Land Rover Discovery VS Volvo XC90

jeannieblue

sunnyone wrote: »

We`re on our 10th landy and its the D3 which has the best drive of any any of our previous ones.

its pretty easy to find a good garage for none francised work, this saves £££s, I dont know if its as easy for the other motors that you are looking for, same for parts.

But you shouldn't have to be finding garages for the non franchise and the like if the car is reliable in the first place. All makes have there faults, sadly, I want to be proud to be British but I'm hard pressed to be proud of Land Rover or anything else in this country at the moment.

pitkin2020

jeannieblue wrote: »

You're not getting it are you.

Yes - they are great - but not reliable. They are not mechanically put together that well.... they break down alot, for a lot of reasons... which is why us sensible ones advise the OP to avoid the LR's - cos I doubt the OP has the funds to 'support' the repairs that they will incur with this vehicle.

If you have alot of money for back up and repairs - then yes, buy one, they are great. If you don't, buy a Toyota Landcruiser.

I did in fact say USED to have a good reputation but like I said since they were sold to TATA and a few years leading upto the sale of Jaguar/Land Rover things started to go wrong for what ever reason, and I don't dispute that. You will always get people say they are rubbish and you will always get the die hard lovers, and that goes for any car.
I also recommend the OP look at the landcruiser/Shogun (Post#18) as most ex-landrover owners seem to be switching to these two out of most other 4 x 4's.

epninety

LandyAndy wrote: »

Driving in low first would probably allow you not to use the brakes but obviously there comes a point where weight overcomes friction and depending on the slope anything will slide.

There does come that point, but it's often much further away than you think, even if you are experienced in icy conditions. During a snowstorm I stopped on an ice covered road in Norway to recover another vehicle. I winched the other vehicle out of the ditch, without needing to anchor my Land Rover to a tree as one would normally do.
What was amazing was that the only way to move around was hanging onto the bodywork, and I had real trouble getting back into the cab because every time I lifted one foot up high into the cab, I fell over!

At other times, I've driven a standard Discovery (Mark 1, with no clever toys, and only 'all terrain' tyres) up ice covered hills that were impossible to stand up on. (Of course, that was an experiment on a private training area.)

I'm not saying that there's no problem in ice and snow, or that everyone should be out driving regardless of the conditions, but with a little training and modest equipment, it is certainly amazing where they will get to, with no drama.

The sad truth though, is that when it does go wrong, it can go very wrong, very quickly. The UK registered BMW that overtook me at speed in a snowstorm in France before Xmas found that out. The next time we saw him, he was neatly wedged in the bottom of a deep gulley, at the end of a very long and exciting looking set of tyre tracks in the snow.

Anyway, we've strayed well off topic - I'd never advise anyone to buy a Land Rover, but personally I haven't owned anything else for more than 10 years, and I rather suspect I never will :j

jeannieblue

pitkin2020 wrote: »

I did in fact say USED to have a good reputation but like I said since they were sold to TATA and a few years leading upto the sale of Jaguar/Land Rover things started to go wrong for what ever reason, and I don't dispute that. You will always get people say they are rubbish and you will always get the die hard lovers, and that goes for any car.
I also recommend the OP look at the landcruiser/Shogun (Post#18) as most ex-landrover owners seem to be switching to these two out of most other 4 x 4's.

Aw - and I was expecting some banter from you... !!

