• Special-order interior and exterior colours
• Thoroughly maintained and refurbished, with receipts to prove it
• Spares including new steering rack, ignition column and fan included in sale

Creating the sequel to a car that had been as successful, brand-building and long lived as Land Rover’s first Range Rover is an unenviable task by any measure. Developed before but launched after BMW’s takeover of the company, project Pegasus/38A was that very sequel when it entered production in 1994.

While its production life was considerably shorter than the original run (latterly renamed Range Rover Classic) was, the ‘P38’ Range Rover was an important stepping stone between the posh but rugged original and the suave class-leading luxury titan that the marque has become as it’s travelled ever further upmarket.

 Featuring electronically height-adjustable air suspension and an evolved design that updated without losing the Classic’s aesthetic iconography, the P38 now represents a remarkable amount of car for the money as a used buy.

This Range Rover has had three previous owners and its digital odometer shows it has done 89,717 miles. The current owners have rarely used the car in recent times, hence their decision to sell it on.

As the maintenance receipts reveal, it has had thousands of pounds spent on keeping it in good shape, including some amount of rust repair to one of the sills in the past few years, reconditioned air suspension plus new shocks and ball joints, two new door locks, a new radiator, a replacement turbo and various ancillary engine and electronic parts over the years as well.

As a result it now runs and drives as smooth as you like.

The car comes with extensive service history, MOT certificates and maintenance receipts, dating as far back as 1999.

The various receipts for the work done show that this Rangie has been someone’s pride and joy for many years, and it has accordingly been kept in fine shape.

This pre-facelift P38 is finished in special-order Woodcote Green, a rich, earthy metallic green that catches the sun magnificently.

There are only some superficial surface blemishes to betray the car’s 23 years of age, with little scratches around the rear driver’s side door handle, barely noticeable stone chips on the bonnet, some hairline marks on the plastic skirting, and a pin dent on the passenger-side rear door.

On that same door, there is also an inch or so of bubbling on the trailing edge, just where it meets the window seal. The five-spoke alloy wheels, meanwhile, all look immaculate.

The original owner ordered the interior leather upholstery in an unusual mid-tone grey, clearly not preferring the standard factory options of either a lighter or a darker grey. The only equipment upgrade from standard is a new stereo head unit, while the headlining has recently been completely replaced with a plush mid-grey fabric matching the leather below.

The original leather has aged very well over the years with the only heavy wear and tear to be found on the door-side driver’s seat bolsters – although the black leather gear lever is relatively worn as well. The walnut trim on the passenger-side rear door also shows some scratches on it.

The parcel shelf has a crack on one of the little plastic frames around the driver’s side attachment point but is otherwise fine, and the car comes with a full-size spare alloy wheel plus jack.

The 2.5-litre BMW-sourced straight-six turbo diesel engine starts up and runs smoothly without issue, while the factory height-adjustable air suspension rises and falls gently on command – a neat party trick that also increases the P38’s versatility.

This car comes with a five-speed manual gearbox as opposed to the more commonplace automatic, allowing you to better extract maximum performance from the 134bhp, 200 lb/ft power unit (the official 0-60 mph figure is 2.4 seconds quicker with the manual gearbox!).

The seller notes that previously there had been an issue with the battery running flat; this was traced to a failure in the ignition column leading to some electrical systems staying active when the key was removed and consequently drawing power from the battery.

This has since been rectified and, just for good measure, an OEM replacement steering column and ignition barrel are included with the car. It also comes with a tow bar.

As winter draws in, this is a great time to climb aboard a cushy conqueror of all conditions and waft gently through the world in a vehicle that looks the part whether it’s carrying hay on a farm or parked outside a country manor.

Then, when the sun penetrates the gloom, that unique verdant paintwork shines right back at it to make the car look ten times its current market value.

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