I have had my Td6 for about 6 months now and have been doing lots of thinking.
I need a 4x4 with a big boot for work, mpg not totally relevant as I am self employed but the car has to cope with highish mileage (25k pa) and hard work with lots of semi off road, lots of kit rattling about and lots of in and out in the rain and snow etc. So I bought a reasonable mileage (80k) Vogue Td6 with touchscreen and the usual toys together with toe bar (used occasionally) and in good condition with remaining extended LR warranty though that was not totally necessary as I do most work myself and leave rest to old man who is a retired Rover/LR/BMW evaluation engineer who can do the rest.
So the question I guess is how has the car coped with 6 months of hard work????
......um this might not go down very well here but the answers not good.
Now I change my car every year to two years though last work car was a new C Crosser and previously I have used in no particular order: Octavia VRS, Impreza turbo, BMW 330d, Mondeo, 405 Mi16, Volvo s40, along with various fun cars like 4 Delta integrales, an MR2 etc etc. In the last 6 months I have had more things go wrong than any previous car I have owned including the Italian crispy ones! The list so far is sized calipers, seized caliper bolts, failed tow bar electrics, failed rear PDC loom (twice), Disc grub screws missing, pad wear indicators not working even having worn through, rusted out rear wiper arm, rusted lower tailgate panel, wheel arch liner clips deciding to disappear mid journey, reversing camera working one in 10 times, CD player sticking, mirror control mechanism sticking, ride height sensors having a life of their own, underfloor heat shield coming loose mid journey, hand brake shoes coming adrift and rattling about inside hub (twice), oh this is depressing so will stop now!

Now obviously some of this is normal wear and tear though in a six year old car I would have thought some were excessive. And also all have happened since I took ownership and the car wasnt bought like it other than sized bolts etc. And this is a car with full LR service history but also looking at the small print of the extended warranty it was taken out at a specific mileage which was considerably less than the mileage at service later that year. And all done at the same official LR dealer.
So my question i suppose is though my car probably has a harder life than most have other people come across slightly under standard official LR care or is the car not particularly well made? I have my suspicions of the latter with regards trim panel fixings etc but am open minded.

Just seeing what other folk reckon but for a premium car 6 years old am not sure I will be sticking with it and thoughts now moving to a work 4x4 of some description (cheap and rugged) and a nice car to drive to work in (maybe a 730d or a6 3.0tdi quattro).

Maybe I am just in a bad mood after spending the last three hours changing front pads with seized calipers and caliper bolts and the most ridculously designed wheel studs I have ever seen.

T

Unreliable piece of all Landrovers are and i speak from experience having owned nearly every one bar a classic RR but we keep buying them cause we love them  Mine was a blue one!

I think you've been exceptionally unlucky Tom. I've had two cars similar age and higher mileage and had far fewer problems.

Good call on the 730d though, I just got one and highly recommend it!  Range Rover-less at the moment - Pining!

Oh thats really interesting. I must go have a look at one. I need to check out the A6 too as an estate would be handy for furry friend too. Though he could sit in 730s footwell I guess. How do you find the BNWs refinement??

For my 2 pence having had just 2 FFRRs ( and probably stating the bleedin' obvious) it really depends:

1. How they have been looked after previously
2. How they have been driven.
3. LR official dealer service history is (in my opinion) completely worthless as I have not had decent or competent treatment from any LR dealer in my area.

Proof of my case - My 93,000 mile, 10 year old HSE Td6 has been fault free for over 3 years except for replacing the EAS pump. it had no service history but clearly not had a hard life, no towing or off road. It drives 2000 miles to the Alps adn back 2/3 times year without a stutter. in my ownership, it has been serviced regularly by LR indies and using proper oils etc. But I took a motor professional with me when buying and he diagnosed it as a good vehicle.

I think you are correct tom, they are badly designed, sometimes poorly built and LR don't seem to learn from their experience/mistakes. However, there are good ones which work and i think you need to really investigate their past fully when buying. don't rely on the paperwork!