I'm surprised that no one has been on here telling everyone off for supporting 4x4's and that we must all rush out and buy a SMART or a Toyota 'Pious'....

petrolhead69

for the xc90 d5 start it from stone cold, make sure it fires up within a few seconds, theyre prone to weeping injector nozzles which then depressurise the fuel rail giving starting problems. £230+vat per injector, the cheaper ones dont last at all. if it`s a manual listen very carefully for a rumble from the dual mass flywheel and check for clutch slip. you often need to change the flywheel at the same time as the clutch and they are expensive and need to be properly pretensioned so main dealer or very knowledgable specialist only, if the pretensioning isnt done properly the new parts can fail in as little as 20k miles. roughly £1000-1200. out of the 3 the volvo is probably is probably the most reliable and refined. with the right tyres it`ll go offroad as well. the x5 is nice but has loads of potentially expensive niggles, too many to list here, get yourself onto a bmw forum. i dont know too much about the disco as i`ve never really been interested in them but they have a very bad rep for reliability, but the owners seemto love them so there must be something right about them.

pitkin2020

jeannieblue wrote: »

Aw - and I was expecting some banter from you... !!

I'm surprised that no one has been on here telling everyone off for supporting 4x4's and that we must all rush out and buy a SMART or a Toyota 'Pious'....

Your entitled to your opinion same as everyone else, when it comes to cars people become very opinionated (sp?), no matter what car you choose you will have some say its the best and others say its the worst.
I don't have a 4 x 4 so my opinions are based on friends who do own them, i know several who own landrovers (defenders, discos and range rover) and others who have the toyota (hi lux and amazon). The toyota drivers say the Land rover is rubbish and the landrover drivers say the toyotas are rubbish.
I have had toyota cars and Rover cars and never had any major problems with either.

I support the OP's decision to go for a 4 x 4 as the OP has stated it needs to be off road capable, so a SMART or PRIUS will be of no use.

jeannieblue

pitkin2020 wrote: »

Your entitled to your opinion same as everyone else, when it comes to cars people become very opinionated (sp?), no matter what car you choose you will have some say its the best and others say its the worst.
I don't have a 4 x 4 so my opinions are based on friends who do own them, i know several who own landrovers (defenders, discos and range rover) and others who have the toyota (hi lux and amazon). The toyota drivers say the Land rover is rubbish and the landrover drivers say the toyotas are rubbish.
I have had toyota cars and Rover cars and never had any major problems with either.

I support the OP's decision to go for a 4 x 4 as the OP has stated it needs to be off road capable, so a SMART or PRIUS will be of no use.

I'd kinda like to see someone go off road in a Prius - bit dangerous for the cows tho.... they wouldn't hear it coming...

I work for Toyota/Lexus specialists - so am a tad biased (although I drive a Ford!).. I adore the Landcruisers/Hilux/Surf etc. We also have Land rovers in .. and I really would choose the Toyota's over them any day - for reliability/mechanically and cost of repairs etc. Its a shame - I would love it for the LR's to be reliable etc., they do give an excellent ride.

Ian_W

pitkin2020 wrote: »

I did in fact say USED to have a good reputation but like I said since they were sold to TATA and a few years leading upto the sale of Jaguar/Land Rover things started to go wrong for what ever reason, and I don't dispute that.

I'm sorry that is just plain wrong - the sale took place in March 2008 - STORY.

LR poor reputation for reliability pre-dates that by a very long way. Warranty Direct (who only insure cars after the manufacturers 3 yr warranty has expired) publish a reliability index. Land Rover is third from bottom!! Only Porshe and Jeep show up worse! AND they've been at that end of the table for a good few years! Several times I've considered the Freelander or Discovery but they're just too damned unreliable for the money. I smile every time I drive past one on the motorway with it's hazards on!

Note the TOP 10 for reliability - any common denominator?

Excellent, amongst the best, when they work but the police, army etc all have longer pockets than me, if they do improve then I would be very proud to own one. Until then I'll stick to Jap and I won't blame the Indians for something they inherited from us! :rolleyes:

Inactive

Ian_W wrote: »

t

Note the TOP 10 for reliability - any common denominator?

Indeed. ..

Inactive

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers! wrote: »

...and yet the drivers chose to use their vehicles, and paid the price.

Nothing to do with the size, design, or weight of the vehicle. Everything to do with numpty drivers.

How were these " numpty " drivers to know that my lane would be as bad as I described, do you think they are all physic?