Does anyone know anything about Range Rovers?

[CitizenKane]

Sorry for the obviously non-BMW question - I don’t use any other car forums and I know there are folks here knowledgeable about all sorts of cars so I just thought I’d ask!

My wife is considering trading in her 2016 Range Rover Sport SDV6 for a newer one. The car has served us really well to be honest, but it’s approaching the mileage where things seem to start going wrong with these cars and she fancies an update.

I’ve been doing some searching for post-2018 facelift cars (which is when they introduced the P400e hybrid engine), and so far I’m surprised at the price disparity between hybrid and diesel. There are very few of the diesel ones even for sale (aside from the 2 litre which we’re not even considering), and there are far more hybrids for sale and they tend to be significantly cheaper for similar mileage and spec.

I guess my question is: is this just because a lot more of the hybirds were sold (given the favourable tax rate perhaps), or is this a symptom of the wider market hesitancy towards EVs and hybrids at the moment?

All things being equal the hybrid would probably be a better option because she doesn’t do huge mileage in the car. But we’ve never owned a hybrid of any kind before, so we are a bit nervous and suspicious of the apparent good value on offer for these. My wallet wouldn’t fancy having to fork out for a replacement battery for any hybrid car, let alone for an RR..

Any thoughts welcome!

[Big H]

IMHO - I think you'd be mad to go for a RR Hybrid of any description - an X5 45E (the six cylinder PHEV one) would trump it everywhere except maybe overall comfort.........

[dergside]

I would always think of RR's as a bit tricky. SUV's aren't my bag, but it does seem that they know how to mix the ingredients well to produce a decent car.

However, it does seem that they use fairly poor quality ingredients, and a poor quality of build, so their reliability, failures and warranty issues are always a bit of a concern.

Also, they have been having a very tricky time with parts availability. They did some big logistics revamp last year on warehouses and parts stock and it doesn't seem to have gone well. I haven't heard so much about it here, but in the UK customers have had cars off the road for months because parts aren't available. Have a look at the prices of secondhand parts on e-Bay, etc. to see the effect of that. This may be a fixable issue, but it seems to have been to have been going on for a long time (18 months or so at this stage), and not a lot of evidence that its resolved, despite the optimistic tone, from JLR, in one of the links below.

Interestingly, this also seems to have highlighted a major security issue with their "comfort access" equivalent that has made them quite vulnerable to theft. They've been rolling out software updates but have only recently offered the update for 2018-2021 cars, with not much said on if/when they'll address the issue on older ones. Hand in hand with the value of parts soaring due to the supply chain issues, above, this means that they've been targeted a lot in the UK, and by all accounts they are practically un-insurable in the south east of England at the moment. this got to the point where JLR had to introduce their own brand insurance (and presumably subsidize it) in order to keep customers on the road (if they weren't already off the road waiting for parts), and the cost to insure even with that is enormously high relative to alternatives. A bit of a perfect storm.

I haven't seen or heard much specifically about the PHEV RR's, but I would have thought that since electrics and electronics have generally been a weak point in terms of reliability on JLR products over recent generations, it would pay to be prepared for the worst, or steer around with another brand.

Its a pity, because it does seem like they have pretty effective cars, but a lot of reasons to not necessarily want to be the owner after the warranty runs out.

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/n...-waiting-parts
https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/c...upply-improves

https://www.insurancetimes.co.uk/new...447421.article

[JohnH]

The 2 litre hybrid range rovers shit themselves, you’d be as well to buy a 2.0 diesel

[Big H]

I always associate RR's with little man syndrome - any (male) I know with one is under 5' 8" I'd say........

[dergside]

I always associate RR's with little man syndrome - any (male) I know with one is under 5' 8" I'd say........

Wow - SO many layers to unpack in that short sentence......

[Big H]

Wow - SO many layers to unpack in that short sentence......

HaHa - full disclosure: my brother has one and he fits the criteria too.......

[james forde]

The 2.0 hybrids are reliable and seem to go well, battery range isn't anything hectic. The 2.0 diesel is terrible, suffer from timing chain failure and the engine blows. Out of the 3.0 diesels it seems the sdv6 is bigger bhp & a better engine.

They're hard on suspension parts & the wearables are not cheap.

[CitizenKane]

Thanks for the replies all. Still not really any consensus on the matter..

The 2 litre hybrid range rovers shit themselves

The 2.0 hybrids are reliable

Out of the 3.0 diesels it seems the sdv6 is bigger bhp & a better engine.

Yep that is definitely the case, our current RR is the SDV6 and it's a great engine. I think the difference between is that it has sequential turbos whereas the TDV6 just has regular twin turbos. My preference would certainly be for an SDV6 but there are so few 3 litre diesel facelifts in general let alone with the SDV6.

I would always think of RR's as a bit tricky. SUV's aren't my bag, but it does seem that they know how to mix the ingredients well to produce a decent car.

However, it does seem that they use fairly poor quality ingredients, and a poor quality of build, so their reliability, failures and warranty issues are always a bit of a concern.

Also, they have been having a very tricky time with parts availability. They did some big logistics revamp last year on warehouses and parts stock and it doesn't seem to have gone well. I haven't heard so much about it here, but in the UK customers have had cars off the road for months because parts aren't available. Have a look at the prices of secondhand parts on e-Bay, etc. to see the effect of that. This may be a fixable issue, but it seems to have been to have been going on for a long time (18 months or so at this stage), and not a lot of evidence that its resolved, despite the optimistic tone, from JLR, in one of the links below.

Interestingly, this also seems to have highlighted a major security issue with their "comfort access" equivalent that has made them quite vulnerable to theft. They've been rolling out software updates but have only recently offered the update for 2018-2021 cars, with not much said on if/when they'll address the issue on older ones. Hand in hand with the value of parts soaring due to the supply chain issues, above, this means that they've been targeted a lot in the UK, and by all accounts they are practically un-insurable in the south east of England at the moment. this got to the point where JLR had to introduce their own brand insurance (and presumably subsidize it) in order to keep customers on the road (if they weren't already off the road waiting for parts), and the cost to insure even with that is enormously high relative to alternatives. A bit of a perfect storm.

I haven't seen or heard much specifically about the PHEV RR's, but I would have thought that since electrics and electronics have generally been a weak point in terms of reliability on JLR products over recent generations, it would pay to be prepared for the worst, or steer around with another brand.

Its a pity, because it does seem like they have pretty effective cars, but a lot of reasons to not necessarily want to be the owner after the warranty runs out.

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/n...-waiting-parts
https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/c...upply-improves

https://www.insurancetimes.co.uk/new...447421.article

Very interesting thanks. I hadn't really considered the parts availability point.

I always associate RR's with little man syndrome - any (male) I know with one is under 5' 8" I'd say........

I can confirm my wife doesn't suffer from little man syndrome.

[Big H]

I hadn't really considered the parts availability point.

You should have a look at some of Seán's older videos from McKeown Auto Services in Dundalk. He would have been a long time RR specialist that's seen it all, but couldn't recommend them. One of his major gripes is parts availability with ramps being held up for months in some cases while waiting for parts - crazy business to be in.......https://www.facebook.com/mckeownautoservice

One of my local RR specialists laughs that RR's alone are putting his kids through college.

If your current one is trouble free, then why not keep it - some preventative maintenance/regular servicing and you're good to go.