LR 4 Retired

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Rkymtnman

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There is a definite transition underway on this forum as original LR4 buyers are moving on and new members are coming in with their used LR4 vehicles. Funny how second owners have more "wrenching" skills and aren't afraid to work on repairs themselves. Same thing happened with the Audi allroad forum and after a while there were posts and instructions on how to disassemble and repair any part of an allroad.

I'm at 110K miles and paid about $7K in repairs in 2019. Next year I may call it quits with my LR4 and get a Defender, if I like it of course. Still keeping my wife's LR4 for many many more years.

Ha! This is me to a "T". I don't put many miles on a vehicle. I had a 2500 HD GMC Denali with a duramax in it that I sold for nearly 40k to pick up a 21k '13 LR4 with the HD package with 87kmi on the clock. I was shopping for a used 4runner but after driving an LR4 (we used to have a RRS), I was hooked. WAY nicer, gobs more power and torque (required for trips over 10k passes in Colo) and I am certainly able to fix most any issue that crops up on this thing. I find wrenching strangely "therapeutic" and with more cars that drivers in the house, I have options that won't screw me if the 4 needs to be down a few weeks. So far all mine has needed is a battery which from my research here was to be expected since the old one was 5 years old.

Overall - so far - this is probably my favorite vehicle I have owned and I have probably had more than 20 over the years. Wanted to trick it out for off road trail running but recently have been thinking about building up a D2 and keeping this one more refined for daily use. Not that it is "too nice" to cut up - more like I am enjoying it too much to cut it up....will need some mods to make it do what I need - hunting camp, deep snow...need a real set of tires but those are in the works.

I hope it doesn't go down catastrophically, but I have lost engines in 4runners as well so it happens.
 

ryanjl

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Even if they weren't unreliable, the engine in the new Tacoma is terrible for a truck.

There are a lot of Toyota things that are seen as "maintenance" that, if it were any other marque, would be seen as something different.

The 80-series Land Cruiser had a coolant hose that would blow that got the name "pesky heater hose," because it was a PITA to reach and replace. It also was known to have head gasket issues. You also had to rebuild the axles and birfield units about every 80k miles.

The 100 series has a timing belt that needs replaced every 90k miles. If you have the LX470 or later 100 series with the hydraulic suspension, those start having issues a little over 100k miles and they're really expensive to fix right. Most just rip the system out and replace them with springs.

Early 200 series had issues with the water pumps.

There are others.

On Toyotas, these things are seen as quirks. On a Land Rover, they would be seen as "reliability problems."
 

Quijote

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I grew up a huge fan of Toyotas. A friend of mine has a very nice, orange, tricked-out Tacoma (with a manual transmission too!!!). I love the looks and want to love it but I've ridden in it a few times and it's such a crude experience. It's loud, slow, unrefined, small (very small in the rear seats). I can't see me ever owning it. Sure, maybe his mods made it worse, but I drove a vanilla automatic Tacoma a few weeks ago and didn't feel very differently. Both these cars are less than 2-3 years old.
 

ktm525

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Yes the Toyota may be unrefined but the running costs will be lower. LR4s are not cheap to run. I have put 101k kms on the LR4 (bought used and has 175k kms) and A Honda Ridgeline bought new with 145k kms.

All maintenance/parts/tires is has cost me about $0.09/km for the LR4 and $0.035/km for the Ridgeline. The Ridgeline was bought new so the first few years should have been cheaper but still the LR4 is probably close to double. It is just a fancier and more expensive vehicle but it is pricey keeping it in tip top shape.
 

Jimmy Brooks

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That's it! I couldn't explain what I didn't like about the Defender and "looks like a toy" is it.
And the fact that my Defender build costs the same as an HSE-LUX D5 or V6 Range Rover Sport.

Still so disappointed that the D5 SVX got cancelled.

In all honesty if the SVX didn’t get canceled we all would have bought it. The discovery has grown on me after time but the svx was love on first sight. It just looked tougher and better then the regular discovery. All I hope is that one day when they do get a little more money in the budget that they bring it back in some what of the way it was before, but sadly with the new defender I don’t see it happening any time soon.
 

Jimmy Brooks

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I'll be honest. When I had my timing chain and guides replaced under warranty a year ago, I told them it was making a tik-tok sound. When I picked it up after the job, it made the same sound.

