I'm not a car guy but I always thought Land Rovers were supposed to be some awesome, tough, off-roader. I was looking at trucks on Autotrader and saw a number of used Land Rovers with fairly low mileage. They were priced lower than what I would have thought. Then I started reading and learned they are pretty much the least dependable vehicle out there.

So, what exactly makes them so maintenance heavy?

I got mine in 2018.

The hood release cable stretched so you had to pull it a few times for the hood to release.

The alternator went bad at 66k.

Oil changes cost 350 bucks but you only do them every 16k miles.

I did rear brakes and rotors at 60k


It is so awful, God I wish I had a slow af toyota sequoia instead that got 13 mpg

it's not maintenance heavy, it is ish always breaking heavy.

Lol. Land Rovers are not in the same universe as Toyota as far as reliability and cost of maintenance. I'm sure MPG's are basically the same, too.

My car before the lr was a brand new 2017 4runner.

Fuel pump went bad at 20k

Brake rotors warped at 25k

Couldn't climb a hill without revving to 5k rpms

16 to 17 mpg

Couldn't tow, unsafe to make maneuvers at any speed

Here's an example of what I'm finding.

2004 Range Rover, 70K miles

$14K for 70K miles seems like a good deal (maybe I'm just used to pre-owned Tundra/4Runner/Sequoia prices) but I have no idea what I'd be walking into. Color is nice tho!

All cars have issues and I am sure a lr has more than a 4runner or sequoia.

But on the other hand a perfectly running 4runner or sequoia is a turd to drive and a perfectly running lr is a great drive.

So the question is...

Do you want an awesome drive that occassionally needs a repair (lr, bmw, mb) or a turd that very rarely needs a repair (toyota, honda), or even a turd that breaks down (ford, dodge, chevy)?

The lr has some issues but it is still my favorite car I have ever owned. I like it better than the porsche in my garage

NoahAg said:

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Here's an example of what I'm finding.

2004 Range Rover, 70K miles

$14K for 70K miles seems like a good deal (maybe I'm just used to pre-owned Tundra/4Runner/Sequoia prices) but I have no idea what I'd be walking into. Color is nice tho!

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Obviously I like lrs, but I wouldn't buy a 20 year old lr except as a project/fun car

knoxtom said:

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All cars have issues and I am sure a lr has more than a 4runner or sequoia.

But on the other hand a perfectly running 4runner or sequoia is a turd to drive and a perfectly running lr is a great drive.

So the question is...

Do you want an awesome drive that occassionally needs a repair (lr, bmw, mb) or a turd that very rarely needs a repair (toyota, honda), or even a turd that breaks down (ford, dodge, chevy)?

The lr has some issues but it is still my favorite car I have ever owned. I like it better than the porsche in my garage

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Well once you own a lemon then you will understand why many people buy toyotas. In my case it was a 2015 F150 that lived in the shop. I know I had more issues than most ford owners but when you need your truck and its not in your driveway time and time again you start to get angry. I dumped it at 36500 miles and bought a tundra. My mindset went from fun to drive, new tech etc. to i just want a truck that works.

Base engine in a defender has less power than a Lexus GX460 (better comparison than a 4Runner or sequoia) and the defender is heavier.

Their reputation was earned from the Series I, etc. in places like "Arabia" and Africa.
A far cry from the airbagged, leather wrapped luxury cruiser of today.

I was lucky enough to get to drive a Land Rover Series I as a 14 y/o kid in the desert in Saudi Arabia. I don't know if I win any Internet points for that but it was a cool experience.

Pro: Never have any corrosion underneath

Con: have to add oil every 500 miles

The Brit's are still pissed off about losing the war. Range Rovers, Jaguars, Aston Martins are their passive aggressive way to recoup their losses. HTH.

Paging mookie for his second best joke

If I were looking for a Land Rover, it would be a Defender.

Some of the finest parts in the world fall off land rovers every day.

knoxtom said:

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Obviously I like lrs, but I wouldn't buy a 20 year old lr except as a project/fun car

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Here is your answer. You can buy a 20yr old Toyota all day long and have a good experience with it.

