This car could be described as leaving a bitter sweet taste. Looks good but has brought 'baggage' that would test the patience of a saint (It's probably the condition, the looks and - to be fair - the main dealer customer focus that has enabled me to persuade my wife not to kick the car into touch before now).

The car looks as good close up and inside and out as in the pictures. Immaculate, has always been maintained regardless of cost and yet ironically, I've never experienced a car that has been so high maintenance.

I'm trying to work out whether I should have called time by now (as advised others)?

Last edited by pld118 on 10th Aug 2013 7:08pm. Edited 13 times in total

I would persevere - all the problems must be sorted by now! 2007 Zermatt Silver TDV8 Vogue SE - now sold but was a great car!

Looks very nice, stick with it

And the bother continues... Main Dealer today said it needs a new radiator

[]

Its a straight forward (ish) job if you follow the wiki on this site

I'd persevere as its a lovely looking ff, you could always do a straight swap for mine  2007 3.0L Diesel VW Touareg SE
2003 4.4 LPG, Vogue, Silver

Cheers, it's getting done under warranty.

Last edited by pld118 on 27th Jul 2013 11:58am. Edited 1 time in total

Swap you for a reliable defender

Why don't you take it to a good indy, plenty in Scotland, for a no nonsense evaluation. They will let you know if it a "good 'un" or not. Then you can make a decision as to what to do.  2013 L405 Autobiography Baltic Blue
2007 L322 Vogue Buckingham Blue

Thanks for the replies.

It's my wife's car and is pristine inside and out (on paper it's 'top of the range', has the main dealer FSH, has been main dealer maintained regardless of cost and has the LR warranty).

However, my wife calls it 'a shed' on the basis that it must be, because she's had it 3 months and it's spent a ridiculous amount of time at the main dealer for repairs and remedy. Arguably, part of that might be due to the MD missing things and/or having to re-do what might be considered shortcomings in their work, but I don't want to disrespect the MD as their senior managers have always tried to make things right.

On my Buyer Guide (thread link at start of this post), towards the end, I've listed all of the things that have been MD fixed on this car during the 3 months of ownership. I suppose the question is, do other people think that's a lot of going wrong/ we're being taken for mugs; do they think many of the issues would have passed less particular owners by; or do they think nothing to worry about there/ you're lucky the MD is trying to resolve matters (but if anyone thinks 'lucky', the amount of effort to articulate to the MD what the issues are and the amount of time the car has been out of service cannot be acceptable).

Other RR owner views would really be appreciated because yes I'm particular and pedantic but the fact is I always try to be constructive and I've not dreamt these defects up. They have been real, to date the MD has agreed to repair them all and they wouldn't be doing the repairs at no cost to me if they felt my claims were not justified.



Last edited by pld118 on 7th Aug 2013 10:30pm. Edited 2 times in total

Things shouldn't be breaking all the time. I'd be pretty upset if that w.as happening to my new car (new to me, new). I'm glad that the MD is stepping up to do the repairs, but that many problems in certainly curious. I can think of two reasons: (others may be able to help with more)
1 the MD mechanics don't know what they're doing. They are either breaking things, installing things incorrectly (leading to failure), or not actually replacing the faulty part.
2 the car has had NO PREVIOUS MAINTENANCE, so everything is .

An independent review of the car might shed some light on the reasons. If everything gets replaced, you have a nice NEW car. If the problems are due to previous abuse or lack of maintenance, you want to find out what else is suspect on the car and get it replaced while still under warranty from the MD.

If it's really at the point where you can't trust it and won't take it anywhere you can't walk home from, then it's time to return it and look elsewhere. I know California car dealers have three tries to fix a problem before they have to take the car back. We don't have that here. I don't know what your situation is.

Certainly, IF you keep it, I'd want the MD to extend the warranty because of the number of problems that are surfacing. If the MD has confidence in the car, that's a nice, easy goodwill gesture. If he doesn't have the confidence to do that, should you have that confidence to keep the car?

Thanks for detailed reply RR2008HSE... I think the only way the car can have been abused is if the previous keeper ragged the backside off it as it's such a clean car and it doesnt drive like it's been ragged/ far from it. Guess I'll never really know the answer to that one.

The car has only been worked on by 2 MD garages and the service/maint record is lengthy, complete/ computerised records backing up the handwritten service booklet, both of which I've inspected closely, so unless both MD have been recording/ reporting work that they've not actually done, the car has been maintained (unless your incompetence theory is 'on the money').

The car is warrantied, the LR approved used warranty has been extended (an apparent gesture of the MD faith in the car) and the MD has given a written assurance that the car is fit for purpose. On that basis, I told them we would not request a refund which we were entitled to seek... And within a month, the car is back with the MD for substantial repairs including significant remedial work on 2 issues I'd previously reported including the new driver's door and repairs that were not right.

The question is who would be the best Independent LR professional to inspect the car in Scotland or England (I could do either if deciding to go down that route) and how much would that cost me?

