manoftaste
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I get that. But the trouble with LR is that instead of raising the level of quality in their flagship product(s) (and they certainly can) they actually have been cutting corners and have been dumbing down the lower models in their lineup, when compared to the other brands in todays' market. A couple or examples of that in a sec.
And in LR4' case they really have treated that specific model in the lineup with an unbelievable neglect and have missed a real opportunity there. I mean, if there was ever any thing in their entire history of lineup (from their older technically inferior models to now overly electronic, more prone to breakdowns models) that had any real potential of a shot at their solid competitors like the Land Cruiser/Lexus owning the world market, it was their LR4. The model was maturing nicely and all the greedy bean counters/CEOs at Tata had to do is be patient, make it more solid and reliable by updating it appropriately both design wise and technically and they would have had a real serious winner and contender at their hands to play with in the global sense. But they screwed it up, because "we want to sell cars".
As far as unnecessary dumbing down of LR4, an example would be the real cheap quality of the wood trim in LR4, supposedly a US $50k to $65k plus luxury vehicle. The trim pieces look cheap and their installation application also looks cheap with quite visible gaps in between the wood trim and the the other dashboard/door trim panels. In fact, the LR2 had more luxurious looking wood trim including the way it was designed to fit into its place with surrounding non-wood trim pieces.
The other day I noticed something around the vertical, front end edge of the rear doors. There is a weather/rubber strip that runs from the top to the bottom on this edge of both rear doors, to work as an insulation strip between the rear doors and the back edge of the front doors (see attached pic below).
Now this particular weather strip doesn't run the entire vertical length of the rear doors and stops half way thru. And looking at this vertical area where both front and rear doors meet, I was like, it would make sense to let this weatherstrip run all the way thru to the bottom of the rear doors to insulate the cabin even more. But that is not the case.
But guess what, the same exact weatherstrip on even an Evoque (costing thousands less than an LR4 at the time) is running full length all the way down. So basically, LR is saving maybe a buck or two (both in assembly time and material) per unit and also intentionally making the LR4 less quieter than the flagship and/or other models, vs making the flagship even more quieter. This wasn't really necessary to do with the LR4 as its cabin already is noisier than the flagship due to its upright windscreen angle when compared to the RR. But maybe at lower speeds the noise level in both were comparable and I guess they wanted to differentiate it even more.
You see, Lexus does not have that problem, because they actually work hard and keep the distance between their flagship SUV and the midranges by making their flagship actually better and more luxurious vs dumbing down the rest. You will not find the quality of the wood trim and/or fit and finish in their GX450/60/70 any lesser and it would not suffer because of their LX line/570. Instead, to keep the distance between the two models, lexus have actually upped the level of quality and everything else (and I am sure cabin insulation levels too) in their 570.
Here at Tata' LR, we have the decisions makers there putting 245 width tires on their flagship fullsize RR. The other day I saw one parked in my hood, a Range Rover with the tire size width of 245 with ridiculously designed, ugly looking kia type LR OEM rims (an SCV6 model perhaps). The whole body/wheels setup looked ugly as hell and out of place and character.
A 245 size tire should have no business being on a full size Range Rover. But, its happening because we want to "sell". And then I read their CEOs talking about their flagship model as being the "Rolls Royce of SUVs". I mean, are you guys seriously kiddin me?!
LR needs to take some hit and work harder, end of story.
The glam of tapering rooflines, boat like bowing rear ends, and fast looking profiles could only last for that long. You cannot convince me to go "farther" and "discover" more thru your TV ads on that overly electronic D5 (and with LR3/4' history of air compressors going out etc) with your already not so great well-decorated past in terms of reliability.
Would love to, but unfortunately I cannot go any farther and try to discover something in that new D5 of yours with that 2 inch tall tire sidewalls
It would be liking hiking with your wingtips on.Would love to, but in reality I cannot go any farther and try to discover anything anymore in any of your current products while you take away the requirement of having an off road course at your dealerships, hence taking right out that real life assurance and piece of mind that a stock vehicle will be up to the task and perform in a manner that you advertise/market them in your TV ads, with that tiny fine legal print at the bottom of the picture frame.
