I have a 2010 TDV8 which I have owned for a couple of years with no issues to speak of. Its got just under 90000 on the clock. I use the car for all my running around etc. I also own a van which I use for fishing trips to France 3 or 4 times a year. These trips are normally to the south of France so can be 1600 miles return. The van is getting near the end of its life now and I want to get shot of it. So my question to you lot is, would you trust your or my RRS to do these journeys. Will probably need to tow a trailer to carry the gear.
Has anyone had issues breaking down abroad where the vehicle has been taken to a LR garage?

Thanks in advance

Went to france in my 2.7 a few weeks ago....as long as you got recovery insurance back to UK about £30 with LV why worry...You can expect almost 40 MPG on the motorways. Trailer ..can you not put the long stuff on the roof. Always listen to old people or when they die you will live on in ignorance.
The avatar is a picture of the man with a big cock.
Learned to 4x4 on 100 mile beach and Frazer Island QLD
Dont spend money on old cars you will never get it back

Its not just length that is the issue, its the total volume. I don't think I will get 40 mpg out of a TDV8 but I can live with that. Given the bad rep Land Rovers in general have I just wondered if people trust them on the long haul trips.

I've been to France (brecè (Mayenne)) 4 times in our vintage L320. 4.5hrs off the tunnel each way. Never missed a beat and but I'm lucky to have a thorough indie and a change it if it needs it. However you can't scope for component failure. I just use the EU breakdown with our UK breakdown service. 2006 2.7 TDV6 HSE in Cairns Blue.

Last edited by Stevepd on Fri Sep 22 2023 5:22am. Edited 1 time in total

I reckon if anyone's getting 40 mpg out of their TDV8 it's already on the back of a breakdown truck, mine used to average around 25/26 mpg.

Cheers
Col

I dream about getting 25/26mpg out of my TDV8. I average 15l/100km or about 18/19mpg, and that is driving gently

Should have said on a good steady run, around town a bit different.

Cheers
Col

I've done three trips down to northern Spain. Did some off roading with a forum member and then drove back. The only issue was the TDV8 decided to ask for new brake pads just as we drove on to the Channel Shuttle on one trip. Pads changed in a camp site in Spain (thanks to others helping out). But other than that, no beats were missed on any of the three trips.

Frankly, these vehicles love this sort of work - they don't like short journeys really.

Just checked, and on the first trip we did 2185 miles in 10 days. So, yes, they are great vehicles to do these trips in. Just makes sure you do the usual preparation/service before you go so you don't have to change brake pads in a foreign field.  2012 SDV6 - it's missing a couple of cylinders
2008 TDV8 - it was a labour of love and is much missed

My view is that these machines are built for towing. But 40mpg is a pipe dream. I've had mine 7.5 years now and kept stats. Overall I am getting 25.1mpg - that is over 76000 miles of my driving (in all its done 122,000 miles). On a recent trip from Sussex to the Lake District, I got an indicated 31mpg which was an actual 28.82mpg and that's an A1 trip for the majority of the journey cruising happily at 70mph. I've also had a few trips to the Moray Firth in Scotland over the years (around 1500 miles round trip) and its always around the 27-28mpg mark. It pays to give it the once over before you start out. The reward is the comfort of the drive, with power when you need to get out of trouble, and excellent brakes if the traffic in front starts messing around. Robin
2008 Range Rover Sport TDV8
Gone:
Jaguar S-Type V8 4.2 Sport
MGZTT 190 2.5

Interesting one, this .....

I have a number of intermittent faults that I was prepared to live with for a trip to Avignon, but the other half didn't want the hassle of RRS 'stress', so decided that the 4 of us (2 adults, and 2 teen girls) would be fine in her 2017 Mustang ..........

.... then, as luck(?) would have it, she had a minor altercation with a bollard 2 days before departure, which resulted in a broken undertray, front spoiler, and a cracked aircon condenser ..... so, the ferry was swapped over to the RRS at short notice.

