Current shape Range Rover

[zanderpants]

Hi All,

Considering changing my daily driver for something big and comfy. I have always like the look of the current shape Range Rover (looking at a 2017/18 car). I have heard so many horror stories about terrible service from LR dealers and poor reliability that I am concerned it would end up being a nightmare. They seem to consistently come out pretty much last in all the surveys I have seen.

Does anyone have any experience/views they could share? Good bad or indifferent!

Thanks!


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[Maysie]

My leased 10 month old £64k Velar is currently in the dealers having the engine removed to replace the balance shaft bearings, after just 7k miles. The courtesy car they have loaned me (also a 1 year old Velar) has the paint peeling off the bumper.

The quality of dealers does vary, but generally you will find more empathy and better customer service at any other main dealer.

When they work, they are lovely places to be. VERY comfy, superb to eat up the miles - particularly if you have an air suspension model. The issues come when they dont work (which WILL happen), you will question why they are so badly built, why they cost so much and why the customer service is awful for a luxury/expensive brand.

Make sure it has a warranty for the entire period you own it.

Expect every bill to be 3 figures.

Despite all this, they are such lovely cars that I keep coming back to the brand, even though I have moved away from them several times now in utter exasperation at how badly I have been treated and how unreliable 90%* their cars are.

(* this is a totally made up statistic...)

[number2]

There are obviously both good and bad stories but in a previous life I've managed many types of car dealers from one end of the scale to the other, about the only car I wouldn't put my money into would be something from Land rover.

[Omegamanic]

One of our old bank chairmen (a family friend) always drove Range Rovers, every model update, and always had some issues - but after the last two... he has just bought a Lexus lol

I would love one, but it’s clear it’s all about looks and interior, and the attention to detail and quality (or at least QC) is sadly far too lacking for a product at its price range.

[murkeywaters]

Its purely an image thing for a lot of people, I'm not saying everyone but no doubt its a status symbol that carries so much weight that people will put up with unreliability and shocking customer service.

I would much rather have an equivalent Audi Q7 on my drive..

[Maysie]

It is a real shame, as they are so close to being amazing vehicles, but are let down by 5% flaws in build quality/quality control, 5% flaws caused by bean-counting accountants cost savings with the design, which is then compounded by a 80% 'couldn't give a $h1t' attitude from LR when they go wrong.

If you don't really need the full capability of their 4x4 terrain system and wading depth, then there are better options out there nowadays which will be equally as comfortable and wont let you down.

Link here to a reasonably balanced opinion on a 2013 model:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwkmt6kSxYw

[Meesterbond]

We've had a Range Rover Vogue SE from new since 2017 and in that time it's been back to the dealers a couple of times (other than services) for some minor things... they weren't happy that the boot was properly aligned so that was fixed and the ICE system and sat nav has developed a load of annoying niggles, most of which were fixed by updates. It will still tell me that the deployable steps, tow bar or cameras aren't working when they quite patently are. Silly little things that shouldn't happen on such an expensive car but it's such a nice car to drive I've excused it.

Nothing major has gone wrong and when it comes to change it I'll almost certainly get another, although it won't be until the new one's out next year.

[steptoe]

I can't comment on the L405 but i've had an L322 for nearly 10 years and it's the most reliable car i've ever owned.



When i was thinking of buying one the amount of people who warned me off buying a Range Rover, but when asked if they'd ever actually owned one, admitted they hadn't, they'd just "heard" about them on the internet..

My Volvo, a 2005 XC70 was the most unreliable car i've ever owned. I bought it after reading on the internet about how reliable they were. P/x'd it for VW UP! after 3 years of woe.

[oldoakknives]

I can't comment on the L405 but i've had an L322 for nearly 10 years and it's the most reliable car i've ever owned.



When i was thinking of buying one the amount of people who warned me off buying a Range Rover, but when asked if they'd ever actually owned one, admitted they hadn't, they'd just "heard" about them on the internet..

