Are Range Rovers in fact rubbish?

[AnotherClarkey]

k-ink said:

The Crack Fox said:

Can't we get the Gemans to build these?

I think that is called a G-wagen

Not built by Germans though (maybe that is why the engineering quality is actually quite decent and soft touch plastics don't reign supreme?).

[Guvernator]

k-ink said:

The Crack Fox said:

Can't we get the Gemans to build these?

I think that is called a G-wagen

I thought the Cayenne was the German equivalent of a "Luxury SUV". If I were forced to get an SUV, I'd probably pick one of those over an RR.

[Slow]

Guvernator said:

k-ink said:

The Crack Fox said:

Can't we get the Gemans to build these?

I think that is called a G-wagen

I thought the Cayenne was the German equivalent of a "Luxury SUV". If I were forced to get an SUV, I'd probably pick one of those over an RR.

Its not quite the same, havent driven one, only a passenger so not a full view of it.

[GetCarter]

djt100 said:

they are designed for the High street more, like I say

Glad to have your valuable assessment.

Sadly, we don't have a High street, like you say, so we'll have to continue to drive off road.

[13m]

The Crack Fox said:

What happens when the sensor fails? I asked. "It won't fail. It's a Land Rover product". Yeah, right...

One of the many problems with my first L322 was that the service warning system didn't work.

I asked at 10k miles when I should have it serviced for the first time. "Trust the system, it will tell you, Sir" was the reply.

I asked at 18k. "Trust the system, it will tell you, Sir" was the reply.

I asked at 25k. "Jesus Christ almighty you should have had a service long before now, it's usually 12-15k miles, Sir!!!!!!".

[chappardababbar]

I had one, amazing car.

I think the key problem they had whilst I owned one was the dealer service was unbelievably shockingly bad. So bad I have no idea how they made any money or how their business has survived. My car had to go back over and over for the most basic things. Often I had to resort to RR forums to research myself and make suggestions to the mechanics.

[rich888]

SimesJH said:

I wn a 2007 Supercharged L322 and really cannot ever see any other car bettering what a Range Rover does as a complete package.

I once mentioned, some years ago, that I couldn't see the point of anyone owning a Land Rover product and not taking it off-road. It seemed such a waste, but I think much differently now.

My Defender works incredibly well off-road and it's not so bad on it after a few tweaks here and there.

But a Range Rover, as others have said, is such an incredibly nice place to be in all weather conditions. You're up high, so there's minimal headlight dazzling. The seats are incredibly comfortable and there's an immense amount of space everywhere for everyone and everything. There's decent oomph should you need it and they feel secure on the road.

As a motorway cruiser, they're fantastic things. They cocoon and isolate you from the road, weather and external noise (my model is double-glazed - a standard fitment) and yet can whizz around backroads with some degree of enjoyment. I find myself not wishing to drive too fast. Both Range Rovers that I have owned have had a calming effect on my driving style.

Mine doesn't go round corners as well as our E55, for example, but that doesn't really matter and it's quite entertaining in an old-school kind of way. An X5 left me for dead on a twisty stretch once, I'll freely admit, but a RR isn't the kind of car one hoons around in.

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's much apparent division between petrol vs diesel and I mostly favour petrol for my own reasons.

I did once look to change mine and was seriously considering an A8 or an S-Class. Both left me cold. The S-Class had the 5 or 5.5 V8 in it and went well and had a most fantastic interior. The A8 felt more sporty. Both looked great. But neither had the soul of a Range Rover and so no purchase was made. I like Mercedes a lot and do own two other models, so I'm no hater.

Reliability? I hear they go wrong. Don't all cars from time to time?

I've no major beef with any of the competition, but I'll never own one of them. It's not to say they're poor in any way, but more that I think the RR is just such a complete car that I have no desire to buy anything else in its place.

Excellent appraisal of what should be king of off-roaders for all the right reasons, the cabin is just such a nice place to be, and the larger engined versions simply shrink in size when overtaking.

Sure Audi, Lexus, Mercedes, BMW and Toyota make 4x4s, and yes they may be cheaper to buy, cheaper to run, perhaps faster on the road, and probably more reliable, but they just don't have that certain elusive quality feel that the Range Rover has which is so endearing...

[rich888]

chappardababbar said:

I had one, amazing car.

I think the key problem they had whilst I owned one was the dealer service was unbelievably shockingly bad. So bad I have no idea how they made any money or how their business has survived. My car had to go back over and over for the most basic things. Often I had to resort to RR forums to research myself and make suggestions to the mechanics.

I agree,

To any new RR owners. when you next take your RR in for it's most expensive main service ask them if they will remove the wheels or will merely carry out a visual inspection, because removing the wheels will stop the wheels seizing onto the central hub which makes life difficult if you have a puncture and can't get the wheel off because it has seized on...

