Was talking to a friend who bought his 2002 TD6 Vogue Epsom Green just after I bouGht my Tonga Green model.

He still has his, its nearly at 100K and he's looking to swap. He LOVES my TDV8 (who wouldn't )

His local independent LR garage/mechanic said the most unreliable modern Land Rover they see on a regular basis is the Discovery 3 followed by the FL1

I always thought the D3 was pretty good. (I always knew the FL1 was cr@p)

Apparently, when asked, "which is the most reliable?" the answer was.......








THE RANGE ROVER L322.  Discovery 4 HSE
1998 110 TUM HS FFR Hard Top XD WOLF
1982 Series 3 Hard Top

*Gone:L462 D5 HSE LUX, L663 Defender 110 HSE, Discovery 3 HSE, 2014MY Range Rover Sport 5.0 Supercharged AB Dynamic; L405 Exec Vogue SE 4.4, 5.0 Supercharged Autobiography, Defender TDCi XS CSW, Defender TD5 HT, Vogue SE TDV8, Vogue TD6, RRSport SC 4.2V8, Classic 3.9 Vogue Auto, Land Rover Series 3 SWB

I suppose it was really engineered to perfection by BMW............................................. 2018 Mini Countryman Cooper S E All4 PHEV in Melting Silver - it’s whisper quiet in EV and polluter modes

If the D3 was unreliable, then surely the RRS is too, as its the same platform?

Tim, what's your view? I jumped out of the Sport so long ago now I've lost touch with the problems being posted. Discovery 4 HSE
1998 110 TUM HS FFR Hard Top XD WOLF
1982 Series 3 Hard Top

*Gone:L462 D5 HSE LUX, L663 Defender 110 HSE, Discovery 3 HSE, 2014MY Range Rover Sport 5.0 Supercharged AB Dynamic; L405 Exec Vogue SE 4.4, 5.0 Supercharged Autobiography, Defender TDCi XS CSW, Defender TD5 HT, Vogue SE TDV8, Vogue TD6, RRSport SC 4.2V8, Classic 3.9 Vogue Auto, Land Rover Series 3 SWB

Maybe the D3 came out a little earlier with the electrical gremlins... and LR saw, learnt, then set the RRS up better.

Well, I know the early cars inherited some of the D3 issues like the air suspension problems. Discovery 4 HSE
1998 110 TUM HS FFR Hard Top XD WOLF
1982 Series 3 Hard Top

*Gone:L462 D5 HSE LUX, L663 Defender 110 HSE, Discovery 3 HSE, 2014MY Range Rover Sport 5.0 Supercharged AB Dynamic; L405 Exec Vogue SE 4.4, 5.0 Supercharged Autobiography, Defender TDCi XS CSW, Defender TD5 HT, Vogue SE TDV8, Vogue TD6, RRSport SC 4.2V8, Classic 3.9 Vogue Auto, Land Rover Series 3 SWB

I think sadly a lot of the bad press re the D3 was due to glitches on the earlier cars (to about MY06-07) but from a technical standpoint they were pretty sophisticated. We run a D3 ad L322, not had any bad experiences but once you have a run of issues it very hard to shake perception (note Toyota having to give 5 yr warranties now following the Prius issues). That said I chose the L322 every time

I have have only had one Land Rover product that broke in the 16 years I have been driving them, and then I wouldn't have said it was unreliable. It was a Disco2TD5 Auto and on the way to the dealership to chop it in for a TD4 Freelander1 GS Auto the D2 shredded an auxy drive belt and the car had to be towed into the dealer. Sale team were mortified as they had somebody lined up to buy the D2 while I was doing the hand-over but the person taking the demo didn't mind, one look around it and inside it and they put their money down as they knew there was no way the dealer was going to let it out again without giving it a full check over and anyway it was still within warranty so it wasn't going to cost the dealer nowt to fix! The RRS's both had one call out of LRA, the TDv6 kept going into limphome mode one night, LRA checked it out on the drive, downloaded the fault log to the local dealership and I took it in on the Monday morning, it was fixed in 2 hours and I drove away - but NOT an unreliable car. The TDv8 decided that a sensor on one of the turbos didn't want to play in May while I was away and my Dad had gone to give the car its monthly run. He called LRA, they did the same again and the car was deemed drivable, appointment was made for a week later at the dealership and my Dad took it in and it got fixed while he waited. I'm now about to put the kiss of death on my Defender - it's a 1996MY, I bought it used with 54k miles on the clock in 1999 and in my ownership it has never broken down, nothing has fallen off BUT the chassis suffered the well known problem for the year of early corrosion so in 2007 I had a new galvanised chassis fitted and all the suspension and braking components replaced with new. The only time it has had to limp home was when I bent a steering rod offroading, but it was still drivable, just not too fast as half a turn of the wheel gave full left lock and lots of turns were needed for any right lock! The 300tdi now has 76000 miles on it and just purrs along, it's happy to sit at 70 on the motorway (even if the driver find it a bit uncomfortable to run at that speed, but it can hack it with other motorway traffic and it's good for it to have a good blast a couple of times a year!).
I can honestly say that out of 8 Land/ Range Rovers owned since 1996 I have NEVER had an unreliable one - sometimes some niggling little problems that got fixed at the first service (like the TDV6 not having it's fuel burning heater fitted when delivered!). The TDv8 FF has developed an annoying rattle somewhere inside the driver's door casing but I will live with it until the next service comes up. The Freelander 1, the V8 Disco1 and the TD6 FFRR never needed any attention after leaving the showroom floor and going in for their 1st services.