My Volvo, a 2005 XC70 was the most unreliable car i've ever owned. I bought it after reading on the internet about how reliable they were. P/x'd it for VW UP! after 3 years of woe.

This. Never had a major problem with JLR vehicles. A lot of people who never owned one seem to though.

[number2]

Being an ex GM and SM, across many brand's I've heard many more stories from owners and ex-owners that start with - great car but, or, if only they didn't go wrong ...

[GraniteQuarry]

I had the previous model for four years from new and it left me stranded four times (once at 4pm on Xmas Eve ffs!) and had over £8k of warranty work done; that and stories of engine and suspension replacement on the current model within a few thousand miles from colleagues who'd bought killed any update plans for me.

Looks great and highly capable, but overpriced and far too much of a risk IMO.

[sickie]

I have never owned one but have driven many of then as I used to work for a car accident replacement company. Any car from small to large. Executive to run of the mill stuff.

The one thing I can say is as much as I have heard of the same horror story's. In the 3 Year's I was there we never once had to put any Range Rover or Land Rover into the garage for warranty work of any sort. And if I had to choose I would go with the Land Rover version. Don't know why but it just felt better to drive and made you feel safe even driving in ice and snow.

Someone mentioned the Q7 above as an alternative. I would agree as they are absolutely cracking vehicles.

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[Kingstepper]

Latest Which? has survey of most/least reliable cars. Land Rover least reliable brand and XC90 least reliable individual car.

[hilly10]

The last vehicle I would own again if not running it through the business. As said great places to be when they are good, but a constant worry. I had a great dealership who looked after mine (Stafford LR ) but I have horror stories of other dealers.

[Devonian]

My dad bought an autobiography sport version for around 80k plus two years ago and for health reasons has only done 8k miles on it. He always leases so put down around 30k and will owe about 40k next March and has offered me to take it on for that if I want it. He’s hoping there will be a bit of equity in there - It’s part ex value is coming up at 51k at the moment so maybe, who knows.

Thing is though I drove it a couple of days and can’t say it’s any better than my X3. I’ve also got 3 mates that have them and all have had expensive issues over the years, so the reliability and repairs costs put me off a bit.

Not sure if you’re looking at something coming up to 3 years whether you’re buying an expensive car to maintain.

[adrianw]

405 and 494 have brilliant internal lamps

[Foxy100]

Of all my friends who've owned Range Rovers not a single one has come out without a disaster story and list of expensive problems.

RR and Tesla are two brands I wouldn't touch.

[adrianw]

Of all my friends who've owned Range Rovers not a single one has come out without a disaster story and list of expensive problems.

RR and Tesla are two brands I wouldn't touch.

I see all of the warranty data, it isn’t that bad, and every claim is investigated to death to establish who is liable

[Slamdoor]

According to the latest Which mag. Land Rover is one of the least reliable manufacturers. 46% of owners had issues with cars less than 3 years old. Just sayin....

[adrianw]

According to the latest Which mag. Land Rover is one of the least reliable manufacturers. 46% of owners had issues with cars less than 3 years old. Just sayin....

Where did that data come from certainly not JLR, some sort of are you happy with your car survey

Aston Martins are horrendous but the owners never complain

[GOAT]

Must have had 10 colleagues over the years who have owned them
2 had Discovery 4’s that we’re great cars, no problems at all, and one guy had 2 trouble free Evoques one after the other, the others had no end of serious bother especially with Range Rover sports.
Very nice but too much of a lottery for me, sorry to say.

[Maysie]

I think there is a 'sweet spot' with Land Rover ownership, much like most cars but in LR's case it is more exaggerated due to the build quality issues, between the point where all of the warranty issues have been ironed out (1-3 years?) and before they become so old that they become unreliable (8-10 years?).

I owned my D3 for about 10 years and had most of the usual and well known big-ticket issues go wrong with it - all of which were expensive to fix. The car was bought for a good price though and held its value extremely well, so overall it was relatively cheap motoring and a joy to drive/travel in during the time I owned it.