I think I, like a lot of people, started hearing ghosts every time I started the engine.

that’s the same with me every time I Hear any clicking I think it’s coming, in fact a couple of days ago I caught my self about to post a vid asking if my timing chain was going south but then realized that it was my sanity that was going south.
 

gsxr

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...I got it for a few different reasons, but a major one was the amount of cargo space and usable 3rd row for its length. Few people realize how short the LR4 is because it's so tall and boxy. I have a shallow (attached) garage and it was the best vehicle for us. That has not changed. It also happens to be a wonderful vehicle. So my plan is to take great care of it and hopefully it will last "indefinitely." We are at over 6 years now and I have zero desire to replace it.
Plus eleventybillion to all of the above: ^^^ :rock:



Anyway, it's at this point going forward where the value proposition continues to grow. The LR4 depreciation will be minimal going forward. I would be crushed if something were to happen to it to force me to move on before another 6 years (at least). We are more likely to add another vehicle and relegate the LR4 to more limited and specific duty like harsh winter conditions, carrying many people, lots of cargo, family vacations, towing, occasional off-roading (if it ever happens), etc. With that in mind, I hope and can truly see us keeping it another decade+.
Our 2010 LR4 (124kmi) is not the daily driver, but rather the specific-duty scenarios you mentioned above. If anything happened to it, we'd look for another one, probably a 2013 with lots of neat options. :D I haven't found any other vehicle which meets all the same criteria, including the ability to carry 7 full-size / 6-foot adults comfortably, while remaining short enough to fit inside a shallow garage. I wasn't crazy about the D5 but the SVX would have been awfully tempting since I'm a power ******.



It sure helps that I am a mechanical engineer and have a hydraulic lift and also have more cars than drivers, so I can take the time to fix things on it myself.
I also have a lift and *cough* more vehicles than drivers. I'm not an injinear but after DIY wrenching on Mercedes for 25 years, the LR4 seems relatively simple by comparison - although the AJ133 V8 engine is a pretty complex motor.

:albertein
 

wthammett

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Great thread, I have a soccer mom LR4 and although we've loved it and by all accounts she's been a really great example of a LUX 5.0 (2011) I'm cutting my losses now and moving on, trying to put the wife in a Toyota, Lexus, maybe a smaller Cadillac SUV but besides the Tic-Toc of the chain as someone said earlier, the drivers door doesn't lock with the remote, the radio started acting up, at 180,000K miles the suspension is all original and working properly but with brakes and tires coming in another 10K miles I think its time to let her go - sadly, easiest the most capable and wonderful feeling car I've ever owned...except maybe the 2001 BMW 740iL sport.
 

Quijote

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Great thread, I have a soccer mom LR4 and although we've loved it and by all accounts she's been a really great example of a LUX 5.0 (2011) I'm cutting my losses now and moving on, trying to put the wife in a Toyota, Lexus, maybe a smaller Cadillac SUV but besides the Tic-Toc of the chain as someone said earlier, the drivers door doesn't lock with the remote, the radio started acting up, at 180,000K miles the suspension is all original and working properly but with brakes and tires coming in another 10K miles I think its time to let her go - sadly, easiest the most capable and wonderful feeling car I've ever owned...except maybe the 2001 BMW 740iL sport.

This is a grossly oversimplified statement, but I do think that cars have certain mileage milestones where money needs to be invested if one decide to keep it. I think at 180k miles, on a vehicle with such expensive parts relative to it's market value, it's probably a safe financial bet to move on. You'd have to have a serious emotional attachment to keep repairing it at that point.

In our case, I'm hopeful that the late 2013 build date and lower miles (40k and we put on 7.5k/year) will keep it free of chain and other expensive incidents for a few years. In another 4 years, it may become a 3-4k miles/year car, hopefully further extending its life.
 

PWD2

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My 2012 LR 4 has been retired from service. End of an era. It made it to 90K miles, but repair costs were starting to add up. I appreciate all of the advice here along the way. Jumping ship to Toyota. Giving up polish and style points, but hope to make it up in reliability. I think the off road abilities will be on par for my needs. Best wishes to all of this supportive community.

last thread prompt; when the time comes, what will you switch to?
Retired. Im assuming that means you sold it for someone else to enjoy?

Folks scrapping d2 and d3s.. sad and probably unnecessary in some cases.
 

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