Jeep vs Land Rover. Which do you favour?...
Discussion
OK, so both manufacturers specialise in a very specific type of vehicle and both have a 60+ year heritage (Jeep have actually been going a bit longer) and with the possible exception of Toyota, arguably have more credibility than any other manufacturers in the SUV sector but which do you favour?
Land Rover have done a great job diversifying from the 3 product lines that they had 20 years ago to the 6 they have today, quality seems greatly improved and I have to say, although I have some friends who are engineers at JLR, the engineering and marketing of today's Land Rover products appears to be top notch.
Having said that, I have had a thing for Jeeps since my friend's dad got an XJ 4.0 Limited Cherokee when I was still back in school. He used to let my friend drive us to school in it sometimes and I thought it was so much cooler than the Discoverys that several other friend's parents owned. By the way, I didn't go to public school and my dad had a Citroen ZX, although another friend's dad had an 80s Aston Martin V8 Vantage briefly that he sold to fund a new business venture. I bet that he wished that he had kept the Aston!
The old Discoverys were comfortable and had nice, airy interiors but I never found them great to drive and preferred my 4.0 WJ Grand Cherokee in that respect. To be fair, up until about 5 years ago, Jeeps were a bit plasticky and had outdated engines, so they have come a long way too recently.
Looking at the current ranges, for Land Rover we have:
Defender (RIP) - they look cool and have some merits as a working vehicle (great off-road, high towing capacity, can fit in many bales of hay) and if I was a collector I would love a last-of-line Defender for posterity but much like a Ford Transit, they are noisy, unrefined, uncomfortable, slow and heavy on fuel. Surely, one would have to be mad to commute in one?
Discovery Sport - looks like a nice car and 7 seats are a bonus but quite expensive and the only engine option is a 4-pot diesel, so a bit meh.
Evoque - can't make my mind up on these (at the moment I rather like them) but are they style over substance? Pretty smart though but perhaps a bit too small? Starting price slightly below the Discovery Sport, so probably seems about right.
Discovery 4 - I always liked the no-nonsense styling and practicality of these. Almost as luxurious as a Range Rover but a lot cheaper and more practical, although it does look rather dated and sticks out like a sore thumb in Land Rover's modern range.
Range Rover - Starting price 75k! I expect a great car and still the go to luxury SUV but unless I start hanging out with millionaires, I would just feel like an ostentatious prick driving one. Looks more at home in Chelsea/Abu Dhabi than the English countryside (who's going to want to get their 75k Range Rover dirty)!
Range Rover Sport - This is probably my favourite Land Rover in the current range. I have thought for years that they should do a 7-seat Range Rover, so you can have some of the style of a Range Rover with some of the practicality of the Discovery and like the more subtle styling compared to the FFRR.
Compare that to Jeep:
Wrangler - Like the Defender, it looks really cool and I expect is just as unrefined and uncomfortable. However, it does have a petrol V6 with twice as much power and you can remove the roof and doors! The 2 door isn't practical but the 4 door doesn't lose the style and has a bit more practicality. I think one of these would be more fun for some weekend green laning or a summer trip to the beach or the occasional commute than a Defender.
Renegade - Again, I think they look great and have a low 17k starting price. Lots of engine options, including the 1.4 Multiair with 4WD and a manual gearbox.
Cherokee - Looks are a bit "marmite" but I quite like them, only 5 seats and a small boot for the class but I drove a V6 Trailhawk the other day and it had a sense of fun that I don't think you would get from a diesel Disco Sport. Fantastic engine and gearbox and due to the jacked-up off-road suspension, it rolled a bit more and the ride was a bit choppier than others that I have driven in this class but it still handled tidily, was comfortable and orange (my kids loved it)!
Grand Cherokee - I absolutely love these and think they have the combination of presence and subtlety that the Range Rover has rather lost in recent generations. This would fit right in whether you're in the city or countryside without looking too ostentatious. OK, it might be a bit smaller than the FFRR but it's still luxurious, has the option of a V8 Hemi and starts at only 40k.
On balance, I think I prefer Jeeps currently for their better value, more interesting engine options and greater sense of fun but they're clearly lacking some 7-seat options. For Land Rover, I like the Evoque and new Range Rover Sport but it would be nice to see an entry-level Land Rover priced between say 18k-25k aimed at younger people in the same vein as the original Freelander/Jeep Renegade rather than products like the hideous and overpriced 50k+ Evoque convertible, which I'm, sure will nevertheless still sell in bucketloads!
