Hello,

I bought a new RR Sport at the end of May which I bought from Lombard Vehicle supplies but it came direct from Stratstones of Mayfair and the Below is now a rather ever increasing list of faults.

Bonnet came open first day.
Plastic trim around rear view mirror keeps falling off.
On 2 trips to Germany Suspension warning light came on at around 500km each trip.
Sat Nav froze twice along with PTI Land Rover assist refused to come out until battery went flat!
Groaning from suspension when cold.
When switching from CD to AM radio there is no sound so have to turn radio on and off to work.
Water 2cm deep in drivers footwell ! so bad carpet now needs replacing.
In places paintwork has an "edge to it" where its almost a run on the edge of the door.
When pulling out of a junction there's a 2 second delay before power comes in, pulling out into traffic is a nightmare.
Log book took 56 days to come from the dealer then when it arrived it had wrong name (I know not the vehicles fault but still added to the situation)

Total of 5300 unhappy miles and all this from between the 30th of May and 8th of August which is the day I rejected the vehicle in writing. And the best response from Stratstones of Mayfair London was an offer on the 17th of August where they would look at it at the beginning of Sep!

After e-mailing the MD's office at Pentagon UK and on the 24th of August they have agreed to take the vehicle back and replace it with a brand new vehicle which I do not want.

I would rather have a Russian Lada Niva which are probably better built but there out of production! I waited 10 weeks for this to arrive and really wanted to love it but I can't wait to see the back of it. Is this a one off ?

I was surprised how bad the vehicle was but the service and attitude of the dealer was unbelievable. BEWARE !

UPDATE AUG 25th, Lombard have said that I now don't have to have another RR sport and but if I do choose to have another then it does not have to come from Stratstones.

Decisions to make!
_________________
DAVID ELLIOTT

Hi David,

As a forthcoming RRS owner I hope your troubles are not so common (sorry).

Not really sure what the best option for you is - unfortunately your the only person who can make it.

I think we all know cars have problems (even Lada Riva's I would imagine) and sometimes a 'Friday' car gets off the production line like yours, however the dealer response is really critical, to which Stratstone's seem like they could have been better.

Personally I would say its worth taking the replacement car - from what I have read a lot of the early problems have been resolved plus if its a HSE, then it will be higher specced this time anyway due to the 07MY - you could just sell it once received and probably get your original monies back

Whatever you decide to do, good luck!!

Kaine

Welcome to the forum, What a mess.

Sorry to hear of your problems... luckily (for the LR buying public) these sorts of compounded problems are not commonplace.

Unfortunately, you are using a dealer which I personally wouldn't touch with a ten foot stick. They supplied Mrs Shmoogle's Freelander and I have never met a more casual, unprofessional group of people in all my life.

Good luck with the rejection process, I fear you might need it.  

2009 Outstanding Contribution Award - Joint Runner Up
2009 'Tech-Head Of The Year' Award - Runner Up

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Thanks for the replies, I actually sell camper vans for a living so I know when you occasionally get a bad one then its normally more than one problem. The worst thing with this is the aftersales from Stratstones and the attitude of “we can do and treat you like we want” I sent a fax to there head office and then had the regional manager on the phone not to apologise but to say “its no good you ringing head office as its me you have to deal with” basically he’d had his arse kicked from above.

Stratstones don’t seem to understand that for £46,500 the vehicle should not really have problems from new and I had only used it for 3 European trips and on 2 of them it had the suspension warning light coming on and the footwell filling with water forcing me to stop.

Part of the problem is that I bought the vehicle through Lombard vehicle supplies as its on finance with them and Lombard got it from Stratstones and because of this the buck stops with Lombard as Stratstones refuse to have it back which is not really fair on Lombard.

In theory I don’t have to have another vehicle but the main guy at Lombard head office has said it would help if I do buy another vehicle I do it through them so they can at least make some money out of me with the finance side of things. Its more a verbal agreement.

On Friday 25th August Lombard offered me a Black HSE same spec as what I had but it was from Stratstones and I don’t care if its £20k off it there not having my money. I am now in the process of looking at other alternatives but I will have to wait months again if I have something built so I either go for another RR Sport or X5 for which there are some good deals around at the moment with the new model coming out soon.

I really like the look of the RR but the after sales is terrible and doing 15/20k a year on Euro trips might be enough to push me in to buying German or Japanese, just that every time a will see a RR sport I will be thinking “what if”

Its all good fun !

I had the same sort of thing. Phoned their head office to complain and all I got was a call from the DP at the branch that I was complaining about.

The vehicle has been returned to the dealer and I have received a full refund including the payments already made. I have now ordered an X5 (yes old model) as there is 11% off list price so got a really high spec one with £4700 off list price and delivery is 5/7 days.

I really thought long and had about having another RR Sport and everytime I see one it will be "what if" but I need the reliability and aftersales.

Cheers David.

P.S. if anyone one needs towbar electrics I have some available they cost £90 trade price, £30 including P+P d.elliot@btinternet.com

What a Mess - well done on the refund and hope you enjoy the X5. Believe me when I say your experience is rare and if you ever get another RRS you would be very unlucky to have the same problem. 2005 Zambezi TDV6 - Gone but not forgotten
2009 Alaska TDV8 - Gone and much missed.



WINNER - 2009 �Idler Of The Year� Award
Runner Up - 2009 �Just Doing What It�s Designed To Do� Award


DO NOT CLICK HERE!

Imagine if you were to get the same problems with your new X5 Heaven forbid

What would you get next???????


Still good news to see you managed to aquire a full refund.  
" WITH MORE EXTRAS THAN A HOLLYWOOD EPIC "

Nice work, WhatAMess!

X5s always a good on-road choice. Should be able to get some good deals too due to the new version on the horizon. 

2009 Outstanding Contribution Award - Joint Runner Up
2009 'Tech-Head Of The Year' Award - Runner Up

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I had a similar list of problems with my Disco 3 HSE - I sold it after 4 months! - My RRS seems (perfect) so far - dont want to say it too loud in-case it hears!

Good luck with your next motor!