USED Land Rover Range Rover 4x4 (02 - )

My car

Ahhh the Range Rover.....the promise of one of the best cars in the world and the reality of dreadful reliability (truly dreadful), appalling dealer service and iffy mechanical build quality.

I've just sold mine but will give a - hopefully - balanced view to anyone reading this and may be thinking of buying one.

The positives first...when it's running the Range Rover IS one of the best cars in the world, WHEN it's running.

The bad bits... I experienced suspension failure (sensor failure) and also the infamous front differential/prop failure which seems to affect so many cars. The car was trailored to the dealer who quickly repaired it....and then tried to get me to pay £1000 for the repair (even though the car was under warranty) as failure was down to 'wear and tear'. I refused, showed them my letter from their MD, they paid up, same with other problems.

So...should you buy a Range Rover ? Hmmmmmmm can't speak for the new TDV8s or petrols as I had a TD6 but let me just say that out of the 6 friends of mine who had a Range Rover when I bought mine (last year) none of us still own one and have left the brand, I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions !

My car

Having just ordered my new RR Vogue TDV8 following a 2 day test drive courtesy of a local dealer all I can say is how staggered I am at the improvements with the new model. Landrover have a fantastic marketing position and that is that no matter how terrible some of their dealers are, in this case Sturgess of Leicester and the dreadful "luck" I had in the last 4 months ownership of my P38 2001 Vogue V8 they know that once you have had one its all you will always want. I have found a new relatively local dealer and they are superb,this is my first diesel car and I am staggered at how refined it is, finally ! and lets face it when you do 18,000 miles a year a petrol RR can leave you in tears and bankruptcy! This car is an outstanding achievment and somehow its made up for everything else Landrover have got wrong over the years. I am 27 and all I can say is forget Porsche, BMW etc if you want a really cool car with real presence then this is it!

My car

I have owned this car for a year, I bought at 3 years old and have taken the mileage from 57k to 70k. I have owned every type of landrover, toyota land cruisers, e class, 5 series, subaru's, porsche etc.. This without question is the best all round vehicle I have owned. It imparts a sense of occassion to every drive, you arrive rather than having journeyed. I know through my own experience LR's can be unreliable but this RR has been very good, build quality excellent, still feels taut and like a year old car not 4 years old. You can by one like for £24k can't think of better value for money. Hopefully will be replaced with the V8 diesel at the appropriate time.

My car

I've always admired RRs,I've always wanted to own one. I couldn't believe my luck when I got the chance to have one as a company car. SO far so good but things started to go wrong pretty soon after I'd ordered the 3.0TD SE ('56 plate). The car was delivered with the wrong colour carpets, a busted CD player, water in the rear light cluster and CLOTH SEATS WHICH AREN'T EVEN AN OPTION YOU CAN SPECIFIY!!! Weeks later the car was finally delivered with leather, the right carpet etc. in the 1yr+ I've had the car it's barely gone a month without a trip back to the dealer: phone kit, steering mounted controls, ventilation system and arm rest have all had to be fixed. Major problems have included the car getting stuck at access height, mechanical pulley in engine (2 weeks to fix)and continual problems with light clusters taking on water/foglamps falling out of housing. Unfortunately it doesn't seem that this car, despite it's capabilies, can actually cope with off-road conditions. Lovely car, terrible reliability and useless dealers. I'm so glad it's not my own money but could do without the hassle and am counting down the months until i can get something Japanese!