Outer Limits 4x4 Board

I am thinking of buying a 1992 Range rover with the 3.9 V8 engine.

Anything I need to know?

What is the fuel economy like?

Is it feasable to put it on gas?

I will only be using it to go touring once or twice a year and once or twice a month to do some hardcore wheeling. The rest of the time it will be in the garage - ie not a daily driver

Is this the right vehicle or should I stick to a 80 series toyota?

Any help welcomed

Thanks in advanced.

Well, I don't know if this really helps you.. but I have an 82 Rangie 2 door on dual fuel. 4.4 out of a P76 with a holley 2 barrel carb, gas is done via 'spuds' in the carb which isn't the most efficient system, but works pretty well none the less. I'm running 35s with a 3" spring lift and 2" body lift, winch, barwork etc. I used 2.5 tanks of gas (so about 220 litres) from melbourne to sydney.

Haven't figured out how much I get around town though...From this, I'd imagine the injected 3.9 to be better. They're a great car, I suppose most people are scared of them from stories of unreliability and oil leaks. Well, yes the leak oil but I don't know about unreliability.. Parts aren't expensive and are plentiful. They flex great and have good low range, I like them more than a cruiser

I have an 89 injected 3.9 hiline vogue. Ive owned it for 6 months, and my previous car was a surf, which I owned for 9 yrs. The surf had a v6 commodore vp with gas fitted, and I had god knows how much trouble with the gas system on it. My advice is stick with the petrol on the rangie. Im not going over to lpg with my rangie, after the probs with the surf. Its economy is ok i spose for an 8 cyl car, and i spose its all in the weight of the foot.
The rangie is heaps more comfortable than the hilux surf,and heaps more room. Ive heard all the stories about oil leaks, and unreliability, and personally, have not experienced that with mine.

Okay, LPG on Rangies suck, I've had 2 of them and this one I have removed would rathre pay more at the bowser than have continual issues with it (gas belongs on BBQ's ).

Fuel economy you'll get 18-19l/100 kms on a good day, a bad day it could be around the mid to high 20's.It's all is dependant on engine, condition and so forth not one Rangie is the same (the joys of British built cars) so they'res so many variable I would only use that as a guide.

Rust shold be your first priority. Yes they do have alluminium panels but all the inner door skins and bodywork are steel and rust to nothing if neglected or have been beach bums all of there lives (I had a 92 Vogue SE I parted out and half the floor was missing on both sides ). Floors, around the spare wheel and fuel filler are common. Also I have noticed on the 90's model classics that the firewall is prone to bad rust where they seal the spot welded seam near the steel brake pipes and the air con hoses to the compressor, have a good lok under all that (the rust bucket 92 rangie had been liberally coated with body deadner, woth some proding with a scrwedriver the entire firewall was rotten).

As regards to reliability, they're about on par with any 20 year old 4WD these days, the price of rangies doesn't always tell you the condition (I've seen some rubbish example around for big $$$ and some tidy and clean ones for peanuts). The electrics are a hit and miss affair but that's Lucas for you but generlly can be rectified but can be painful to diagnose at times. Servicing is cheap and can be done for around $100 DIY.

This is as honest as I can be about them. If you don't mind a bit of DIY and tinkering they're a great vehicle and will serve the purpose for years, they are an enthusiast vehicle and people like me wouldn't have anything else but they're not for everyone.

Good luck with it.

Trav

i have had 2 rangies on lpg the 1st was a 86 injected 3.5 on straight gas it got 290-320 ks for 60ltrs runing 35s and zf auto(4spd)
the current one has a 4.4p76 resleeved to a 5ltr set up for dual fuel holley carb running 80series diffs and 40x13.5x17 mtrs purely a toy but on highway with 35s uses around 35litres gas per 100ks transfer has 1.4 to 1 high range reduction and 3sp auto therefore sits on 3500rpm at 100ks with cruiser diff ratios

i have never had any problems with gas on either cars and my mate still ownes my first one and still drives it dailey as a work car/weekend toy with 37s

but in hindsight i now do all my touring in a 80 series with 35mtrs dual fuel and get about 300ks for 65 lt of gas

