LR Dead Last in JD Power Report

[roverman]

Well said. And if I only had 2 problems with my really hot girlfriend in 90 days, I'd be tickled pink! Really, it's a horsesh*t survey. If I have 2 problems, and a porsche owner has one, what's that really mean? We BOTH have to go into the dealer for service anyway. It's a nice award for an auto mfgr to hang their hat on but...
Why do you think they do it in terms of per 100 customers? Because 100 and 200 sounds like a huge difference and a lot of problems. Nobody would even raise an eyebrow if they said the difference from top to bottom was 1 problem.
Frankly I'm surprised that the difference between first and last is only 1 problem. I think the survey that would mean a lot more - and scare us more - would be the JD Power's survey for reliability over 5 years...

 

[NHESS81]

but you know we dont have patience to wait 5 years for results...hell, we dont have patience to work on our brand new trucks for 90 days, people start yelling lemon buy back law at the dealers...the electronics have NEVER been a strong suit of LR engineering, and with Ford jumpin aboard, likely forced LR to take even more shortcuts to save more money, what ends up is a great piece of machinery, hampered by poor design...still...a working LR3 must be a beauty of a vehicle!

 

[Michael]

The problem with LR's low quality is it absolutely kills resale value. Even if the enthusiasts don't mind taking it to the dealer for problems, most people do. Buyers figure that older vehicles will have more problems. If they have a lot of problems to begin with, people assume it is only going to get worse (and more expensive). The Blue Book trade-in value for a 2003 Lexus GX 470 with 35,000 miles and excellent condition is $33,700, while that for a 2003 Discovery 2 SE is only (gulp!) $18,875!!! Granted, there was a model change for the LR, but it still doesn't account for such a high disparity in values.

Michael

 

[ravissingh]

This is funny. I have a 2005 Porsche 997 and a 2005 LR3. The LR3 is about to make its 5th visit to the dealer, 3rd time for a transmission fault but the 997 has been problem free. I still love the LR3 but my wife is frustrated as it is her daily driver. It seems a lot of the LR3's issues were because it was a new vehicle from the ground up. Are the newer models having less problems?

 

[Michael]

This is funny. I have a 2005 Porsche 997 and a 2005 LR3. The LR3 is about to make its 5th visit to the dealer, 3rd time for a transmission fault but the 997 has been problem free.

That's not much an excuse on Land Rover's part. The 997 was new in 2005, too, and Porsche came out in first place in the J.D. Powers survey. Quality is a combination of good design, and good manufacturing.

Michael

 

[jptruck]

I believe LR owners have come to expect and accept the abuse that Land Rover provides, and that's bad. When paying the prices we are paying for these vehicles, we should expect a car that A) works, B) gets fixed quickly and on the first try when it doesn't. Since 1990, I've owned 5 vehicles, and none have given me (and a lot of people on this board) the fits this vehicle provides.

It's not all the car, either. LR dealers are fairly arrogant as a whole. Maybe it's a defense mechanism to fend off the irate owners, but it drives me nuts.

As a group, we should all demand more for our dollar out of our LR3, and new owners to be should be much more cautious about purchasing these vehicles until LR gets their act together. That will solve the problem, or put the company out of business.

 

[lr3driver]

Since I have been on this forum, I have started looking around for other option then spending 50+ K on LR . True - it is a very nice vehicle but with all the problems around it, makes a buyer think twice

 

[Michael]

Since I have been on this forum, I have started looking around for other option then spending 50+ K on LR . True - it is a very nice vehicle but with all the problems around it, makes a buyer think twice

You're not the only one! I made a list of all the problems, and it scares the daylights out of me. We've got everything from brake failures (where the person almost got broadsided by a truck), to a steering box failure (that resulted in a crash). We've got more computer reboots than a Windows computer. I followed an LR3 the other day, and I see now why the tires don't wear well. The rear camber must have been -10 degrees, another common complaint here. As others have mentioned, forums bring in all the problems, BUT if you look at forums for other cars, the ratio of problems to other topics is much, much lower.

Land Rover should contract out their test engineering, and engineering diagnostics/design fixes to a third party company. They should also get a contract firm to correct their plant quality. Did you know that the front grilles are a different color than the rest of the car? I guess they paint them in two different plants. When was the last time you saw something like this? 1970's?

As it exists now, LR isn't the least bit competitive in product quality. This is a shame, because the LR3 has got to be the best SUV on the market right now from a feature design standpoint. It is very well thought out, just extremely poorly executed.

Michael

 

[grommet]

Michael, you really can't use an anonymous forum as a decent cross-reference of ownership or quality. As always, people with issues will choose to find a forum and post more. We're fairly insignificant in the "big picture."

I have a very early LR3 and I'm honestly a happy owner. Yes, I had a failing air compressor replaced last month (finally)... but that's the only "significant" problem and that didn't impact my use of the vehicle. Based on this forum, my vehicle should be falling apart. Shouldn't I be experiencing every single item any individual posted about? My tires are even wearing correctly.

Yes, we all know Land Rover quality and customer service **** kissing is no match for Lexus... but for me, it's all good and far better than the dark days of Land Rover.

 

[CTRover]

Just want to add my 2 cents. I have a 05 LR3 and after 5k haven't experienced a single problem.
Just to echo some previous responses, you can't really quantify some of the bad experiences here as representing the majority of LR3 vehicles.
I am extremely happy with my purchase and hope that people considering buying an LR3 don't just use these poor experiences to base their decision.