Land Rovers/Range Rovers

[WVaHillbilly]

Are they the best 4x4 made ?

 

[timb]

Would depend on your defnition of 'best'. I believe they have a horrible track record for reliability. They are (IMO of course) seriously overpriced for the level of about anything you want to measure (performance on or off road, features, safety) compared to a lot of the competition. But they also have some design features you don't find in some posers that keep them more effective in true off road situations.

 

[RoyJackson]

Depends what you want...if a serious off road machine that you don't have to build up, I'd suggest a Hummer, CJ Jeep or one of the old Toyota Land Cruisers or old Land Rovers (the real thing, not the one they sell now).
Another one to consider would be a Mercedes Benz Unimog.
But, none of those are "luxury" 4x4's (which are about a useless thing as you can get, except for driving in snow).

I have a Ford Explorer...nice machine, but I know I'd never take it off road. The 4WD is strictly for getting me through snowy/slushy conditions.

 

[Jimbrown]

Well the last time I was in Tanzania We had a quide driving a landrover. When he found out that I owned a jeep he was jeoulous. His opinion was that a Land Rover was OK for some one who took very good care of it and did not let paid drivers drive it but that a jeep was a far better machine. And we had this dicussion some where in the middle of the Seringedi plains. The closest dealer of any kind was a two day drive.

 

[SnowRidge]

Are they the best 4x4 made ?

They are excellent...............for going to the country club and letting people know just how much disposable income you have.

 

[DieselPower]

Nope, the best factory 4X4 made is a Unimog. Oh, did I mention, I'm not into frills and gizmo's in my truck.

 

[SnowRidge]

Nope, the best factory 4X4 made is a Unimog. Oh, did I mention, I'm not into frills and gizmo's in my truck.

I hope they build them better now than they did in the 70's. Windshield wipers that didn't have enough oomph to move more than two snowflakes at a time, and heater that couldn't begin to keep the windshield from fogging up.

We had to cut a slot in the engine cowl and tape a piece of cardboard in place to get any heat onto the windshield. It wasn't enough, though. We still ended up plowing the road with our heads sticking out the driver's window in order to see.

Clutches were $300 a pop, not including labor, and that was 35+ years ago, and in The Fatherland, at that. We went through quite a few clutches, too. Try to feather stage two, and it went out. We had more than one person who couldn't master the two stage clutch and either blew the snow blower's shear pins or fried the clutch because they couldn't understand the simple instructions, "Feather stage one at idle, hit the throttle, and pop stage two." A couple of mistakes on stage two, and the clutch was history.

Nothing soured me on Mercedes engineering like that thing.

 

[Double Orange]

Are they the best 4x4 made? NO

 

[Egon]

Buy one. Give use a report on serviceability.

 

[sasquatcher]

Well, they have a lot of neat gadgetee type of stuff with them. However, I know a couple of people that have bought the high-end Range Rovers and are having tons of problems. For instance, my boss bought a brand new $80,000 Range Rover three months ago. In the first two months, he's had to deal with it shutting down while driving, not starting, a bad computer, door locks that don't lock and sometimes do lock at the wrong time, an alarm system that goes off unexpectantly or sometimes doesn't turn on, a door handle that just totally came off, air ride suspension not working, or partially working at times, the engine misfiring, trim pieces falling off, and the brakes are giving him trouble.

Now, with the good. It's pretty fancy inside and out. It's pretty fast and has a pretty strong engine. It has has a nifty tow hitch receiver that slips back up and stays hidden. It has a nice beefy sound.

Two other guys I know that have the new Range Rover have minor trim problems and lock issues, but nothing as bad as what my boss has. For some reason, all of them love their Range Rovers. I don't know if I could love a new vehicle that constantly gave me problems, so I must say the Range Rover must have some effect on people to still love em. What do I know.

 

[RayH]

Are they the best 4x4 made ?

Be more specific. Best at what?

Ive never owned one but the people I know that do seem to have common complaints such as the electrical system, maintenance costs, fit and finish.
The drivetrains seem to be pretty solid. Judging from this I would say that Land Rover does basic utilitarian 4X4 very well but they do luxury SUV very bad. For instance, look at the Defender series verses the Discovery series.
Personally I think Jeep is the best 4X4 made. Not because they are anything special from the factory but because the aftermarket is so extensive and relatively inexpensive. The aftermarket for Jeeps is so much better than any other vehicle, there are whole companies that do nothing but make and sell Jeep products. If you really want something to take off road, look for the aftermarket because nothing comes from the factory just the way you want it. You gotta build it. Whats the old saying, "Jeeps are built, not bought". That saying holds true for any make of vehicle if you intend on truely doing some off roading. Im not talking about the occational gravel road, sand beach or forest road kind of off roading, anything with 4X4 can do that.