When it came time to sell, I couldn't wait to get rid of it, as I was just waiting for the next problem to arrive but a month or two later I missed it and wanted another (younger) version again.

These cars have a certain 'x factor' that you cant quite put your finger on.

[dandanthewatchman]

Wife had a Disco Sport from new - 5 years old no issues. My Velar is coming up to 3 years - no issues save for some early software niggles that were ironed out in a dealership visit to download update.

They definitely are a brand/product that ‘gets’ to you so I think there are people who will forgive it when there may be some issues.

But we can all find some horror stories about most manufacturers if we want to

People love to knock RR - they tend to drive something soulless


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[demonloop]

I love them, and the Sport, but would never buy one. I’d be happy leasing one for the duration of the warranty period.

[Kirk280]

This thread needs FFF

[bootneck]

I love them but I would never own another, maybe lease one if you have to tick the box of having one for a while but definitely buyer beware imo.

[Franky Four Fingers]

Assuming the OP means the Range Rover rather than the Sport?

Too much to say about these so would be better to pm me and you can have my number.

If you’re seriously looking for one I could put you in contact with an ex work colleague who’s gone out on his own now ( had enough of the dealer ) who sources vehicles for people. Why bother with the dealer......you’re about 10 miles from me 😀

[Kirk280]

I’m interested in what you think about them D....not that I can afford one! 🤣

(FFF recently educated my main dealers on Discovery 4s.... if I lived nearer to him I’d use nobody else for all things Land Rover)

[Franky Four Fingers]

I’m interested in what you think about them D....not that I can afford one! 藍

(FFF recently educated my main dealers on Discovery 4s.... if I lived nearer to him I’d use nobody else for all things Land Rover)

藍藍

Theres a lot to talk about.......

I wouldn’t touch an early 405 as that was their release guinea pig! Give it a few years and go for a 14 MY onwards. Land Rover have always released their vehicles too early to market and let the customer find all the issues, they always have and always will.

Engine...3.0 4.4 or 5.0 ltr? Anyone looking at a 3ltr needs to google the TDV6 crank issue and should bear that in mind before buying one. If you can afford to lose 15k after already buying then fine if you can’t you need to consider the 4.4.
The 4.4 is actually a good engine however not without issues. By far the biggest issue is the turbos, Left hand in particular which if let’s go can take out the right hand side also for the ride. Very costly to put right especially if it fills the intercooler with oil. Other than that they don’t really suffer from any real issues. The 5.0 is a bit of a drinker and expect 12-15 mpg if you’re lucky.

Air suspension faults are common but are generally caused by the compressor. Electrical gremlins of course but again all normally common issues that we all know about. If I were in the market nothing on the RR 4.4 worries me and I’d buy one tomorrow however you have to do your homework, as with any JLR product.
Sadly people don’t and go out and buy the first one they see that they can afford. you just need to remember that it’s far from a normal car and in most cases ownership is going to be more expensive than the vast number of other cars.
In saying that if you get a good one then it’ll be the best car you’ve ever had......luck of the draw. All you can do to negate that is get a decent warranty, keep up the maintenance and buy the right car in the first place.

FFF

[haberdashery]

I’ve had the L405 4.4 diesel for a couple of years. No major faults, had one episode where it kept going into restricted performance/limp mode and had to take it in. It was fixed under warranty, something in the exhaust system I believe.

The local dealer who I take it to for maintenance is good, the staff are great in service. I bought the car from a different dealer because my local dealer’s sales team never returned my calls or showed any interest in selling me a £90k car when I was in the market for one.

Otherwise, touching wood, the most reliable and comfortable car I’ve ever owned. I’ll be getting the new one whenever it comes out.

Would highly recommend it!

[Kirk280]

Thanks FFF. Having driven the RR v8 diesel (older model) I must say I was impressed. I wish they had put that engine in the Disco 4.

