I am currently looking around and considering buying a 2014 or 2015 I currently drive a jag XF diesel
I do around 80mls commute the oil dilution issue is concerning,will I do enough miles to ensure I don’t have this issue the journey takes around 1hr if the traffic is ok
Any advice is welcome I live in Stirling the dealer is John Clark also taggarts are close by but as I say I’m looking at the moment

Morning Aguiness,,As for the oil dilution that shouldn't be a problem as the engine is going to be running hot,I would be worried about the crankshaft issue.The car should have a 2 year LR Approved warranty but & a BIG but I would make sure & get it in righting that the crankshaft is covered incase of it failing,if not it could be a expensive repair about 20k.
Have a read of these posts
http://www.rrsport.co.uk/forum/topic52879.html

http://www.rrsport.co.uk/forum/topic49343....crankshaft

Andy. Andy.
21 Ford Ranger
Gone but not forgotten
Focus RS Red Edition
2015 RRS AB Fuji.
2014 RRS SC Santorini
2016 VW Amarok
2014 RRS AB Fuji
2012 RRS Red Edition Fuji
2015 Nissan Navara
2012 RRS SE Santorini
2008 RRS White
2007 RRS Santorino

Thinking the same at the moment, I have a 2010 any advice from anyone who as moved from 2010 to next model up.
Ie: is it worth it
Thanks

Tyrefitter wrote:

As for the oil dilution that shouldn't be a problem as the engine is going to be running hot

Whilst this is true in most cases, there is still an issue.

In the last 6months of my ownership I was doing 6x 180mile (3.5hr) journeys each month and my milage still plummeted stupidly. For example, the car was serviced in September on 31.5k miles, but last week at 35.5k miles when I traded it in it was showing 1000 until the next oil service.  SOLD - MY16 SDV6 Autobiography Dynamic - Fire Engine Red, Fixed contrast pan roof, TV, Dual Screen, 5+2, Privacy, Noble paddles.

Just to share my own previously aired experience re driving style and miles to the next oil service question.


Pre trip to South of France (2 weeks after the MOT i would add) the distance to oil service was showing as 3500 miles... 90% driving at c 75mph on cruise control, little bit of Paris and Customs congestion.

Upon return to the UK having done c 800 miles the oil service due spanner turned up on the dash.. and the miles to service showed as zero... ie in 800 miles of mainly fast driving the time to oil service collapsed by 3500 "miles".

Did about 50 miles of local driving and the miles to service actually went up to 450 miles for a day !, then after about 10 miles the next day it reverted to zero again. In the meantime I checked the oil level on the service menu and it showed overfilled even after a short but fast run to the coast and back..

Thats when I lost trust in the car , had its oil sorted by LR (and oil dilution was their conclusion) and swiftly moved on since i was noticing too that residual values were also collapsing.


Have a Lexus now, their forum is pants as nothing seems to go wrong. I miss the drive of the RRS but do not miss the nagging doubts of which there were many.... P400e HSE Portofino Blue and Ivory Seats.. it's like a yacht!!
Lexus traded in ..a total piece of crap
Boldly now acquired - a Lexus RX 450hL
BoldlyGone...Sep 15 MY16 RRS SDV6, HSE, Barolo Black, Espresso/Almond interior.. Best car ever & Drop dead gorgeous... sadly with fuel dilution headaches that became intolerable
Arrived 2014. Oct - Lemoned March 2015- RRS SDV6 HSE
Boldly Gone = Sold for 14k via Pistonheads - 2006 TDV6 SE Buck Blue/Almond int

I hear you BoldlyGo. Before all this Oil Dilution stuff became public, my car early 2018 decided to suddenly plummet over the space of about 3000 miles to show it needed an oil service, when I took it in they said the oil was fine and it just needed resetting.

In the end I had zero trust in what the car was telling me, and I didn't want the hassle or have the time of taking the car in every few thousand miles for them to simply reset etc etc.

If I was buying again (not something I plan to do BTW), there is no way on earth I would buy one without a full Land Rover warranty, and that warranty would explicitly have to state that it covers all this oil and crank problem. SOLD - MY16 SDV6 Autobiography Dynamic - Fire Engine Red, Fixed contrast pan roof, TV, Dual Screen, 5+2, Privacy, Noble paddles.

Hi, I went from a 2012 to a 2014 model and found the step up is well worth while in terms of enjoyment in driving, much better Road holding and handling and general feel of the car is much better, overall a step up.
Whether it's worth it cost wise I'm not quite so sure and only you can decide that.

I do around 7000 mile a year mainly short journeys and not had any oil dilution problems, come to think of it in 20 years of owning Land Rovers I have not had any major problems at all.

The snapped crank issue I sure is a problem but of the 10s of thousands of engines in various models all over the world I think it's a small percentage and any car forum site will have people complaining about that brand of car for one reason or another, I don't think it's a valid enough reasons for not getting the car you want, just get a decent warranty and forget about all the doom merchants and enjoy the car.

Good luck with you search

I would agree with Gav about the crank problem, which must be because of faulty metallurgy on certain batches of cranks. I have not had any oil dilution problems on my 2014, but then I do my own servicing and ignore the service indicator.

I am however, very disappointed with the 2014. I had a 2005 RRS before, which was brilliant. The 2014 does everything less well than the old car. Had I realized I would never have bought it. But you cannot tell from a short roadtest.

I was prepared for the lack of a two piece tailgate, so that was fine, but the boot floor is very high with less space inside. The seats are less comfy, the interior noise is greater, everyone who rides in the back tells me it is smaller than the old model, despite the longer wheelbase. The doors shut with a clank not a clunk. The road holding and corner turn-in are definitely less good and it has more body roll. Both cars were HSE, without dynamic. The electric power steering has zero feedback and feel. It is nasty. The L494 is much less assured on the road, possibly because of less weight.

