[Bluehorseshoe]

Originally Posted by TazOjla

Personally I'd buy a Porsche Cayenee. I've driven both and used to own the Cayenne. I think the Cayenne has a better interior and it's a lot more exclusive, atleast here in the UK it is. It's also a lot more engaging to drive. It's just a pain trying to find one with a reasonable spec. The RR is still a grat car but IMO the Cayenne is better.

I will try another Cayenne but I find the styling too much like a Volkswagen. I know they handle better and probably are better built and maybe more reliable. Funny but around here I would have to say RR is far more exclusive. I don't even care about how exclusive one is versus the other I just like the driving position and indestructible feel of the full-sized RR. I feel like I could crash into a brick wall at 60mph and escape unscathed. I actually like the weight.

The Supercharged '11 or '12 (with Adaptive Dynamics) handles excellent for such a heavy vehicle. I don't want it to be a sports car. I want a big, heavy SUV!

I envy you folks across the pond having access to the full-size with that big, sweet Diesel power plant.
I think that your '12 Autobiography full-size RR with big diesel motor is likely the best SUV ever produced in the history of the world. The new one is absolutely amazing (and likely better in almost every way) but the styling reminds me of a Ford. The Mark III body is a classic beyond compare. The gas mileage for the V8, however as we all know, is its Achilles heel.

Also, as I read in some automotive magazine, and I paraphrase 'the Queen wouldn't be riding around in a Cayenne'. Haha. The big Rangie does have a certain stately intangible quality (I think this is result of both the styling and legit off road capability). I digress.

[lemetier]

Originally Posted by Bluehorseshoe

Gentlemen:
Considering picking up a 2012 Range Rover Autobiography. Last year of the old body style. It is amazing how expensive these things are even after four years. Still trading for roughly 60 percent of original MSRP.
Anyone have an '11 or '12 full size? Have you enjoyed it? Any problems? I think this vehicle is a very nice compliment to any sports oriented car, particularly for those residing in cold climates.

I had a 2011 and sold it a couple of years ago, been missing it ever since. Right after I sold it I planned to buy a used 2012 around 2016/17 timeframe.
Enjoyed my '11 Supercharged (all black) for two years, never a single problem. Solid like a vault, ride smooth as velvet. Felt very comfortable carting toddlers around, no safety tests that I've seen but I have to believe that they are very safe. Dream to own an Autobiography with all that glorious leather. Been looking for a '12 for almost a year and think that I finally found the one. (Would love to share pictures but unable to post them anymore via app or website.)

I worked for JLR just after the Tata acquisition. The later L322 (2011-2012) had most of the "kinks" worked out. Since you've had one already, I'll spare the minimal nuances between them and stick to the hard points. No matter what, this particular chassis will always be problematic in some form simply due to its provenance.

L322 Autobiographies were never highly desirable from the time they were launched. I was overseeing the rebrand and managing the worlds largest LR dealership at that time and we sold....ONE, yes ONE Autobiography in 18 months. I couldn't even dealer trade the others we had to bring in more HSE Lux and S/C units. I know they sat for at least an additional 12 months after I left. JLR didn't have a good lease program on anything but RRS for years after Ford sold to Tata and then top brass decided it was a good idea to pool all vehicles at 3 VPC's and then distribute to dealers based on irrelevant data points rather than volume.

If you liked your previous one and are comfortable with its nuances (both good and bad) and simply want some nicer leather, then there aren't any surprises. I personally though would suggest a current gen L405 (either a later 2013 HSE 5.0 or a 2013+ S/C). It's all the late 322 could have been and more.

[///Mpower///]

Speaking for myself, I'm completely turned off to the RR brand. I had a 2011 RR Sport supercharged and had nothing but problems with it. Supercharger blew, fuel pump went on a busy highway, had a completely undiscoverable rattle in the rear, faulty piston in caliper, bad battery...I'll stop there. Was under warranty but the stealership always found something NOT covered that cost a million to fix.

Buy the Porsche.

Just my 2 cents.

[ozbmwnut]

i have been waiting for someone to suggest it....

BUY AN X5, M or M50D..........


NO CONTEST!!

[///Mpower///]

Originally Posted by ozbmwnut

i have been waiting for someone to suggest it....

BUY AN X5, M or M50D..........


NO CONTEST!!

My E70 X5M was a beast. Never had a single problem with it. Put Pirelli snows on it and it was unstoppable.

[stealth.pilot]

Originally Posted by TazOjla

Personally I'd buy a Porsche Cayenee. I've driven both and used to own the Cayenne. I think the Cayenne has a better interior and it's a lot more exclusive, atleast here in the UK it is. It's also a lot more engaging to drive. It's just a pain trying to find one with a reasonable spec. The RR is still a grat car but IMO the Cayenne is better.

Right now I think the RR holds its value better.

[lemetier]

Originally Posted by ozbmwnut

i have been waiting for someone to suggest it....