[Ghost Chilli]

Lovely cars that I use at work quite often. Would only ever buy new (if I could afford to) and sell immediately the warranty is up!

- - - Updated - - -

Lovely cars that I use at work quite often. Would only ever buy new (if I could afford to) and sell immediately the warranty is up!

[Gurmot]

I’ve had most models of Landrover up to about 2010 when they finally lost me as a customer. I now drive a Mk1 (Classic) Vogue SE V8 which costs me a few grand in repairs each year but still less than the depreciation of a modern one. I still love the idea of an up to date RR but I just can’t bring myself to deal with the dealers or the appalling build quality.

[dickbrowne]

I've not had a Range Rover, but I did own a Disco 4 for a number of years and a six figure mileage. Mrs. B had a Freelander for 3 year too. My car cost a lot to run and maintain, the Freelander was relatively inexpensive.

Were they more unreliable than any other car? Well, possibly, but I was using my Disco in a way it wasn't really intended - constant high mileage. Did it ever let me down? Nope, but it did cost quite a bit in maintenance.

I'd say that the cars aren't really that much worse than any other 4x4, but don't expect to run them on a Seat Ibiza shoestring. They're expensive cars and need to be maintained properly.

I would also echo the observation that they are a lovely place to be. I'm considering another one as a part of my lifestyle rearrangement...

[Ruggertech]

My sister and her now late and much missed husband had a continuous flow of RR's. A new one on average every two years (with the exception of one Discovery) from about 1994 until 2016, used as the "for the dogs and distances car", alongside something sporty and usually exotic.
My BiL always used to say to me that the Range Rovers are fabulous, but only buy new because they will always go wrong, spectacularly and regularly. They kept at them because they loved them and had superb service from the dealership, always a courtesy car delivered to the house, always an apology and a sweetener of some sort. About four years ago they bought a holiday pad in Cornwall and bought a BMW suv to economise somewhat, and stated they would never go back to JLR, they couldn't contemplate relying on a Range Rover for the weekly, sometimes twice a week trip to Padstow.

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[TheFlyingBanana]

My wife had a Freelander years ago, that was a dog.

Last October my next door neighbour took delivery of his brand new Discovery HSE - specced to the max at about £78k, within 24hours of me receiving my new Merc GLC Coupe 300 AMG Line.

Within the first month and a half his car had been back to the dealer no less than four times and he spent most of his time driving a courtesy Evoque. Since then it has had ongoing issues that don't seem to be able to be properly resolved.

My Merc (which wasn't my first choice as I had ordered an iPace but was let down) has not had a single issue in the 8000 miles I have driven it since then. I only had to put some air in the tyres for the first time yesterday. That is the sum total of the maintenance it has required.

The Disco is a lovely place to sit, but I just can't be doing with that amount of hassle. I considered a Velar and discounted it for this very reason.

[AlphaOmega]

I was chatting with someone who has a brother who owns a garage that carries out work on RRs. He said that they often get in relatively new cars that need engines, gearboxes and other significant items. This was a bit of a shock to me as if a window doesn't work on a new Honda, heads roll.

I'm prepared to tolerate poor reliability from a weekend exotic but not a big modern lump.

[Gurmot]

I was chatting with someone who has a brother who owns a garage that carries out work on RRs. He said that they often get in relatively new cars that need engines, gearboxes and other significant items. This was a bit of a shock to me as if a window doesn't work on a new Honda, heads roll.

I'm prepared to tolerate poor reliability from a weekend exotic but not a big modern lump.

I sometimes wonder at the number of people (or businesses) prepared to spend £50-100K on a depreciating asset that is so unreliable. I know many will be leased but the cost of ownership:reliability ratio has to be unsustainable for any brand.

[thieuster]

I sometimes wonder at the number of people (or businesses) prepared to spend £50-100K on a depreciating asset that is so unreliable. I know many will be leased but the cost of ownership:reliability ratio has to be unsustainable for any brand.