I recently confirmed the above with my local dealership which is about to get rid of that already existing off road course from its premises in favor of parking more cars.
It was actually the demo of side tilt angle of LR3 at an LR off road course at a dealership back in 2005 (with me and a friend of mine inside the vehicle as the sales person drove us thru the course) that had impressed me and had become part of the reasons for me to handover my $51500 US to the sales rep for a brand new '06 HSE despite all that loving, nurturing, and caring that I had received during my visits to the Lexus dealership as I test drove their GX470 up against the Land Rover LR3, a brand I was entering with fears of well established reliability issues.
Dear Tata/LR, how can I go any farther and discover anything while instead of making your products more solid and reliable like the Land Cruiser, you have started to spend more time an resources on focusing on styling vehicles vs designing them. Reducing the command driving position, outside visibility, and stadium seating positions in favor of Audi like higher belt lines and Hyundai like tapering roofs won't help me go anywhere and discover anything.
And no, I will definitely not go any farther and try to discover anything in any of your lesser products while you take out even the mention of your IBF as well as the specification for the side tilt angle measurements from your LR4 brochures all together, which I first noticed missing from your 2013 LR4 brochure.
Dear Tata/LR CEOs, Here is a little clue for you guys: You see, no matter how fit you are (traction control) and how strong your legs are (Terrain Response), if you go hiking (off roading) in your wingtips (22 inch rims with 3 inch of sidewall), you are going to hurt yourself, period. Its called: Laws of Physics. Now repeat after me, "Laws", yeah...good, "of", very nice... and? "Physics". Great!
So instead of spending millions of dollars in producing those expensive TV commercials and then paying more millions for buying airtime on tv networks, I'd take all that money back to the R&D department so you could go back to developing great electrical and mechanical technology and go back to setting standards again.
And, if, by any chance, your bean counters and CEOs are lucky enough to still have Andy Wheel (the original designer of LR3) floating around somewhere in your facility, as one of your design leads, I would put him back in charge of the ship and assign him the task to "de-Ford" your Discovery 5 (or perhaps re-introduce LR4 with an elegant full re-design job), without any interference by your/Tata' suits. Let him and his design team and your engineering departments be good at what they do best. In other words, let them do their jobs. LR3 was clearly the result of that freedom with its innovations that set new standards in the industry, won awards, and forced your competitors to follow your lead. It was not the result of "we want to sell cars" or I want to be on the cover of the next Top Ten CEOs magazine, or china is booming, lets make some serious cash over there. LR3 was the result of lets make a better, more capable, and more refined product, and you certainly had succeeded in that back in 2004.
And while at it, please, pull back your valuable resources away from putting ovens and barbecue grills and such nonsense inside your products at your SVO division for those two billionaires on the planet. Its bad PR, shows lack of class and demonstrates lower level of sophistication inside your CEOs/bean counters' thick heads, and it also shows lack of interest and belief in creating better products, projects corporate greed, and nothing else.
So instead, put those valuable resources and R&D dollars back into where they actually belong, you know, places like your engineering and technology departments, that is. I am quite sure that you will find the SVO part of your crew (which, as I write this, is probably in the middle of a brainstorm session about how to fit a collapsable dishwasher and a foldaway ironing board in a Discovery 5) more at home and useful at the above mentioned departments at your joint.
Earn some loyalty and more importantly that lost respect back as a brand. Absorb the cost of coming back to excellence after going off track.
Once you are back on track to creating excellent products, then you can go all out and advertise the hell out of your new tech thru TV ads to educate your potential customers as by then you actually really will have something substantial to boast about, as you did once in the past.
In other words, dear Tata/LR, until and unless you get your sh&* back together and start producing better quality products again, sadly, I will have no choice but be forced to look elsewhere, which I really dont want to do. Not sure if these type of things really matter to you anymore over at your headquarters half way around the world, but here even one lost returning customer is considered lost business. Yesterday, I found myself snooping around over at Land Cruiser' site, didn't feel the need to do that for more than a decade, and I am sure I am not the only one. Not good for your business.
A modern day customer, is a smart customer. So please stop worrying about what those twenty two year old bloggers-turned-car-critics have to say and go back to creating better products.
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