Should I buy a Range Rover? (1 Viewer)

Jul 18, 2009
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So, despite still in dispute with our insurers, I am looking to replace my car


So, with the S500 gone, Mrs. Teemyob wanting to replace her ageing Tiny Audi, we want to reduce the family fleet.

Mrs. Teemyob Fancies a Toyota Vellfire 7 / 8 Seat Import.

I was thinking 2012 Range Rover Vogue, having decided against the Discovery 4.

BUT!

Almost everyone, apart from a couple of owners, have told me to steer clear, pardon the Pun. Plagued with unreliability and huge running Costs. A friend and her late husband have always had Range Rovers, only one bad one. She currently has a New Aluminium Vogue, as does another friend. He has just bought a brand new Range Topper. But theirs are under Manufacturers Warranty!.

Buyer Beware?
Who Has One?
 

Jaws

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Sep 26, 2008
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You know what the Ozzy's say..
If you want to go to the outback take a range rover
If you ever wanna come back, take a Toyota !

I would LOVE a Range Rover Sport, but for once in my life I am being ruled by my head and not my heart, so have resisted temptation
 

TheBig1

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Nov 27, 2011
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it's not just the unreliability of them, it's the huge cost to repair. to fix the turbo, it's not just engine out, it's body off chassis with running gear

I wouldn't have a used range rover if I was given it. Friends of mine had one and clocked up very few miles because it was always going back in for repair after virtually every drive
 

ambulancekidd

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Sep 23, 2014
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Since 1964 Gosh that makes me feel old.
Get another Merc, you know it makes sense.

I've always been the worlds biggest (by my weight lol) Land Rover fan & have owned many including a TDV8 Vogue SE which I adored & here comes the but, if it was left for more than three day the battery would go flat, even when replaced by a top notch battery it still didn't like sitting for any length of time.

Compare that to our 13plate Mercedes R Class 3.0V6 which I jumped into the other day, hadn't been over the drive in 8 days & started instantly. This car has sat for over two weeks & never failed or even sounded if it'd fail to start.

I still miss my Range Rover & my heart does a little skip when I see one but, I'm getting too old & disabled to have a car which needs this constant fettling to do what it should do easily.

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Jan 19, 2014
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Do they lose their value with such running costs? I'd have thought once the warranty expires they're worth 2 Bob.

Shame cars are so complex these days. Loved my old 2.5d defender, brush painted it olive green, my favourite car ??

PS it was a 200tdi
 

Snowbird

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I've always been the worlds biggest (by my weight lol) Land Rover fan & have owned many including a TDV8 Vogue SE which I adored & here comes the but, if it was left for more than three day the battery would go flat, even when replaced by a top notch battery it still didn't like sitting for any length of time.

Compare that to our 13plate Mercedes R Class 3.0V6 which I jumped into the other day, hadn't been over the drive in 8 days & started instantly. This car has sat for over two weeks & never failed or even sounded if it'd fail to start.

I still miss my Range Rover & my heart does a little skip when I see one but, I'm getting too old & disabled to have a car which needs this constant fettling to do what it should do easily.

I ran several Merc cars from the mid eighties until 2005. Never had any issues with any of them. After 2005 they started to go downhill with rust issues and electrical problems and I gave up with the marque after that.
 

Ridgeway

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If reliability was the only criteria of choosing a mode of transport then we'd all walk.

We've had 6 Landies with the last being a RR Sport, must have covered 500k miles over the last 20yrs in them and only had normal servicing costs and no major issues.

We loved them all and i'd doubt we would have been able to say the same about a sterile but ultra reliable Japanese equivalent.

Any reason in particular you have ruled out a D4 ?

Like all choices it's knowing what you really want and at some point making some compromises, even with the biggest of budgets.

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ambulancekidd

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Sep 23, 2014
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Since 1964 Gosh that makes me feel old.
I ran several Merc cars from the mid eighties until 2005. Never had any issues with any of them. After 2005 they started to go downhill with rust issues and electrical problems and I gave up with the marque after that.

I can totally understand what your saying.

I've given Mercedes the benefit of the doubt & had two since they severed ties with whatever American company it was which they got into bed with (please excuse memory or brain fade)
& they've really hauled it back.
Our R Class gets real abuse & isn't cared for nearly as well as my cars used to be, the Range Rover didn't take kindly to that but, the Merc sails on imperiously.
 
Oct 2, 2008
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Have owned a Range Rover since 1975 , alongside other Landrovers , currently have FFRR 4.2 supercharged ,
apart from one lemon , they have all been reliable , as much as other makes ( and I have had a variety of them as well ) . they are vehicle in a class of their own IMHO . Its down to what you want out of the car you drive . Why does anyone buy a Ferrari , they can exceed the speed limit within about 6 seconds as can a few others so mostly unusable and are maintenance hungry . Its your decision in the end.

The Vellfire is a long way from Range Rover , will be difficult to find a compromise . !!

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Last edited:
OP
OP
EuroTrotters
Jul 18, 2009
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I've always been the worlds biggest (by my weight lol) Land Rover fan & have owned many including a TDV8 Vogue SE which I adored & here comes the but, if it was left for more than three day the battery would go flat, even when replaced by a top notch battery it still didn't like sitting for any length of time.

Compare that to our 13plate Mercedes R Class 3.0V6 which I jumped into the other day, hadn't been over the drive in 8 days & started instantly. This car has sat for over two weeks & never failed or even sounded if it'd fail to start.

I still miss my Range Rover & my heart does a little skip when I see one but, I'm getting too old & disabled to have a car which needs this constant fettling to do what it should do easily.

