2010 Land Rover Range Rover 4.4L Diesel · FX60 DMV

A cluster of significant mechanical defects and one outright failure dominate the recent testing history of this sixteen-year-old Range Rover, signalling that the vehicle's roadworthiness has not been consistently stable. The October 2025 test produced a fail with multiple major defects, including a leaking brake pipe that prevented brake performance from being assessed, a non-functioning high-level stop lamp, an ineffective offside windscreen wiper, and a prop shaft bearing described as excessively worn. Only five months earlier, on 3 February 2026, the vehicle passed with no defects recorded, which indicates that the underlying issues were rectified between the two tests rather than the car being inherently sound. Prior to that failure, the record from 2017 through 2023 was largely clean aside from advisories, with passes in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2023. The 2023 pass, however, carried four advisories relating to both front suspension arm ball joints and both front suspension arm pins or bushes, flagging the beginning of front suspension wear. Taken together, the trajectory is one of a relatively clean early history giving way to a pronounced mechanical episode in late 2025 involving braking, driveline and minor electrical components, with the most recent test confirming only that the immediate defects were addressed. With 113,845 miles recorded across approximately sixteen years, this Range Rover has accumulated around 7,115 miles annually, which is broadly typical for its age and does not suggest either long periods of standing or particularly heavy use. The test intervals are reasonably consistent, with annual or near-annual submissions from 2017 through 2026 and no multi-year gaps that would point to extended off-road storage. There is, however, a notable fifteen-month interval between the July 2023 pass and the October 2025 failure, during which the vehicle was not presented for testing, and this gap coincides with the period in which the suspension wear advisories from 2023 could have progressed into more serious deterioration. At this mileage, consumable wear on suspension bushes, ball joints, brake components and driveline items such as prop shafts and constant velocity joints is expected, and the recorded defects align with that pattern. The annual mileage figure does not by itself indicate unusual stress on the vehicle, but it does mean the car is well into the middle of its working life where multiple wear items tend to require attention either simultaneously or in close succession. A prospective buyer should focus the pre-purchase inspection on the braking system in particular, given that a brake pipe was recorded as leaking severely enough to prevent performance testing in October 2025. The vehicle should be raised on a ramp to allow visual examination of all brake pipes, flexi hoses and the underbody for corrosion, paying special attention to the pipe runs along the chassis and around the fuel tank area where Land Rover vehicles of this era are known to suffer. The pedal should be tested for firmness, and any sponginess or excessive travel on the road could indicate air ingress or further leak development. The prop shaft bearing replacement noted at the failure should be verified, and on a test drive any rotational noise, vibration through the floor, or clonks on take-up of drive would suggest the universal joints or centre bearing have not been correctly refurbished or have since worn again. The front suspension flagged in 2023 requires hands-on assessment because ball joint play and worn pins or bushes will only worsen over time. With the vehicle unladen, a buyer should rock each front wheel top and bottom at the three and nine o'clock positions to feel for play, and listen for clonks or knocks from the front end when traversing speed bumps or uneven surfaces. Steering response should be monitored for any vagueness, juddering through the wheel, or pulling to one side under braking, as worn front suspension components frequently produce such symptoms. The constant velocity boot deterioration noted in 2022 should also be rechecked, because perished boots lead to grease loss and eventual joint failure, and a torn boot is usually accompanied by clicking on full lock. Finally, confirm that the stop lamps and high-level lamp function correctly, that both wiper blades clear the screen effectively, and that the battery is securely clamped in its carrier, as all of these were flagged in the recent failure and are straightforward to verify in person.