Yeah its a shame the LR network cant be trusted it seems.
T

tomthevet wrote:

Oh thats really interesting. I must go have a look at one. I need to check out the A6 too as an estate would be handy for furry friend too. Though he could sit in 730s footwell I guess. How do you find the BNWs refinement??

Thanks for the info. I think the BMW are always fairly hardy (having owned and rallied a '73 2002 too which was bomb proof). I guess the thing that irks me most about my L322 is comparing it (with 80000 miles, full LR history and all the above problems over 12k since owning) with 330d estate with 150k, patchy service history, bulletproof and all i did over 40k miles was repaint the bonnet for chips and the 2 engine mounts. I didnt even change the window wipers in that time or even the brake pads!
Oh well. Maybe I will love the RR again come monday!

It sounds to me like you have a 'Friday car', get the dealer to give you a very good deal to trade up to a tdv8!  Range Rover-less at the moment - Pining!

The majority are excellent and very reliable in my experience. Several buyers have contacted me a year two later to say that fuel, tax, insurance, service and MOT have been the only expenses.

There are exceptions as with any brand but they are built well and serve their purpose like no other car available.

Cant agree that they are up to the job of being a workhorse I am afraid. Though I accept that this is not what they were made for.
T

I would actually concur Tom. My previous FFRR was a 07 HSE TDV8, a one owner car and looked clean and tidy. As it transpired it had been an estate manager's car on a large estate in Jockistan.

Talk about a hard life. 59K on the clock and in the 6 months I owned it I had:
Seized rear calipers
Handbrake failure
3 wheel bearings
Suspension ARB bushes
4 diesel leaks
PAS failure (pump)
Rear wiper motor failed
Indicator stalk failed

And then I gave up with the damn thing. Sis a PX deal on a one owner 07 Vogue SE. This one had been a London based company director's car. Badly kerbed wheels was the extent of the problems. Had a few bits go wrong on it but nothing major. Worst thing seems to be the TPMS which is incapable of detecting a spare wheel pressure. Living with the light for now but I'll get it fixed at some point.

Dom

Ah interesting to know. Am actually browsing ex power company defenders now. Could be a nice wee mobile clinic type thing for the moo cows and gee gees. Those are technical terms for those in the know.
T

I think as with anything the history is the most important thing, obviously, a car that has covered 20000 miles on bad roads and tracks will have considerably more wear to the drivetrain than one which has covered its milage on motorways, but one which has mostly been driven on short town journeys will likely have not got up to full temperature on all its runs and could have more engine wear etc.

buying on stamped history and milage alone will not guarantee a good car but it will help, there is no substitute for having someone who knows about these things to have a look at the car first.

I bought mine, from a dealer, for a decent price, and spent a good while looking round the vehicle before i parted with the cash. There were a few niggley bits of body work which needed sorting, but otherwise it looked ok.

i didnt notice the broken heater switch, slight leak in the trans box, or the broken bezel on the front light at the time. Even though i gave the gar a good look over it wasnt until i got it home that i fount all the little bits which needed doing.

most bits have been sorted now under the extended warranty just the light bezel to go on monday and a couple of bits of paint which im having sorted at my local spray booth. Mechanically it seem strong no funny noises and silky smooth, a bit of research has uncovered that it came from leeds and the last chap who had it was a photographer so probably a good mix of town and motorway driving.

Hopefully it will be a good un on the mechanicals but only time will tell, a friend of mine has one has only put fuel, insurance and tax into it in 2 years and 75,000 miles. which is pretty good going.  There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
FFRR 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography Santorini Black.
Fiat 500x 1.4 multiair Lounge 2015
2010 LR D4 Commercial 2.7 TDV6

Yeah I think you are probably right. I found it curious that the extended warranty mileage and real service mileage were so awry though. Naughty dealer I suppose to help get some work that was done on bushes etc through no doubt.
Cheers and hope yours goes on for a long time trouble free.
T