Land Rover have done a great job diversifying from the 3 product lines that they had 20 years ago to the 6 they have today, quality seems greatly improved and I have to say, although I have some friends who are engineers at JLR, the engineering and marketing of today's Land Rover products appears to be top notch.
Having said that, I have had a thing for Jeeps since my friend's dad got an XJ 4.0 Limited Cherokee when I was still back in school. He used to let my friend drive us to school in it sometimes and I thought it was so much cooler than the Discoverys that several other friend's parents owned. By the way, I didn't go to public school and my dad had a Citroen ZX, although another friend's dad had an 80s Aston Martin V8 Vantage briefly that he sold to fund a new business venture. I bet that he wished that he had kept the Aston!
The old Discoverys were comfortable and had nice, airy interiors but I never found them great to drive and preferred my 4.0 WJ Grand Cherokee in that respect. To be fair, up until about 5 years ago, Jeeps were a bit plasticky and had outdated engines, so they have come a long way too recently.
Looking at the current ranges, for Land Rover we have:
Defender (RIP) - they look cool and have some merits as a working vehicle (great off-road, high towing capacity, can fit in many bales of hay) and if I was a collector I would love a last-of-line Defender for posterity but much like a Ford Transit, they are noisy, unrefined, uncomfortable, slow and heavy on fuel. Surely, one would have to be mad to commute in one?
Discovery Sport - looks like a nice car and 7 seats are a bonus but quite expensive and the only engine option is a 4-pot diesel, so a bit meh.
Evoque - can't make my mind up on these (at the moment I rather like them) but are they style over substance? Pretty smart though but perhaps a bit too small? Starting price slightly below the Discovery Sport, so probably seems about right.
Discovery 4 - I always liked the no-nonsense styling and practicality of these. Almost as luxurious as a Range Rover but a lot cheaper and more practical, although it does look rather dated and sticks out like a sore thumb in Land Rover's modern range.
Range Rover - Starting price 75k! I expect a great car and still the go to luxury SUV but unless I start hanging out with millionaires, I would just feel like an ostentatious prick driving one. Looks more at home in Chelsea/Abu Dhabi than the English countryside (who's going to want to get their 75k Range Rover dirty)!
Range Rover Sport - This is probably my favourite Land Rover in the current range. I have thought for years that they should do a 7-seat Range Rover, so you can have some of the style of a Range Rover with some of the practicality of the Discovery and like the more subtle styling compared to the FFRR.
Compare that to Jeep:
Wrangler - Like the Defender, it looks really cool and I expect is just as unrefined and uncomfortable. However, it does have a petrol V6 with twice as much power and you can remove the roof and doors! The 2 door isn't practical but the 4 door doesn't lose the style and has a bit more practicality. I think one of these would be more fun for some weekend green laning or a summer trip to the beach or the occasional commute than a Defender.
Renegade - Again, I think they look great and have a low 17k starting price. Lots of engine options, including the 1.4 Multiair with 4WD and a manual gearbox.
Cherokee - Looks are a bit "marmite" but I quite like them, only 5 seats and a small boot for the class but I drove a V6 Trailhawk the other day and it had a sense of fun that I don't think you would get from a diesel Disco Sport. Fantastic engine and gearbox and due to the jacked-up off-road suspension, it rolled a bit more and the ride was a bit choppier than others that I have driven in this class but it still handled tidily, was comfortable and orange (my kids loved it)!
Grand Cherokee - I absolutely love these and think they have the combination of presence and subtlety that the Range Rover has rather lost in recent generations. This would fit right in whether you're in the city or countryside without looking too ostentatious. OK, it might be a bit smaller than the FFRR but it's still luxurious, has the option of a V8 Hemi and starts at only 40k.
On balance, I think I prefer Jeeps currently for their better value, more interesting engine options and greater sense of fun but they're clearly lacking some 7-seat options. For Land Rover, I like the Evoque and new Range Rover Sport but it would be nice to see an entry-level Land Rover priced between say 18k-25k aimed at younger people in the same vein as the original Freelander/Jeep Renegade rather than products like the hideous and overpriced 50k+ Evoque convertible, which I'm, sure will nevertheless still sell in bucketloads!
