LR4 Rust

Well, this LR3 has a lot more rust than my 2004 discovery but the 08 bmw and audi are about 99% rust free. Why is this ?! Similar mileage, years and location ! The difference is astounding really.

Next new vehicle I buy will be fully prepped with Boshield before going anywhere.

colorover said:

Perhaps composites in the distant future, but no company has been able to mass produce composite chassis in volume. BMW has come the closest with the i3, but even that has had its issues and still is not cost effective. They remain in the realm of specialty applications (high end cars and specific components) for the foreseeable future.

Click to expand...

BMW has trickled some of it down, but you are right it isn't quite ready for prime time. The Carbon Core tech from the i3 made it into the new 7 series and was supposed to be included in the new 5 series, but was eventually nixed in the 5 due to cost. They went with the addition of a few magnesium parts as well as more aluminum.

I am guessing another 5-10 years and this stuff will be commonplace.

Fully prepped with Boeshield will not protect you from bimetallic corrosion.
I would be interested in knowing where LR source their steel since this makes a massive difference. Some steel impurities make the metal rust more quickly. I have a Mercedes and it has a small chip down to the steel. It has not rusted in a year. On my LR it would be a hole by now.

Another anecdote about LR in Europe at least is that LR owned the African market until Toyota came along with the BJ40 and 70 and so on. The big advantage? They could be fixed with a hammer..even ISIS and the Taliban have worked this out. When was the last time you saw a Defender in one of their columns?

As a LR owner in the Middle East, the ISIS comment is pretty stupid. A new 2016 Defender D90 is going to cost you about $55k USD. Even in a rich country here like Qatar, they are crazy rare to be seen on the roads. I might see one in a few weeks? A new J40 Land Cruiser is about $25k USD and I can see dozens of them on the way home from work on the roads in a single trip. The full size LC are the most popular vehicle on the roads here by a long shot. I would lose count within 10 minutes in a single trip on the road.

It's a sheer numbers game of why you see so many Toyotas caught up in warzones over here. The most popular used by ISIS / insurgents by far is the Hilux. This was the infamous truck on Top Gear that they dropped off a building, hit it with a wrecking ball, buried it under the sea, set on fire, and amongst other things it kept running and now sits on display behind the audience. They are dirt cheap here.

2016 D90 = $53k USD
http://qatarsale.com/mycar_e.aspx?carid=203901

2016 D110 = $72k USD
http://qatarsale.com/mycar_e.aspx?carid=201768

2016 J40= $26k USD
http://qatarsale.com/mycar_e.aspx?carid=204529

2017 Full sized LC = $46.5k USD
http://qatarsale.com/mycar_e.aspx?carid=204529

2017 Toyota Hilux =$19k USD
http://qatarsale.com/mycar_e.aspx?carid=204469



All of that said, my 2013 LR4 looks like a horror show underneath compared to my friends' LCs and Jeeps.

Stupid? Sensitive is it?
If you look at the list prices of Defenders before they became a fashion item, they are marginally more expensive than the ISIS vehicles but of course LR doesn't have an equivalent of the Hilux and probably never will have so you can't compare.
If you look at the latest set of cars form LR, all of which are identical, there is no pick-up and no Defender replacement, The market they owned 40 years ago has been given away.$I think they should badde a RangeRover ISIS special pickup with the fittings to take a machine gun already installed..

My entire point is, for every 1 Defender or Discovery I see around there are thousands of LCs. New or old. If you are invading some local town and taking a truck, you are naturally going to end up with thousands of LCs / Hilux due to sheer numbers.. not because of quality preference.

If only LR could pop a king-cab body on an extended Disco chassis..with the superb drivetrain combo of the v6 diesel and ZF, they would be on to a winner for the utility market. They could easily meet Toyota on price too. I would buy one instantly. Can but dream..

I stopped by Land Rover Cape Cod to test drive a SCV6 Discovery since I was not impressed by the TD6 demo I drove at another dealer. The salesperson asked if I frequently drove on the beach, which we do. Twice he mentioned how great it was that the Discovery was now an aluminum unibody with no steel frame. Then he showed me a LR3 in the shop with the body lifted off the frame with a badly rusted frame and an entire new frame sitting next to it. The LR3 owner lives on Nantucket, so the vehicle only had 20,000 miles on it. (Nantucket is 14 miles long x 4 miles wide) However, the original frame had rusted out from the constant salt air, so they were replacing it. I guess we will have to keep checking our frames to combat the rust if possible.

The guy I bought my LR3 from found a RR Sport to replace it before we finsihed the deal, so we ended up doing a courtesy trade at the dealer (Infinity Dealer) to make it simple. He had only driven it and inspected it at night. While we were waiting they brought his RRS around front and he showed it to us. There was rust in all the door and trunk latches and all around the frame. Turns out it was a Jersey Shore car. He tried his best to put on an unconcerned face, but there was no turning back now as we were there doing the deal. I sure would not have wanted that car!

So, did you like the V6 better than the diesel????

Beware of hosing down the underside and throwing it in the garage, if you have a water softener all you're doing is spraying salty water back on it then allowing it to sit....