The Land Rover Discovery has been named the most unreliable car in the country, after researchers found owners had a 62% chance of breaking down in a year.
Models made between 2004 and 2011 were most likely to suffer problems, said motoring company Warranty Direct.
Next in the list were Renault Grand Scenics from 2004 to 2009, followed by 1994 to 2004 Mercedes V-Class cars.
The Mercedes SL was the mostly costly model to put faults right, with average bills of £742.
Older cars were among the most reliable, the analysis of 50,000 breakdown policies found.
Toyota Corollas from 1997 to 2002 were the best among vehicles aged three to ten years old – with a three per cent chance of breaking down in a year.
‘Not all older cars break down all the time – as long as you don’t pick the wrong one,’ said Duncan McLure Fisher, of Warranty Direct.
tinyurl.com/6key3o2 - links to www.metro.co.uk/news
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I'm not surprised at the findings.
However maybe buyers of cars costing as much as even a used Disco would be more likely to take out WD insurance...i'm not ging to type what my fingers are itching to, good money....
A more interesting statistic would be what percentage of Disco breakdown claims did WD pay out on?
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The Range Rover has not been exempt over the years.
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It's got it's suspension problems and poor compressor, why on earth it does not have a power take off the engine and drives a belt fed or gear fed compressor i don't know probably cost.
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When I played with one of these for a day, I was deeply impressed about its capabilities and comfort off road, its a truly amazing machine. A quick glance in the wheel arch however reveals an electrical multiplug with 5 or 6 wires running into the hub. The plug was not sealed or weatherproofed and was located in the must vulnerable, mud, salt and water prone area on the car.
I made my own rapid conclusions.
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People will continue to buy those brands anyway. It proves if you spend enough on marketing and less on engineering, you could still become a winner.
Ferrari is another unreliable brand. Most people worship them because media raise them to God level. Once you successfully create desirability among some loyal followers, the quality/reliability etc. are all secondary.
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Seeing as it's a RANGE ROVER Sport with different styling (actually vice versa), surely that would be just as bad?
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My dad has a 97 Disco 1 with the 300 TDI engine and auto box. He's had it years. Now on 146,000 miles and it's been one of the most reliable cars he's ever owned.
Going back several years, it had an air leak in the fuel system causing difficult starting, which was a simple pipe replacement. Since then, a couple of glowplugs have been required, and a sluggish starter motor was replaced. That's literally been it outside of servicing, bulbs and tyres. Brilliant old bus. I reckon the tin worm will get it before the mechanicals cry enough.
The high placing of the 2004 Scenic doesn't surprise me in the slightest. But then this is a car that a Renault customer service person told me was designed to last 3 years and 60,000 miles. It's amazing any are still going at all. Shame, as it's actually a fabulous car when it works.
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LR seem to have some really clever engineering, but keep underspending on basics which would help reliability.
I'm told they also spend a fortune wining and dining the car press. I remember when I was considering a freelander2, whatcar's test model had broken down with a mysterious electical fault, and wasn't seen in the magazine for a couple of months, but they still went on to rave about it in their car of the year, giving it high marks for 'quality'.
I'll stick with my landcruiser. Its nowhere near as nice to drive as the LR, but I know it'll get me there!
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Have a couple of friends who have / had these.
One has had his 2 years and is very happy - bought it at 2 years old and has had nothing other than routine servicing done.
The other was bought at the height of the recession so was very cheap. Friends wife found it to big so he got rid of it after about a year, but it did do a bit of green lane activity in that time - also no problems.
I dont doubt that they are unreliable, but a 68% chance of breaking down.....that would mean every owner will break down over 18 months
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Had a fleet of these back in 2006, being used off road loads of kit on them. OK mechanically speaking but lots of electrical problems, always going in for various lights on the dash. TBH they weren't that great off road, nice inside though comfy and fast as we had all 4.4 V8 easy to wind it upto 200kph. We also had Mitsibishi Pajero 3.5 V6 I don't think any of them went in the garage once, just as good off road. Not as nice inside or as fast.
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My pal had a series three Disco until recently. It had three clutches in 16000 miles, the last at his expense. It was scandalous, LR wouldn't do anything and accused him of abusing it - he did that mileage in just over three years (hence the last one was out of guarantee period) and he's never replaced a clutch on any other vehicle in his entire life. And that was just the major things that went wrong...
Amazingly, he still likes Discos - but he doesn't own one any more.
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I gave them up in 1980. The wobbly movement and the flashing lights done for me.
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>> My pal had a series three Disco until recently. It had three clutches in 16000
>> miles, the last at his expense.
First gear is high, and the 2.7 lacks torque at low revs, that combination means lots of revs and clutch slipping each standing start, it all adds up.
It does weigh 2.7 tons, that's a lot to get moving with such a small engine.
Last edited by: gordonbennet on Fri 20 May 11 at 20:59
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A mates mate had one in Australia. When he complained to the mechanic about the gearbox leaking oil, he said "It's just marking it's territory".
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First gear is high, and the 2.7 lacks torque at low revs, that combination means lots of revs and clutch slipping each standing start, it all adds up.
It does weigh 2.7 tons, that's a lot to get moving with such a small engine.<<
Well, you might think it does. My friend does tens of thousands of miles each year and has done for decades, without any previous problems. I prefer to think the vehicle is at fault.
You regard yourself as a professional driver, I imagine. How would you have felt if LR had said to you what they said to my friend? Especially after they had taken his 30-odd thousand quid.
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How would you have felt if
>> LR had said to you what they said to my friend? Especially after they had
>> taken his 30-odd thousand quid.
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They'd never see another penny of my money either.
Your friend won't be the first or the last to have patronising bull shine fed to them, how many front desk jockeys must have grown Pinocchio noses after telling previous customers that they've never seen a Disco 1 gearbox worn out so quickly.
Incidentally this model and all others have to loaded in low range, i'll let you read between.
Professional driver, that's a joke i presume..;)
Clutches do seem to fragile in modern designs of many vehicles, brakes have increased massively in size and performance as vehicles have got heavier and more powerful, but clutches haven't, coupled with the fragility (under hard use) of DMF's, they do seem to be a weak point in many cars.
The outlaws recently had full clutch failure in their new model Mazda 3, same story as your friend, never had a problem before, they too were deemed at fault, but the parts were disposed of so couldn't be examined.
Trucks with manual gearbox's (rare as hens teeth now) have gone soft with clutches too in many cases leading to premature wear, with old truck designs you couldn't slip the clutch as the resulting juddering and kangarooing would shake your fillings out, the clutch on old stuff was basically in or out, softer clutches, lazy/incompetent driving, worn out clutch.
edit, by the way i wasn't intimating your friend was at fault, merely pointing out that compared with other arguably more durable vehicles the engine size compared to vehicle weight, coupled with a high first gear doesn't help.
Last edited by: gordonbennet on Fri 20 May 11 at 22:02
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Sorry I bit at that. I'm just angry that the Disco (his fourth) landed my pal in the financial mire, through no fault of his own. I take your point entirely.
And I'm old-fashioned enough still to think many HGV men are as near professionals as makes no difference. But I guess it's as my father - who spent his time driving all over Europe nearly 50 years ago - always said: 'there's drivers and there's drovers'.
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Nothing much has changed in those 50 years, Mike other than we now say 'there's drivers and screwdrivers'.
Pat
Last edited by: pda on Sat 21 May 11 at 10:15
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Land Rover Discovery 3 - ‘most unreliable car’ in the country - -
