Easy choice for me... FL2, or otherwise a D4 over an RRS every time. RRS is cramped inside by comparison, and can face horrendous bills if you are unlucky with your purchase.

My Indie mechanic has horror stories galore on the TDV8/Gearbox combos... he has one in there right now, a bill climbing north of £3,000 and it’s got just 86,000 miles on it... yikes!

I’m hunting a 2003-08 style RR Vogue to replace our XK8 and he’s advising me to avoid the 3.6 altogether and go either 3.0TD or preferably 4.4V8 if I must have a Vogue...

I was with him yesterday, and I quote...

“Stop faffing with fat RR’s, just buy yourself another Freelander 2!!” (I should point out that he has an FL2 2.2TD for his wife and drives the 3.2 Petrol FL2 himself)

I should listen to his advice, but for just one problem... car rivalry between Missus and I means that will never work!!  Lexus RX450H - 500 mile a week commuter- I just couldn’t trust in a newer RRS or DS for that….
2009 Freelander 2 HSE... 155K miles, we’ve done 135k of those, has done brilliantly on the commute and staying firmly put as car two in the household
2002 Jaguar XK8 Coupe... fun, fast, ours for 12 years and owes us nothing - so staying with us too…

I ran an 09 RRS from 22000 miles to 88000
Basically I went in to swap the fl2 for another and the RRS was there to catch my eye, being special edition based on a lowly 'S' it was more affordable than a new FL2, yet had leather seats if no huge amount of gadgetry

problems were

Egr valves, both valves on one occasion
wiring to handbrake , £100 fix
anti roll bar aprox £200
rear brake caliper I forget but wasnt cheap

The car was a delight, and really came into its own taking the kids to school, fording some impressive floods raised on the suspension,
Thankfully the worst flood road around here has been altered and should never flood that deep again 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

RogB, is that price for the belts the 'body off chassis' job? Seems cheap for a main dealer if it is the SDv6 engine! I was expecting >£1000 for timing belt on the D4.

RogB wrote:

ive gone from having several FL1, FL2 and Evoque and now driving a 2011 D4, its the later model with 255BHP and 8 Speed ZF gearbox with rotary gearknob. For what you want I would go for the D4 every time over the RRS which is more up market but seems to suffer from more gremlins than the D4.

Choose carefully if you go for a D4, there are plenty out there, and get on the Disco4 forum (links at the bottom of the home page on here). There are some very well looked after examples come up for sale at good prices.

Mine is a 1 private owner, FSH with main dealer and then specialist. I bought it for 13k last August with 98k on the clock, there was no evidence of the belts being changed so I got LR to do them and a major service straight away. Belts were £695 but are now good for another 100k. Service was £495 but that's LR prices. My next service is £200 for the interim at Maltings 4X4 near Doncaster.

im now on 106k miles, and nothing has gone wrong so far fuel on my 40mile commute to work is around 32mpg on the dash but does drop to 28k when I start town driving. so not huge amounts lower than a FL2. Tax on mine is eye watering though at £550 for the year.

so far ive moved a fridge freezer, full size flat pack wardrobes, beds, settees, 6 adults and luggage, dogs, been able to go through flooded roads where cars were turning round.... it really is a an all round 4x4 that is at home on the work site as it is outside a posh hotel.

yes things go wrong, but don't believe all the horror stories about crank shafts snapping, its not as common as some make out. but take a decent warranty out on it and enjoy it.

No issues with air suspension etc or any other really expensive stuff? The RR S ive been looking at were <40 k miles so was hoping it would be trouble free until higher milage

chicken george wrote:

I ran an 09 RRS from 22000 miles to 88000
Basically I went in to swap the fl2 for another and the RRS was there to catch my eye, being special edition based on a lowly 'S' it was more affordable than a new FL2, yet had leather seats if no huge amount of gadgetry

problems were

Egr valves, both valves on one occasion
wiring to handbrake , £100 fix
anti roll bar aprox £200
rear brake caliper I forget but wasnt cheap

The car was a delight, and really came into its own taking the kids to school, fording some impressive floods raised on the suspension,
Thankfully the worst flood road around here has been altered and should never flood that deep again

