I have been looking at vehicles for a few weeks now. We have mainly been looking at Jeep Commanders, but I have also been considering Ford Expeditions, Lincoln Navigators, GMC Yukons, and LR3s. I'm not an off-roader (yet). Basically, I wanted to get something with three rows of seats that could do some decent towing (at least 7,000lbs). We (wife and I) have been leaning very (almost exclusively) toward the Jeep Commander...
We went out comparing vehicles tonight. I mostly wanted to get an idea of the roominess of the interior (I'm 6'2") and the comfort of the seats of the vehicles we were comparing. I went to one dealership and sat in a Fod Expedition and a Commander. The Expedition was super roomy and quite comfortable. I really don't like the looks of the car though! I sat in every seat in the Commander. I fit in every seat. It's not winning any comfort awards, but I thought it was fine.
However, the evening took a surprising turn when I decided to drop by the local Land Rover dealership. I went to just sit in an LR3 and compare it to the Commander. I had actually never been in (let alone driven) a Land Rover. The LR3 was more roomy that the Commander, especially in the third row seats. The salesman was super helpful and very pleasant--I had been complaining about used car salesman at the previous dealership. Anyway, he gave us a quick tour of some of the features of the car and I was already pretty impressed at this point. After that, he turned on the car and showed us the air suspension--even more impressive! After that, he took my wife and I on their small off-road course at the dealership. We went up and down a pretty steep rock hill, went over some contorting bumps (I forgot what they are really called), and then across a 37-degree incline. I was super impressed at this point. It had the 4x4 graphical display on the nav screen that showed you which tires were on the ground and some other useful information, I thought that was pretty cool. I was not only impressed with the vehicle, but I was also impressed with the attention we were receiving. There was somebody else there buying a $100k Range Rover, but we were just there looking at 2005-2006 LR3s, and they were very attentive, patient, and informative. After the off-road the salesman showed me some tight-cornering going about 30-mph, I was still impressed. After that he let us take it out on the freeway. Until this point I hadn't seriously considered the LR3, but I was very impressed. I will definitely be doing some more research tonight. The LR3 is definitely going to be tough competition!
There are three main worries that I have. I would appreciate any feedback on these items:
1. The price of parts. The parts are coming from the UK, right? With the dollar so weak vs. the euro, does this make parts super expensive?
2. The frequency of maintenance. I've read in some random forums and pages that Land Rover tires and breaks need replaces more frequently than other vehicles. Is this true? Are there other high maintenance costs?
3. The big one here. Almost everywhere I read wars about Land Rover reliability. Should I be afraid to purchase a Land Rover?
P.S. I asked the salesman about reliability quite a bit. He said that they get that question a lot, but he says that it mostly because of the way that they (JD Power & Assoc, for example) do their polling. He was telling me that Land Rover makes far less vehicles than many of the other popular makes of vehicles, so the numbers get skewed. I know he's a salesman, obviously, so he's not going to tell me that the cars are unreliable. He also said it has to do with the fact that the car is very high tech and a lot of things--even very minor things--are monitored my the computer and can set off the "check engine" light.
We are going to look at more Commanders and LR3s tomorrow. I'm not considering anything else at this point. After just that small off-road course, I think it's something I could definitely get into!
We went out comparing vehicles tonight. I mostly wanted to get an idea of the roominess of the interior (I'm 6'2") and the comfort of the seats of the vehicles we were comparing. I went to one dealership and sat in a Fod Expedition and a Commander. The Expedition was super roomy and quite comfortable. I really don't like the looks of the car though! I sat in every seat in the Commander. I fit in every seat. It's not winning any comfort awards, but I thought it was fine.
However, the evening took a surprising turn when I decided to drop by the local Land Rover dealership. I went to just sit in an LR3 and compare it to the Commander. I had actually never been in (let alone driven) a Land Rover. The LR3 was more roomy that the Commander, especially in the third row seats. The salesman was super helpful and very pleasant--I had been complaining about used car salesman at the previous dealership. Anyway, he gave us a quick tour of some of the features of the car and I was already pretty impressed at this point. After that, he turned on the car and showed us the air suspension--even more impressive! After that, he took my wife and I on their small off-road course at the dealership. We went up and down a pretty steep rock hill, went over some contorting bumps (I forgot what they are really called), and then across a 37-degree incline. I was super impressed at this point. It had the 4x4 graphical display on the nav screen that showed you which tires were on the ground and some other useful information, I thought that was pretty cool. I was not only impressed with the vehicle, but I was also impressed with the attention we were receiving. There was somebody else there buying a $100k Range Rover, but we were just there looking at 2005-2006 LR3s, and they were very attentive, patient, and informative. After the off-road the salesman showed me some tight-cornering going about 30-mph, I was still impressed. After that he let us take it out on the freeway. Until this point I hadn't seriously considered the LR3, but I was very impressed. I will definitely be doing some more research tonight. The LR3 is definitely going to be tough competition!
There are three main worries that I have. I would appreciate any feedback on these items:
1. The price of parts. The parts are coming from the UK, right? With the dollar so weak vs. the euro, does this make parts super expensive?
2. The frequency of maintenance. I've read in some random forums and pages that Land Rover tires and breaks need replaces more frequently than other vehicles. Is this true? Are there other high maintenance costs?
3. The big one here. Almost everywhere I read wars about Land Rover reliability. Should I be afraid to purchase a Land Rover?
P.S. I asked the salesman about reliability quite a bit. He said that they get that question a lot, but he says that it mostly because of the way that they (JD Power & Assoc, for example) do their polling. He was telling me that Land Rover makes far less vehicles than many of the other popular makes of vehicles, so the numbers get skewed. I know he's a salesman, obviously, so he's not going to tell me that the cars are unreliable. He also said it has to do with the fact that the car is very high tech and a lot of things--even very minor things--are monitored my the computer and can set off the "check engine" light.
We are going to look at more Commanders and LR3s tomorrow. I'm not considering anything else at this point. After just that small off-road course, I think it's something I could definitely get into!
