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[Bloke]

Annoyingly it's a growing trend in retail stores. There's nothing wrong with the self-service machines, lots of people like them, but you should always have at least one till open (that's run by an actual person).

My local M&S has recently removed all manned tills and replaced with self-service checkouts. So sad. Definitely not going to go down well with their customers.

[Peter Holden]

I wonder if we should compare this new mag with our excellent club magazine. 

The new magazine will apparently cost just shy of £32 for a year (4 issues)

Our club magazine costs £25 for a year and club membership is free (only joking.  The membership is £25 and the mag is free)

Value for money?

Peter

[Huttopia]

More info

It is odd how LR and non LR publications completely ignore the P38, it is as if it never existed! I know they weren't universally loved, but nor was every iteration of Series / Defender / Disco.

[Mycroft]

I just looked up "Land Rover P38 magazine" and you're right - an image search shows nothing - at least for the first few pages I scanned - from any of the Land Rover magazines. That's incredible! They were going for 7 years (?) but seem to have disappeared down a worm hole. Yet I know a few people who swear by (and occasionally at) them.

[Alan Drover]

I wonder if we should compare this new mag with our excellent club magazine. 

The new magazine will apparently cost just shy of £32 for a year (4 issues)

Our club magazine costs £25 for a year and club membership is free (only joking.  The membership is £25 and the mag is free)

Value for money?

Peter

Not forgetting the discounts.

[Huttopia]

Ha! They suffered reputationally more than most LR products. BMW couldn't wait to kill off the P38 and launch the L322. The L322 was such a shift the P38s dropped in value and were then for the most part poorly maintained and developed a reputation for unreliability. Not all of that was unfair, it was a sackable offence in most LR workshops to leave the keys inside a P38 without a window open....the random central locking / deadlocking gremlin might get you. Stories of owners taking their new P38s off to far flung places and the signal from the fob being jammed and the car being stuck didn't help.

IF they are well maintained they are great vehicles. The chassis doesn't appear to suffer with the same rust issues as earlier or later RRs / Discos and the interior trim is incredibly hard wearing.

A shame to gloss over them. Every family has a problem child

[Mycroft]

Not forgetting the discounts.

No question - B2L, discounts, expertise, the forum, the meet-ups, the Facebook group, the technical info, the (ahem!) soap opera = bargain of the century!

[Mycroft]

Ha! They suffered reputationally more than most LR products. BMW couldn't wait to kill off the P38 and launch the L322. The L322 was such a shift the P38s dropped in value and were then for the most part poorly maintained and developed a reputation for unreliability. Not all of that was unfair, it was a sackable offence in most LR workshops to leave the keys inside a P38 without a window open....the random central locking / deadlocking gremlin might get you. Stories of owners taking their new P38s off to far flung places and the signal from the fob being jammed and the car being stuck didn't help.

IF they are well maintained they are great vehicles. The chassis doesn't appear to suffer with the same rust issues as earlier or later RRs / Discos and the interior trim is incredibly hard wearing.

A shame to gloss over them. Every family has a problem child

Ha! The Land Rover family is ALL problem children isn't it! A mate who loved his P38 lived in fear of its electrics. When he bought his latest, he was delighted to see there were no warning lights showing. Turned out that was only because the previous owner had disconnected half of them.

[Craig T]

I've had a couple of P38's, still got one.
The first was a green 4.6 Autobiography one that was built for the local pub owner and now TVR company owner. It had full custom leather, sat nav, Playstation in the back, twin TV screens, DVD, wireless headphones etc. So many toys in it but that was really reliable. In my time I changed the essentials and a few air springs but nothing major.

My current one is a bargain basement red 4.0. If you ticked nothing on the options list you got the one I now have. Cloth seats, no air con, no sun roof, no electric seats, no climate control, just 4 seats and a steering wheel.

I never quite had the same affection for them though as I did for my 4.2 LSE Range Rover classic. That was something special but at the time, it was a slowly rusting vehicle that made way for the 4.6 P38. It was surprising how quickly the P38's seemed to disappear from the UK roads when the L322 came out.

Now I wish I had of kept the LSE and repaired the wheel arches and rear floor as I went but hindsight is a wonderful thing.

As for the P38, keep them topped up with coolant and change the camshaft before they fail completely and they can be very good things. The air suspension has never bothered me either although some owners seem very keep to pull it all out and go onto coils?

My parents have an L322. I would never buy one based on that vehicle.

Craig.

[Mycroft]

Great pic. My mate's was the same colour, but didn't look half as nice without those wheels. He found the air suspension a PITA.

[Huttopia]

/\ very nice. Maybe in a few years time there will be some wider appreciation for them! I've got a pretty basic 4.0 which I'm quite attached to. Slight bubble on the wheel arch needs attending to.....

[2286]

The p38a shun ties in with early comment where defender run goes from 1948-98?

Is it a a bmw link thing?

yes I know rrc went to soft dash cross over

[Mycroft]

I've got a pretty basic 4.0 which I'm quite attached to. Slight bubble on the wheel arch needs attending to.....

Pretty basic?! It looks GAWJUS!

[Craig T]

It looks far less basic than my one pictured above.
The paint on the bonnet is a lot better too. Mine may look good in that photo but the roof and bonnet is a mass of peeling lacquer....

Craig.

[2286]

Craig are they rr sport wheels?