The 8 speed transmission is less smooth than the old 6 speed and take up of drive is just as slow. The one saving grace is that it does have more power.

I did not realize until after buying it that there was no low-range (I mean...it is a Range Rover!). This is a major loss to me as I used it for reversing big trailers. Oh and it is just about uncontrollable when trying to reverse up a slope.

The touch screen system is rubbish and the start-stop is dangerous as it cuts the engine when you are in drive. I switch it off every trip. Why would I want that? It saves nothing and causes more DPF problems in all likelihood. As for having no dipstick, well, words fail me. That is just silly.

In short, I have my eye on another car and am waiting for the value to drop on the RRS until I can do a deal for a Nissan 370Z. I cannot blame LR for chasing the volume luxury car market, but the ethos is no longer the product that I want. I wish I had kept the old one. It cost me next to nothing in 9 years and 100,000 miles and would have gone on for much longer.

I would also agree with Gav about crank issues being magnified on forums like this - I have a 2014 AB Dynamic and I had a 2012 old model dynamic before it and have not had oil dilution on either although I do now change my oil every 6 months/5k miles as a precaution - why not - it's cheap maintenance/peace of mind?!

I almost entirely disagree with Black Bess as well - apart from on door clank vs clunk, my 2014 "new" model is night-and-day better in every possible way including road-holding, steering feel, grip, body roll, seat comfort (I do have the AB seats to be fair). It's wonderful to have the panoramic roof, the sound system is incredible (825W Meridian) and way better than anything fitted to the previous model.

You really can drive it in the style of a Golf GTI when it's in sport mode, using paddles and Dynamic mode. Also, by having the Dynamic pack, I have a low range gearbox - it gets taken properly off-road every weekend at this time of year and it has been superb.

I must also say that I think the new model looks fantastic - no comparable car comes anywhere near in my opinion. I still love the old one but it's looking pretty dated now...subjective of course!

The only issue I have had is with a noise in the suspension cured by a new active anti roll (paid for by dealer).

I do agree with start-stop being a pain but then just turn it off when you get in - it soon becomes second nature.

Buy one, enjoy it and don't worry too much!

Yes I agree about the boot space and the seats being harder but I've got used to the seats and would have bought a Disovery if I was concerned about the boot space.

You definitely need the dynamic pack to appreciate the cars handling and personally I like the panoramic sunroof as it make the inside much brighter.

Wow that's means there's 3 of us who don't think our cars are going to blow up every time we go out!.

My 2015.5 MY HSE Dynamic was by far the best modern Land Rover I have owned in almost 30 years of buying new or ex dealer demo cars every 2-3 years. I would still be driving it today if somebody had had the guts in JLR to give me a piece of paper (even if I had to pay for it in the form of an extended warranty that was worth more than the paper it was written on) that said that in the very unlikely event that the crank should snap that my main dealer serviced car that had a further two years to run on the service agreement,so more likely than not to stay being serviced by a main dealer, would have the damage repaired at no cost to me because it is a design fault. Nobody at JLR had the balls to say “Sir your Car is extremely unlikely to suffer this issue as the engine is not in the batch with faulty cranks so we would like to offer you an extended warranty that actually covers this extremely rare occurrence” then I would 99% still be driving the car while waiting for a new one to be built, but they wouldn’t so i’m not. My car never suffered from the oil dilution issue so that didn’t concern me nearly as much as the extremely remote possibility of having to cough up £18000 to fix a problem not of my making. My driving style could be ruled out as a cause of issues too as my shortest journey is 16 miles each way into town and back - I was also never aware of any DPF regenerating because I never hung around much in stop/start commuter type driving or even had to stop at many traffic lights to wait with the engine idling. The car also was driving to London from Central Scotland 2 or 3vtimes each year in my hands. JLR lost the sale of an £80,000 RRS P400E or another new SDv6 HSED or an IPace......... instead I’m driving around in a car that costs 50% less, is beautifully built and has no known technical issues hiding to bite me.... 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

Last edited by Tim in Scotland on Thu Jan 10 2019 9:58pm. Edited 2 times in total

wow thanks for all the replies i will be going for one i will let you know what i get there are a few that fit, i need a tower so that makes the choice easier

thanks again

Black Bess, you have more or less nailed it with your comments. I also loved my relatively cheap 2010 L320 which I sold, I wish I still had it, brilliant car.

The L494 I felt was shaved to the nearest half a gram and .1mm to save as much money, use the cheapest materials and charge as much as possible. Buying the V8SC was an expensive dumb mistake from which it will take a while to financially recover.

But I am very happy to be rid of it. The dealer, meanwhile still has it on his forecourt. Gone - 2008 Stornoway Grey RRS 2.7 TDV6
Gone - 2009 Buckingham Blue RRS 2.7 TDV6
Gone - 2010 Alaska White RRS 5.0 V8 Aspirated
Gone - 2017 Chawton White RRS 5.0 V8 Supercharged
Current - 2010 Java Black RRS 5.0 V8 Aspirated
Current- 2024 RRS P400 SE Dynamic

Interesting debate!

....I forgot to add that the brakes on the L494 are in a different league from those on the L320 - I’ve never had better takes on any car (that includes 987 Boxster S, BMW E92 M3 etc etc.). The ones on the L320 (SDV6 2012) were pretty terrifying really.

I definitely agree with the others about the door shut feel/sound though - just spent today in my old L320 (sold it to a friend) and the doors sound great....but weigh a ton!

Black Bess wrote:

I did not realize until after buying it that there was no low-range (I mean...it is a Range Rover!). This is a major loss to me as I used it for reversing big trailers. Oh and it is just about uncontrollable when trying to reverse up a slope.