I love my truck, but I hate my truck...what to do?

[JMC08]

I fully agree with you on the "true" reason why JLR switched the LR4 over to a SCV6. They tell everyone that it is a more efficient power source for the vehicle, but the efficiency "gained" seems negligible to me. Without loosing weight, replacing a V8 with the SCV6 makes no sense. The six must work harder than the V8 since it is working with less muscle....therefore eating away more gas than it would if it weighed less (Range Rover Sport, Range Rover). It would seem that by switching to the 8-speed auto and adding the dreaded start-stop function to the V8 would have given the same fuel consumption ratings if not better than the SCV6.

I say it was switched out solely to cut costs and meet their bottom line. Unfortunately, everything came down to money.

 

[umbertob]

I think the V8 was switched out with the V6 so as not to give the LR4 a more powerful base engine than Land Rover's own upper crust models, the 2014 Range Rover Sport and the 2014 Range Rover.

 

[suvowner]

Have you driven a 2014 lr4 yet ?

 

[magnumforc]

Bash535i...Your type "luck" happens with all vehicles and is NOT only an LR problem with certain dealers. We had two new BMW 535iGT's and dumped both of them because they kept coming back with problems; problems the dealers could not fix. One common response was to hand us a battery charger and tell us to connect it at night so the battery would not go dead! I told them if I wanted a freaking electric car I would have bought one. 150K of vehicles and BMW wouldn't stand behind them at all. Until we dumped them and wrote a scathing letter to BMWNA and several publications...then BMW wanted to know what they could do for us. Nothing....The vehicles were gone and new LR4's took their place.

So it can happen anywhere. The crux of the matter is often dealers. We found that several dealers were totally incompetent. Secondly, dealers often have factory directions to follow that will not allow them to correct a problem straightaway. For example, you go to BMW with a dead battery? Unless it shows it has a dead cell, they are required to charge it 8 hours, three times before they will install a new battery. That means three trips for you and three days without your car. Idiotic over a $400 battery. Your time means nothing to them. And if they can't fix a problem, they tell you "the factory is working on it!"

Hope you can do better. We love our LR's and the dealers have been great. We did change dealers as one is only a mile from here and the other has been alleged to gouge on service costs. And sales closer to us have been more above board...less like car salesmen if you know what I mean!

 

[danrhiggins]

I'm with magnumforc. I purchased an Acura MDX last June in large part because of the perception that the Japanese car makers have better reliability and service. (I had previously owned 3 Lexus.) And this may be true overall. But this new MDX has had a number of issues for which Acura has not been able to find a satisfactory answer. As time went on frustration began to build. Owners would unload on forums which in turn made the forums more about expressing frustrations then helping out other owners and sharing ideas on how to get the most out of our vehicles.

So I now have an LR4 on order. Do I expect a vehicle without issues. Nope. Do I expect faultless service. Nope. Though I would love to have both of those I am going into this with my eyes open.

Or course, I did take this particular thread and show it to the dealers who are competing for my business. (Yes, like magnumforc I have the luxury of two dealerships in the area.) I asked them how we can minimize the risk of a similar nightmare happening to me.

As for your case, bash535i, you need to decide if you frustration with Land Rover has reached a point where it really cannot be resolved. It is easy for all of us to reach a point where whatever comes up it will bring bring back bad memories or surface new anxieties and we won't be able to let go of those things. When that happens it is time to move on.

As for me, I am ordering my 2014 LR4 expecting some issues. For the difference in price between this an a Land Cruiser I can purchase a 100K mile warranty and have money left over. And, again, I am fortunate enough to have one dealership 10 miles away and another that is 30 miles away.

 

[GoLoaf]

Sounds like you need to bail on Land Rover. Your close dealer is no good, and they're too far away. Combine that with a brand that's notoriously "quirky" on the maintenance front, and you're in for trouble.

Maybe all these troubles would be okay if it wasn't your daily driver, but it sounds like you need your car and can't let it go frequent two-day maintenance trips.

Time to let it go.

 

[bash535i]

****UPDATE****

I received my truck back and the paint looks good. As a gesture of goodwill, Land Rover and the dealership offered me a 72 month (extra) / 100,000 mile (total) extended warranty through Land Rover / Jaguar. They said in order to have the vehicle bought back, we would have to involve legal. Since I do like my truck when it works, that wasn't my intent nor did I relish the thought of trading it and another $30K or so for a different vehicle that I am not really excited about.

