Range Rover - opinions?

[Jerome74911S]

I'm looking at a 2005 Range Rover HSE with 68,000 miles. Looks very clean.

What would I be getting into with this?

[saxen]

http://youtu.be/MzQCj-dbgN0

[thamlin000]

My wife has owned an 08 Rover Sport for over 5 yrs. It has been a good vehicle and with proper maintenance it has been in for repairs only a couple times for minor things. It has 89k mi and we are now selling it. She has replaced it with a 2012 Rover Sport for the updates like rear view camera and auto tailgate which the 08 doesn't have.

https://kansascity.craigslist.org/cto/5293453541.html

[RSBob]

Beautiful vehicle and consistent winner of Consumer Reports least reliable. a friend of mine had a Discovery and it was constantly in the shop. Half the electricals didn't work.

[Nickshu]

Originally Posted by saxen

http://youtu.be/MzQCj-dbgN0

I owned one. My experience was about the same as the guy in this video. Definitely live near a dealer and have a good extended warranty. The car was beautiful when it ran and worked properly. Unfortunately it did that rarely.

[HardDrive]

Not just no, F no. We're talking 'let's get a wooden boat!' levels of bad juju.

[Paul K]

Don't do it. If you want one, get an '08 or newer. I had an '07 & it was a nightmare- constantly going wrong. Traded it on an '08 LR3 which was the most reliable Land Rover (I'm on my 6th now) I've owned. Fantastic rig.

[onewhippedpuppy]

I'll just leave this here.......

My Steering Wheel Broke And Now I'm Up To $7000 In CarMax Range Rover Repairs

If you really have that much extra money, you could just send it to me.

[Nostril Cheese]

Originally Posted by Jerome74911S

What would I be getting into with this?

I mean, if you're gonna get kinky, might as well go all the way.

[wildthing]

Slightly off topic, but would bias play into this because we only hear about bad experiences and catastrophic failures? Statistically, how many 05s are still running well, only requiring regular maintenance, vs those that are junk?

[jyl]

Consumer Reports reliability ratings are pretty accurate, in my experience.

At 68K, I think you'd have another 30K of mediocre reliability, before you get to the terrible reliability.

[Scott R]

Best and worst cars I've ever owned. 2005 expect to replace the lower control arms a few times.

[CarreraDan]

I would pass and we own 2 Land Rovers. If you are set on the Range Rover look for a 2010+ as they are much more reliable and better built. Our 2012 RR Sport has been very nice, we bought it one year old with 8k miles on it, is CPO'd for two more years, saved $25k off sticker. My Discovery was a total train wreck and I bought it as a project as I missed working on cars. New engine, and very large amounts of $$$$ later it is my daily driver/trail vehicle. I love the soul and personality of the Land Rover's, our Sport totally hauls ass and handles extremely well for a 5500 pound beast (you can do a four wheel drift in it). Made short work of going up the mountain in 27 inches of uncleared snow too. The Discovery is incredibly slow, handles like an aircraft carrier, gets 10-12 mpg on premium, but for some reason I love it. People say the only cure is ownership so jump on in, just be ready to write some big checks when things break--trust me they will as it is British after all.

The main problem that I have found is many people don't know how to properly service Land Rover's. You get mechanics who think they can fix things and do a half assed job or screw it up even more. I have spent the last 3 weeks fixing previous fixes on the Discovery. Dealer's can be totally hit or miss too. How are the service records? I have a friend who is a true Land Rover genius and he has been a true godsend for me as for how things "should" be.

[Jerome74911S]

Originally Posted by CarreraDan

I would pass and we own 2 Land Rovers. If you are set on the Range Rover look for a 2010+ as they are much more reliable and better built. Our 2012 RR Sport has been very nice, we bought it one year old with 8k miles on it, is CPO'd for two more years, saved $25k off sticker. My Discovery was a total train wreck and I bought it as a project as I missed working on cars. New engine, and very large amounts of $$$$ later it is my daily driver/trail vehicle. I love the soul and personality of the Land Rover's, our Sport totally hauls ass and handles extremely well for a 5500 pound beast (you can do a four wheel drift in it). Made short work of going up the mountain in 27 inches of uncleared snow too. The Discovery is incredibly slow, handles like an aircraft carrier, gets 10-12 mpg on premium, but for some reason I love it. People say the only cure is ownership so jump on in, just be ready to write some big checks when things break--trust me they will as it is British after all.

The main problem that I have found is many people don't know how to properly service Land Rover's. You get mechanics who think they can fix things and do a half assed job or screw it up even more. I have spent the last 3 weeks fixing previous fixes on the Discovery. Dealer's can be totally hit or miss too. How are the service records? I have a friend who is a true Land Rover genius and he has been a true godsend for me as for how things "should" be.

Good points and information, thanks. I was taken by the look of the RR, inside and out, and didn't know much about the mechanical bits, except for distant hearsay, so I would have made a poor decision based on too little knowledge. I have been driving 4-wheel-drive vehicles for 40 years, but most of them were 100% utilitarian. And, I have been looking at slightly older 4x4s, because I can't stand all of the gizmos on the new models. Maybe a 2005 RR is still too gizmo laden for me. I prefer a simpler and tougher, all-mechanical 4x4, but such animals have mostly turned to dust.

There is no Land Rover genius anywhere near here, so I think I need to look more broadly. I appreciate the help.

[sc_rufctr]

I know for a fact the "Discos" are crap especially the early ones. Not sure about the Range Rover HSE but I don't think they'd be much better.
~~~ Locally I saw one with a loose rear window. How is that even possible in a modern car?

Years ago a common upgrade on a Disco was to replace the alternator with one from a VW Golf VR6 (Bosch).

[jorian]

My neighbour has a 2006 RR HSE. He bought it used has owned it for 60K hard miles. He is not careful, defers maintenance, and does little more than put gas in it. Remarkably it has been trouble free other than a electric seat motor needing replacement. Another friend had a 2012 which he bought new. In the first two years it was in the shop over 20 times.

[Gogar]

I have a 2008 X5 and its maintenance-intensive. Ms. Gogar has a 2013 hse sport and it makes my car look Rock solid.

[onewhippedpuppy]

If you want a still mechanical but also comfortable 4x4, look at a FZJ80 or UZJ100 series Land Cruiser or Mercedes G500. The Toyota in particular is absolutely rock solid, hyper reliable, go-anywhere utility. The Mercedes slightly less so, but they hold their value forever and are still far better than anything LR has made.

One other downside with the LR is that they depreciate to nothing. It's pretty easy to find a decent condition RR or LR3 in the low teens now, and you can't hardly give away a Discovery.

[unclebilly]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

If you want a still mechanical but also comfortable 4x4, look at a FZJ80 or UZJ100 series Land Cruiser or Mercedes G500. The Toyota in particular is absolutely rock solid, hyper reliable, go-anywhere utility. The Mercedes slightly less so, but they hold their value forever and are still far better than anything LR has made.

One other downside with the LR is that they depreciate to nothing. It's pretty easy to find a decent condition RR or LR3 in the low teens now, and you can't hardly give away a Discovery.

My wife drives a 97 Lexus LX450 with the TRD supercharger, factory locking front and rear differential, and factory winch from a Landcruiser. It has 250,000 miles on it and runs awesome.

[onewhippedpuppy]

My wife daily drove my 1991 FJ80 for a few months when she was between vehicles. At 200k it was dead reliable and unstoppable in the snow. I wish I could have convinced her to keep it as our family car, I loved that thing. I just bought a 2002 G500 that should arrive any day, I'm hopeful she will fall for the G-wagen.