Thanks again.

Last edited by pld118 on 26th Jul 2013 7:32pm. Edited 1 time in total

i can only speak from experience, may take a while however i will try to be brief I have had LRs for over 20 years, initially as fun RR classics then I purchased a 6 month old Discovery II V8, ran it for 80,000 miles with no problems apart from suspension pimp at 70,000, howvever ( and this is the nub), my servicing experience at main dealers was atrocious( it came back with one a huge dent which they took 2 weeks to admit). Anyway, reliability was not an issue> Next was a P38 4.0 HSE, lasted 6 months as massive problems with reliability ( battery ). So based on previous reliability of Disco I bought a 12 month old FFRR TD6, this was in 2005. The first 2 years were a bloody nightmare, car was in MD for at least 9 months with stupid niggling things e.g Fuel Tank sender ( 3 months for MD to fix), on that occasion wife picked car up and on way home noticed bonnet unlatched and inside was rag and spanner (seriously). I had meeting with MD principal together with my 35 point problem checklist of which even now they havent bothered with at least 10 points.

ANYWAY, point of the saga, have now had the car for c. 8 years and aside from normal RR issues (battery) it has been a pleasure to own, it tows a horse trailer every weekend fully loaded all over the UK, never had a hiccup or gearbox issue, has now done 110,000 and loves its visits to an LR independent for servicing, all their guys are ex LR and are LR enthusiasts, they care whereas the Stealers are unfortunately only there for profit, which I can appreciate but not ideal for customer satisfaction!!

Stick with it

Rant over

Rosco 2013 L405 Autobiography Baltic Blue
2007 L322 Vogue Buckingham Blue

I would stick with it, you soind a lot like me im that you are noticing even the smallest defects and want them put right. At some point in the near future it will be 100% and them will give years of relatively trouble free motoring. As you say it has never actually broken down.

As the dealer has extended the warranty you have at least a little while of cost free repairs. Ok it is an inconvenience to have to keep taking it to the dealer, but bear in mind that it is now a 6 year old car, not old by any means but not brand new either.

I agree that things the dealer says they have rectified which keep breaking points to less than perfect workmanship.

I went the route of buying a rangie with a few bits which needed doing which turned into 3000+ of warranty repairs over the last 18 months, the first 6 months it was in the garage for fixes at reasonably regular intervals, however the repairs are now petering out, just done the other rear caliper myself as the dealer didmt have on in at v short notice, was half expecting the failure, so not too bad, now waiting for the alternator to pack in them it should be sorted for the next few years! There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
FFRR 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography Santorini Black.
KIA E-Niro 4+
2021 Discovery 5 D300 MHEV commercial

I'm in the same position as you, I have replaced a lot of parts on the car and am not expecting them to fail anytime soon. My biggest worry is still the gearbox but that may be on its way to resolution and the cooling system (water in it for too long, without me knowing it, led to both the oil/water coolers to crack internally so what is going to happen to the radiator etc ?? and what about the oil in the cooling system and the seals/hoses ?).

Anyway, I plan to hang on to it even if we leave this place, provided we go to a LHD country next of course.

I have spent about 2,200 Euro on things that I consider "not normal maintenance" like a new DVD Changer, fuel pump (although I got it very cheap) etc. and about 3,300 Euro on normal maintenance (big cost was new front struts because of the airbags giving up the ghost).

Worst case I have to look at a complete new gearbox (unlikely but 3000 Euro ex transport) and best case is a new set of coils (300 Euro plus oil AGAIN) and replacement of radiator, heater core and hoses (will be a 1000 plus Euro I guess).

To me all this works makes the car better and better for longer and since I'm hoping it will be my car for a lot longer (the start of my collection ?? Classic, P38, this L322 and L405 in the future ??). If you intend(ed) to keep the car for a long time, I think it is worth it. If you intend to change cars in two or three years time anyway, then it isn't IMHO.

Having said that, even a write off of the cost over 2 or 3 years is not that bad I'd say. The worst part (not having the car) is over already anyway and just a bad memory. MY 2010 5.0 SC Galway green and sand interior!!
Have the Faultmate MSV2 Extreme to be tinkering with the settings etc. !!

The car has now been at the local main dealer for it's latest holiday for over 2 weeks (and its still not ready):

1. Re work on the new driver's door which had wind noise and imperfections to the paint finish.

2. Treatment of very early signs of corrosion to the rear upper tailgate by means of 'removing the corrosion' and repainting the tailgate.

3. Examination of recently treated/ repainted rear arches for rust to ensure the rust had not returned (bodyshop says imperfections were not rust but paint finish needing correction by means of machine polishing).

4. Fitting a new radiator but when stripped down to replace it, they noticed that 'a second radiator' needed replacing as well and that second radiator was 'on back order' and has only just arrived today...

Very frustrating/ patience wearing thin now...