Are Range Rovers in fact rubbish?

[daveco]

Jalopnik have run several articles about how unreliable RR's are (think they are the most unreliable car currently for sale in the US market) however the owners don't care because they are so nice to drive.

Here is one of the articles

http://jalopnik.com/if-range-rovers-are-so-unrelia...

And a second funny article about a hack who decided to buy an extended warranty for $3,500 with his used RR that has so far paid for nearly $8,000 worth of repairs

http://jalopnik.com/carmax-just-paid-another-514-8...

[MajorMantra]

...and now we've come full circle. See the OP!

[Sump]

Americans are idiots. That same owner paid something like $150 for a puncture repair on a 360 because he wanted a dealer receipt.

[robm3]

The OP's question is a tricky one. If you define rubbish based on reliability well then yes, they probably are junk.

But if it operates as designed then it's friggin wonderful...

I had a new FFRR Vogue for about 9 months. Here's my thread on it from demo through to sale:

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

In the last few weeks it developed another major issue with the battery showing as dead (when it wasn't) and the local dealer couldn't fix. Anyhow original dealer took it back and I lost 35%...

I'd never buy another by the way.

[MajorMantra]

Sump said:

Americans are idiots. That same owner paid something like $150 for a puncture repair on a 360 because he wanted a dealer receipt.

Buyers in the US can buy a report from Carfax which will show who's worked on the car. If you're keeping a car for a short time like Doug DeMuro does, it's perfectly logical not to ding the value by taking your Ferrari to your local tyre place, which would ultimately cost him a lot more than $150. The market for Ferraris might be crazy for caring about this sort of thing, but that hardly makes him an idiot for not wanting to waste money.

Nor indeed does it make an entire nation idiots.

[NomduJour]

Jalopnik is painful, both editorial and comments. A bit like this thread shows PH is nowadays.

[Spoof]

Willy Nilly said:

powerstroke said:

Willy Nilly said:

HannsG said:

Is there a petrol variant with 30mpg capability yet?

Sick of diesels.

How are you going to get 30mpg in a vehicle that weighs 2.5 tonnes, is 4wd, automatic and has the aerodynamics of a shed? If fuel consumption is an issue, then a Range Rover probably isn't the right car for you.

the deprication and other costs must dwarf the difference in MPG anyway ,unless you do a huge annual mileage...

Besides, the whole point of running a luxury car is that you have a big wedge to spend on a car, so why would you worry about a few quids worth of fuel on a 100 grand motor? What next 911 diesel?

The 4.4 TDV8 I think is easily the best option for the FF.
You can't tell its a diesel from inside,
You don't drive a Range Rover quickly, and when you do want to overtake something, the TDV8 has ample midrange to equal the Petrols.
You don't lose out on Spec,
It's just snob factor that seems to be a major factor for some. If that's the case, you've purchased a Range Rover for the wrong reasons.

You actually get decent range. The cost of filing it up isn't the issue for me, it's how many times a week I have to do it. My RS4 has a woefully small petrol tank, but that car wouldn't work as a diesel so its forgiven. Because of the above reasons, driving slowly and being so isolated from the engine, you can't really tell whats fueling it, It would start to wear thin having to stop for fuel at least 25% more often. I've had a few petrol Range Rovers, the modern diesels just make the better car to live with.

[k-ink]

Sump said:

Americans are idiots. That same owner paid something like $150 for a puncture repair on a 360 because he wanted a dealer receipt.

Surely to a man of your lofty self worth such a paltry sum is completely insignificant. I'm amazed you even took time out of your day to post on the matter.

[anonymous-user]

SimesJH said:

Fuel economy isn't really so bad. I much prefer the immediecy of the SC engine over the 3.6 TDV8 that mine was sold alongside at the time.

There was also the choice of a 305bhp 4.4 N/A petrol as well. Surprisingly scarce now as everybody went for the SC model.

I've got one and on a motorway run at 70-ish the trip computer will show 25-26mpg which I thought was respectable.

[Sump]

k-ink said:

Sump said:

Americans are idiots. That same owner paid something like $150 for a puncture repair on a 360 because he wanted a dealer receipt.

Surely to a man of your lofty self worth such a paltry sum is completely insignificant. I'm amazed you even took time out of your day to post on the matter.

Thorough believer in not pissing it away just because you have it.

[Hudson]

daveco said:

And a second funny article about a hack who decided to buy an extended warranty for $3,500 with his used RR that has so far paid for nearly $8,000 worth of repairs

http://jalopnik.com/carmax-just-paid-another-514-8...

