Are they worth buying?

[danhutton]

Selling my TVR and looking at a Range Rover.l 8k seems to get a petrol or diesel about 100k with 18 inch hurricanes, light upgrade pack and leather. Would one of these make a good buy or will I be buying a lot of trouble (again!) - they look so good!
Thanks

[judgea]

Dan, I had two range rovers: 94 4.2 long wheel base, & 97 4.0 SE. Both great vehicles to drive, fast & strong, but when they break, and they do break, get ready for a headache. I finally got rid of my 94 when the head gasket began leaking oil into the water system, causing hoses to blow from pressure. I never, never, ran the veh. hot, but still had a warped head. I did not expect this at 120,000 mi. Otherwise, it was a great, great veh. The 97 was also a great veh. But once the a.c. compressor failed, then the alternator failed in freezing weather at my father's funeral--it was bad timing & I questioned the true value of the veh. Alot of small problems w/both: 97: rear-view mirror fall off consistently; poor paint job; air lift shock absorber/lift system failure. 94: leaking radiator hoses burned some type of diode in the distributor cap, causing engine failure (this happened 3 times); ABS brake system failure; air lift shock absorber/lift system failure; front wheel 4-wheel drive problems. You will love the great, powerful & fast drive, good handling, but expect high & expensive maintenance.

[danhutton]

judgea said:

Dan, I had two range rovers: 94 4.2 long wheel base, & 97 4.0 SE. Both great vehicles to drive, fast & strong, but when they break, and they do break, get ready for a headache. I finally got rid of my 94 when the head gasket began leaking oil into the water system, causing hoses to blow from pressure. I never, never, ran the veh. hot, but still had a warped head. I did not expect this at 120,000 mi. Otherwise, it was a great, great veh. The 97 was also a great veh. But once the a.c. compressor failed, then the alternator failed in freezing weather at my father's funeral--it was bad timing & I questioned the true value of the veh. Alot of small problems w/both: 97: rear-view mirror fall off consistently; poor paint job; air lift shock absorber/lift system failure. 94: leaking radiator hoses burned some type of diode in the distributor cap, causing engine failure (this happened 3 times); ABS brake system failure; air lift shock absorber/lift system failure; front wheel 4-wheel drive problems. You will love the great, powerful & fast drive, good handling, but expect high & expensive maintenance.

Thanks! Ive got a TVR a the moment so anything cant be as bad!

[Davel]

I've had a Defender, two range Rovers and about 5 Discoveries in the past.

Don't know if it's different now but the only real problems that I had were the attitude of Land Rover and their reluctance to deal with issues - even with the dealer and finance company applying pressure too.

Many key staff left during their changes of ownership and no one would ever make a decision, leaving at least one Discovery at the main dealer for about 6 weeks whilst I had a small Rover to lend.

In the end Land Rover offered to contribute about £5k, provided I funded the balance of a trade up.

[JSG]

Like TVRs if they've got a service history and you spend the money to keep them serviced and maintained they should be no trouble. Spend a bit more if you need to and get one with a history.