Land Rover Range Rover MKII (1994 - 2002)

Models Covered: Second generation Range Rover - (4.0 8cy Station Wagon [base, SE] / 4.6 8cy Station Wagon [HSE, Vogue] / 2.5 TD Station Wagon [DT, DSE, DTSE, DT HSE])

BY JONATHAN CROUCH

Build
Comfort
Depreciation
Economy
Equipment
Handling
Insurance
Performance
Styling
Value

When the new model Range Rover was introduced in the Autumn of 1994, it had a hard act to follow 25 years of the original Spen King-designed model. Hedging their bets, new owner BMW even kept the old one in production, badged as the Classic, for a year or so. This was a car that had real international appeal. It sold in markets as diverse as Japan and the USA, Canada and Australia - and demand usually exceeded supply.

Well over 300,000 of the old Range Rovers had rolled off the production lines by the time the new model came along.

The world's finest 4x4. Only the latest Range Rover can match this car's all-round off-road abilities. What differentiates the Range Rover from its Japanese competitors? In a word, style (which the Orientals never had) and wheel articulation. Off the road, you could drive a Range Rover over obstacles that would leave Shoguns and Troopers bottoming out, wheels spinning hopelessly. Only the Jeep Grand Cherokee gets close and it lacks the Range Rovers class.

Choose the Solihull product and, as everyone knows, you also get a car that can take you to the highest peak or through the deepest bog, then, via the car wash, to the ballet on the same day, parking without disgrace alongside Jaguars and Mercs.

The post-1994 Range Rover is plentiful on the used market. The first 94M 4.0-litre and DT examples cost from around £4,000, while the fuel-guzzling 4.6 HSEs cost from around £6,000.

Younger 99S-plate 4.0-litre cars start at about £8,900, HSEs from about £13,000. For a 01X DSE auto expect to pay under £16,000 or about £19,200 for a 02 51-plate TD HSE.

Avoid base models without automatic transmission and air conditioning as most people buy Range Rovers as a luxury car, rather than an off-roader, these items help greatly when selling on. Ask the potential seller what kind of life the car has had; go for those cars that have lived on the tarmac (the vast majority anyway) rather than the farm. Torn carpets, ripped headliners and scratched plastic panels are sure signs of a hard life. Thoroughly check out the suspension and transmission; replacement parts are expensive.

(approx based on a 2.5DTSE - ex Vat) A mixed bag. A clutch assembly will be around £250, a full exhaust about £500, a starter motor should be close to £200 and a headlamp £120. Front brake pads are about £60 and a rear set £45.



You need to remember that it's a 4x4 and drive accordingly. Having said that, this is the best handling 4x4 you can buy. The V8s have huge torque and pulling power. At first acquaintance, the turbo diesels feels a little slow, but the smooth BMW six grows on you when you realise that there's pulling power aplenty, and that it goes far further than the V8s between fill-ups. Buy a diesel and you can expect to average a useful 23-28mpg. The V8s, especially the 4.6, demand a rather larger wallet, with 15-18mpg averages commonplace.

Remember too that certain low-roofed multi-storey car parks will be inaccessible to you (though not, interestingly, Le Shuttle). This second generation model, with its standard air suspension, was far more acceptable to those used to Lexus LS400, BMW 7 series and Mercedes S-class luxury saloons. It wasn't quite a Rolls-Royce for the rough but it was very close. The BMW-sourced 2.5-litre six-cylinder turbo diesel was much more refined than the previous Solihull-sourced TD four and made much more sense.

Like its predecessor, this is a modern-day classic. If you can afford to run one as a second car, you cant afford not to have one.