Long-term wrap-up: Mash's 2005 Range Rover Vogue

Long-term wrap-up: Mash’s 2005 Range Rover Vogue

2005 Range Rover

We’re done with the Range Rover. It’s been almost 4 years since we bought it, and we were supposed to sell it years ago, but we kept it for this long because it was just so darn satisfying to drive around in. But we finally made up our minds and put it up for sale on just our genuinely-popular Facebook page, and sold it in less than a week.

At the beginning of this year, we went about cleaning up the car with new front and rear badges, got the door handles and other shabby trim repainted, replaced the front tow-hook cover that apparently has a tendency to go missing, replaced a leaky wiper-water tank and finally got the electric-folding functionality back on the right side-mirror after replacing it with a used Dhs 1800 unit. Including a minor service for Dhs 1200 as well as a new battery, the total bill came up to Dhs 6480 at Premier Car Care.

A couple of months ago, we decided to get the leaky valve-cover gasket replaced for the fourth time. The dealer botched the job the first time 3 years ago as the leak came back in 6 months, and then a BMW specialist garage botched it a further two times. The leak was minor and our oil levels never dropped, but it made a mess of the engine and we didn’t want anything going up in flames.

2005 Range Rover 2

Ahmad, one of our Arabic editors, suggested we take it to his friend’s Autocar Garage in Umm Ramool. There, they showed us how poorly the valve-cover gasket was stuck on and that there was a certain procedure to do it right. So we got the valve-cover gasket replaced yet again, and had the messed-up engine surface repainted, all for Dhs 2480. Since then, the engine remained clean, so we assume it was finally fixed.

More recently, it started throwing up suspension errors that was freezing the suspension height adjustment, which we simply reset with our previously-bought software after a few tries.

At this point, we quickly made the decision to sell our well-maintained Vogue to someone who would have the time to keep it going with all its quirks. We had already put more money into it than it’s worth, so we had reached our tipping point, while the next owner would get pretty much one of the most well-maintained 2005 Range Rover in the country, aside from a few door dings. Surprisingly, most of the physical bits such as the body paint and the leather held up very well even while always parked under the sun, no doubt because we invested in paint protection and premium tint.

2005 Range Rover 3

Did we regret buying it? Not one bit. When you have the money, it’s totally worth it. By money, we mean a budget of about Dhs 10,000 a year for maintenance and repairs, which we hear is the average with BMWs as well. And please don’t show us ridiculous cost-per-kilometre calculations — a car needs regular maintenance, whether it does 10 km or 100,000 km in a year. We also ended up paying more because we daftly went to the dealer for a while, and then had to fix the same issue numerous times.

Truth be told, it did see the back of a tow truck about three times, once being a false alarm, and the other two being age-related issues. But even with its other problems, it never let us down when we needed it, and the tows were always from my home, and not the side of the road. I drove both my recently-born kids around in it, having spent the money to make it as reliable as possible over time. It drives practically like a new car, even after a decade.

We put our car up for sale on our highly-popular Facebook page to give our readers a shot first, and sold it within a week to a Honda enthusiast who lives nearby. We got Dhs 32,500, which is a fair price for both of us, and we didn’t have to entertain any low-ballers. So we’re sure to still see it around a lot. We seem to sell most of our cars to people we know, contrary to the notion that you should only sell to strangers. It’s easier when you have nothing to hide.

If you want to do the man-math, we bought the car for Dhs 71,000 almost 4 years ago. We sold it for Dhs 32,500. And we put in Dhs 47,000, not including registration, insurance and accessories. That’s almost Dhs 90,000 for the privilege of driving a Range Rover and not getting hounded by tailgaters and taxis on the highway. A brand new Mercedes-Benz G-wagen depreciates by that much in just one year! I’d say we got a bargain, and we’ll be revisiting the brand again in the future.

Our next long-termer is a 7-seater, as necessitated by my growing family. We should be picking it up this week.

Original Mileage When Bought: 99,980 km
Latest Mileage To Date: 118,500 km
Latest Average Fuel Economy: 19.1 litres/100 km
Cost of Latest Problems: Dhs 6760
Cost of Latest Maintenance: Dhs 2200

Total Non-Fuel Running Cost Since Bought: Dhs 46993

Read all 2005 Range Rover long-term updates

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Comments

  1. That’s still a lot of money 😛
    Would an ’05 Land Cruiser cost this much to maintain? And that too it’s very odd that the same problems kept coming back to haunt you guys..

  2. Those cars are hard to sell you just can’t even if you don’t use it that much.

    I have a 2002 s class large and I use it only about 1000km a year since I have another car but still can’t sell it.

  3. sad to see it go. Personally think it’s a better looking range rover compared to the current generation.
    What’s next then Mash?

  4. looking forward to the ‘7’ seater long term Patrol review soon!

    Did you get a new or used one?

  5. I think its a lot of money spent on car maintenance considering the km’s driven.
    18000 kms in 4 years is nothing; way below average.
    Lexus SUV’s (LX’s & GX’s) dont cost that much to run; and excellent at retaining their vaule with acceptable build quality.

  6. Thanks for the honest review on your Range Rover experience. And no, not really looking forward to buy in near future. No money and time for this luxury. 🙂

  7. Great reports over the years.
    I am certainly not ready for a pre-owned RR. Letting aside the cost I would hate the time and energy wasted to fix the car, find the problem, look for a good garage….

    Also, Mash, BMW is not the same story. I bought a 3 series pre-owned bmw and I’m far from spending 10k a year on maintainance. What you say it is probably applicable to older models of X5.

    • Author

      Anything with the same level of tech. A 3-Series doesn’t have even a quarter of the tech in this one. This RR’s engine and several other parts were also developed by BMW.

  8. Good to know that the 2005 RR is a enjoyable owner experience.

    The newer RR’s are more reliable and with their service packages excellent owner experiences – my Bmw has the service package till 2020.

    Would I buy a toyota? NO WAYS.

    • Author

      Thing is, having done the math, extending the warranty and paying for dealer services to maintain that warranty in the later years would cost you about the same!

  9. Mash, it has been that long? 2 kids now? Cograts. Will be following closely to see the new incomer.
    Chers

  10. Good Luck man 🙂

  11. Really interesting blog, enjoyed every bit of it. Hope new owner of the range rover loves it.

  12. Wow!

    So total cost of ownership =( 71000 + 46993)- 32500 = 85493 AED

    Bought for 71000.

    Spent for maintenance 46993

    Driven 18500 Kms

    Sold for 32500.

    So, you spent 85493 AED to drive a used range rover for 18k Kms and that’s not including fuel. One thing that’s puzzling is the entire review has a very positive note to it.

  13. How much do you recommend getting a RR 2010-11 model for daily run? Average 10K / year on maintenance doesn’t sound that bad considering the class that RR offers. After driving ford, toyota and honda after so many years, want to go for something luxury, heard some bad complaints about BMW’s notorious oil leak issues so thinking of why not an RR

    • Author

      If you can afford, it’s definitely worth taking a shot for a few years. You may need to become familiar with a good garage, but these older ones aren’t that terribly complicated to fix. If life becomes too busy to be bothered with the occasional repairs, just move on to a Nissan Patrol like I did.

      • Thanks Mash, Patrol would be kind of out of my budget, there are many 2011-12 model RR/ RR Sport under 45K budget but patrol would be 100K+

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