Spent today down in the glorious Dedham Vale. Took Wife, 2 kids (late teens) 3 dogs and were joined by parents in their 80s. Add in a canoe on the roof which the kids paddled from Dedham to Flatford Mill while we walked the dogs after a great lunch at the boat house and it is hard to imagine life getting any better.

I should add, prompted by R Gilbert's advice to just trust your P38 and get on with life, the 2 hour trip from home (and then back again) passed without incident. I did spend Tuesday AM checking fluids and taking off the rad to filler reservoir hose and blowing through just for good measure.

I've had plenty of older 'classic cars' (and indeed have a 40 yr old Lotus under repair) but I'm rapidly coming to the view that circa 2000 yr 'classics' are the way to go in terms of everyday usability and availability of parts.

Could not agree more.
Being sort of trapped on the boat in the San Fran Delta by some diabolical weather patterns, we decided 2 weeks ago to take a quick Banzai run up to just South of the Canadian border. I replaced all fluids, as they were due.... including the t-case and trans. (White 02 "Bolt" 147k miles)
Had a high speed run up I-5 at 75-90 mph and then wound down the coast route 101 for the return.
Flawless performance.
I especially appreciate the EAS as some of the high speed sweeping curves on the 101 would be scary at standard height!
7 days, 1350 miles, no dramas! Love these trucks

In less than a month I am about to try my hand at some proper trails here in Ohio for the first time, courtesy of a local LR club. I’ve had my truck for just over two years and it has not been the nightmare the rest of the Internet would lead one to believe. I just hope, as a noobie to both off roading and the P38.... nothing from next month’s event will upset that! Trying to go around and complete any maintenance and address any potential failure points... also carrying a spare air spring for each axle as a just in case. Compressor and valve block were just serviced by me in the last 6 months. Otherwise, the truck has done everything I’ve asked it to do so far and I couldn’t be more pleased!

No idea what the trails in Ohio are like but have a look at some of the videos in this thread posted by David (Rutland Rover even though he no longer lives in Rutland) https://rangerovers.pub/topic/1428-went-off-roading-today. A P38 is capable of far more than the driver in most cases, use low range, 3rd going uphill, 1st going down, Drive the rest of the time, be gentle on the throttle and use the brakes as little as possible. I did an off road course at Land Rover at Solihul a few years ago (must have been around 2005?) in a manual, TD5, Discovery 2 and was astounded at what they can do even on road tyres. I asked what was the best for off road, expecting to be told the Defender, but accordng to the instructor a Range Rover on EAS will go anywhere most others can't.

Get lots of photos or video and post up on here.

Gene,
Your experience seems to mirror mine. I had slight reservations about buying any P38 because of the 'reputation' that it had earned since 1994. However, having always loved its development from the classic (which I love for it's purity of style but dislike because of its 'agricultural experience') and having owned (and re-chassised) 3 Series 3 LRs, and had a yr 2000 Disco for 3 years, I thought I'd take a closer look.

After looking at 8 vehicles of varying condition, I concluded that:

1. P38s do not appear to rust anywhere nearly as bad as previous (or contemporary) LR products.
2. The EAS is no where near as troublesome as some would have you believe.
3. The majority of issues can be resolved if you are half decent with a spanner.
4. 5 inches of suspension lift allowed reasonable access underneath..
5. In the UK at least, parts were not extortionate and pretty well provided for.
6. A really decent support network exists (Thanks all!)

Like you also, I spent the first month of ownership going over the obvious (rad, hoses, water pump, viscous fan, oil and filters - engine and gearbox, rebuilding the EAS compressor and fitting new front shocks). I also invested £150 having a good local LR specialist giving the old girl a once over to confirm my feelings on the car.
In 5000 miles, other than replacing a front wheel hub (identified by the LR specialist) I have been delighted with the ownership experience.

I am lucky that she is not my only car, but as several folk on here have said, at some point I accept that I may need to spend big money on the engine etc but having only cost what I consider to be peanuts initially, I think I can still end up with a reliable and very useable 10-15 yr car for an investment of under £10k.

A lot of P38s around here have "One life, live it" stickers on the back. I don't think many of them or many on this forum would get on very well with a guy who passed me on the road the other day in a Jap 4x4 with a sticker "One live, don't waste it fixing Landrovers". There are lots of people with similar attitudes, the owner of the last Landcruiser I converted told me "If you want to go into a desert you need a Rangerover, if you want to come out again you need a Landcruiser". Oooh, uncalled for eh!

Hahaah, that sticker made me laugh. Quality Sledging :)

I took a pic but by the time I was ready with my phone camera it was a bit far away to make out what it reads in the pic.
A Suzuki 4x4 around here has a "One wife, livid' and 'Sniff my diff' stickers lol.

Lpgc wrote:

the owner of the last Landcruiser I converted told me "If you want to go into a desert you need a Rangerover, if you want to come out again you need a Landcruiser". Oooh, uncalled for eh!

Well I guess the desert is dry so the Landcruiser won't rust its arse out before you get back.

Yep, for me the P38 is a third vehicle. The e34 wagon is the daily driver (possibly the best car ever made by BMW - Toyota be damned, haha). And I have converted that one from an auto to a manual. If I need to get somewhere quickly, the e30 with its engine swap does so quite nicely! As someone who’s been DIY wrenching on Euro cars since I could drive (37 now), I figured if I can manage both a trans swap and an engine swap, I can handle a P38. It goes all of the places the other two cars can’t. And towing capacity is a plus!

I think E34's handle great but that still isn't ideal if you can't see properly to drive and the A pillers get in the way of sight a bit, halfway between a comfy 7 series and nimble 3 series, like the chassis though and M5's and 4,4 aftermarket supercharged go well ;-)

I still miss my E30 :(
but you can't go back....

The Duchess has passed her acceptance trial from SWMBO! After replacing most of the front end she now actually steers. At sodding last! OK, she's no E30 but she no longer throws you towards oncoming traffic at random intervals.

All I need to do now is get back to Marty for the driver's door latch because I got myself locked out again today - like an idiot.

Time to get a valet key cut, and a strong magnet. Luckily I have a large stack of dead hard drives at work. I'll hack into one of those and get a decent magnet there.