Substitute (Land) "Cruiser" for (Land) "Rover" and never look back.

Same here, we bought ours used with about 50K miles. 1995 Range Rover County LWB. For the next 60K miles and 4 years it was a great vehicle. Drove well, roomy, excellent in snow, we really liked it. Kind of maintenance-heavy with various little things breaking but we had it serviced regularly and fixed everything as it needed attention.

About 2 yrs ago the repair costs started soaring, and the Rover actually started stranding my wife around town. We were running $3000/yr in the last year or so until finally it munched the front diff and stranded us in Yosemite. Well, we got that fixed and brought it to Portland. After a few months here it started to overheat and I started to get wifey calls from the side of the road. That was the last straw and we bought a 2007 Prius the next week.

The Rover has sat all winter, we're taking it to a local shop to look over and help us decide what to do with it. Wouldn't get much for it, paint and leather have not held up and some dents. Choices are likely to be donate for deduction, sell it for a pittance, or drive it to junkyard. What a *****ty experience. At least we bought it used, the seller took a 60% depreciation hit in the first 7 or so years, I got to enjoy the last 40%.

My rule now is no more "interesting cars with lots of character" unless I'm willing, motivated, and able to repair them myself. Range Rovers are not fun for DIY (too much electrical and modern stuff layered over the basic 70's era vehicle) and the parts are costly.

We still needed a largish vehicle, the Porsche and Prius aren't exactly load-carriers. So we bought a 1988 Vanagon Westy. Something I'm interested in fixing myself and the parts are cheap.

I haven't totally sworn off Land Rovers. I'd get another old Series LR if I had a cabin in the woods (used to have a Series 2A). And the new Range Rover Sport is a really sweet looking vehicle. When they're running, Rangies are great.

I did, kinda. Does the FJ count?

John- I agree, the RR sport is sweet. I'm also tempted by the MkIII. Next priority is a 911- maybe another RR some day!

Cheers,

Paul.

Even when they are running, they are slow, get bad gas mileage and have worst in class interior space. Never understood the allure of them as street commuters.

They're very luxurious and posh when new, but they are just horrible pieces of schit. It's as though someone invented a machine to separate people from their money for ~10 years, (this is when they are junked), whoever has the displeasure of owning it during this period gets fisted half to death. The machine would not work w/o a lot of leather and wood to give it allure, if the scary stories ever overwhelmed the allure there would be no more suckers, I mean customers. No, I mean suckers.

I have a friend who bought one used a few years ago, I warned him that between fuel and repair costs he could lease any brand new $60-$70k car with a warranty for the same $$. He just picked up a new 997 4S, I'll bet the annual cost isn't much different than the $8.00 1993 RR he had. :cool:

I thought I had a lemon, then frequented a couple of RR forums, and heard the same story everywhere. Worst of it is, if I had never bought the RR, and just kept my '96 Discovery, I'd have a 911 by now. Figured I'd upgrade my suv to a newer, nicer one, then buy a 911. $43k later I finally have one (FJ), and am on track for a 911 this fall, albeit somewhat late!

Cheers,

Paul.

My buddy just picked up a LR2 this weekend the new model. I have to say that to me the inside is really nice, but I have a 31 yr old 911 and a 10 yr old Jeep so interiors have come a long way. I warned him about LR's reliability and service issues but he pressed on anyways. I'm interested to see how his works after all the negative LR comments I have heard.

Has anyone heard anything good or bad about the LR2.

D@mn Lendaddy, I recently had daydreams about coming up there and hauling it away for you. One less project to cloud my mind!:D

Oh it was a project alright. But, he did drive it out of here after a new battery and 1/2 hour of goofing around. My uncle happened to drive in when he was just starting it up and he claims that upon it firing up and settling into an idle they guy exclaimed "Yea Joel!!!" and gave the double-fist shake of elation.

Like I said, and odd fella.

I know two guys the own them. One truck had a shorted wire harness, the truck started on it's own in a parking lot. A month later the block cracked. Just out of warranty.

The second was a diesel Discovery. I thought the turbo was pooched until he told me that was as fast it could accelerate. Totally underpowered POS.

Am I the only happy LR owner here?

The few, the proud. The best 4x4xFar!

I've always liked this animated graphic...............


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1175530173.gif

We're on our 3rd Discovery. Sure we've had some repeated service items but then my neighbor with a 5 series BMW hasn't fared much better. It's no Toyota or Honda in reliability but if you keep up on regular service items it's a *cool* vehicle. MPG sucks but I knew that going in. 9 MPG average for the soccer mom duties (no highway) and best was 17-18 MPG coming home from Phoenix last week with cruise set at 80 mph. They are heavy, very slow, and don't like turning. Positives, it's super comfortable, very capable off-road, and has loads of character.

I know the 95-99 Disco Series 1's had some problems, we once owned a '97, but the Series II models seem to be aging better. The only other vehicle my wife remotely likes is the new Toyota FJ. Way more "reliable" I'm sure but not as comfy or cool. ;)

Just put a *****in' bull bar from RoverTym on my D2 with a 2" lift and some MTs. Getting it ready for the LR National Rally in Colorado this summer, its going to be sick. Mine looks just like this one:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1175532366.jpg

this is amazing. i never knew they had such bad rep. is this for all of them? range/land-rover etc? any difference since beemer took over? not sure why, but i always wanted a defender. thought it looked cool...

I am a satisfied disco owner too:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showthread.php?threadid=321848

BMW dumped them years ago when they couldn't make them any better... they have been with Ford for the past few (4?) years.

Land Rover never has trouble selling people the *first* one....repeat business suffers. The company is like a cult, the people that work there are loyal as all get out...interesting dynamics.

My mother had a first year Range Rover around '95 or '96. It had some serious issues... like auto locking doors that locked whenever they felt like it. Once my dad was dropping off my brother at the airport, after my brother got his bag out of the car and said goodbye, the doors locked stranding my dad there for 30 minutes with the ignition on. By the time AAA came, the doors unlocked themselves. The car was in for 2 weeks for a wiring harness repair. There were a ton of other little issues with it as well. I would never buy one after hearing what my parents went through with that car.

Well, they are pretty darn unique and appealing vehicles if you don't have to deal w/ fixing them. If I could see buying a $60K vehicle new and selling it after 5 years thus eating some 50-60% depreciation, I'd buy a RR Sport tommorrow. Maybe someday.

Bottom line: They only look good. They aren't good. Lease, or sell before warranty expires, expect to take a bath.