MAKRRS wrote:

Are the competitor cars more reliable ie x5 q7 vw toureg

Try http://xdrivers.co.uk/, http://forums.vwvortex.com/, http://www.vwaudiforum.co.uk/ you'll find much the same thing

 2015 RRS AB SDV6, Fuji White, Ivory
2012 RRS HSE SDV6, Sumatra Black and Ivory
Audi A5, 3.0 TDI, Gone
Audi TT, 3.2 V6, Gone
BMW 5 series tourer, Gone

I will make a post that will cheer you up............ I have owned a launch day 200MY 2.7SE, a 2007MY TDv8 and now a 2015MY SDv6 HSE Dynamic................. all three have been purchased as new cars, none of them has missed a beat. I have them serviced as and when the schedule says and they have all been used offroad as LR intended all its car to be. I have also owned 2 xL322 FFRR's between 2003 and 2005 and 2010 and 2011both of which were run as designed and also had no issues........... but now the sad bit The same cannot be said of the 2nd Range Rover Evoque that I owned. The first one was dilivered on launch day in 2011 and was sued as LR intended but had some rattles that were easily cured. The 2nd one though started out well but developed a very annoying rattle above the windscreen then a software upgrade was made to the 9 speed autobox ECU and it started doing some very very weird things like pulling away in 1st when it should have pulled away in 2nd or 3rd and then it started to eat DPF sensors. That car is the most problematical car that I have owned and as soona sit was a year old I returned it to LR and bought an RRS2. Prior to Range Rovers I also owned a Disco1, a Disco2 and a Freelander1 none of which gave any trouble. I still own a 1996 Defender, 85000 miles on the clock and it has only had to have one unscheduled fix in that time - a replacement chassis. It has run faultlessly (apart from damage that I have inflicted on it offroading) since I became it's 2nd owner back in 2001, It has also only had 3 dipped beam lamps and a new battery outside of normal service consumables in all those years and hopefully there will not be any need for any more headlamp or any other lamps as I gave it a set of LED headlamp units and a full set of the other lamps in LEDs in 2015!. So 1 Land Rover product out of 10 Land Rover products owned since 1996and I've had one that had some issues but none that were unrelaible or left me stranded on a dark night in the back of beyond. There are good ones out there but it depends how well thy have been looked after by previous owners. Out of my 10 cars two of them were bought used, my first Discovery and the Defender, the rest were new or ex demo cars, mostly new as only the Disco2 and the 2010MY FFRR were dealer demo cars. 2020 Pangea Green 1st Edition D240 New Defender 110 is here and loving it
2018 Melting Silver Mini Countryman PHEV - soon to be replaced
2015MY Corris Grey SDv6 HSE Dynamic, the best car I have ever owned, totally reliable only a cou0le of rattles in 3 years, now no longer in my care
Also in my garage is a 1996 TDi300 Defender 90 County HT made into a fake CSW

Tim

I have a similar story to you.

Between 1984 to 2003 I owned 3 "Classic" 2 door Range Rovers and 3 Discovery's (200Tdi, 300Tdi & TD5) which had a few problems but nothing major that I couldn't fix myself.

In 2012 I came back to Land Rover and bought a 2012 RRS1 HSE with the new 8 speed box. I then swapped that in for my current RRS2 18 months later. My current RRS2 "Byonce" goes in April to make way for my replacement RR2. The two cars never missed a beat and are safe, reliable and a joy to drive.

My wife bought a Freelander 2 in 2011 which gave me the Land Rover bug again. A fantastic car that once again never let us down. She then swapped to a 9 speed Evqoue that also hasn't caused us any problems.

In fact I became so bored just polishing our cars that I picked up a 2005 HSE Discovery just so that I could have a car that I could get my hands dirty on. Even this runs really well though and all I have done is change various fluids and filters and replace the battery. It only has 64,000 on the clock so is a baby when compared to other Disco's from that year. Still part of me lives in dread when I read various horror stories over on the Disco 3 site, but look at the mileage that some of the forum members cars have covered. How many Fords, Vauxhalls, Peugeots and other makes are still going strong at 140,000 or 150,000 miles plus?

We all come on here and rant and rave about QC and poor design but, going on my own experience of owning 10 various Land Rover vehicles, they don't all fall to pieces the moment that you actually drive them. If you look after the car the way you should then it should give you years of relatively trouble free motoring.