Also, if they collect your RR take photographs of the rear of your car with the rear brake lights working and test the hifi the day before because you may receive a phone call informing you that the steering wheel controls are faulty, tut tut... someone is telling porkies!!!

Or the best one I encountered was having my RR collected and for a service then delivered back... with one wheel stud missing, when I phoned them up about this issue they told me to drive back to the Nottingham dealership, at this point I pointed out that this recommendation was dangerous so they sent out a mechanic with a replacement stud, though when he arrived he looked somewhat fed up because he had driven out with the the wrong item! Needless to say they sent out another mechanic with the correct item. Sorry but I can't name and shame this incompetent official Range Rover dealer in Nottingham.

[13m]

rich888 said:

I agree,

To any new RR owners. when you next take your RR in for it's most expensive main service ask them if they will remove the wheels or will merely carry out a visual inspection, because removing the wheels will stop the wheels seizing onto the central hub which makes life difficult if you have a puncture and can't get the wheel off because it has seized on...

Also, if they collect your RR take photographs of the rear of your car with the rear brake lights working and test the hifi the day before because you may receive a phone call informing you that the steering wheel controls are faulty, tut tut... someone is telling porkies!!!

Or the best one I encountered was having my RR collected and for a service then delivered back... with one wheel stud missing, when I phoned them up about this issue they told me to drive back to the Nottingham dealership, at this point I pointed out that this recommendation was dangerous so they sent out a mechanic with a replacement stud, though when he arrived he looked somewhat fed up because he had driven out with the the wrong item! Needless to say they sent out another mechanic with the correct item. Sorry but I can't name and shame this incompetent official Range Rover dealer in Nottingham.

There are so many Range Rover dealers in Nottingham it's difficult to know which one you're referring to

[Willy Nilly]

So, is owning a Range Rover infact like being married to Nigella or Kirsty Allsop? Big girl, built for comfort not speed, expensive to run, likes a drink and falls over occasionally?

[Slow]

Willy Nilly said:

So, is owning a Range Rover infact like being married to Nigella or Kirsty Allsop? Big girl, built for comfort not speed, expensive to run, likes a drink and falls over occasionally?

No.

Will hustle along faster than you would think, mine has been known to leave the odd hot hatch behind in the corners.
Mines cost £300 in 16k miles other than the £1700 gearbox which I knew it needed when I bought it, hence it was so cheap.
Averaged 30 mpg in this time including my trailer towing trips. Not alot of town driving really.
Has yet to fall over except for the obvious times in tesco car parks etc. You know how hard they are!!

[rich888]

Slow said:

Willy Nilly said:

So, is owning a Range Rover infact like being married to Nigella or Kirsty Allsop? Big girl, built for comfort not speed, expensive to run, likes a drink and falls over occasionally?

No.

Will hustle along faster than you would think, mine has been known to leave the odd hot hatch behind in the corners.
Mines cost £300 in 16k miles other than the £1700 gearbox which I knew it needed when I bought it, hence it was so cheap.
Averaged 30 mpg in this time including my trailer towing trips. Not alot of town driving really.
Has yet to fall over except for the obvious times in tesco car parks etc. You know how hard they are!!

That's not entirely true, it depends upon which model you buy, I've owned a 3.5, 3.9 and a 4.6, the 3.5 and 3.9 did approx 16 mpg whilst the 4.6HSE did 12.8 mpg, though did achieve just over 13 mpg on a long-distance drive down to France and back, seem to recollect it used to do approx 160 miles per tank refill.

The 3.5 and 3.9 were mostly trouble-free being the MK1 models so not a lot to go wrong apart from the breathers getting blocked up but I knew how to sort that although the dealer I bought the car from and his mechanic were totally unaware of the issue.

The 4.6HSE was just ground-breaking, it was just such a nice place to be, sitting high up, slab sides so easy to drive and park, and the acres of leather and wood.. and real climate control air-con that worked, heated seats, heated windscreen, mirrors, automatic, air suspension, etc... what could possibly go wrong?

OK then, the maiden trip from the dealership in Sheffield was fantastic until I switched the radio on, only to find it locked out and asking for the code, I had to take it back to the dealer for them to fix, so much for pre-delivery inspections!

