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I had...and they are now owned by Tata and in between by someone else....and never really improved
Ford
I had...and they are now owned by Tata and in between by someone else....and never really improved
Got me thinking, in a past life I supplied Hydraulics to a lot of the big names in construction/agriculture/mining etc and there were some obvious differences in approach: developing a new vehicle with CAT, Volvo, Liebherr or John Deere and there would be a large team of engineers dedicated to the project, this usually resulted in quality products. With JCB, Terex, Bobcat or New Holland there was less to far less resource in the team and typically the outcome reflected this. Working with the Japanese was different, my employers had a factory in Japan and when I met their engineers it was apparent that they were excellent, also the young engineers typically lived in dormitory's at the factory and worked well in excess of 80 hours a week, I suspect that culture is repeated in many Japanese manufacturer's. This is an oversimplification as other factors come in to play: procurement of components, involvement of service and manufacturing at concept, never mind quality control and company systems.
So to a degree products reflected the effort (and ingenuity) put into them. Not sure where Landrover fall in that equation - I certainly love my Defender (with all its idiosyncrasies/faults) but I am no longer the market that they target...... their products appear to put lots of effort into styling and aesthetics whereas I was more used to the focus on function and ergonomics.
And just to defend Freelanders, my dad ran a TD4 for years without fault and loved it (now has a Honda CRV -made in Swindon though)
Sorry for going fftopic:
...our last D4 was built in 2015 had all the bells and whistles on and cost over twice as much as my first and it was garbage.
loyal beyond the call of duty....Had many LRs from new over past 12 years, the quality has gone down hill especially with the D3/D4s my first D3 was purchased the year they came out it was the best one I ahem had our last D4 was built in 2015 had all the bells and whistles on and cost over twice as much as my first and it was garbage. Have a D5 on order which will be built in Slovakia will be interesting to see what the quality is like.
I do love how all these threads turn In to Land Rover bashing
You may know I'm a bit of a fan, My D2 has done 30k in 12 months, mostly full of gear and with a roof rack, plus green laning and off road play days
Other than normal servicing its needed a wheel bearing (and at that mileage that's a consumable part imo) and the belt tensioner went causing an issue, again I knew it was suspect and pushed my luck
I've had brand new vans with serious issues in under 10k, none of them had anything like the abuse of the D2
Sure it's not what the OP wanted but they are not all just unreliable heaps, especially if you actually do the basic servicing
I remember watching the Royal Marines training. They were driving their 110s at about 40mph along a dirt road. The "enemy" had laid telegraph poles across the road to stop them. The Royal marines carried on anyway bouncing over the poles without slowing down. I wonder how many other 4x4s would survive that?
and about 20 other manufacturers are higher......Audi and BMW both lower than Land Rover
If you go scoby go petrol.Looking to change wife's Subaru Impreza bought new in 2009 from a car supermarket and just clocked 120k,
Reason for change is its a bit on the small side, and after too long of living at the hospital were now planning to drive to the alps a couple of times a year and get back to the snow.
Question is what to change it for criteria seams to be,
True 4x4,
Big enough to carry a family of 4 with kit , but not to massive like the double cab to park,
Nothing fancy, It lives on a farm and is steam cleaned prior to MOTs and the inside attacked with hydro vane.
Bomb proof reliable
budget 16-20k not interested in finance or even main dealer so looking at 2-4 year old model.
Looked so far at the Subaru forester, and Mitsubishi Outlander, someone suggested VW/Skoda but not sure on reliability?
Suggestions much apricated.
If you go scoby go petrol.
I do love how all these threads turn In to Land Rover bashing
You may know I'm a bit of a fan, My D2 has done 30k in 12 months, mostly full of gear and with a roof rack, plus green laning and off road play days
Other than normal servicing its needed a wheel bearing (and at that mileage that's a consumable part imo) and the belt tensioner went causing an issue, again I knew it was suspect and pushed my luck
I've had brand new vans with serious issues in under 10k, none of them had anything like the abuse of the D2
Sure it's not what the OP wanted but they are not all just unreliable heaps, especially if you actually do the basic servicing
The older stuff is better than the newer ones.
Range Rovers seem to be massive money pits!
Why is it that Land Rovers seem to develop oil leaks?
Audi and BMW both lower than Land Rover
I have to say though that isn't a fantastic placing, when you think you could buy 3 Kias, or Hyundai's (both essentially the same brand) or half a dozen Dacia's for les than a single Discovery..... Personally Id be bitter if Id spent 60k on a discovery only to be overtaken by £7K Dacia whilst awaiting recovery..... Cost per reliability none of the "luxury" brands fair well which shows where there priority's lie.
I have to say though that isn't a fantastic placing, when you think you could buy 3 Kias, or Hyundai's (both essentially the same brand) or half a dozen Dacia's for les than a single Discovery..... Personally Id be bitter if Id spent 60k on a discovery only to be overtaken by £7K Dacia whilst awaiting recovery..... Cost per reliability none of the "luxury" brands fair well which shows where there priority's lie.
The luxury brands have far more toys which means far more to go wrong. Also people's expectations are a lot higher when you spend loads of money.
Personally I think I would rather a Discovery than a Dacia - towing 3500kg wouldn't be much fun!