 

[Richard]

I like seeing them all tricked out with the brush guards covering the lights/tail lights so when in the rough, the lights won't be broken... I was able to see all this because the person was going slower over a speedbump than I do in my Chrysler....

hmm....

I don't know how good they are or aren't but from what I see, they sure do seem to have a lot of "see what a rugged piece of equipment I have, even though it never sees anything more rugged than gravel in a parking lot"

 

[Podunkadunk]

Hey WVAHillbilly, you aren't a reincarnation of ArtVandelay are you? Sure was a "bump and run" type question...

All too familiar in the buying/comparison forum by ArtVandelay...

 

[MarkV]

We have driven a Discovery for the last 9 years and it will be the last Land Rover we own. Service work and parts have just been too expensive. It does have some nice “off road” features that are built into the standard package. Best is too broad of term for me to speculate on.

Now if you go to the farm areas of England, Scotland and Ireland you will see Land Rovers everywhere. They are the work vehicle of choice for farmers in the U.K.

MarkV

 

[MossRoad]

Are they the best 4x4 made ?

The Toyota Lancruiser gets my vote as one of the thoughest. Take a look at any news video from any location in Africa or Asia. TLCs are everywhere. Old, beat up, still running. I mean, really look at those videos closely and start picking them out in the background. They are everywhere. Very tough and hard to kill.

But by best 4x4, if you mean ability to go anywhere, the Unimog is probably tops. They are affectionately known as hummer recovery vehicles, and the hummer H1 is a very impressive 4x4.

 

[SnowRidge]

The Toyota Lancruiser gets my vote as one of the thoughest. Take a look at any news video from any location in Africa or Asia. TLCs are everywhere. Old, beat up, still running. I mean, really look at those videos closely and start picking them out in the background. They are everywhere. Very tough and hard to kill.

But by best 4x4, if you mean ability to go anywhere, the Unimog is probably tops. They are affectionately known as hummer recovery vehicles, and the hummer H1 is a very impressive 4x4.

When I was in Germany, our boss stuck our Unimog in a field. The question then became, "How do you recover a Unimog?" A local farmer managed to pull it out with his tractor.

I've had two of the old Land Cruisers, and while I liked mine a lot, the total lack of insulation makes it very difficult to stay warm in one in a cold climate. Other than that, they were great.

 

[Mith]

The older ones were (and still are) great. The new ones are useless with the exceptoin of the defender.
I have a friend with 300,000 miles on his, and its still runs like new, and its been thrashed too.

As Mark said, they are as common as dirt over here.

 

[RobertN]

I was born in a '42 Ford version war production MB. Jeep is where it is at.

this is a tough one though. It depends on where you are at. In the US, Jeep all the way, with the old 60's-early 70's Ford Bronco's just behind. You can get anything you need for a Jeep in the US. It is hard to find a place that a Jeep won't go. There are some, but if a Jeep won't go, it's either the driver or the trail is too tough. Ya, there are guys running Rubicon etc in Toyota pickups, but the Jeep is still there from day one, easy to work with, and will go anywhere.

IF though, you are outside the US, it's up in the air. Jeep's will still do anything any other will, but if you do not have the availability, of vehicles, parts, service, aftermarket, you will not see any of the vehicles. Lots of Landcruisers out there around the world, but so are parts.

I have a buddy that had a Land Rover; it was like a 4x4 Jaguar; real leather, real wood trim. It did really well off road, but toasted a very expensive engine... Lot cheaper to rebuild/replace a Jeep or Landcruiser motor...

The Toyota Lancruiser gets my vote as one of the thoughest. Take a look at any news video from any location in Africa or Asia. TLCs are everywhere. Old, beat up, still running. I mean, really look at those videos closely and start picking them out in the background. They are everywhere. Very tough and hard to kill.

 

[RedRocker]

Then new Rubicons are pretty trail worthy right out of the box. I was Jeeping with a buddy in July in Moab and his new Rubi was really nice. Add a little lift and you're ready to rock!