Only joined this forum late last year as we had an FL1 as a second car which suffered terminal HGF so we purchased an FL2 to replace it. Not unlike the the FL1 they are not completely faultless. And obviously the downside of ownership will be reported more than "it's been no trouble at all"

I must say our purchase has not been without issues but buying an approved used car, and to our satisfaction, all the issues have been rectified at zero cost by LR.

So back to my point, our main car (which is my wife's car) has been utterly faultless. purchased new in November 2012 it has not missed a beat and does everything it says' on the box. Not seen it mentioned on here yet but thought I would mention it now.

So the mystery car is. A VW Tiguan 4WD 2.0 litre Diesel auto with Blue Motion technology. I know it doesn't have the off road ability of the Feelander but a very accomplished car in the Soft Roader class.

Just sharing my experiences.

Ian.

I have owned, along with my wife (as I only learned to drive 4 years ago)

1. 6 year old Ford Ka. No issues in 2 years of ownership
2. Brand new Audi A3. Kept for 2 years, no faults
3. Brand new Audi A3 (different spec) kept for 3 years, no faults
4. Brand new Audi A4 - still have at 4 years old and has needed a software update and a new glow plug
5. 5 year old Nissan Micra - kept for 1 year, no faults
6. Brand new Kia Sportage. Kept for 11 months. Sticky gearbox and FOUR new head units.

Then my current FL2. Had for 10 months and had more issues than all the others put together. Sure it is 4 years old but still...

Despite that I wouldn't step into any of the others again compared to my FL2. FL2 TD4 GS 60 reg Facelift - so many issues
2019 DS. Terribly unreliable.
Sold DS for a 2021 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV. Fingers crossed....
Sold Outlander for a 2014 SD4 SE Tech because I’m mental
Now greatly regret selling the Outlander. MPG of the FL2 is atrocious and so are the fuel bills. Fun though 😎
Couldn’t afford the fuel bills so back to an older Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV. Significantly better than I remembered it to be…

Land Rover ownership is a bit rough at times but I wouldn't have anything else (I have, but wouldn't go back)

2005 Discovery 3 TDV6 auto - new engine at 2 years old
2008 Fl2 GS manual - faultless
2011 Fl2 GS SD4 - faultless
2012 Evoque TD4 manual - mechanically faultless but a couple of build quality issues
2013 Fl2 TD4 XS manual - faultless (best of the bunch)
2011 Discovery 4 SDV6 (bought used for putting dogs in) big mistake no end of jobs needed doing, previous owner treated it badly
2015 Discovery Sport SD4 manual - time will tell 21MY Defender 90 S 3.0 D200

That is an interesting Topic, as VAG Group has one of the worst reliability records in the Motor industry.

People slag off Vauxhall, but I have had over 18 Vauxhalls in the past 20 years and they have all been fault free, apart from our Zafira GSi which needed a new gearbox. But you could argue that was self inflicted as I was putting 300bhp through a gearbox designed for 200bhp. It also got driven with enthusiasm.

My first Freelander 2 was an early 56 plate HSE, and gave us 6 1/2 years of trouble free motoring. My current FL2 has had a Turbo as the original unit was noisy. Other than that it has been fine.

But both Audi's we have owned have been absolutely shocking from a reliability and fault Point of view.

Don't get me wrong, this is not a VW/Audi witch hunt, as I have the all new Passat GT Saloon on order, so time will tell.

But what I will say, and I have said this many times before. There are more fault free Freelander 2's out there than there are with faults! Freelander 2 HSE Lux 2013MY - Barolo Black with Ivory Leather. Alpine DVD - Privacy -Evoque 20" Dynamic Wheels and more to come.........

So my experience of 3 out of 4 with serious faults is just bad luck then ? 3 x FL1 2 manual + 1 auto
5 x FL2 4 manual + 1 auto
Now Discovery Sport P250 MHEV SE

I survived 3 Renault Clio's with not a fault between any of them, its really just a matter of luck I think.

'97 1.4 Clio Mk1 - 45k miles over 3 years no issues
'03 1.2 Clio Mk2 - 60k miles over 5 years no issues
'10 1.6 Clio GT - 60k miles from new over 4 years, no issues
'12 TD4 GS FL2 - 30k in 13 months, no issues

All praise to the reliability gods

One assumes that if LR through their warranty insurer can warrant a 8year old car for 2 years when bought from a LR dealer, then the reliability must be reasonably high. I would consider that very few other main dealers would even have an 8 year old vehicle on their forecourt. The fact that Ryan doesn't seem to be that busy these days also seems to indicate an improving reliability. Some are unlucky, some shout louder, but what could be more to do with unreliability is the dealer failing to repair an original fault correctly or inducing another fault during the repair. Seems that if you are a really good LR tech you nip off and start on your own as in Indy. my PC is slightly to the right of Genghis
2012 HSE SD4 In Orkney Grey now gone, best car ever.