My Sprinters last a few days and then, they are flat. The newest one I have, Mercedes Sprinter 3 Series has so called, ABM (Advanced Battery Management). Lasts a few days more than the old ones.

If reliability was the only criteria of choosing a mode of transport then we'd all walk.

We've had 6 Landies with the last being a RR Sport, must have covered 500k miles over the last 20yrs in them and only had normal servicing costs and no major issues.

We loved them all and i'd doubt we would have been able to say the same about a sterile but ultra reliable Japanese equivalent.

Any reason in particular you have ruled out a D4 ?

Like all choices it's knowing what you really want and at some point making some compromises, even with the biggest of budgets.

Thinking of ourselves and the nicer 4.4 TDV8 Range Rover. Rather than carting everyone else around. We have two TWENTY Year old 7 seat Toyotas for that.

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Jan 11, 2010
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Well that`s our 13th year & still loving it.
I am part of a group of 12 guys that fish up in Scotland, 10 yrs ago 8 of the guys had Range Rovers, after poor reliability, poor finish and not the best of service they have all bought Toyota Land Cruisers, totally reliable and far better finished an all round better vehicle.
 
May 7, 2011
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So, despite still in dispute with our insurers, I am looking to replace my car


So, with the S500 gone, Mrs. Teemyob wanting to replace her ageing Tiny Audi, we want to reduce the family fleet.

Mrs. Teemyob Fancies a Toyota Vellfire 7 / 8 Seat Import.

I was thinking 2012 Range Rover Vogue, having decided against the Discovery 4.

BUT!

Almost everyone, apart from a couple of owners, have told me to steer clear, pardon the Pun. Plagued with unreliability and huge running Costs. A friend and her late husband have always had Range Rovers, only one bad one. She currently has a New Aluminium Vogue, as does another friend. He has just bought a brand new Range Topper. But theirs are under Manufacturers Warranty!.

Buyer Beware?
Who Has One?


Buyer beware.
My friend runs a 4WD repair garage and the amount of problems range rovers have is crazy, and in his opinion he wouldn't buy one unless you get it new and only keep it 3 years!

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MillieMoocher

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Jul 18, 2015
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Got to say I’ve a very jaundiced view of Range Rovers.

In July 2017 I bought a brand new Range Rover Autobiography, V8 Diesel.

By the end of September 2017 it had been back 9 times for various faults, and by the end of October my dealer agreed to take it back. I can’t go into details of the deal but suffice to say we came to a satisfactory arrangement without actually “rejecting” the vehicle in legal terms.

The faults were all electronic gizmo based, apart from frequent warnings that he AEB (assisted emergency braking) was inoperative there were no issues that actually caused the vehicle to stop or be potentially unsafe to use. But with the number of issues I had I had no confidence that the car wouldn’t fail in a more spectacular way, and the joy of owning such a car was completely destroyed. Plus having spent £100k on a car I actually had expectations that it would do what it said on the tin!

Sadly the problems I had were only too common on the 2017 MY Range Rover and widely reported on https://www.fullfatrr.com/forum/

So personally I would find it hard to recommend any Range Rover, but completely accept that for every hacked off owner like me there are (probably) far more who don’t have issues so we don’t hear from them.

I have since bought a Skoda Superb, which lives up to its name in every way. While waiting for the car to be delivered we were loaned a Kodiaq, and if I was after a SUV that’s now where my money would go.
 

Chris

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I went looking at new Range Rovers a few years back with my wife and daughter. We couldn’t afford one, but it was raining so we went in. I was trying my best to look like I could afford one until my wife happened to see the plaque with the price on it ( £113k) and said quite loudly “Bloody hell Chris, have you seen the price of this?”.

The salesman was standing right next to me :whistle2:

We beat a hasty retreat back out into the rain.
 

Cheshirecat57

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Feb 3, 2018
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Well
If you buy a sensible Merc or Toyota that you dont want, there is a massive chance that you will die before you are 100, having not owned the car that you really wanted

If you buy the RR, still a high chance you will die before 100, but with another ambition completed

Your choice

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Jun 10, 2010
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I can totally understand what your saying.

I've given Mercedes the benefit of the doubt & had two since they severed ties with whatever American company it was which they got into bed with (please excuse memory or brain fade)
& they've really hauled it back.
Our R Class gets real abuse & isn't cared for nearly as well as my cars used to be, the Range Rover didn't take kindly to that but, the Merc sails on imperiously.
Exactly our experience with our 58 ml 420, We thoroughly abuse it and it runs like either a limo or a sports car depending on how hard you put your foot down.
 
Jan 13, 2014
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Have you considered the Audi Q7 large extremely reliable, great road holding, I leave mine in Spain for six months and it fires up before I’ve fully turned the key. Not expensive when 3/4 year old.

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thebriars

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Surely the basic point about any car is to get you from A to B, when you want. My OH and I have Mitsubishis, great PE price when its time to sell, good warranty, and oh so reliable! Surprisingly good in mud and snow. Once towed a bogged down Range Rover out of a muddy field. My car didn't leave a mark on the grass. We can leave ours in the garage for 6 weeks whilst away and never give the batteries a second thought. Don't understand why anyone should have flat batteries these days.
 

Silver-Fox

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I was having the mot done on the Moho where they specialise in RR but not dealer prices.

The guy on the desk as it was a Saturday phoned the owner of a RR with the good news that it would only cost 4.5k to sort out the problem with the suspension ?

Think they charge around £58 an hour so god knows how much the parts were ?

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