Depreciation makes the L405 look cheap. The running costs are what decide whether it actually is.
The fourth-generation Range Rover is the best car Land Rover has ever built and one of the easiest to buy badly. Aluminium body, air suspension on every corner, and enough electronics that a neglected example can present six faults that are really one flat battery. Bought carefully it is remarkable; bought on price alone it is a lesson.
The 3.0 TDV6 is the one to have — well understood, adequately quick in a car this size, and cheap enough to feed that you will actually drive it. The 4.4 SDV8 is magnificent and asks for it back in fuel and in timing-chain anxiety at high mileage. The supercharged petrols are a different conversation entirely and not one about running costs.
The L405 system is a generation better than the L322 and genuinely reliable when it is used. Cars that sit for months are the problem: bags take a set, the compressor works harder to bring a corner up, and the compressor is the expensive part. A car with a full service history and a daily-driver mileage is a much safer buy than a low-mileage garage queen.
Before any test drive, cycle the suspension through every height twice and listen. A compressor that runs long and hot on the second cycle is telling you what the next bill is.
Almost every multi-warning L405 we see is a charging or battery problem wearing a costume. Modules on a low bus voltage report nonsense, and the nonsense is what gets diagnosed. Fit a known-good battery, clear the codes, drive it, and look at what actually comes back before anyone quotes you for a module.
Buy the TDV6 with a thick history file, a battery younger than three years and suspension that has been used rather than parked. Budget for a set of air springs at some point and treat that as the cost of the car rather than a failure. Avoid the cheapest example on the market; on an L405 the difference between the cheap one and the good one is one bill.
Book it into the Ram Parts workshop, or order the parts and do it yourself — either way you get the same advice.