BUY AN X5, M or M50D..........


NO CONTEST!!

A Full Size RR is something special. Many SUV's are faster, handle better, have more space, etc, but something innate makes the Range feel almost perfect.

[YXEM5]

I had a 12 RR Supercharged and miss it every day. But it definitely gets scary when things start going wrong. In the end traded it in on a 14 X5 as the warranty was about to run out on the RR. The X5 has been perfect and my wife loves it but it definitely lacks the special character some of the guys mentioned. Even my wife who isn't a car person said she missed the RR the other day. It's a tough call but choosing between an RR and another luxury SUV is a good problem to have.

Chad

[TazOjla]

Originally Posted by stealth.pilot

Right now I think the RR holds its value better.

I find that once a RR is about 5 years old or completely out of warranty they seem to lose a lot of money, especially the V8's. Porsche's tend not to (As badly at least)

[stealth.pilot]

Originally Posted by TazOjla

I find that once a RR is about 5 years old or completely out of warranty they seem to lose a lot of money, especially the V8's. Porsche's tend not to (As badly at least)

Yes that's true. Depends how long you keep them. for me its 1-3 years from new.

[Spinny02]

Originally Posted by TazOjla

I find that once a RR is about 5 years old or completely out of warranty they seem to lose a lot of money, especially the V8's. Porsche's tend not to (As badly at least)

They both tank!

[Bluehorseshoe]

I look at it like this... If I buy a '12 for $65k that has a warranty through 11/18 I'm not taking much of a risk. I think I'd be able to sell for $30k at end of warranty. So if will cost me a little over $11k per year all while under warranty.

If I buy new, it will cost almost $140k and be worth $60k in 3 years and I will lose over $25k per year.

I know the new RR is an all-around better truck but I prefer the looks of the old body style and older style wheels.

Here's a link to one I've been considering.
http://www.cargurus.com/Cars/invento...ting=130596667

I just can't decide if I like the looks of the Exterior Design Pack that's standard to the Autobiography for 2012. I may just settle for a Supercharged.
Also, I'd prefer a color other than black or white and there's very few of those available.

Here's a link to the RR 2012 brochure. The AB is pictured on the 8th page or so. What do you think? Also, this is a cool site because you can find many brochures for many makes and models.

http://www.auto-brochures.com/makes/...Rover_2012.pdf

[Bluehorseshoe]

So it looks like I've finally come to a deal on a Orkney Grey AB with about 20,000 miles. Dealer agreed to repair the wheels (3 had some pretty ugly curb rash) and do many paint touchups, many needed because previous owner was careless. I hope that they do a good job. Been working with the used car manager. Looks like the interior is in great shape based on pictures alone. I will post pictures ASAP.

A quick aside: I had a second and third choice, one AB and one Supercharged.
The black AB is in North Carolina (31k miles) and the Ipanema Sand SC (36k miles) is in Indianapolis. I got to know the sales person pretty well in both cases, and they are both sweet deals. The Sand SC is the sweetest of all deals since the warranty is good through the middle of 2019 (and the dealer doesn't even know that it's CPO, found out through some investigative work through Land Rover North America haha) and it's in mint condition.

In the end it really came down to the SC and the grey AB. Although the black AB was beautiful, it's black inside too and I'm tired of all black.
Send me a message if you'd like to pursue either deal and I'll get you the salesperson's name.

Difficult decision between the SC and the grey AB. I was actually leaning toward the SC because I'm a bit turned off by the so called Exterior Design Pack on the AB. I plan on eliminating the chrome up front. Maybe gloss black or body color, I don't know. Maybe the chrome will grow on me but not likely. From the back it looks just right. But when you view the back from an angle you can see that LR really did a poor design job.

Trying to post pictures but it hasn't been working lately.

[Bluehorseshoe]

Pictures of the grey with two tone ivory/black interior.

[fkim119]

I've had 3 Range Rover ( 07 HSE, 08 HSE SC, 12 HSE SC) and I loved every one of them. The truck has its quirks, its fair share of little irritable problems but I never experienced anything catastrophic. As long as it's been taken care of, the 12 was the least problematic for me. I drove the crap out of these things since brand new (2 of them hit 100k miles).

I had the Cayenne GTS, and now the Cayenne Turbo. These cars bulletproof. Maintenance is a bit high but I have 62k miles on the clock since new on the 2013 Cayenne Turbo and absolutely nothing has gone wrong. My 2015 G class is the worst SUV I ever bought.

I would do the RR in a heart beat and it really is an event when you drive the truck.

Anyone know if the new chasis/ model RR is reliable these days?

[SFT33]

Range Rover is shite since being bought by Tata. I'd lease one but never buy one. Quality just isn't there.

[fkim119]

That's unfortunate. I went to go drive one yesterday, the interior really hasn't evolved very much. I was a bit disappointed actually...