First — name it correctly
This is a Range Rover Sport, the L320 — not the full-size Range Rover (the L322), even though private listings almost always advertise it just as "Range Rover HSE." The distinction matters: the Sport is a separate, lighter, more road-biased vehicle that shares its mechanical bones with the LR3 / Discovery 3 rather than the full-size flagship, and it is a different (and cheaper) vehicle to buy and run. Confirm which one you are looking at before anything else.
Why it can be a good car
The HSE has the right engine: the naturally aspirated 4.4-litre Jaguar-derived V8 (around 300 hp) — not the supercharged 4.2 of the SC trim, and, contrary to a common myth, never a BMW V8 (that engine only appeared in the older full-size L322). Behind it sits the robust ZF six-speed automatic, which only asks that its fluid actually gets changed despite once being called a lifetime fill. It offers genuine towing and real off-road capability that still works at this age, and because it shares hardware with the LR3, parts and independent know-how are widely available.
Why it can be a bad car
Its entire financial outcome rides on two systems: the air suspension and the V8's timing-chain tensioners. Around those sits the usual Land Rover supporting cast. Confirm the two big items and it is one of the most satisfying things money can buy at this price; ignore them and it gets very expensive.
Does it have a timing belt or a timing chain?
A timing chain. The 4.4 V8 uses chains and is an interference engine — the concern is the secondary cam-chain tensioners, which can rattle on a cold start. A brief rattle that clears is generally considered acceptable by specialists, but a lingering cold-start rattle is a warning, because if a worn tensioner lets the chain skip a tooth the valves meet the pistons.
The things to check before you buy
- Cold-start listen Get to it before it has been started that day. The instant it fires, listen at the front of the engine for a top-end rattle. A quick clear-up is fine; a rattle that lingers is the timing tensioner and a walk-or-budget moment.
- Air suspension At high mileage this is well past the window where corners start leaking. It should still sit at full height after sitting overnight, rise evenly on all four corners and hold, with the compressor not straining or running too long.
- Front lower control-arm bushings The L320's signature wear item — a clonk at low speed, most obvious when you dab the brake rolling forward and back.
- Air conditioning Confirm exactly how it performs, front and rear.
- Electronic parking-brake actuator A known failure on this platform.
- Rust and diagnostics On a salt-belt car, get it on a hoist and inspect the subframe and the brake and fuel lines; and expect that a full health check needs a Land-Rover-capable scanner, not just a generic code reader.
What would make you walk
- A lingering cold-start rattle A top-end rattle that does not clear points to the timing tensioners and the skipped-chain risk on an interference engine.
- A tired air suspension Any corner sagging overnight, a system that will not rise and hold level, or a lit suspension fault.
- Structural rust Underbody rot at the subframe or corroded lines on a Maritime or salt-belt car.