the only thing i can say is that standard 80 diffs are much stronger than rangies so keep this in mind for playing

hope this helps as this is only my opinion and experience

My rangie is a 96 p38 4.6hse and is used for touring with some frequent off road stuff as well. Consumption is around 14-15l/100k on road but higher off road 18-25or a bit more. Running air suspension and 245/75/16 wrangler mtr's which are 31's. Goes pretty much wherever I point it . On road touring I run Maxiis stallion 255/65 which drive much better but are not tough enough for continual off road.
I haven't had any major reliability issues apart from water pump bearing failure which caused blown head gasget.
Biggest issue is to get maintainance sorted properly such as radiator,
battery, etc and they are as reliable as any other and a lot more comfortable.
The diffs and axles in these later rangies are 24 spline and quite a bit stronger and most are auto which tend to be easier on the running gear and nice to drive in the bush. Mine has traction control on the rear with later models having it on the front as well.
These models have come down a lot recently and my son recently picked one up for $6000 with 134k on the clock and in good nick.

Currently I'm Running 3.9 V8 on LPG ( dual Fuel actually ) with a simple Impco Mixer , I've had this set up for a while , no issues except for an initial stall issue which is now resolved . my vehicle runs very well on LPG and I will not be getting rid of it any time soon. the only downside I have is the loss of Cargo space due to LPG tank , but I can live with this.

I owned a '93 vogue, 32" tyres, 'chipped' 3.9. Used about 17-19 litres per 100km on Petrol and 19-21 litres per 100km on LPG. This was mixed driving some suburban, some 80-100kph. Best, on petrol, on the highway 16 litres per 100km. Was worse on sand and when 4wding.

Was my daily driver / tourer and I did about 30,000 km per year. With this many km per year, it was worth paying for the LPG conversion, paid itself off after about 20,000km (ie, less than 12 months).

No issues with the LPG conversion (was APA from memory) and minimal power loss when running on LPG. Not noticable running around town.

Probably wouldn't be worth the money of the LPG conversion for a couple of trips per year and occasional weekend playing.

The Rangie was the nicest car to drive that I have owned (in comparison to 3 jeeps, 2 landcruisers, hilux, series III landy, defender, suzuki sierra and GQ) and was awesome on and off road when it was working but...

...over 60,000km I spent about $18,000 fixing stuff (this doesn't include regular servicing and cost of play mods). Admittedly this could have probably been done cheaper if I had have had time to wait and research cheaper fixes and do it myself when I had time, but as said it was my daily driver. When things broke, I needed them fixed so I could get to work. And they broke all the time, not necessarily because of the way I drive; I didn't break diffs, axles and usual stuff that goes along with flogging a rover. It was the electrics, the viscous transfer, siezed brake calipers, electrics again, aircon compressor (not urgent admittedly but I can't fix it), power steering, aircon again, radiator, and finally the head gasket.

By contrast, I now have a GQ patrol, daily driver/tourer, similar age, similar km, cost less to buy, converted to LPG. Uses about 20-22 litres per 100km petrol and 25-27 on LPG (heaps more towing, 4WDing or on sand). Isn't as nice to drive, isn't as smooth, doesn't have the same power, isn't as confortable nor does it look as good (my opinion) but...

...aside from regular servicing costs and 'fun' mods, in 50,000 km I've only spent $200 on things breaking (was actually my fault because of a dodgy electrical installation).

If you're going to do 'hardcore' stuff on the weekends you'll need to spend a bit of coin to make a rangie as strong as stock nissan / toyota, but depends how you drive. Stock rangie more capable than stock nissan / toyota, you just need to take it easy on accellerator and wheel spin. Suspension works quite well so will walk up a lot of things. From memory, the 1992 still had the 10 spline diffs, so you will be limited as to tyre size, or be prepared for fixing stuff.

I'll get another Rangie or defender one day when I can afford to have a 'spare' car sitting in the shed to tinker away with and play with on weekends, although it won't be my daily driver. Unless you are one of the unfortunate people who have the rover bug, get the Toyota.

My experiences only, as aquarangie points out each rover owner's will be different.
Adam.