In my opinion constructors can make cars reliable enough to take some serious abuse. But then the dealers would go bust becouse they don't get any cars in for repairs.

Remember deLorean and Tucker cars? They were too good so they destroyed the companies that build them.

But I do agree that for the price you pay for these cars they could do better. I love mine and - touch wood - hope nothing serious happens to it.

There's a lemon once and a while in each brand and if it's your first of the brand I too probably curse the brand for it and would stay away from buying it. When I was a young bloke I had a corsa 1000cc which I abused and which never broke down. After a write-off accident I bought another corsa, a 1200cc this time, and blew the engine after 3 months. It didn't go as fast as the first one either.

I do find it strange tough, that with only 4 different types of cars in the brand (other brands have many many more) dealer's technicians do seem to lack expertise on it and customer service is not great. I bought mine new and they should be grovelling at my feet by way af gratitude for doing so.

My former car was a peugeot which I serviced not at the dealer I bought it from, but he did everything for me to keep me a satisfied customer. Never ever had to pay for a replacement car, didn't even had to fill in any papers for it. In fact he put it on his lot when I tried to sell it. Now that's some service.
I probably would have been driving a peugeot if they had something similar that looked good too (I realy don't like the look of the SUV they now have).

Agree that absolutely no brand should have any excuse for poor customer service and admittedly Land Rover have there fair share of bad eggs when it comes to garages, but again I dont think it is isolated to landRover as I have had both good and bad experiences from both LR and other brands including ford, BMW, Audi & VW....

Now if I were to go 50 miles up the road, I am sure I would also get mixed experiences from each of these brands, but its unlikely to be the same mix  Freelander 2 TD4 Auto, SE, Narvik Black, Alpaca full leather, Rear Headrest Entertainment System, 6 CD, 18 HSE Wheels, Privicy tints

zone30 wrote:

Remember deLorean and Tucker cars? They were too good so they destroyed the companies that build them.

It's hard to know where to start when describing the "quality" of the design, development and manufacture of the DeLorean. There were many reasons why the DeLorean project failed, but the "high quality" of the product certainly wasn't one of them!

Quote:

Not saying its the norm but i do think you get some drivers that are more sympathetic than others... and its not just about people who enjoys' them its about people who have some mechanical empathy who understands the limits of things and how to look after them... Thumbs Up

Gunfa wrote:

Quote:

Not saying its the norm but i do think you get some drivers that are more sympathetic than others... and its not just about people who enjoys' them its about people who have some mechanical empathy who understands the limits of things and how to look after them... Thumbs Up

Totally agree I cringe when I am on cruise control @ 70 and young girls pass doing 80 plus in small hatchbacks come flying past, I often think do they have any ideas what is going on under the bonnet (hood for our friends across the pond) likewise I have speak up when the wife is at 30 in sixth or holding it on the clutch for an excessive time at junctions, a little mechanical knowledge helps.

Not as good as the story of the 'lady' who used to pull out the 'choke' lever and hang her bag on it  2002 Honda VFR800
2002 Toyota Celica 140 Silver (mid life crisis - again!)
2007 FL2 GS Manual Army Reconnaissance Green + freel2.com sticker
2004 Toyota Celica 140 Black - Gone
2000 Toyota Celica 140 Silver - Gone
1998 Toyota Celica ST Pearl Green - Gone
1996 Nissan Primera 1.6 - Gone
1994 Rover Montego 1.6 Auto - Gone

Andy66 wrote:

...but one of the things that she was particular vocal about is how many times stones etc. have flown up and hit the windscreen. We’ve had Autoglass out 4 times to repair 7 stone chips. We’ve never had to repair stone chips on the windscreens on any of our other previous cars. What is it about this car/Freelander 2’s that they attract stone chips?...

I had to have a laugh at this one!

The windscreen is very vertical by modern standards and it will attract stone chips as a result. This is a "problem" that's rife on MINI's for exactly the same reason. It's hardly a fault of the car, just a consequence of the design that we've chosen to buy.

The upside of this is that the screen is easier to clean the inside of and (when it is dirty) it's much easier to see through, especially when sun is shining directly on it.

bored this am tigger? and trolling thru old threads? At work
At home

"I can't always believe facts I read on the web" - Charles Dickens

winner by default of the tractor vs caravan race

Tigger wrote:

zone30 wrote:

Remember deLorean and Tucker cars? They were too good so they destroyed the companies that build them.