Edited by white_goodman on Wednesday 10th February 21:09
interloper said:
Recent Jeep products just look really odd, the Renegade looks squishy, which is just utterly wrong and the Cherokee has a pointy nose and again looks totally peculiar. I couldn't live with those looks.
As far as current LR products go, I wouldn't say no to a Disco 4, its the most proper 4x4 they build since ditching the Defender.
I don't have a problem with you disagreeing but not sure what you mean by squishy.As far as current LR products go, I wouldn't say no to a Disco 4, its the most proper 4x4 they build since ditching the Defender.
Is there any other mini crossover that actually looks like an SUV though and has any off-road capability?
For instance, what is the point of the Mazda CX3? It's not unattractive but just looks like a jacked-up Mazda 2 (which is essentially what it is) and would be useless off-road. Nissan Juke too. I don't actually mind it but the general PH consesnus isn't good.
Yes, I guess the Cherokee does look a bit weird but has grown on me because at least it's distinctive and still looks like a Jeep. I couldn't really describe to you what a new RAV4/Santa Fe/Sorento/Nissan Cumquat looks like but the Cherokee is lodged in there! With the off-road inspired Trailhawk package, I think it works pretty well.
and there's nowt wrong with either of these
As I said in the OP, I would happily have an Evoque diesel auto as a daily and a new Range Rover Sport with 7 seats would be the ultimate family vehicle but they both come at a price. I haven't driven many of the other Land Rovers but have been driven in most of them and they are nice enough but don't for me necessarily justify their premium price.
Edited by white_goodman on Thursday 11th February 05:06
Edited by white_goodman on Thursday 11th February 05:08
Toltec said:
DOH! Must be going blind, checked for that too, I'll blame on the wtf the FWD ones caused.
They look OK anyway, the Jeep site seems to totally avoid any information about the engines, do they put
anything interesting in them?
Yes, the website isn't great but the choice is 1.6 petrol, 1.4 Multiair (petrol turbo) with 140 or 170bhp, 1.6 Multijet (diesel) and 2.0 Multijet (diesel).They look OK anyway, the Jeep site seems to totally avoid any information about the engines, do they put
anything interesting in them?
Cherokee gets the 2.0 Multijet diesel or 3.2 V6 petrol with 270bhp in the Trailhawk.
Wrangler gets a 3.6 V6 petrol but no longer a manual box or a diesel option by the looks of it and Grand Cherokee gets a 3.0 V6 diesel or a couple of V8 petrols.
Billy_Whizzzz said:
For me, all Jeeps (except for the original Willy's) are horrible things and I'm amazed they can me mentioned in the same breath as a Land Rover or Range Rover...
Just out of interest, have you actually driven a Jeep recently? My BIL in Canada had one of the latest gen 2011 (WK2?) Grand Cherokees for the last two years and it was a lovely thing to drive and a nice place to sit. It was also 100% reliable and regularly had to deal with 50 degrees below in possibly the coldest winters on the planet! Jeeps are everywhere over there but you rarely see a Land Rover outside of the city.The Cherokee V6 Trailhawk (although pretty niche) was a great drive too with a lovely 3.2 V6 (270bhp) and 9-speed auto transmission that worked really well together and a really trick 4WD system with locking diffs and different settings for snow, sand, mud and rocks. Possibly a bit OTT for Surrey but all the same a lovely vehicle.
Shakermaker said:
Isn't it funny how whenever you pose a choice on a forum and only offer 2 options, within a few posts, people are talking about something else altogether?
I blame myself for mentioning it in the OP in the naive hope that acknowledging that Toyota have also made some decent 4WD vehicles would placate the Toyota fanboys and we wouldn't need to mention them. I'm sure that I might be happier to put my faith in a Toyota in the remote Australian outback but that's hardly relevant here. I'm pretty sure that Land Rovers have made it back from some pretty tough expeditions too, not to mention the ones used by the British army! Aren't they also quite popular in Africa? I have yet to drive a proper Landcruiser but the Toyota SUVs that I have driven just feel like larger, jacked-up versions of my wife's 2 year old Toyota car. Her car is 2 years old and has been owned from new and has been reliable but it has developed a few rattles and the engine and transmission feel a bit second rate compared to my Honda, so based on that car and other recent Toyotas that I have driven, I find Toyotas a bit dull and overrated in general.
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff