What Range Rover is best
What Range Rover is best
Author
Discussion

colinrob

Original Poster:

1,199 posts

271 months

Sunday 14th October 2018
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Last week I sold/swapped my C32 Mercedes for a 2006 Range Rover sport, I rarely used the C32 as I have another weekend toy ( won’t mention what it is as any mention and I get flamed) during the week my daily is a 313 sprinter and we also have an SQ5, anyway I love the Range Rover sport, I am thinking of selling the SQ5 and the RR to get a new shape either RR, sport or velar max budget is 40k any advice?

Sir Bagalot

6,849 posts

201 months

Sunday 14th October 2018
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Any advice?

Yes. Don't.

RR are hardly known for being reliable

codenamecueball

710 posts

109 months

Sunday 14th October 2018
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Any that are under warranty

gothatway

6,225 posts

190 months

Monday 15th October 2018
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Any advice ?

Yes, do !

I have had a 2006 RRS since Feb 2008. It had 9,600 miles when I bought it and it's now semi-retired at 148,000. It has been used and misused - wedding car, long journeys (towing a trailer with rally car to Spain for example), lots of farm use (including towing heavy loads across rough ground). I have had no reliability issues with it whatsoever.

roadsmash

2,667 posts

90 months

Monday 15th October 2018
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The general consensus on PH is only get one if you’re proper minted, and I have to agree.

All cars are money pits, a Range Rover is no exception.

I love them though!

Bit if you’re hoping for it to be reliable, I honestly wouldn’t get one.

300bhp/ton

41,030 posts

210 months

Monday 15th October 2018
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colinrob said:
Last week I sold/swapped my C32 Mercedes for a 2006 Range Rover sport, I rarely used the C32 as I have another weekend toy ( won’t mention what it is as any mention and I get flamed) during the week my daily is a 313 sprinter and we also have an SQ5, anyway I love the Range Rover sport, I am thinking of selling the SQ5 and the RR to get a new shape either RR, sport or velar max budget is 40k any advice?
Velar is based on the F Pace platform and is quite different mechanically from a Sport. Make sure it still appeals the same.

alorotom

12,636 posts

207 months

Monday 15th October 2018
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Personally I’d keep the SQ5 and sell the RRS

kurt535

3,560 posts

137 months

Monday 15th October 2018
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RR became an abomination post-Spen King design.

I am lost what drives people to touch any of their cars these days, unless they are moving out to Dubai, etc and want to fit in....

300bhp/ton

41,030 posts

210 months

Monday 15th October 2018
quotequote all
kurt535 said:
RR became an abomination post-Spen King design.

I am lost what drives people to touch any of their cars these days, unless they are moving out to Dubai, etc and want to fit in....
People are of course able to have their own opinion. But what utter nonsense.

nunpuncher

3,608 posts

145 months

Monday 15th October 2018
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gothatway said:
Any advice ?

Yes, do !

I have had a 2006 RRS since Feb 2008. It had 9,600 miles when I bought it and it's now semi-retired at 148,000. It has been used and misused - wedding car, long journeys (towing a trailer with rally car to Spain for example), lots of farm use (including towing heavy loads across rough ground). I have had no reliability issues with it whatsoever.
What engine/model?

My wifes friend bought a high mileage 55 plate RRS just over a year ago. At the time I commented that it was a very stupid thing to do due to how unreliable they are. Annoyingly it's proved me wrong by running perfectly. It's lulled me into believing I could possibly buy one myself and have similar luck.

gothatway

6,225 posts

190 months

Monday 15th October 2018
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nunpuncher said:
gothatway said:
Any advice ?

Yes, do !

I have had a 2006 RRS since Feb 2008. It had 9,600 miles when I bought it and it's now semi-retired at 148,000. It has been used and misused - wedding car, long journeys (towing a trailer with rally car to Spain for example), lots of farm use (including towing heavy loads across rough ground). I have had no reliability issues with it whatsoever.
What engine/model?

My wifes friend bought a high mileage 55 plate RRS just over a year ago. At the time I commented that it was a very stupid thing to do due to how unreliable they are. Annoyingly it's proved me wrong by running perfectly. It's lulled me into believing I could possibly buy one myself and have similar luck.
A lowly 2.7 V6 HS (though it was badged as an HSE - whoop whoop). When I bought it I had similar negatives from (motorsport) friends - within a couple of years they had each bought one as well.

LRs, RRs and in particular RRSs do seem to attract a lot of criticism, particularly for their reported unreliability. Unless such critics can support their views with personal (not anecdotal) experience then they should just be ignored. Perhaps they bought some German pseudo-SUV and are having regrets wink

johnxjsc1985

15,948 posts

184 months

Monday 15th October 2018
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I know reliability comes up a lot with RR but if you look at how many miles an awful lot of them do are they really that bad.
I have an old 4.4V8 I use as a second car for doing all the heavy stuff and other than an annoying Air suspension issue it been fine and the drive is superb.

SCEtoAUX

4,119 posts

101 months

Monday 15th October 2018
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roadsmash said:
All cars are money pits, a Range Rover is no exception.
You've never owned an Aygo then.