On the maiden trip to France in torrential rain the wiper assembly fell off just a couple of miles down the road, ringing the RR helpline I was informed that help was perhaps one or two hours away so not that helpful because we had a tunnel slot booked, the same year the alternator failed on the way back in the Dartford Tunnel so it went into limp mode, the following year the alternator failed again, this time in the centre of Calais. The alarm immobilised the car whilst filling up in www.citeeurope.com petrol station in Coquelles in northern France, where unlike UK petrol stations you cannot simply drive off because everyone is funnelled through a single lane to pay to avoid owners driving off without paying, so is very embarrassing when your car is immobilised and no one can get past you, funnily enough the French aren't that patient. Luckily the dealer had shown me how to synch the remote back to the alarm system so was able to drive out after a few frantic key turns in the lock, unluckily this happened several more times and I am led to believe that it was the radar systems used by the ferries in the port that were causing the issue, though funnily enough it was only my Range Rover that was getting immobilised.

Having said all of that, all was forgiven when the key was turned and the 4.6 litre V8 fired into life because it was just so nice to sit in and so easy to drive, it sounded good, visibility was good, it was hellish practical when necessary, and lifted its skirt and went like st off a shovel and handled remarkably well for something so heavy and top-heavy, though it did get trounced along snake pass by a Bentley Turbo R accelerating out of the twisty bits upwards onto a small length of dual carriageway which surprised me. Was very impressive to watch over 2 tons of Bentley come flying past

Would I buy another one, well that is a quandary, if I had lots of disposable money and my circumstances were different then perhaps yes, because apart from Porsche I see little direct competition, now if Bentley or Rolls Royce unveiled a 4x4 then perhaps the goalposts would move.

As it stands the Range Rover is still the top dog off-roader despite its somewhat chequered history and occasional dealer incompetence, it's a British built thoroughbred so what do you expect!

[Spoof]

Willy Nilly said:

So, is owning a Range Rover infact like being married to Nigella or Kirsty Allsop? Big girl, built for comfort not speed, expensive to run, likes a drink and falls over occasionally?

Yeah, I'd go with that.

[swisstoni]

rich888 said:

Slow said:

Willy Nilly said:

So, is owning a Range Rover infact like being married to Nigella or Kirsty Allsop? Big girl, built for comfort not speed, expensive to run, likes a drink and falls over occasionally?

No.

Will hustle along faster than you would think, mine has been known to leave the odd hot hatch behind in the corners.
Mines cost £300 in 16k miles other than the £1700 gearbox which I knew it needed when I bought it, hence it was so cheap.
Averaged 30 mpg in this time including my trailer towing trips. Not alot of town driving really.
Has yet to fall over except for the obvious times in tesco car parks etc. You know how hard they are!!

That's not entirely true, it depends upon which model you buy, I've owned a 3.5, 3.9 and a 4.6, the 3.5 and 3.9 did approx 16 mpg whilst the 4.6HSE did 12.8 mpg, though did achieve just over 13 mpg on a long-distance drive down to France and back, seem to recollect it used to do approx 160 miles per tank refill.

The 3.5 and 3.9 were mostly trouble-free being the MK1 models so not a lot to go wrong apart from the breathers getting blocked up but I knew how to sort that although the dealer I bought the car from and his mechanic were totally unaware of the issue.

The 4.6HSE was just ground-breaking, it was just such a nice place to be, sitting high up, slab sides so easy to drive and park, and the acres of leather and wood.. and real climate control air-con that worked, heated seats, heated windscreen, mirrors, automatic, air suspension, etc... what could possibly go wrong?

OK then, the maiden trip from the dealership in Sheffield was fantastic until I switched the radio on, only to find it locked out and asking for the code, I had to take it back to the dealer for them to fix, so much for pre-delivery inspections!

On the maiden trip to France in torrential rain the wiper assembly fell off just a couple of miles down the road, ringing the RR helpline I was informed that help was perhaps one or two hours away so not that helpful because we had a tunnel slot booked, the same year the alternator failed on the way back in the Dartford Tunnel so it went into limp mode, the following year the alternator failed again, this time in the centre of Calais. The alarm immobilised the car whilst filling up in www.citeeurope.com petrol station in Coquelles in northern France, where unlike UK petrol stations you cannot simply drive off because everyone is funnelled through a single lane to pay to avoid owners driving off without paying, so is very embarrassing when your car is immobilised and no one can get past you, funnily enough the French aren't that patient. Luckily the dealer had shown me how to synch the remote back to the alarm system so was able to drive out after a few frantic key turns in the lock, unluckily this happened several more times and I am led to believe that it was the radar systems used by the ferries in the port that were causing the issue, though funnily enough it was only my Range Rover that was getting immobilised.

