I'm struggling with a decision - what vehicle to pick for 2 imminent european tours - a month starting mid march in the alps, followed mid summer by a month+ camping around europe, as far as turkey.

! love the packaging of the Disco 3, the interior of the RR Sport, but am scared of both for their terrible reputation for reliability.

My budget would run to a 2007 Disco 3, a 2005/6 RR sport or 2011 Freelander.

I had a disco 2 for 5 years, utterly great dynamically but permanently unreliable with hard to diagnose faults and overall a pain in the butt - I wouldn't want to be stranded far abroad in that.

My brain sayers the freelander, but I cant gen great enthusiasm for it.

so 2 questions:

a) is the RR sport as unreliable as the D3?

b) does anyone have experience of the aftermarket warranties?

thanks in advance

Its been said before but any Forum will have a higher proportion of bad news which can skew your view of a car's reliability.

The chances are that any of the three would do what you want; but if reliability is proportional to complexity then the choices would rank...

Freelander,
Disco and
RRS.

But that assumes you buy the car of its age etc. etc.

In fact there are so many variables there probably isn't a scientific answer to your dilemma. Personally I'd probably go for a Disco without any of the trick suspension gizmos.

Yeap, FL2 is probably the most reliable LR product.

Jim

I agree with the above. Plenty of aftermarket warranties around but not sure how you'd stand with getting it mended abroad.
My advice would be buy the model of those 3 you like best. As long as you buy carefully you should be fine. You might not be of course, but that's a risk with any second hand car. I had a lot more problems with other Marques than I have with the Sport. Good Luck which ever you go for

Hi,
agree with the Dr, forums do show more of the problems than the good points, but all cars have their issues, so not sure about the "terrible reputation"

we have had our D2 for 8 years and it has never let us down and has been very reliable, yes it has had things replaced, but so have all the other cars we have owned.

we bought a D3 couple of years back and 1 week in the EML was on and needed an EGR

have had the RRS a couple of weeks now and ....

work wise we have passat estates 2 years old now and 5 out of 15 have had water pumps

think the D3 would be most practical with more room
then the RRS (although we have still bought one instead of another D3 )
don't know about the freelander but smaller again.

consider your use then....

for reliability go for a well maintained car which ever you decide on

 Porsche Cayenne 2022
gone Porsche Cayenne 2020
gone Corris Grey HSE Dynamic 2016
gone Ipanema HSE lux 2010
gone Rimini HSE 2005
!!

Both of my RRS's have been without fault but I'd rather take a chance and be stranded at the roadside in a Range Rover Sport than suffer a long journey in a Freelander.

what you need is a basic LR

50th anniversary model
v8 power
auto
a/c
even metalic paint

Click image to enlarge

Admin note: this post has had its images recovered from a money grabbing photo hosting site and reinstated

07 D3's have a known problem with weak tensioner mounts, quite a list on the Disco3 forum of snapped cambelts due to this cars before and after are ok 2008 G4 RRSport TDV8 current
2009 TDCi 90 current
2018 Discovery 5 HSE lux current
1994 Dakar current

My Freelander 2 was reliable & we had that for 3 years prior to the RRS. It would be far more economical for touring Europe too (45'ish MPG).

I had no comfort issues with the Freelander at all. We drove down to Dorset a couple of times & toured around & I had no aches or pains.

Pick the best spec you can & if you buy from a Land Rover dealer try for an approved extended warranty. I'm in the shed, I'll be back in the real world in a minute.

I have owned 2x D2, 2x FL1, 2x FL2 and 2x RRS - the FL2's get my vote if looking at best all rounder for reliability, cost and comfort

Mine were all under warranty during ownership apart from last FL1 I kept until 5 years old but it never let me down - just not very comfortable

My last RRS was the least reliable  Wanted a Series 2 LR since childhood but previously owned MY16 Disco Sport HSE TD4 Auto, MY13 RR Sport Black Edition TDV6 Auto, MY10 RR Sport HSE TDV6 Auto, 2007 Freelander 1 Freestyle TD4 Soft Top, 2009 Freelander 2 GS TD4 Auto, 2007 Freelander 2 GS TD4, 2004 Disco 2 Metropolis Auto, 2002 Disco 2 GS, 2000 Freelander 1 SE TD4 SW

Still hoping for a S2 one day!