I had a variety of company cars over 30 years driven high mileages and none were as unreliable as my Freelander 2s have been. The dealers has been very helpful but I can't help feeling that it shouldn't be like this. 3 x FL1 2 manual + 1 auto
5 x FL2 4 manual + 1 auto
Now Discovery Sport P250 MHEV SE

Perhaps you should look at your car record, you may be allergic to manuals  my PC is slightly to the right of Genghis
2012 HSE SD4 In Orkney Grey now gone, best car ever.

I cant even begin to list all the cars I have had over the years

But my 5 Land Rovers are the ones that put the biggest smile on my face.

2001 '51 FL1 TD4 Auto - 72,000 miles in 3 years - siezed VCU and finally gearbox issue
2000 'X D2 TD5 Auto - 5,000 miles in 8 months - massive gearbox problems caused by supplying Indy
2004 '04 FL1 Auto - 20,000 miles in 1 year with no issues - LR dealer offered me what I payed for it
2007 '07 FL2 Manual - 30,000 in 1 year, brakes/tyres/clutch needed replacing at the same as redundancy hit
2008 '08 FL2 Manual - 15,000 in 8 months with only a block A/C drain cured by dealer, still got it

and still smiling

Dartman the one wrote:

One assumes that if LR through their warranty insurer can warrant a 8year old car for 2 years when bought from a LR dealer, then the reliability must be reasonably high. I would consider that very few other main dealers would even have an 8 year old vehicle on their forecourt. The fact that Ryan doesn't seem to be that busy these days also seems to indicate an improving reliability. Some are unlucky, some shout louder, but what could be more to do with unreliability is the dealer failing to repair an original fault correctly or inducing another fault during the repair. Seems that if you are a really good LR tech you nip off and start on your own as in Indy.

I think I was lucky in that it appears the approved used scheme is cars up to 5 years old now. On the 7 year old one I bought, I have had pads and disc all round, new battery, new glow plugs, new inlet manifold and a new cam position sensor. either paid for by the supplying dealer or under warranty. I have also got a credit for the next service at a main dealer of my choice as compensation from LR customer relations. So am very happy. As I said in the original post you only generally hear the bad stuff.

Regards good technicians, apart from one guy at my supplying dealer I have not been impressed with them. I can say this I feel as I am fully qualified and was in the trade myself right up until I took early retirement in 2012.


Must say though I do enjoy driving the FL2 more than the Tiguan

My son works as a geologist in Africa, he has worked in remote places like Mauritania, Zambia, Botswana and says that you hardly ever see a Landrover these days. You see an odd South African one driven by tourists but Toyota landcruisers and pickup trucks seem to have displaced LR and seem to be much more reliable. 3 x FL1 2 manual + 1 auto
5 x FL2 4 manual + 1 auto
Now Discovery Sport P250 MHEV SE

from my (brief) time in central africa. the 4x4 seem to be mostly older japanese stuff.

Not necessarily because they are more repliable but more that they more mechanicaly based rather than electronically based and so are easier to repair in a wriggly tin hut garage. They are ingenious at bodging bits of metal together to keep cars, generators or anything mechanical going for decades.

If u want to talk about unreliability then come see me. My hse lux is now one year old and just gone to the dealer for its 13th warranty claim, that's more than one a month!. About 10% of its mileage is trips to the dealer.

And then there's the loan fl2 car that exploded all by itself as I watched.

'Milothedog', how on earth did u go about getting compensation as I feel I'm due some.

Fl2 still my fave car though. Must be mad.

gingerlord wrote:

I survived 3 Renault Clio's with not a fault between any of them, its really just a matter of luck I think.

'97 1.4 Clio Mk1 - 45k miles over 3 years no issues
'03 1.2 Clio Mk2 - 60k miles over 5 years no issues
'10 1.6 Clio GT - 60k miles from new over 4 years, no issues
'12 TD4 GS FL2 - 30k in 13 months, no issues

All praise to the reliability gods

you maybe have a french sounding surname, as it my belief that Renault have two factories one making duff crap for export and another making reliable car for the home market.
Just go the France everyone drives them with seemingly no problems and with little mechanical sympathy. Where as over here they fail as soon as you nail the throttle 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