It's hard to know where to start when describing the "quality" of the design, development and manufacture of the DeLorean. There were many reasons why the DeLorean project failed, but the "high quality" of the product certainly wasn't one of them!

chicken george wrote:

bored this am tigger? and trolling thru old threads?

Absolutely! No where near enough active threads at 7.21am on a Saturday, if you ask me! I thought it was time to reuse and recycle

athelstan wrote:

Tigger wrote:

zone30 wrote:

Remember deLorean and Tucker cars? They were too good so they destroyed the companies that build them.

It's hard to know where to start when describing the "quality" of the design, development and manufacture of the DeLorean. There were many reasons why the DeLorean project failed, but the "high quality" of the product certainly wasn't one of them!

Absolutely right Tigger.
My mate of 30+ yrs standing (who is doing the facelift project for her Laydship's FL2) had the part time (night time) job of De Loren test driver in Derbyshire's Peak District. He got the job from his pal Colin Chapman who was engaged by De Loren to do these road "development" tests. The car was a pile of crap compared to what else was on the market at that time for the same price. He could tell you many unbelievable things that went on with that project in those days.

They would be some tales that I would love to hear!

Poor old Colin Chapman though, I think that whole project contributed in no small part to his premature demise

Probably. And look where Lotus are now!! I know personally the CEO, he used to share office space with me - I could tell a few stories about him - he's Turkish not Swiss, he changed his original name so that he didn't sound Turkish. His CV is real work of art, Hans Andersen couldn't have embellished it any better. Wikileaks should blow the whistle on him - jobs and British motor industry are at stake.

-o0o-
De Lorean
We used to joke that the reason the road tests were done at night was so that no Allegros, Escorts or Vivas would be seen overtaking or out-handling the De Lorean on twisty Peak District roads.

Ford Land rovers former parent company, responsible for the freelander 2. If you think land rovers customer service is bad wait until you get a fault with the kuga. The Mondeo is a perfect example, my dads friend bought one of the first and it was bad for pulling to the left, ford washed their hands of it, spoiler always falling off again ford not interested. Friends dad bought one on an 02 ( new at the time ) paint peeling of bumper again ford blamed paint supplier. Ford explorer had Ill fitting mats that caused the accelerator to jam on. That was a long time ago i am sure your car will be fine. 21MY Defender 90 S 3.0 D200

j77 wrote:

Ford Land rovers former parent company, responsible for the freelander 2. If you think land rovers customer service is bad wait until you get a fault with the kuga. The Mondeo is a perfect example, my dads friend bought one of the first and it was bad for pulling to the left, ford washed their hands of it, spoiler always falling off again ford not interested. Friends dad bought one on an 02 ( new at the time ) paint peeling of bumper again ford blamed paint supplier. Ford explorer had Ill fitting mats that caused the accelerator to jam on. That was a long time ago i am sure your car will be fine.

I used to have a new Ford years ago and on the only occasion that I tried to make a warranty claim on it they insisted the dealer said that I would have to pay for the repair and that they would refund me only if Ford agreed to the claim! They wouldn't even attempt to make a claim without me paying for the repair first!

Fortunately, I haven't had to make any claims on my current Focus RS in the 18 months that I've had it, but I have had one dealing with their "customer services". The mountings to attach the roof rack are completely filled with rigid sealant and it's impossible to mount the rack without taking a hammer and chisel to the roof of the car first

When I spoke to Ford "customer services" they said that "No one else had reported this, so it's not a problem" and that they wouldn't discuss it further. I knew when I bought the car that customer service would be atrocious and, so far, I haven't been disappointed! I imagine that Andy66 will be discussing his own findings with Ford customer service on the Ford Kuga forum in time!

Sorry it didn't work out. Just watch out as my friend had a Kuga and had many problems with it. After 6 months he exchanged it for an 07 Freelander 2 which he now loves!

I thought I'd check the Ford Kuga Forum and see if "Andy66" could be found amongst the Faults section of the Forum, possibly discussing issues on his Kuga.

Unfortunately, the Faults section runs to 76 pages, so I gave up looking!

http://www.kugaownersclub.co.uk/forum/technical_forum4_page1.html