Having said all of that, all was forgiven when the key was turned and the 4.6 litre V8 fired into life because it was just so nice to sit in and so easy to drive, it sounded good, visibility was good, it was hellish practical when necessary, and lifted its skirt and went like st off a shovel and handled remarkably well for something so heavy and top-heavy, though it did get trounced along snake pass by a Bentley Turbo R accelerating out of the twisty bits upwards onto a small length of dual carriageway which surprised me. Was very impressive to watch over 2 tons of Bentley come flying past

Would I buy another one, well that is a quandary, if I had lots of disposable money and my circumstances were different then perhaps yes, because apart from Porsche I see little direct competition, now if Bentley or Rolls Royce unveiled a 4x4 then perhaps the goalposts would move.

As it stands the Range Rover is still the top dog off-roader despite its somewhat chequered history and occasional dealer incompetence, it's a British built thoroughbred so what do you expect!

Some top motoring clichés in there.

[Slow]

swisstoni said:

rich888 said:

Slow said:

Willy Nilly said:

So, is owning a Range Rover infact like being married to Nigella or Kirsty Allsop? Big girl, built for comfort not speed, expensive to run, likes a drink and falls over occasionally?

No.

Will hustle along faster than you would think, mine has been known to leave the odd hot hatch behind in the corners.
Mines cost £300 in 16k miles other than the £1700 gearbox which I knew it needed when I bought it, hence it was so cheap.
Averaged 30 mpg in this time including my trailer towing trips. Not alot of town driving really.
Has yet to fall over except for the obvious times in tesco car parks etc. You know how hard they are!!

That's not entirely true, it depends upon which model you buy, I've owned a 3.5, 3.9 and a 4.6, the 3.5 and 3.9 did approx 16 mpg whilst the 4.6HSE did 12.8 mpg, though did achieve just over 13 mpg on a long-distance drive down to France and back, seem to recollect it used to do approx 160 miles per tank refill.

The 3.5 and 3.9 were mostly trouble-free being the MK1 models so not a lot to go wrong apart from the breathers getting blocked up but I knew how to sort that although the dealer I bought the car from and his mechanic were totally unaware of the issue.

The 4.6HSE was just ground-breaking, it was just such a nice place to be, sitting high up, slab sides so easy to drive and park, and the acres of leather and wood.. and real climate control air-con that worked, heated seats, heated windscreen, mirrors, automatic, air suspension, etc... what could possibly go wrong?

OK then, the maiden trip from the dealership in Sheffield was fantastic until I switched the radio on, only to find it locked out and asking for the code, I had to take it back to the dealer for them to fix, so much for pre-delivery inspections!

On the maiden trip to France in torrential rain the wiper assembly fell off just a couple of miles down the road, ringing the RR helpline I was informed that help was perhaps one or two hours away so not that helpful because we had a tunnel slot booked, the same year the alternator failed on the way back in the Dartford Tunnel so it went into limp mode, the following year the alternator failed again, this time in the centre of Calais. The alarm immobilised the car whilst filling up in www.citeeurope.com petrol station in Coquelles in northern France, where unlike UK petrol stations you cannot simply drive off because everyone is funnelled through a single lane to pay to avoid owners driving off without paying, so is very embarrassing when your car is immobilised and no one can get past you, funnily enough the French aren't that patient. Luckily the dealer had shown me how to synch the remote back to the alarm system so was able to drive out after a few frantic key turns in the lock, unluckily this happened several more times and I am led to believe that it was the radar systems used by the ferries in the port that were causing the issue, though funnily enough it was only my Range Rover that was getting immobilised.

Having said all of that, all was forgiven when the key was turned and the 4.6 litre V8 fired into life because it was just so nice to sit in and so easy to drive, it sounded good, visibility was good, it was hellish practical when necessary, and lifted its skirt and went like st off a shovel and handled remarkably well for something so heavy and top-heavy, though it did get trounced along snake pass by a Bentley Turbo R accelerating out of the twisty bits upwards onto a small length of dual carriageway which surprised me. Was very impressive to watch over 2 tons of Bentley come flying past

Would I buy another one, well that is a quandary, if I had lots of disposable money and my circumstances were different then perhaps yes, because apart from Porsche I see little direct competition, now if Bentley or Rolls Royce unveiled a 4x4 then perhaps the goalposts would move.

As it stands the Range Rover is still the top dog off-roader despite its somewhat chequered history and occasional dealer incompetence, it's a British built thoroughbred so what do you expect!

Some top motoring clichés in there.

He is however talking about p38's which I have never experienced other than my mum buying one without an engine... not sure why she did.

I was talking about the l322 shape.

[POORCARDEALER]

Just had a new screen and an MOT done on mine, thats all its cost this year + a pair of tyres

[surveyor]

These are such bad cars.

So much so I've just put down a deposit on another. Never have I ever bought the same make of car in succession before.....

[13m]

Mine has started registering zero fuel immediately I have refuelled it. It needs to burn through a bit before anything registers.