Range Rovers, What's your experience? (2013, Acura, wagon, cost)
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What most people don't know about Land Rover is they've passed from one owner to the next. The best part of the Rover group was kept by BMW.
Besides the MINI marque, BMW also kept the rights to the Triumph automotive marque although it's unlikely that they would ever revive that brand. However, a modern interpretation of a TR4/TR6 with a reliable BMW drivetrain and chassis would be pretty cool!
(snip) However, a modern interpretation of a TR4/TR6 with a reliable BMW drivetrain and chassis would be pretty cool!
Which in essence means a modern two-seat roadster styled like the TR4/6's, since that's all that's left if you replace the Triumph drivetrain and chassis with reliable BMW components.
Other than the bodywork style, BMW has been making a car for this segment already ... Z's.
Everyone I know that has had either a Range Rover or a Land Rover... has never bought more than one.
And yet I've had 3, and will probably own another. I have barely spent any money or time maintaining them, unlike sunsprit's assertion. They have actually been quite reliable for me. it isn't that I CAN repair them easily, it's that I never really HAD to.
First one:
Second and third ones:
here's my last one in Ohio:
Here it is in South Carolina:
And here it is up in the White Mountains of New Hampshire
And yet I've had 3, and will probably own another. I have barely spent any money or time maintaining them, unlike sunsprit's assertion. They have actually been quite reliable for me. it isn't that I CAN repair them easily, it's that I never really HAD to.
(snip)
OK, you've had a good experience with these vehicles.
How 'bout all the rest of the posters here who say they've had a bad experience with this brand?
As I've pointed out repeatedly ...
the window tint/gold plating shop next to me had a lot of the dealership new, never titled on MSO vehicles have to get towed back to the dealership. That wasn't just one or two isolated vehicles over 10 years, that was 6 or 7 brand new vehicles every year!
or my customer that hit the big time as a stock broker and bought a brand new one for his wife, against my advice to replace their jeep wagoneer? in the first year of ownership, the dealer had the RR in the shop more months than the proud owners had the use of it. She put less than 3,000 miles on it that year and they sold it in the second year of ownership when it stranded her on I-70 coming back from a day ski trip at Loveland with her two young daughters. Replaced it with a Grand Wagoneer ... much as I'm not a fan of those vehicles, either, it never stranded them and after 100,000 miles, they replaced it with an Escalade which has also given them excellent service.
I got called over to a transmission shop here in town a few months ago. They had a RR in for a trans overhaul with less than 30,000 miles on it, but 10 years being used for a ranch vehicle off-road checking on their cows. No extreme use, no gung-ho see how fast they can go on a jeep trail, just generally slow driving across pastures with a lot of stop-and-go. The tranny shop called me in because they couldn't understand why the brakes weren't working in the rig after they'd only worked on the transmission. I call it lot rot ... the MC had failed while the vehicle was sitting in their shop, waiting for trans rebuild parts. They're still waiting for a MC now ... they've been told that the service parts are no longer available and nobody in the USA has a new replacement MC in stock. The customer has been without their vehicle for 8 months now and there's no knowing when it will be back on the road. I can see this happening with a much older vehicle, but a 10 year old top line vehicle not getting dealer or aftermarket parts support doesn't look good. The guys in the tranny shop are trying to retire their business and sell the land after 40 years in biz ... and all they want is to see this car out the door and paid for so they can get on with their lives. Thankfully, they did get a sizable deposit on the trans work before ordering the parts and doing that phase of the work. They considered walking away from the vehicle and towing it to the closest dealer for the brake work, but all the nearest dealers refused to work on a vehicle of that vintage ... which is how it came to be in their shop because they thought that parts would be reasonably available for a 10 year old car.
Anyway, here's some more enlightenment from other RR owners:
And if those owner stories aren't consistent enough reporting an 85% failure rate on these vehicles ... you can google
"range rover failure rate" and find another several hundred sites reporting significant problems with these vehicles.
My favorite stories are about the Brit owners who have been denied warranty service repairs on brand new vehicles with repeat suspension component failures in the first months of ownership ... and the vehicles were driven as vanity rigs on pavement, never off-roaded. Several owners had to start picketing in front of a new car dealership before Rover replaced hard parts that had failed under warranty.
