L322, the best Range Rover so far? (2024)

The end of a turbulent period

Whilst many periods in the Land Rover history have been turbulent, this period stands out to me because even after being released from the shackles of state ownership and sold to BMW in 1994, with their deep pockets and generally accepted high levels of quality control (relative to Land Rover/Rover/British Leyland), BMW couldn't carry the Rover Group any longer. It wasn't so much the Land Rover brand, but the Rover brand that was causing problems for BMW, and so in 2000, the Rover group was broken up, with Land Rover being sold to the Ford Motor Company.

The mark of BMW

Whilst many Land Rover fans look at this period as a time when BMW "stole the ideas needed to launch and build the X3, X5" etc, series of BMW vehicles, I am personally of the opinion that the Land Rovers that came out during this period are some of the best to have been badged with the green oval, not only the L322 vs the 2nd generation Range Rover (known as the P38a), but also the L319, or third generation Discovery, when compared to the Discovery 2.

The styling and the quality control for both the L322 and the L319 when compared to the vehicles they replaced stands high above the yard stick set by the P38a and the L318 respectively. Anyone that has owned, driven, or possibly just been a passenger in an L318/P38a can attest to the changes seen in the L322 and L319, from styling (which is always a relative point anyway) to materials used both inside and outside the vehicles. I know many a person that never managed to seal up the leaky sun-roofs on L318 Discovery 2's yet have never met a single person that had the same issue with an L319 for example.

The Blue and Green Ovals

BMW engineers had worked with Land Rover engineers on the designs and production plans for the L322 and much of this was in place by the time BMW broke the Rover group up and sold Land Rover to Ford in 2000, yet the first L322 did not roll off the lines until end of 2001 (technically, but released in model year 2002). This meant that Ford inherited a nearly complete L322 project, in fact, as a sweetner to the deal, the sale agreement between BMW & Ford committed BMW to support the production of the L322 until it had entered volume production.

As an owner of an early L322, the main issue I have with the hand off from BMW to Ford is that the L322 was designed and planned around sharing the electronics and engines from BMW product lines, yet, as soon as Ford had control of the project, they quickly wanted to distance themselvs from commitments to buy or license BMW components, therefore the earlier ones can be a bit of a mash-up of companies, such as a BMW engine, but the Ford "in car entertainment (ICE)" units. It's not that the BMW engines are bad, far from it, and the Ford entertainment units are not bad either, it just means you have to be a little more nerdy before trying to buy used components as replacements for those on earlier L322's.

Revisions

(M) denotes major styling revision

• 2002 - based on the BMW Engines
• 2005 - Shift to Ford Engines
• 2006 - Interior/Exterior Styling & Jaguar Engine (M)
• 2007 - Mostly minor Interior & Mechanical changes
• 2009 - Interior/Exterior Styling, new engines (M)

It has been said that the newer Range Rover, the 4th generation or L405 is a far better car than the L322 was, and that I agree with, the L405 is lighter, stiffer, has more fuel efficient engines, a more modern look inside and out and it can still do all the off-road things than an L322 can. But it's not really a Range Rover anymore.

Stay with me for a moment. The original Range Rover was designed for the slightly well to do farmer, it was meant to be an agricutural vehicle first, something that could muscle its way across a muddy field, but could still take the farmer and their family into town for a nice meal at the weekend. Somewhere along the way, the Range Rover marquee and indeed the Land Rover brand have been hijacked by a very different market, which is very good for Land Rover and British automobile engineering and the thousands of jobs it supports both directly and indirectly, but it also means that newer Land Rover products are not really designed to be agricultural first. There's no denying, they can still get through the toughest of situations, in fact, it can be argued that the electronics in the newer vehicles makes them more capable than previous models. However, both the styling and the cost of newer generations just means that 'agriculture first' no longer makes sense. An Izusu truck is cheaper to buy, run, maintain and doesn't have anywhere near the complexity of a modern Land Rover and is therefore the agricultural vehicle of choice across the UK these days. Therefore, I come back to my point that whilst the L405 is better than the L322 in every measurable way, it isn't really a Range Rover any longer. The last proper Range Rover was the L322 as it was the last that could still be considered as 'agriculture first'.

If you want to know more about the L322, which in my opinion is the greatest Range Rover so far, then follow this link to Wikipedia.