[fester]

Hey guys I've been trolling the LR & RR forums for a few weeks now trying to decide about P38 ownership. Have look at a couple of Land Rovers over the years but always chickened out at last minute due to lack of knowledge and experience with the mark and scared off by reputations (justified or not).

Anyway I'm now thinking of ditching the 80 Series Cruiser set up for rock crawling etc and changing over to something a little more civilised for daily and highway use. I don't any real hardcore stuff anymore and 4" lifts and 35" rubber is a waste of time and money, is not comfortable for cruising and more importantly is not legal in Queensland Aust and with proposed national rules if they ever come in it looks like they never will be. I only bought the 90 model Sahara to try and offset the modernness I was droppign out of when I had to sell my 03 Patrol (fully kitted) due to lack of use versus financial issues. I have never been a cruiser man and can't really warm to this truck given it's pretty rough around the edges and doesn't drive that nice. Even beign a Sahara it's quite drab inside compared to the later model Patrol. I know you guys will not fidn the Patrol anything compared to your P38's but it was a very capable and good truck and much more comfortable and pleasant than the cruiser. The diesel as good as it is might have somethign to do with that in the cruiser also.

Anyway initially I was interested in any year P38 with my criteria to be to keep it as good but cheap as I could to allow for a few offroad to make it comparable to my Patrol/Cruiser and with no additional funds outlayed than I get for the outgoing truck.

After more researching I'm hoping I could get into a 4 wheel traction model so I don't have as much of a need for lockers at least in the early days and reading about the stronger 4 pin front diff for the 4WTC has appeal as well.

SO my initial question to you guys, particularly my Aussie compatriats, is when did we actually get the 4 wheel update here is Aus. I know rover net says theya re 99 models and all pre 99's were sold out so there was no overlap but Aus has a bit of a history of being behind the rest of the world due to our market size. I know it also came with the Bosch engine management which might be the easiest give away when lookign at online ads etc but did we actually get any parts bin version here in Aus that may have Bosch ECU but not 4 wheel traction.

Side note anyoen know if there are any good Land Rover workshops in WA for inspection purposes???

Gavin

 

[Rich998a]

So you've seen the light! :clap:

I think the 4 wheel traction probably came in during the facelift Bosch/Thor model of early/mid 1999. However, the TC ECU's on the 4 wheel versions can and do fail where as the earlier 2 wheel ones are more reliable. Don't let that put you off though. There are far bigger things to put you off buying any Land Rover.

 

[diff]

I'll just say welcome to this site and look forward to your posts. I agree that saving a few bucks with 4 wheel traction control will give you a buffer for the bigger issues and if they don't materialize then you'll be ahead. I think that the eas unlock capability would make running a range in the boonies so much less worrisome and almost fun.

 

[Shadow Keeper]

I'd say buy the lastest model you could afford. The newer models have nice little upgrades like rubber gaskets on sump pans and more reliable electrics and four wheel TC. I own a 96 HSE and it does what I need it to do. Probably the best thing I bought for it was the EAS unlocker which allows me to reset fault codes and adjust suspension heights etc. If you can do alot of the work yourself these beasties are pretty cheap to maintain and with the internet sourcing parts no longer has to be limited to using a dealer to order them.

Mine stays on the road 90 percent of the time but even with just the rear traction control I've never got stuck off road, come to think of it I've never got a Range Rover bogged so I'm either not trying hard enough or, no, that's probably it... Where is Queensland are you? I lived in Ravenshoe for a few months when my parents where building a house up there. Never had a four wheel drive when I lived there which was a shame, would be a great place to have one. Dad's moved to Tassie now so I'm planning to take the drive across Australia and jump on the ferry. I've done it on my bike so I guess it's only fair I go get the "White Peril" a bit dirty.. Good luck with your purchase mate..

P.S.. Read the stickies at the top of this forum, they answer alot of questions and give you a few pointers of what to look out for when buying a P38.

 

[fester]

I certainly have been doing a lot of reading and am almost up to speed so this time around I'll be more informed to make the leap and actually follow through. I've not read about any issues that I'm not capable of dealign with myself with the input from the many helpful forums. I certainly want the car to be as capable as possible given my previous rides but having said that all it's likely to be subject to these days due to various constraints is beach and national park camping and the odd foresty trail drive with maybe the odd moderate 4wd park outing. We are very close Landrcuiser Mountain Park if you've heard of it.

I'm in Gympie which is in South East Qld on the Bruce Highway about 2 hrs north of Brisbane. We are about 40 mins from Noosa and associated camping beaches and about 1 hr from Inskip Point whihc is a beach camping national park and the barge landing point for Fraser Island. With the barge ride being about 10-15mins we could be on Fraser at any time within about 1 1/2 hrs.

We were in Ravenshoe 2 years ago for holidays. My father in his younger days spend some time there and was part of the local footy team. Supposed to be on the wall of the pub apparently.

Theres a 99 on ebay right now that the guy has to get out of with a couple of minor issues but seemingly a good buy for the price if I was in a position to move now I would be looking seriously at it for $11,000.

At the end of the day for what I want all I want to do is fit a bullbar some 265/75 mud terrains, make a rear bar and probably fit the gen 3 airbags with recalibration and it'll do everything I need of it and unlike the cruiser be comfortable the rest of the time as well. Maybe some lockers if I can get it cheap enough also.