L322 borkage potential?

[eltax91]

Hi all

Looking at a new car for the wife, with around 7k to 8k budget. I notice this can get an early v8 L322 range rover. I'm no stranger to the quirks of LR products as I have a toy defender. However, the wife is coming from an uber reliable German hatch.

So, how reliable are they? How likely is a well serviced example to be reliable? And is specialist maintenance particularly pricey when things go wrong?

So, any owners out there with experiences to share?

[Slow]

Range rover and cheap to run dont mix.

[Unemployed]

'Borkage' 'Bork'

Berk

[Ozzie Osmond]

To find the words "Range Rover" and "reliable" in the same sentence would be impossible, absent the word "not".

[Phil Dicky]

A good indie can save you a fortune....one saved me nearly 3k on my old 4.4 vogue

[k-ink]

I am also amazed how much car you get with the L322. I could swap my S3 for one tomorrow. However the potential to loose a wedge keeping it running scares me. I'd feel far safer looking at Landcruisers. But then again, they cost a hell of a lot more. Probably all to do with mechanical reputation!

[eltax91]

Unemployed said:

'Borkage' 'Bork'

Berk

Thanks for the input

[edc]

Paid £6.5k. New front bags and a new starter motor. Otherwise all is good.

[fatboy b]

Ozzie Osmond said:

To find the words "Range Rover" and "reliable" in the same sentence would be impossible, absent the word "not".

Some people are adventerous. Others buy Mazdas and Porsches.

[eltax91]

edc said:

Paid £6.5k. New front bags and a new starter motor. Otherwise all is good.

How much did said repair work cost? Specialist, or dealer?

[edc]

Indy. Something like £700 for the fronts as the bag is integral to the strut. Starter was something like £400-500.

[offshorematt2]

And from a different viewpoint, I've had a 53 plate TDV6 L322 for almost 37k miles. Apart from a new aircon compressor and a new air suspension pump shortly after I got it, and a new battery quite recently, there has been nothing but routine servicing and consumables. All in, running costs have been around £3k I think from when I looked last (not including tax, insurance and of course fuel)... I don't think that is bad for 37k miles in a prestige marque?

That said, my pal was the workshop manager for a Landrover main dealer and he quit because the reliability of the product was so poor he felt it made him and his guys look bad... so maybe I just bought a good one!

[k-ink]

offshorematt2 said:

Apart from a new aircon compressor and a new air suspension pump shortly after I got it, and a new battery quite recently... £3k


That said, my pal was the workshop manager for a Landrover main dealer and he quit because the reliability of the product was so poor he felt it made him and his guys look bad...

For a so called premium product £3000 of repairs in so few miles is pretty shoddy. Try running a Lexus and you'd not need to spend 1p in twice the miles.

I think the attitude of the Landrover mechanic has summed it up enough for me. I'm out!

[edc]

k-ink said:

offshorematt2 said:

Apart from a new aircon compressor and a new air suspension pump shortly after I got it, and a new battery quite recently... £3k


That said, my pal was the workshop manager for a Landrover main dealer and he quit because the reliability of the product was so poor he felt it made him and his guys look bad...

For a so called premium product £3000 of repairs in so few miles is pretty shoddy. Try running a Lexus and you'd not need to spend 1p in twice the miles.

I think the attitude of the Landrover mechanic has summed it up enough for me. I'm out!

Running costs is not the same as repairs

[k-ink]

Call it what you want. Putting your hand in your own pocket to the tune of thousands of pounds to replace mechanical items with relatively low miles is a sign of shoddy build quality.

Besides, running costs to me equals petrol, tyres, brakes, oil, spark plugs, filter, tax. Nothing else.

[edc]

Servicing, tax , tyres, MOTs, a pad and disc change maybe would get you close to £3k over 37k miles.

[northwest monkey]

edc said:

k-ink said:

offshorematt2 said:

Apart from a new aircon compressor and a new air suspension pump shortly after I got it, and a new battery quite recently... £3k


That said, my pal was the workshop manager for a Landrover main dealer and he quit because the reliability of the product was so poor he felt it made him and his guys look bad...

For a so called premium product £3000 of repairs in so few miles is pretty shoddy. Try running a Lexus and you'd not need to spend 1p in twice the miles.

I think the attitude of the Landrover mechanic has summed it up enough for me. I'm out!

Running costs is not the same as repairs

What part of what he said was "running costs"?

Aircon compressors and air suspension pumps are hardly consumable items.

Neighbour of mine bought a brand new one (4.4 Vogue) in 2008. In the first 12 months, it spent about 4 months off the road with various "running cost" issues. On a caravan touring holiday in the Scottish Isles, the suspension failed in a big way & the car & (big) caravan had to be trailered home. It wasn't any one particular thing that went wrong, it could be anything. At 18 months and about 10k miles the engine needed replacing.

He now has a Land Cruiser.

[k-ink]

edc said:

Servicing, tax , tyres, MOTs, a pad and disc change maybe would get you close to £3k over 37k miles.

I don't doubt it. However if you have an additional £3k of unplanned mechanical repairs on top you are looking at £6k. If more goes wrong, even higher. Im sure driving them is great, but I prefer to spend my spare cash on holidays and hifi, rather than my local mechanic

[fatboy b]

k-ink said:

For a so called premium product £3000 of repairs in so few miles is pretty shoddy. Try running a Lexus and you'd not need to spend 1p in twice the miles.

I think the attitude of the Landrover mechanic has summed it up enough for me. I'm out!

But Lexus are boring as fk though aren't they.

[k-ink]

fatboy b said:

k-ink said:

For a so called premium product £3000 of repairs in so few miles is pretty shoddy. Try running a Lexus and you'd not need to spend 1p in twice the miles.

I think the attitude of the Landrover mechanic has summed it up enough for me. I'm out!

But Lexus are boring as fk though aren't they.

Yes they are. They are simply a tool for a job. But they do that job perfectly well. It seems a RR does not.