Well only 6 weeks as a FFRR owner and she's gone. My2012 Westminster had repeated EGR faults accompanied by the EML warning plus a very rough sounding engine when warm. Generally she went like a rocket but on two long drives she threw up faults that made it doubtful that I would get home.

I have very little experience of the TDV8 (2012) engines so my opinion is of little value, but the noises this car made were new to me. When cold she sounded like a well oiled sewing machine, when up to normal temp she sounded like a bag of hammers. Cruising was fantastic, the engine noise was what I would expect, quiet and smooth. If you stopped and then pulled away it was raucous and rasping and sounded like the tappets were coming out of the top of the engine. low RPM was great but above 1500 it was strange - Turbo? It was not the refined engine noise I would have expected. Put it all together and I was not a happy bear.

The Dealer, Marshalls, has been excellent. No quibbles, courtesy car, total refund. We do tend to criticise the MDs when they act like p s but we should also point out when they respond to customer problems and Marshalls have stepped up on this occasion. I will put a comment in the Dealers section.

I now own a 2013 RRS HSE - wish me luck

PS. Thanks for hosting me here for a few weeks, believe it or not I learned a lot, particularly about the ZF 8 gearbox, and I still have one.

Thank you

Phil

I'm glad you came out of this with a good result.
Ive had a couple of TDV8's and not experienced any of your findings.

Good luck with the sport  2020 Porsche Panamera Turbo Hybrid (V FAST)
2017 Range Rover Autobiography 5.0 V8
2018 JCW Mini Cooper
2018 Skoda VRS

I sold my 2012 tdv8 this year mainly because at the last service it had a damp patch on the engine block a oil leak from the bell housing and a oil leak from the back of the engine all that at on 60k.
I now drive a navara with 5 yrs warranty. No where near as good as the FF but no worries either.