How reliable/unreliable are land rover and range rovers

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For my next motor I'm going for 4x4. Recently land rovers have caught my attention, I have been looking at both the range rover, discovery and even the newer freelander. But what has always put me off the Landy marque is the horror story's you hear about auto box and transmission failure aswel as engines failingto dodgy electrics. Are they actually that bad as they have always seemed to sell well over the years.

The discovery will probably be the one I choose in diesel v6 guise but thought I will ask here as I would imagine there are a few vogue/disco owners on here.

I am looking at 2006-2008 models.

Cheers

Adam

[anonymous-user]

I have a 2005 Disco 3 with 117k miles. I've owned it for 5 years and drive it every day and while I wouldn't say it's reliable, it's not that bad either. It's a big, heavy, complex car with lots of electricery to go wrong but so long as you don't expect supermini running costs it you will be fine.

This is what's gone wrong with mine in 50k miles:

Reverse parking sensors
Air suspension height sensors
Electronic tailgate latch
Air suspension compressor
HK stereo amplifier
Auto box shift mechanism needed greasing
Lots of brake pads and disks (it's heavy)

Average fuel consumption is 24mpg on diesel.

They are very practical cars just don't try to run one on a shoe string - it's a false economy.

[JREwing]

This discussion always seems to cause some controversy.

In my experience (Range Rovers only), they're nothing like as bad as the myth but you do get the sense that you'll have to sell your kidneys to fund a repair when something does happen.

But that really is only anecdotal evidence.

[cheerfulcharlie]

They are great machines but you do need to allow for certain problems. I'm on my 5th LR now - 2 Discoverys / 2 Freelanders and a Range Rover Sport. So far had to replace - 2 new engines / new rear suspension / new gearbox linkage / new rear differential - fortunately all under warranty.

Currently running the Freelander without warranty so we will see what happens as I have no plans to replace soon.

[anonymous-user]

Parts are really quite cheap but labour can be a killer. I have access to a really good, independent LR garage who never take the piss so it's not that bad. Trouble is, people buy a complex, 3 tonne luxury car then expect it to cost same as a Focus to run.

[GT03ROB]

I've had my V6 RRS from new, so that's 7 years & 77k miles. In that time setting aside routine servicing & consumables, I've spent precisely nothing (bar 2 cracked alloys).

[JDFR]

You have to treat your Land Rover like a dog. Are you annoyed when Barney sts in the living room? Of course you are, but you forgive him because you love him.

Same is true of Land Rovers. Sure it is very annoying when the turbo blows on your TDV8 but you just forgive and move on.

So yes they can be a pain but once under your skin there is no going back.

[Toffer]

"Land Rover revealed as the UK's least reliable car, as 71 per cent over three years-old break down at least once a year."

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2179067/La...

[Willy Nilly]

GT03ROB said:

I've had my V6 RRS from new, so that's 7 years & 77k miles. In that time setting aside routine servicing & consumables, I've spent precisely nothing (bar 2 cracked alloys).

so you had to replace to wheels then due to cracking?

[Krikkit]

I've always assumed the problems were slightly exaggerated but basically accurate, how wrong this is I'm not sure.

The Disco 3 seems to have a fair few problems, but I tend to look at the "What's Bad" section of Honest John's website for checking up on problems, the Disco 4 has only 6 entries despite being out there for 3+ years, which is pretty damn good imo.

That said, things like the Warranty Direct stats are still frightening, I'd be very careful about buying something like a post-00 FFRR or Disco.

[edit]It's stuff like this that also frightens me (pinch of salt needed, but I can't say I've ever found false info on his site):

Honest John said:

It seems that on some Range Rover Sports, some supercharged Range Rovers and some Discovery 3s, LandRover has not recorded the security codes. So if a fault occurs such as heated screen, heated seats, lights, screen and light washers packing up due to a a fuse board problem (new fuse board £280+ VAT), the security code will be lost, necessitating replacement of ECU and all door locks at a cost of thousands.

Edited by Krikkit on Wednesday 2nd January 17:56

[jbi]

wormus said:

Trouble is, people buy a complex, 3 tonne luxury car then expect it to cost same as a Focus to run.

you can... it's called a land cruiser

[V88Dicky]

The rise in unreliability correlates with the increase in diesel engined Landrovers?

Or am I talking shyte?

[m44kts]

I had a 2003 Range Rover Vogue V8 for about 2 years, aside from servicing, it needed 2 x ARB drop links, a battery and expansion bottle/radiator hose. Fuel consumption aside, it was perfect.

[GT03ROB]

Willy Nilly said:

GT03ROB said:

I've had my V6 RRS from new, so that's 7 years & 77k miles. In that time setting aside routine servicing & consumables, I've spent precisely nothing (bar 2 cracked alloys).

so you had to replace to wheels then due to cracking?

Yes. It was pothole related. Hit a bad pothole hard, both wheels on that side were damaged & needed replacement

[WhereamI]

Toffer said:

"Land Rover revealed as the UK's least reliable car, as 71 per cent over three years-old break down at least once a year."

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2179067/La...

What makes this meaningless is that there are a lot of very old Land Rovers out there, in fact there is a statistic that something like 70% of all vehicles that they have ever made are still operating. So comparing vehicles 'over three years old' with brands where most cars are on the scrapheap by the time they are 10 years old isn't very meaningful.

[anonymous-user]

WhereamI said:

Toffer said:

"Land Rover revealed as the UK's least reliable car, as 71 per cent over three years-old break down at least once a year."

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2179067/La...

What makes this meaningless is that there are a lot of very old Land Rovers out there, in fact there is a statistic that something like 70% of all vehicles that they have ever made are still operating. So comparing vehicles 'over three years old' with brands where most cars are on the scrapheap by the time they are 10 years old isn't very meaningful.

Daily Mail is full of ste so I'd take no notice. As I said, I'd never say they are the most reliable cars on the road but my own experience hasn't been regretful enough to stop me buying a Disco 4 in future.

[5paul5]

Owned about 30 different landrovers in total and not once suffered a breakdown, for me they rate as the most reliable.

[gtrstill]

We changed from a BMW x3 to a disco on a 55 plate and I would state the difference in terms of running cost to be the following:

The disco is a very juicy car that has been engineered to last until the next service. The BMW (2.5 petrol) was significantly better on petrol and was built like a tank. It was simply very well designed and engineered and felt like it was built to last a useful lifetime. Rugged it was not but a superior vehicle for us when we had just two kids.

We have three now and got rid of the landie in under a year

[gtrstill]

In short I would NEVER buy or recommend a RR or LR to anyone of my friends.

Never

[adsvx220]

Cheers for the reply's guys. Will do my home work etc. land cruiser looks a good bet thou.

Adam