Just bought a 2016 RR SDV8 4.4 autobiography and love it. Looking at the internet comments on the new RR and most seem determined to slag off the brand. Are they jealous or is reliability/ brand such a problem?

Land Rover's reliability reputation is very poor.
From what I remember they are still in the bottom 5 of the JD Powers Reliability Surveys & have been for many years.
There are many good cars out there, but there are some real "dogs" - not helped by the fact that many owners buy them cheap & don't have the money to maintain them properly.
Land Rovers build quality variability often leaves a lot to be desired for what are very expensive cars when new.
Another issue is that owner expectations for the cars when new are justifiably much higher than for much lower cost cars - so they are much easier to displease when there are problems - often compounded by poor dealer support.

However, for many the good points outweigh the bad & we keep the cars - lol. Paul,
2001 Discovery 2 TD5, 211,000 miles & climbing
2006 FFRR TDV8 Vogue 145,000 miles & climbing
Member of Midland (Land) Rover Owners Club, www.mroc.co.uk

You talk a lot of sense, fingers crossed with my car. Always had BMW’s before and people slagged those cars so maybe some people never happy.

Not helped by the fact that they are still putting the SDV6 engine into cars and the cranks keep on snapping......
They are complicated cars but if they had a BMW or Audi badge on them they would cost a lot more so you get what you pay for, 2012 TDV8 Vogue (L322)

In the past, LR have been indifferent to customer input, but that has definitely changed for the better.

Pawl wrote:

Land Rover's reliability reputation is very poor.
There are many good cars out there, but there are some real "dogs" - not helped by the fact that many owners buy them cheap & don't have the money to maintain them properly.

Some of it is just poor quality / design flaws, regardless of maintaining it.

I have owned BMW's, Mercedes, VAG Group cars and done 60-80k in them without issue beyond service, disc's and pads. Compared to various JLR products that feels like you need a yearly budget to keep them on the road. There is no excuse for some of the poor quality IMO. Sold - Bell a 2015 MY16 Loire Blue Autobiography 4.4 SDV8
Previously George a 2007 MY07 Java Black VSE 3.6 TDV8
Previously a 04 MY04 Defender 90

My experience with my L322 justifies a lot of the negative opion of JLR. The Range Rover, a tough, go anywhere vehicle designed to wade through water etc yet is fitted with subframes that corrode badly, brake pipes that rust though in the blink of an eye, the numerous self tapping screws around the vehicle that all rust, turbo's that dont drain properly causing a smoke screen James Bond would be proud of and the list goes on and on. No excuses, it's top dollar car and a tiny bit of money spent and little more thought would transform it. That said, when it's working correctly it's a lovely way to get around, comfortable, spacious and is a delight. Its just every morning when you start it up wondering what is it going to cost me today...... BMW i3 Electric Car
2012 Full Fat RR 4.4 TDV8 (now gone)
2006 VW Touareg 3.0 TDi V6

Some of the components and their locations underneath doesn't inspire confidence for any serious off road capability - or longevity on road for that matter. 2012 TDV8 Vogue (L322)

Don’t forget 20% of Rangerovers are built on a Friday when the factory is understaffed due to absence. The rest of the workforce have already mentally clocked off for the weekend.

I was given a Range Rover experience day as a gift for my birthday. I turned up on the day, took me out in a very nice L405, dropped me off in a layby to wait 4 hours for recovery to collect me.  BMW i3 Electric Car
2012 Full Fat RR 4.4 TDV8 (now gone)
2006 VW Touareg 3.0 TDi V6

If they are so bad, why is there a waiting list as long as your arm to get one. 2003 4.4 V8 Vogue. Oslo Blue.
2003 TD6 SE, Adriatic Blue, no sunroof, no heated seats, but I did love it.

Because the main dealers are so magnificent that we can buy these safe in the knowledge that any problems that we do have will be sorted quickly, courteously with minimum fuss.

I think I might have told a lie in my previous post

New or less than 5 yr old (LR dealers won't sell you a car more than 5 yrs old) will be covered by a warranty so if it breaks you get it fixed and a courtesy car. There is a certain balance in any manufacturing of a product where you could spend a lot of money making it 99% reliable and spend no money on returns and repairs or make it 75% reliable and spend some money on returns and repairs. The sums may just add up in the later for JLR. They have a brand that sells and isn't dented by reliability problems. 2012 TDV8 Vogue (L322)

Oh, that sounds like a possible explanation, probably.

And have you noticed that Land Rovers seem to be everywhere, not always full fat though. 2003 4.4 V8 Vogue. Oslo Blue.
2003 TD6 SE, Adriatic Blue, no sunroof, no heated seats, but I did love it.