Within the Land Rover Life community, the L405 Range Rover seems to be gaining in popularity. Land Rover Life stalwart Phil has had one ever since we have known him. Admin Dave bought one to replace his company car and even Spare Dave, admin Debbies other half is looking at replacing the Volvo with one, so why the appeal?

Well launched on September 6^th, 2012, the L405 was the fourth iteration of the Range Rover. With a starting price of £72K it was a pricey but luxurious proposition. Taking the L322’s configuration of a monocoque chassis and independent suspension, the new Range Rover offered a 420kg weight saving due to its brand-new aluminium construction.

At launched it was available with either the range topping 5-litre Supercharged petrol V8, the base model 3-litre Turbo Diesel V6 (TDV6) or a 4.4-litre Turbo Diesel V8 (SDV8). Various trim levels were offered all the way up to the Autobiography model which had more toys than Hadley’s. Many systems were fitted (all with new Acronyms) to ensure the ride and handling were suitable for your well healed Range Rover owner and many more acronym derived features kept them safe.

Shortly after the launch, a Turbo Diesel Hybrid joined the range mixing the 3-litre turbo diesel with a 35-kw electric motor. This was a self-charging system which would work up to 30 mph and offered a range of 1 mile. Also making a debut in 2013 was the Range Rover Long wheelbase, something that Land Rover had not offered since the Range Rover LSE in the mid 90’s.

Below – The pinacol of the LWB models was the SVAutobiography which paired the Supercharged V8 from the Range Rover sport, offering 550ps, with the utmost in Luxury.

During itself life, the L405 was improved every year with a full plug-in hybrid being offered in 2017. Different engines, trims and gadgets being offered until its demise in 2022 when the L460 was introduced. So why the appeal now? Well like most large luxury vehicles the running costs can be high, meaning that second hand values plummet. For around 20% of the original asking price you can be driving around in a 10-year-old full loaded Range Rover that still looks stylist today.  But what is it like to run and live with? Well over the Phil Gibbs to share his experience.

“I have always been a lover of Range Rovers; in fact, this is my 8th as a daily driver. The one before this was a Grey 2008 2.7-litre Range Rover Sport I had for nearly 10 yrs. It was so reliable and absolutely amazing at towing our caravan; to be honest I really was too scared to change it.

Above – Phil’s L405 looks great especially with his choice of tyre!

In 2019 I started looking for a L405, preferably the 2017/18 MY facelift model, with a tow bar. any colour except Black.  Just after Xmas 2020 I found a 2017 Autobiography one owner with FSH and almost every extra possible, on auto trader, immaculate but over 90,000 miles (ouch!) but the mileage was reflected in the price.

I was aware of some people saying about that the 3-Litre turbo diesel had faulty Cranks and DPFs, so I had a full service and all the belts changed by a trusted Range Rover specialist. Just to be on the safe side, I also change the oil myself twice a year religiously. 

In 2021 I fitted a set of 21” General Grabbers AT’s perfect for pulling the caravan on and off muddy fields, but still capable on normal roads. Also, a set of Roof rails so we could put the bikes on the roof, let’s be honest, the interior really is too nice the throw muddy bikes in the back! I had a scorpion tracker fitted, and also a ghost system. JLR sent me some sleeping batteries for my remote and it’s been recalled for a security update.

I’ve had it nearly 5 yrs and without tempting fate, it’s been absolutely faultless still drives amazingly quiet and very comfortable it averages over 30mpg on short journeys, with ample amount of power when you want it. when we want to hook up the caravan, I press a button and out comes the retractable Tow Bar (that’s posh) it comes up on the screen to confirm connection and then it calibrates it to the car. That’s amazing you really don’t know you’re towing.  I love being able to set the heater to warm up the car before I go out on the cold mornings. While writing this I am thinking to myself, i really need to think of something negative about the car mmmm, i wish the back seats would fold flat, and i hate the hard parcel shelf!”

Above – If you want something a little less reserved, how about a bright Orange SVAutobiography Dynamic!

So, there you have it, buy wisely and the L405 could be the perfect car for you. But buy well. There are plenty of rogue vehicles around. Look for full-service histories and lots of paperwork. Get the vehicle inspected if you are unsure and to help keep the insurance costs down fit after market immobilisers and alarms. Then once you have it, fit a private plate so no one will be the wiser on its age and get used to the neighbours thinking you have won the lottery!