I countered with, "Since the vehicle has been anything but care-free during the past 2 years, how about you guys help to make it so by covering the cost of labor for all maintenance work done while in the extended warranty period." They declined that, but did agree to move the coverage up to 100,000 miles. All in all, I believe it's a good compromise and a nice gesture from Land Rover / the dealership.

Hopefully the bugs are worked out by now and I get on with enjoying the vehicle until I hit the mileage limit in the next 3 to 4 years.

Thanks for your comments, suggestions and other post!

 

[Rockymtnjoy]

Dan,

To play nice with dealer, I'm withholding the name right now. I'm in Kentucky, so 150 miles of travel includes quite a few Land Rover dealers, but certainly not any in Colorado.

If the Mercedes GL were just a little more "rugged", we'd have his and hers GLs, but they just aren't. You hit the nail on the head concerning the Toyota derived pair. The solid axle means that the third row seats are never going to be comfortable and are not going to fold flush with their current design. I could live with that and may still yet, but the other issue I have with them is that the leather seems cheap and the sound system is just mediocre.

I own a 2008 200 series Land Cruiser and have not had a single issue with it. You mentioned it didn't have pep but it does. In fact it halls butt for being such a heavy weight and I get 20mpg highway at 65mph with. Mine is lifted and fitted with Nitto terra grapplers with ARB Sahara bar. My only disappointment is I like the refinement of the Range Rover and LR4 much more. Now this SUV is not meant to be driven like a sports car and it's designed for off-road and knowing your chances of breakdown are very rare. I love my SUV and won't sell it until the wheels literally fall off....however I used to have and LR3 and loved it just as much and maybe a bit more but it had issues with the constant firmware. Not a deal breaker but was annoying. I'm in the market to get a new LR4 and deck it out for the occasional off-road but knowing it will me more comfortable for longer road trips to Moab and leave my LC for when I really want to abuse the backcountry.

Have you driven the 2014 V6? I'm also worried it will not be as powerful as the 2013 V8 and it doesn't appear to do that much better on fuel. Your thoughts?

 

[Rockymtnjoy]

Chinochulo,

This is kind of off topic, but since we are in a forum discussing vehicles that cost more than what a lot of people are able to afford, I suppose it's as good of a place as any to discuss it.

I guess it depends on your definition of wealthy. I do feel like I'm wealthy in my relationship with God and family, but not at all financially. I'm just a HS graduate who's always been a just a little bit entrepreneurial and recognized early on that they only way to earn what you are worth is to work for yourself. With that said, I've had times where I was under the lowest tax bracket and others where I was well over the top. I've had some decent middle income jobs that were great at the time and counted them as a blessing too. In my experience, what seems wealthy depends on where where we are currently at. I've had time where I'd look at someone else with $20,000 in the bank as well off and I've had times where I felt that the number would have to be at least a 1mil or more.

Paying cash for something, in my opinion, is just an indication that you are living within your means. Same goes for your home. As soon as you're able, pay for what you can afford so that you don't have payments and all of a sudden, there's a lot less stress when you know that in order to keep it, all you have to do is pay property tax and insurance. I think of that as living simple and believe that's what we should all strive to do as long as it takes a back seat to the more important things that truly make you "wealthy".

I couldn't agree more.

 

[magnumforc]

****UPDATE****

I received my truck back and the paint looks good. As a gesture of goodwill, Land Rover and the dealership offered me a 72 month (extra) / 100,000 mile (total) extended warranty through Land Rover / Jaguar. They said in order to have the vehicle bought back, we would have to involve legal. Since I do like my truck when it works, that wasn't my intent nor did I relish the thought of trading it and another $30K or so for a different vehicle that I am not really excited about.

I countered with, "Since the vehicle has been anything but care-free during the past 2 years, how about you guys help to make it so by covering the cost of labor for all maintenance work done while in the extended warranty period." They declined that, but did agree to move the coverage up to 100,000 miles. All in all, I believe it's a good compromise and a nice gesture from Land Rover / the dealership.

Hopefully the bugs are worked out by now and I get on with enjoying the vehicle until I hit the mileage limit in the next 3 to 4 years.

Thanks for your comments, suggestions and other post!

Best of luck and good bargaining. I do hope the "gremlins" go away and you have many miles of pleasure in your LR.