I weighed up all these matters when I was changing from my Disco 2.
The potential for big bills and the less that glowing reliability reports steerd me away from RRS or D4 (my preferred option).
If I needed something bigger as a workhorse Id seriously consider one of the Japanese pickups with a hard top or a VW Amorok if you fancy a V6.
Landrover seem to have forgotton where they came from and why people hold their working vehicles in such high regard. The need for a less pricey working vehicle has been ignored for too long. Landrover - turning owners into mechanics since 1948

2014 Orkney grey Freelander SD4 GS.
2004 Zambezi silver Discovery 2 Td5 (Gone)
1963 Surf blue Morris Mini Minor Super de Luxe (my little toy)

never had to investigate suspension at all, it just worked 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

Bobupndown wrote:

I weighed up all these matters when I was changing from my Disco 2.
The potential for big bills and the less that glowing reliability reports steerd me away from RRS or D4 (my preferred option).

If you’ve listened to “reliability reports”, why have you ever bought anything from Land Rover?! Hardly a week (day?) goes by when I’m not reminded (by someone that “knows stuff” ) just how devastatingly unreliable everyone single one is and how “if I need to get there, take the Land Rover, if I want to get back again, take a Toyota” And yet mine works, day in, day out.

Have you experienced this hackneyed line with the D4 / RRS ?: “If the turbo goes, you’ll need to take the body off?”

I know nothing mechanical is perfect and you only ever hear the bad stories.
I went into Landrover ownership with my eyes wide open with the Disco 2. I had to change plenty of parts, some consumable, others less so in my 11 years of ownership with it. But fortunately it was simple enough that most things could be fixed at home on my driveway without much in the way of specialist tools. Only let me down completely once when the water drain tap on the fuel filter decided to self destruct. I bought the Freelander 2 partly on its reputation for reliability and so far havent been disappointed. Landrover - turning owners into mechanics since 1948

2014 Orkney grey Freelander SD4 GS.
2004 Zambezi silver Discovery 2 Td5 (Gone)
1963 Surf blue Morris Mini Minor Super de Luxe (my little toy)

AndyPP wrote:

A pick up is the other option, for around 20k you can get a ranger wildtrack around 65/66 plate with sensible miles. Or a hi lux for a bit more. Just the size of them putting me off🤔

GundogSD4 wrote:

Agreed but more shooting folk and farmers are moving toward them because like you said they are robust and good on/off road and tend to be more comfortable and reliable than some alternatives, the 2018 one my pal has replaced his previous 2007 180000 mile Navara after 10 years of hard work and abuse with only minimal routine servicing

Wouldn’t dream of using a LR on the farm in Norfolk, several pick-ups.....Navara, L200 etc they work and get grossly abused, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have LR (and Jaguar) as well, but for the road and going shopping  Regards

David

Lovely i6 has now gone, but not me......

Please let me know if anything in my post offends you, as I may wish to offend you again......

A few people have told me the v6 needs the body off for either timing belt or turbo work. Is that not the case?

Tigger wrote:

Bobupndown wrote:

I weighed up all these matters when I
was changing from my Disco 2.
The potential for big bills and the less that glowing reliability reports steerd me away from RRS or D4 (my preferred option).

If you’ve listened to “reliability reports”, why have you ever bought anything from Land Rover?! Hardly a week (day?) goes by when I’m not reminded (by someone that “knows stuff” ) just how devastatingly unreliable everyone single one is and how “if I need to get there, take the Land Rover, if I want to get back again, take a Toyota” And yet mine works, day in, day out.

Have you experienced this hackneyed line with the D4 / RRS ?: “If the turbo goes, you’ll need to take the body off?”

The belts can be done in situ if you’re patient, not sure if the turbo can, but for a LR specialist taking the body of (and putting it back again!) is no big deal. Only once every 7 years, or 112,000 miles, the body comes off, giving dead easy access to everything, swap all of the belts, carry out a major service, total bill? £700 - £800.

D4...

I’ve owned all of them and the D4 was by far the most practical and best all rounder...go for as late as you can with low miles...
I did 60,000 in mine in 2.5 years and it never failed once....

The L494 RRS is a stunning car but no where near as practical...again it’s light years ahead of the old model...

Thanks,

Think I'll have a look at some d4s and some pickups, the ability to check stuff in the tray would be good, and keeping all 4 seats.

Maybe even a d4 commercial