Not a single repair needed in the 70k miles I've driven it. Consumables, VED, insurance and servicing cost a pittance.


ninjag

1,878 posts

139 months

Monday 15th October 2018
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It wouldn't surprise me if a lot of the problems Land Rovers have are due to the owners, be it lack of proper servicing to simple driver abuse. The amount of Ranger Rovers I see going over speed bumps at full speed is insane. Yes they have bigger and beefier suspension than a regular vehicle, but they also weigh a hell of a lot more. It's all relative and you still have to take care.

But then when you look up MOT history reports of various Range Rovers, Discos etc in Auto Trader, it is quite frightening some of the things they fail on.

Shrimpvende

931 posts

112 months

Monday 15th October 2018
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Get one approved used from a Land Rover AD - 2 year warranty then so you're covered if anything goes wrong. I can only add our experience to the reliability argument -

65 plate RR Vogue Autobiography bought used from LR dealer Dec '16, first week of ownership the air suspension collapsed requiring tow to garage and new compressor. Not long after that it had a service and software update which caused the power steering to stop working when the engine restarted after start/stop cut in. Back to the dealers. A number of new parts required (lights filling with water and similar) over the next year until this summer I got an EML. Took it to the dealer to find that it needed the engine removing and a new turbo actuator amongst other bits, I'm told it would have been a £5k bill if I didn't have the warranty.

The car has only done 10k in our 2 year ownership, 80% long motorway trips and definitely hasn't been abused. Still <30k miles. I love it, but it's not a cheap car to run and I don't have much confidence in its ongoing reliability. I've just renewed the LR warranty for £1145 for the year as the factory warranty is nearly up and from personal experience wouldn't dare own one without!

The guy from LR assist that came out to diagnose my EML did tell me that the velar and new facelift models have a new electrical architecture that can be suspect so they're getting a lot of call-outs to them?

Piersman2

6,673 posts

219 months

Monday 15th October 2018
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SCEtoAUX said:
roadsmash said:
All cars are money pits, a Range Rover is no exception.
You've never owned an Aygo then.

Not a single repair needed in the 70k miles I've driven it. Consumables, VED, insurance and servicing cost a pittance.
No, no I haven't. I've had repairs on my Range Rover that cost more than an Aygo but I'd still rather be driving the RR. laugh

Tyre Smoke

23,018 posts

281 months

Monday 15th October 2018
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Had my Supercharged Sport since 2008 and 6k miles. It's now on 74500ish. I love it. I've fiddled with it a bit (uprated brakes all round, uprated supercharger and exhaust, air filter,etc) and it's still lovely to look at, not chavved up. Doesn't look like it eats at McDonalds every meal like the new breed do.

I wouldn't replace it, because there is nothing that looks and sounds as good and can tow anything virtually anywhere while doing it. Ok, it does 13mpg, but who buys a Supercharged Sport for economy?

Reliability hasn't been an issue, it's had two fuel pumps because Solihull apparently wired up the slave pump to run backwards, which also affected the supercharger cooler. And that's about it.

I'd like a maps upgrade, but have yet to find a decent one.

johnxjsc1985

15,948 posts

184 months

Monday 15th October 2018
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SCEtoAUX said:
You've never owned an Aygo then.

Not a single repair needed in the 70k miles I've driven it. Consumables, VED, insurance and servicing cost a pittance.
How did an Aygo get into a thread about Range Rovers.
Just buy one enjoy it and then see if you can find anything quite like it

Willy Nilly

12,511 posts

187 months

Monday 15th October 2018
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gothatway said:
LRs, RRs and in particular RRSs do seem to attract a lot of criticism, particularly for their reported unreliability. Unless such critics can support their views with personal (not anecdotal) experience then they should just be ignored. Perhaps they bought some German pseudo-SUV and are having regrets wink
There's quite a bit of evidence online that suggests Land Rover has a shakey reliability record.

Lady at work has a DS, it was out of action for several weeks with timing chain issues and the parts on back order. Her sister has a D5 that she tried and failed to reject due to repeated issues including not being watertight and which was letting water into the dashboard. A colleague has a D5 that he wanted to with a couple of weekends ago, but it was chucking up error codes related to the towing package, so he went back for it Puma engined Defender and that wouldn't go either.

The repairs on my car since it was registered in March 2011 amount to 1 headlight bulb.

colinrob

Original Poster:

1,199 posts

271 months

Monday 15th October 2018
quotequote all
Thanks for everyone’s reply’s just to add a bit more, the mileage I will be doing will be approx 5000 miles a year, it will be for the wife to drive for shopping helping parents etc, she works from home so no commute, I will drive mainly for weekends away if we are taking the dogs otherwise I will use the toy, while I love the SQ5 especially now I have the max exhaust which make it sound like a V8 and the car is stupidly quick for an SUV and handles pretty well for an SUV it isn’t a Range Rover so do I buy
A 14 plate Range Rover
A15 plate Range Rover sport
I have discounted the velar
Or do I go for the old shape Range Rover sport 13 plate
Max budget is £40000