Jalopnik said:

When it comes to broken thermostats, I do not ask questions. This is because I do not understand what a thermostat does.

I can see why he's writing articles for a car website..

[Easternlight]

Hudson said:

daveco said:

And a second funny article about a hack who decided to buy an extended warranty for $3,500 with his used RR that has so far paid for nearly $8,000 worth of repairs

http://jalopnik.com/carmax-just-paid-another-514-8...

Jalopnik said:

When it comes to broken thermostats, I do not ask questions. This is because I do not understand what a thermostat does.

I can see why he's writing articles for a car website..

Why not. What percentage of car drivers do you think actually know what a thermostat is or does?

[Guvernator]

Easternlight said:

Hudson said:

daveco said:

And a second funny article about a hack who decided to buy an extended warranty for $3,500 with his used RR that has so far paid for nearly $8,000 worth of repairs

http://jalopnik.com/carmax-just-paid-another-514-8...

Jalopnik said:

When it comes to broken thermostats, I do not ask questions. This is because I do not understand what a thermostat does.

I can see why he's writing articles for a car website..

Why not. What percentage of car drivers do you think actually know what a thermostat is or does?

I think the comment on Jalopnik was slightly tongue in cheek, possibly a stab at exactly the point that not a lot of people know what a thermostat does and yet they always seem to need replacing. Also I know what a thermostat does in principle but my car probably has about 20 of them and I couldn't tell you what each one does specifically (except seem to fail at an alarmingly regular rate).

[A.J.M]

Mechanically, they are a bit flaky, it's what they are.

Had a drive of a 2007 3.6 tdv8 Vogue last year. It had both turbo's showing as faulty, but still drove lovely.
Decent power and a nice engine note. It pulled cleanly and accelerating up a slip road onto the motorway i looked down to see my doing a fast 70 which surprised me.

The cabin however, was superb.

My mate and i both have Disco 3 HSE's, top spec for the disco range and a nice place themselves but the RR, was just nicer, everything had a nicer touch and feel.

You could see why it commanded a decent price over the Disco.

Would i buy one. Maybe in the future.

The Disco can get used as i need and not worry too much about it, i would feel bad using a RR in the same way.

Will keep an eye on the L405 market and in 5 years time, i may go for an Autobiography model as by then they will be in my price range.


Like all 4x4's, a decent set of tyres can make or break them. You can get AT tyres in lots of sizes now and a set of those on a RR would make it a great all rounder.

[k-ink]

A lot of these comments align with my personal experience of VWs more premium products: lovely interiors for the price (ok, as much as a bland euro box can be) yet very shoddy mechanicals. So shoddy in fact the problems were well known to the VAG technicians who had to rebuild my engine and other items at 40k miles. Essentially they have skin deep build quality. Just enough to give a false first impression, to secure a sale and to keep you happy for a while. Dishonest and shallow.

[IroningMan]

k-ink said:

A lot of these comments align with my personal experience of VWs more premium products: lovely interiors for the price (ok, as much as a bland euro box can be) yet very shoddy mechanicals. So shoddy in fact the problems were well known to the VAG technicians who had to rebuild my engine and other items at 40k miles. Essentially they have skin deep build quality. Just enough to give a false first impression, to secure a sale and to keep you happy for a while. Dishonest and shallow.

I think there's a big difference, in that VAG is how many orders of magnitude larger than JLR? With massively larger R&D budgets and vast numbers of vehicles out there to spread costs.

It's a miracle that JLR products aren't more akin to TVR products...

[NomduJour]

Spoof said:

The 4.4 TDV8 I think is easily the best option for the FF.
You can't tell its a diesel from inside

I agree it's the best option, but it isn't the very best diesel around from a NVH viewpoint - there's a bit too much noise and vibration than there should be. The TDV6, for example, is noticeably more refined.

Range between fill ups is the real benefit compared with the Supercharged.

[poocherama]

In the US they offer a SC V6 petrol, would be interesting to see what that was like. Anyone driven one?

[k-ink]

The Crack Fox said:

Can't we get the Gemans to build these?

I think that is called a G-wagen

[djt100]

GetCarter said:

You haven't driven one off road have you. I can tell

Nope but the design and price of exterior parts I think that from a mechanical point of view yes they can do off road very well, but the reality is they are designed for the High street more, like I say a Luxury Car not an off road car. Moved on from the Original 70's RR to something entirely different an alternative to a 7 series/S Class and quite possibly with some of the top spec models a Bentley