2006 Range Rover / Supercharged

These guys will know.
http://www.bvlr.com/

 

my wife had an 03 range rover that we just trade in. when she bought the car, i was happy to plan on driving it until the wheels fell off once she tired of it. when it drove right, it was a great car, unfortunately, she had three near fatal accidnets in the car, not because of her, but because the car failed her. once the car neared the warranty end, i couldn't justify keeping the car based on the problems we had and the repair time involved.

the first problem occurred at about 30k miles. the front gearbox locked up, blowing the front drive shaft out the back, at over 70 mph. in the process, it took out the electrical system, brakes, and steering. i am still amazed she had the where-with-all to use the parking brake to stop the car (my wife isn't a car person, and given the circumstances, i don't know if i would have thought that quick).

after seven weeks at the dealer, she got th car back. after that, the steering cvolumn collaped into the dashboard. i had to drive the vehicle home, and i must say that navigating a vehicle with minimal steering is an interesting proposition. another 3 weeks in the shop.

the final straw was when she was leaving work for lunch. her office building has a decliningg slope to the freeway access road. when her foot was on the brake pedal, the car began to roll forward. several passengers confirmed this and expressed how scared they were as the vehicled rolled into the path of an 18-wheeler. the truck served, barely missing them, but this was the end of the road for me and her.

although warranty is one thing, safety is another. i couldn't argue with her concerns regarding the safety of the range rover. the local range rover dealer (range rover houston north) was more than happy to say that they couldn't find anything wrong, nor could they find the ability to sell me another range rover (which is what i wanted - a new 2005 on the showroom floor), makes me question what the hell is going on. after my experience with the fpag (with my aston martin db7 vantage), it makes me wonder why they would go out of their way to screw their customers.

 

Noticed you're from MN. You might have already done this, but i'm going ask anyways...did you give downtown Jag/Lotus/Rover here in Minneapolis a call? They may have some info for you.

 

I know the standard HSE is arriving in June......don't know about the supercharged version, although it will be a monster!!!! What colors are you looking at?

 

Yes, black and silver are beautiful on the rover, but am presently leaning towards gold. Have you seen any in gold? The color really grows on you. Land Rover updated this color for 05 I believe and its even better, and it will stay for the 06, according to the salesman. Can't wait until June! Black seems to get boring after a while??

 

I'm sorry I can't remember where but I recently read an article about reliability, JD Powers ratings etc. If focused on the false sense of quality that people have regarding the Mercedes line. They then stated that of 33 major car manufacturers Mercedes ranked 30 out of 33. Guess who takes spot number 33? Land Rover Company. I've had a couple of Range Rovers, great vehicles when they work. Lots of mechanical issues and expensive to maintain. The older ones are actually better cars. I did go offroading in them but not enough to justify the capabilities of the car.
My business partner in Costa Rica has two, an 86 RR which now has 250,000 miles on the original un-rebuilt engine, half of those are on dirt roads or off road. He also has a 93 with air suspension and 90,000 miles. The air suspension fails regularly and he has had many more engine problems with the 93.
RR's are the only thing that will take the heavy off-road abuse down there, they are tough trucks. Toyotas are second place. Nothing else can stand up down there. Jeeps and Suburbans last months before major problems.
That said, if I lived in Costa Rica full time I would get a Range Rover and pay the costs to own it. In the US there is absolutely no reason to own one except for show.