Here's an advice that was agreed to by the RR enthusiasts at rangerovers.net
Quote:
If you watch the coolant temp level as much as you watch the speedo, buy one
If you know what a screw driver is, Buy one
If you like to tinker, Buy one
If you want to know that no matter what the weather is, you're getting home, buy one
If you don't mind ordering parts, buy one
If you know what JB weld is, buy one
If you don't mind topping of fluids yourseld once a month, buy one
If you don't know what a socket wrench is, stay away
If you never changed a fuse in a car and feel uncomfortable doing it, don't buy one
Concerned with MPG, don't buy one
Want speed, don't buy one
If cant change your own oil, don't buy one. (not choosing to and can't mean two different things)
If things easily annoy you, don't buy one
If buying a range rover makes you broke with no more money in the bank, don't buy one
For further advice on the following issues phone our service department on 01772 299811 or email service@kmotors.co.uk
EGR Valves – TDV6
Exhaust Gas Recirculation Valves are fitted to most modern vehicles to reduce CO2 emissions. The EGR takes the gases from the exhaust manifold and puts it back into the cylinders at lower temperatures which produces less of the harmful nitrogen oxide gas. However, this process creates more soot which can eventually build up and prevent the valves from operating properly.
Symptoms of faulty valves can be; heavy black smoke, loss of power, poor running and high fuel consumption. If you suspect the valves are faulty we have the latest Land Rover diagnostic equipment to run a complete check to confirm if there is a problem. Unfortunately there are two of them on the TDV6 engine. We will replace only one of them if you insist but please be aware that they normally fail within a few hundred miles of each other.
New Genuine Land Rover Replacement EGR Valve – Fitted – LH or RH – Prices start from £275 inc. VAT (dependant on valve required)
Hand Brake Screeching or Failing to Release Properly.
This is a very common problem which is generally caused by the automatic adjuster in the handbrake drum ceasing. This in turn causes the brake shoes to collapse which score and jam the drums putting strain on the cable and burning out the motor.After repairing a considerable number of these systems it is a false economy to do anything other than replace all the parts for total peace of mind.
New Genuine LR Hand Brake Actuator with New Cables, New Drums, Shoes, Discs and Pads – Fitted & Adjusted – Pre 2008 Models £995 inc. VAT- Later models P.O.A
Brake Discs and Pads
These vehicles are well known for using up brake discs and pads due their high power and weight.
Replacement Discs, Pads and Sensor Wires – Front or Rear – Per Axle Set – Fitted – £230 inc. VAT (special price excludes vehicles fitted with Brembo parts, add extra £30)
Even the dealers know these are rolling piles of doo-doo and have to make excuses in advance about the common repair costs of keeping one of these on the road ....
Another thread I came across today was posted earlier this year by a gent now in Russia ... who was lamenting his days of trying to use a '50's era Brit car for transportation, which was rationalized back then as a weekly chore to keep them going as part of the "fun" of driving such a vehicle. He apparently learned how to work on his cars back then, and relates that he was surprised when he moved to Germany and bought a '70's 2002 ... and realized that in his first year of ownership, the car had never required any work beyond routine maintenance. It was a revelation to him that a car was even built that could provide such service, never stranding him. But all of this was leading up to his statements about how the Brits have recreated the 1950's driving experience with new RR's, which is what he's now driving. Only his 1950's Brit cars could be fixed with minimal materials and skill ... and all the electronics and hydraulics and such as in his new RR require expensive tooling and dealer expertise which costs a huge amount of money to keep the car running.
Another bunch of posts about SoCal rover dealerships, and much of the dissatisfaction posted has to do with expensive vehicles of low mileage needing $7,000 major repairs ... like transmissions, engine work, and diff/transfer case work.
As I've pointed out, a few minutes of searching the web reveals an astonishing failure rate for these cars.
Can't recall if I've posted in years past about it, but one of my used car lot owning buddies, an M-B specialist, drove Saab's as his winter drivers with some degree of reliability each year. He'd buy one for his personal use in the fall each year and was never let down. At one point, he decided that RR was a more upscale vehicle (and newer than the old G-wagons that didn't appeal to him, too utilitarian) and started to use those for his winter drivers. He did not get through any winter for years where he wasn't stranded, and he was buying 1-2 year old RR's off lease from the dealerships. With warranty remaining, he wasn't out too much more money, but he was often out his lost time and arranging for a ride. With MB now having sport utes in his marketplace, he now drives those with much less expense and more reliability than the RR's ever delivered for him.
And yet I've had 3, and will probably own another. I have barely spent any money or time maintaining them, unlike sunsprit's assertion. They have actually been quite reliable for me. it isn't that I CAN repair them easily, it's that I never really HAD to.
You're in the minority.
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