1998 Land Rover Range Rover 4.0 SE

1998 Land Rover Range Rover 4.0 SE

I bought this Range Rover in March 2003. I was taking a trip to Wichita Falls to see the folks and to get some face time with my accountant and got this brilliant idea to fly to Dallas and attend the Dallas Auto Auction and just buy something for the rest of the trip. The Dallas Auto Auction is a dealer only auction. I've never been a car dealer (although I think people assume I have from time to time) but I did used to keep a dealer's license as part of my company - it helped with import and export regulations. Anyway, the Dallas Auto Auction was HUGE, and quite frankly a bit overwhelming. 

They ran over 6000 vehicles that day, and it was a sellers market. I had owned a Discovery before, but never a Range Rover and I was getting nervous about not buying anything so I jumped on this really nice truck in spite of the color.

As it turned out, I also ended up buying a Lexus later in the day so I found a guy to ship this one to Houston for me. I kept it for a while but ended up selling it to a couple in New York. The truck was extremely nice and had the air-adjusting suspension that is common now but was pretty unique to Range Rovers at the time. It was like having my own 'lowrider'.

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The Range Rover, much like the Discovery, takes some getting used to. There are a lot of things on these trucks that just don't make sense. Once you get past that, however, it's a great vehicle. The suspension system ended up going out on me and I was forced to repair it. It could have been worse than it was, but it was a reminder of why these trucks can be costly to own. I prefer the 4.6-liter models to this slightly sluggish 4.0, but other than that, no complaints. 

That said, there's really no reason to buy one of these today. If you want a classic RR, go for the 1st Gen models that ran from 1970-1996. They're more retro-cool and should actually appreciate. If you want a driver and can't afford a new one, go for a 3rd Gen model (2002-2012). They're better in almost every way. These 2nd Generation models aren't classic enough to be cool and are too expensive to maintain to be worth it as a daily driver.