If you are really that worried about reliability then I would pick a vehicle brand where your money will give you a healthy deposit on a new car. That way all the worry is taken away for 3 years. Ask yourself do you really need a RRS? Don't let your heart rule your head and do what is right for you and your family.

Jim

MAKRRS wrote:

Are the competitor cars more reliable ie x5 q7 vw toureg

Thanks guys I appreciate all the support. I went to see it and liked it even more going down on Sat with the Mrs if she likes it and drives it fine I'll get it.

Just one thing my dad noticed underneath had some rust on the 'belly' undercarriage is this normal for a 2008 vehicle

They prone to it?

Regards
Mike

I bought my RRS about a year ago, with 93K on it and it's been fine !
It needed a few minor things sorting which are all related to age and mileage, ie bushes and tyres. I had to adjust the EPB, but it's an easy DIY job (thanks to Bodsy's Brake Bible), oh, and I changed the seals on the air compressor, which again is not unreasonable given it's age.

One thing I forgot to say, is that I felt the same when seriously looking for my RRS, and had the similar "crisis" about reliability, and looked at exactly the same "alternatives". But after a bit of digging, I wasn't convinced that they were any better, in fact it seemed to me that I would be getting all of the negatives (expense, complexity) without any of the positives (genuine off-road ability, support).

The thing that made me feel better, was realising just how much knowledge there is on the RRS (and D3/D4), and in LR products in general. Where I live there are three genuine LR specialists within a 20 mile radius. So even if you do have a problem, you haven't got a 2+ tonne vehicle that you have to off-load to the dealer to fix.
My local indie is excellent, and draws my attention to things that need looking at.
If you were cynical, you could say that they were just trying to get more business, but I prefer to know if something needs attention before it actually goes wrong.

As far as areas of surface rust around the STEEL chassis, the rrs is no more prone to this than any other STEEL chassis vehicle which is driven on our damp salty roads.
A good scrub with a wire brush and a coat of waxoyl and it is soon sorted.

Phil.

Yeah that's what my dad said.he thinks it's just surface rust on the under carriage of the car.

The car is a 2008.

Has any of yours shown rusty bits purely underneath? The body work is perfect but my dad was a bit concerned with it underneath.

Don't suppose any of you have or have had this on a RRS1?

Yes, a bit of surface rust is completely normal, particularly at the back end. It's also a good heafty chassis to get through! Here's mine...err...underneath:

Click image to enlarge

Click image to enlarge

I recall in the early days of this forum thgere were a lot of posts about surface corrosion underneath, that was in 2006 and 2007. Most Land Rovers, apart from Defenders of the mid1990's that had a chassis that disolved at the first sight of a wet road, seem to have a fairly good reputation for their rust protection. What might be worth doing before you buy it is to get it up on a ramp and have a good look with proper lighting to see if where is is corroding there are signs of off roading damage on the underside. While the car is designed to be used offroad there can be sometimes scuffs and scrapes that can damge the anticorrosion protection. While underneath look out for any hanging bits of grass or hardened on mud in places that a powerwasher cannot get to easily! 2020 Pangea Green 1st Edition D240 New Defender 110 is here and loving it
2018 Melting Silver Mini Countryman PHEV - soon to be replaced
2015MY Corris Grey SDv6 HSE Dynamic, the best car I have ever owned, totally reliable only a cou0le of rattles in 3 years, now no longer in my care
Also in my garage is a 1996 TDi300 Defender 90 County HT made into a fake CSW

Now you have terrified the poor man with your "Body Off" photo's!

Actually, in the right hands, a body off job is reassuringly cheap in itself, and it's only the list of potential add-ons that put the price up.  Visiting from DISCO3.CO.UK
2006 Discovery 3 TDV6 Auto HSE Zambezi Silver

Mine is. A 2007 here is a health check video by landrover, bit of rust but not the end of the world and will probably have it wax oiled this year, it is an 8 year old car
https://video.citnow.com/vtY_m4lNJSD Nanocom Evo

Is 15k too much for a mint condition 65k 2008 range rover sport? FSH but no stamps but not last 3 years did by his own mechanic? Bushes and arms just changed though and does drive sweet I must admit
15k sound too much?