We bought our full size 2018 Disco used about 2 1/2 years ago and it's been rock solid mechanically. My dad has leased 3 RR back-to-back-to-back and loves them. Routine maintenance is expensive relative to other makes, of course. I think that may be the reason for some of the low mileage LRs on the market. People buy them and then are shocked when an oil change costs hundreds of dollars.

People act like Toyotas are always the answer, but my experience with them has been poor. Also had issues with a used Lexus at same rate I've had issues with my F150s. Ford dealership is more convenient to the house so we drive Fords.

Drive what you like. LRs are cool and I'd drive one.

My personal experience says a Dodge Caravan is more reliable than a Toyota Land Cruiser, by a lot.

Jack Boyett said:

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My personal experience says a Dodge Caravan is more reliable than a Toyota Land Cruiser, by a lot.

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I'm not questioning your experience, but it sounds like you got a unicorn of a Dodge and an anomaly of a Toyota.

Those experiences both sound like a couple standard deviations away from their mean.

2021 4Runner TRD ORP. 46,000 miles. Not a single issue. Live ITL Houston and surviving mad max conditions on the daily with the stock drive train. Lifetime mileage of 17.6 MPG calculated with excel as all fill ups have been logged. Only change from stock was that I put on falken wildpeaks atw3 in stock size, SL rating at 916 miles.

YMMV

I just picked up a 2011 L322 Range Rover! They're amazing offroad machines. We'll see about reliability, but Jeremy Clarkson, Harry Metcalfe, and Iain Tyrrell all love theirs, so that has to mean something. A Toyota/Lexus would have been the smart move, I guess, but they're boring and not very fun to drive IMHO.

Jack Boyett said:

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My personal experience says a Dodge Caravan is more reliable than a Toyota Land Cruiser, by a lot.

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Every once a while someone creates a totally unique sentence that's never been written or uttered before in the entirety of mankind.

We have rules around here.

knoxtom said:

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I got mine in 2018.

The hood release cable stretched so you had to pull it a few times for the hood to release.

The alternator went bad at 66k.

Oil changes cost 350 bucks but you only do them every 16k miles.

I did rear brakes and rotors at 60k


It is so awful, God I wish I had a slow af toyota sequoia instead that got 13 mpg

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My 13 mpg Seq hauls a$$. Way quicker than i expected for a 6k lbs vehicle. And if you wanna make it even quicker you can do that for same cost as a few of those LR oil changes.

JSKolache said:

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knoxtom said:

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I got mine in 2018.

The hood release cable stretched so you had to pull it a few times for the hood to release.

The alternator went bad at 66k.

Oil changes cost 350 bucks but you only do them every 16k miles.

I did rear brakes and rotors at 60k


It is so awful, God I wish I had a slow af toyota sequoia instead that got 13 mpg

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My 13 mpg Seq hauls a$$. Way quicker than i expected for a 6k lbs vehicle. And if you wanna make it even quicker you can do that for same cost as a few of those LR oil changes.

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But it's so boring to drive. You don't get the daily rush of playing Will It Start.

vmiaptetr said:

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We have rules around here.

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An excellent point!



Bought it on Bring a Trailer. 91K miles. It was clearly loved, it is in great shape. I don't think anyone ever used the rear seats, the doors were stiff and it's immaculate back there. Lots of updated parts on it, ie cooling system has been refreshed at some point, suspension, and other bits.

I did have to replace the fuel injectors recently. One of them failed as I was driving along. Annoying, but that is the kind of thing you expect at this kind of mileage. There is a weird suspension issue that I haven't figured out, it all operates correctly, just throws a code that needs to be reset from time to time.... I'll figure it out eventually.

Really a nice vehicle to ride around in. It'll probably replace the Rabbit and Expedition and get used for camping, beach crawling, etc... that's why we got it, they're capable offroad machines.

Nice!

Looks amazing. Hope you enjoy it.

My mom had a '99 when we lived in the UK. Thing was an absolute turd

Do they still have the gangsta lean? Or did they figure that out finally?

Milwaukees Best Light said:

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Do they still have the gangsta lean? Or did they figure that out finally?

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What do you mean? The L322, at least, has air suspension, so you could configure it to do whatever you like, I guess.

The ones back in the 90's had a lean to them. I want to say it was to the drivers side.

Mookie said:

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Some of the finest parts in the world fall off land rovers every day.

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