The second-generation Range Rover of 1994-2001, developed as project 38A under Rover Group and launched just after BMW's takeover, with 4.0/4.6 Rover V8 or BMW six-cylinder diesel power and standard electronic air suspension.
MODEL LINERange Rover P38 (P38A)BUILT BYLand Rover (Rover Group, under BMW ownership 1994-2000, then Ford)PRODUCED1994–2001PRODUCTION~167,259 vehiclesLAYOUT4 wheels
The record
Replacing the original Range Rover was Land Rover's biggest gamble of the early 1990s. The programme began as 'Pegasus' and became known by the number of the Solihull building where the team worked - 38A - which stuck as the model's name. Designer George Thomson's 1990 exterior deliberately evolved the Classic's cues (the floating roof, clamshell bonnet and split tailgate) around a far more luxurious cabin, while the engineering kept a separate ladder chassis and beam axles but made electronic air suspension standard across the range.
The P38A was launched on 28 September 1994, months after BMW had acquired the Rover Group, making the new Range Rover the flagship of a German-owned British marque. Engines were reworked 4.0 and 4.6-litre versions of the veteran Rover V8 plus, for the first time in a Range Rover, a six-cylinder diesel - the 2.5-litre turbocharged BMW M51. Trim lines ran from the 4.0 base model to the 4.6 HSE, with bespoke Autobiography editions offering near-unlimited paint and leather choices.
In its seven-year run the P38A sold steadily - 167,259 are recorded as built at Solihull to 2001 - but it never quite escaped the twin shadows of its beloved predecessor and its troubled electronics, which have shaped its reputation on the used market ever since. Jeremy Clarkson famously likened the tall glasshouse styling to a London Metrocab taxi. BMW sold Land Rover to Ford in 2000, and the P38A was replaced in late 2001 by the BMW-developed L322.
Today the P38A is the affordable route into Range Rover ownership and increasingly appreciated on its own terms: the last Range Rover with the Rover V8, a separate chassis and genuinely simple mechanicals beneath the electronic gadgetry.
Specification
MANUFACTURERLand Rover (Rover Group, under BMW ownership 1994-2000, then Ford)
MANUFACTURED1994–2001
ENGINE4.0 and 4.6 L Rover V8 petrol; 2.5 L BMW M51 turbodiesel inline-six
PRODUCTION RUN~167,259 vehicles (Wikipedia's compiled figure, 1994-2001)
COUNTRY OF ORIGINUnited Kingdom
STATUSout of production
RECORD KINDBase model
MODEL LINERange Rover P38 (P38A)
FAMILYRange Rover P38A
WHEELS4
BODY STYLERange Rover P38
VARIANTS1
Catalogue fields describe the vehicle's structure and body as this registry records it. They are not certified factory measurements, and no performance figures are published here.
5Series I front body review — series1-bronze and Series I configurations · HERITAGE-FLEET-REFERENCES.md
User photographs `s1.jpeg`, `imagesj.jpeg`, `25109914-1-55.jpg` and `s1_.jpeg`
show the early Series I front: a narrow central wire-mesh radiator grille with
inboard headlamps, broad flat-sided wings rolling over a long front radius, one
small white sidelight per wing, and a bonnet tapering forward with rounded long
side pressings. The shared Series I builder uses these proportions for both
wheelbases. This is a visual reference interpretation, not a measured CAD scan.
NOTES
6Series III front review — standard Series III configurations · HERITAGE-FLEET-REFERENCES.md
User references `hfhimages.jpeg`, `imagesl.jpeg`, and `IMG_1992-jpg.webp` show the
tall tapered central plastic grille with shorter side vents, recessed radiator
panel, broad wings with rounded leading edges, inboard wing headlamps and white
sidelights above amber indicators. The standard Series III bonnet narrows toward
the grille. Stage 1 V8 and Santana retain their distinct flush-front grilles.
Meteor Works uses a **Series III front**, not the Series IIA front of the army
and RAF Marshall ambulances. Its internal `marshal-series3` shell shares the
Marshall coachwork but inherits Series III wings, bonnet, grille, headlamps and
outer lamps. Meteor adds only its weathered livery, guard and emergency equipment
around that standard front, avoiding duplicated headlamp pods.
### Coachwork front-panel corrections
- The Shop Truck and the Marshall family (including Meteor Works and RAF rescue) retain clipped curved side skins through the front wings and doors at their custom body joins.
- Queen Elizabeth II’s Series IIA station wagon uses the Series III-style wing-mounted headlights, bonnet and broad black grille shown in the supplied reference. No numberplate is modelled. Reference: `
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_4.6_HSE_wagon_(2015-08-07)_01.jpg){kind=link}