The holiday involved Kent - Trier - Reims - Avignon - Kent, plus the usual driving around during the holiday, which resulted in added about 2,200 miles onto the 120,000 miles already on the clock. Now, there were a few issues that I was aware of before leaving, but didn't have the time to resolve / fully establish root cause before departure, so had to live with / drive around them, as follows:

1) Limp mode - had started appearing on long motorway hills under constant load - workaround was to knock off the cruise control on hills, chill out a bit, and not run at a constant throttle. This particular issue was my main concern, and resulted in 4 failures whilst on the motorway, all resolved with a switch off / switch on. 2 of these were on the hard shoulder, and the other 2 didn't cause enough of a power reduction to need an instant resolution. Might be a MAF sensor (which I've cleaned), might be the hose from the intercooler to the intake (which I've inspected and can't see anything wrong) - not sure how to progress yet. Cracked inlet manifold (not sure this is a problem on the 2.7)?

2) Air con - I had this re-gassed in May, after a re-gas the previous summer, so knew there's a leak somewhere. Sure enough, it became obvious that this wasn't working properly, so to keep the peace, dropped into a 'Speedy' service centre (like a Kwik Fit) and had it re-gassed for £75. Lasted the holiday, but out of gas now!

3) DRS - Intermittent but persistent fault with Dynamic Response - had this for some time, and still not committed to starting to spend three figures at guessing at solutions. The family are used to the sigh when this happens (eg, slow / medium left hander), made more annoying as all roundabouts are slow left handers on the continent! Again, a switch off / switch on makes it go away for a bit.

4) Windscreen wipers - farting across the screen, and making a cracking noise at the top of the sweep. I've tried both Bosch and Valeo aeroblades, and neither are as quiet as I'd like ..... think I'll go for some Halfords cheapos and see how I go.

Glad to report that no extra faults manifested themselves during the holiday, other than an increase in a vibration when braking - quite bad when braking through 60 - 40 mph, but might have been self-inflicted by some hard running in Germany.

The RRS was super-comfy for the entire trip, swallowed everything that we took (make use of lots of 'dead space' under the rear seats etc, and averaged near-mid thirties in fuel. It was driven gently, except for a blast on the Autobahn where I saw 115mph on the speedo, and a very entertaining lap of the Nurburgring. I did take an iCarSoft fault reader with me, but not much else in the way of spares - I was pretty comfortable that I know enough about my RRS to know how to respect it, drive around the few issues it has, and be comfortable that if something came up that stopped it in its tracks, then it would have been something unforeseen that could happen to any other car.

As has already been said on here, the RRS is in its element in this scenario, and just soaks up the miles .... I will be using it on Tuesday for a day return to Halifax from Kent, roughly 600 miles, which again, I'm fully confident that it will waft me there and back again, as long as I remember that I'm driving a 16 year old vehicle that it halfway to the moon!

Here are some holiday pics for inspiration!

Ah Riems! Nice.

My old TDV8 at the same spot in 2016:

Click image to enlarge

The MPG return is about what I am expecting. As I stated earlier, this I can live with. I am surprised there are no horror stories. I have yet to speak to the local independent who takes care of the servicing etc on my RRS to get his overall opinion on the car. From the replies here it seems like no one has had a bad experience. I am sure there must be some out there.

I think you’re talking to the wrong crowd. I’d dare say most folk here would maintain and service their cars for a long trip. Those who don’t, probably won’t take them for a long trip. 2011 RRS HSE Luxury 3.0 TDV6 Fuji White on Ebony/Ivory
Born and raised in So Cal. Moved to the UK in 2018 for a few years. Now in Poland and looking at moving back to the UK.

Fair point, I am not particularly hands on with my RRS but it wants for nothing. As soon as a service light comes on, a service is booked. If something doesn't feel right or an odd sound appears it is checked. I am all for prevent rather than cure.

83series3 wrote:

Good to see others using the space under the rear seats for storage. Here's mine:

Click image to enlarge

There's a small folding spade and a strop pushed under the seat back area and just visible in the photo, too. The yellow thing at the top is a tyre inflator.

The L320 really did have some great little features that are missing on the later versions - I'm not sure what I'd do with all of the kit in a newer one.  2012 SDV6 - it's missing a couple of cylinders
2008 TDV8 - it was a labour of love and is much missed