I feel very sorry for those RRS and Disco3 owners who never seem to get their cars running like LR intended, it must be extremely frustrating to have paid so much money and then not to get an A1 car but it happens to all marques. I had a neighbour who laughed at me when I took delivery of the TD6, he had a faultess BMW 5 series. He chopped it in for an X5 4.8i and that car then spent it's first six months in and out of the the local BMW dealers service bay. In the end he demanded his money back, went up the road to the local Land Rover dealer and bought an L322 4.4 V8 Vogue with all the extras - he ran that car for until last year and racked up nearly 190000 faultless miles in it, he no longer lives near me but I saw him the other week and we were chatting about L322's and he's just ordered a 4.4TDv8 with every extra on it and he will never buy another BMW. His wife drives a 290,000 mile (yes you read that right!) R plate Freelander1 TD(one of the first on the roads) and that car looks like it just came out of the showroom, it has no signs of rust on it and she will not part with it, it has never broken down, it still gets main dealer service and just keeps on running

2010MY RRS and FFRR and D4 have all suffered with serious electronics problems which has shattered some owner's confidence in the products, however give LR their due they introduced a confidence rebuilding program but even with that I know several 1st time RRS owners who will never ever even if dragged screaming and kicking back to a dealership, buy another or any other Land Rover or for that matter Jaguar product.

This is only my opinion BUT I feel a lot has to do with the dealership service staff and the way they train (or otherwiise) their service bay guys and gals. At my local dealership there are always staff away on refresher and training courses at Land Rover but I'm sure that in many of the larger chains of dealers they don't do this. My local dealership's service team are happy to listen to what I have to say if I go in with a problem and I never get the reply that "they are all like that" or "we have never heard of that problem" because they know I am a member of very active owners forums and often I can go to them and say "I think the problem might be this or that and if you go and read on the forums you will find there is a TSB out about it!" That was how I got the FBH in my TDv6 sorted - from the forum I knew that it should have had one and also that was how I knew what was causing the rattling front suspension in the RRS tdv8 when it started. Also my local dealership didn't hesitate to call me when a customer wanted to fit 19" rims and winter tyres to his RRS last year and they were running out of wheel designs that would fit over the Brembos. I think a lot of dealerships don't use all the info that LR sends to them regarding some of the more common problems and LR Customer Services never seem to be very sympathetic, more like job's worths 2018 Mini Countryman Cooper S E All4 PHEV in Melting Silver - it’s whisper quiet in EV and polluter modes

Had two D3 in 4,5 years. Saw about 20 times the dealer Had almost everything you seee in the GTR listing But I'm so hooked on LR I think they can give almost everthing. But I thinhg I learned never buy the first six month if the product comes new on the market. Daniel

Past:FFRR 2004 Vogue 4.4l bonnatigrey/sand/ burr walnut
Modifications: SC grill (not fixed) SC MY10 sidevents (not fixed), MY10 Letters front and back, clear sidelights , MY10 rear lights (not fixed), MY09 steering wheel trims, new MY09 sterringwheel 19'' seven spoke wheel (not fixed) 19'' MTS (not fixed), 20 '' wheels, doorhandelcovers brunel (not fixed), complete doorhandels (not fixed) burr walnutdoorsouround (not fixed)