Is it a way of telling how wealthy one is? "Look at me and my RR! I can afford to pay tons of money and I don't care!" It reminds me of NSU RO80 owners in the 70s: raising fingers to other owners telling them how many Wankel engine replacements their car already had. Two? Three? Same story for classic Jag owners. We service a lot of these in the workshop.

Here, the JLR dealers are also Kia dealers. Big contrast! In the workshop, it's obvious where the JLR products are serviced and where the Kia products are serviced: Kia's is clean, hardly any tools around the cars. JLR's workshop floor is larger - despite selling less cars than Kia - filled with trolleys with (parts of an) engine on top, various tool cabinets under the cars. Go figure.

JLR brings back memories of Saab dealers in the 80s and 90s. Wonderful cars but with spectaculair engine problems. Still, I've owned a handful.

Menno

[eagletower]

Surely a way of telling everyone who wealthy you are is displayed using a Rolex and not a Range Rover ?

Find it odd how people On a watch forum, who are full of praise for £10,000 watch , then think spending £100k On a car is just to show off how Wealthy you are .

[AlphaOmega]

^There is a difference between being able to afford the purchase price, and throwing money away on depreciation.

That's my excuse for running about in an old car, anyway.

[M4tt]

Surely a way of telling everyone who wealthy you are is displayed using a Rolex and not a Range Rover ?

Find it odd how people On a watch forum, who are full of praise for £10,000 watch , then think spending £100k On a car is just to show off how Wealthy you are .

Possibly the words 'watch forum' might be the clue. Over on Recycled50sV8.com the argument would probably go the other way...

[murkeywaters]

Surely a way of telling everyone who wealthy you are is displayed using a Rolex and not a Range Rover ?

Find it odd how people On a watch forum, who are full of praise for £10,000 watch , then think spending £100k On a car is just to show off how Wealthy you are .

Not a relative comparison, £100k RR is more flashy than a Rolex plus it will lose 2/3rds of its value in quite a small time frame unlike a Rolex.

Also you cant stick W4YNE, SHA22A or B8RRY on the front of your Seadweller..

[MrSmith]

I sometimes wonder at the number of people (or businesses) prepared to spend £50-100K on a depreciating asset that is so unreliable. I know many will be leased but the cost of ownership:reliability ratio has to be unsustainable for any brand.

It’s not a rational purchase in any shape or form, I’m amazed people willingly sign on the dotted line knowing full well it’s going back very soon for warranty work.
There must be loads of far more suitable and reliable vehicles out there to choose from.
Every time I see one being driven or more likely sat in a traffic jam (especially in cities) I wonder ‘what we’re you thinking?’ Then realise they weren’t.

[Franky Four Fingers]

As normal the net is littered with people who have problems, you don’t generally get to hear about the people who have never had issues. Personally speaking I’ve ran a Disco Sport from new which is now nearing 2 years old without a single issue.
My business partner has a same aged RR Evoque and again has not had a problem.
I would go as far as saying that my Disco Sport is one of the best cars I’ve ever had.


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[AlphaOmega]

The thing is though, people don't proudly say that they ran a Lexus without problems (well, not in the same way). It's too commonplace.

That should tell you a lot.

[Sweepinghand]

Worked for them

Saw the idiots and slackers that put them together (not all but...)

So don’t touch one with a ten foot pole

I’ve also seen the warranty claims for tens of thousands of pounds

Unless you’re some rich I don’t care about money type - avoid

So many and much nicer luxury 4 x 4 avail


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[Omegamanic]

Surely a way of telling everyone who wealthy you are is displayed using a Rolex and not a Range Rover ?

Find it odd how people On a watch forum, who are full of praise for £10,000 watch , then think spending £100k On a car is just to show off how Wealthy you are .

I think people realise that someone has spent a lot of money when they see a £100k car on the road.

[eagletower]

I was being tongue in cheek with it being a watch forum.

[Omegamanic]

I was being tongue in cheek with it being a watch forum.

👍😁 :)