Myth buster - cost of servicing upkeep of LR2

My family have been buying and driving Land Rovers and Range Rovers since the 1960s. We had a Series IIA, a Series III followed by several Range Rover Classics. In the mid 90s Land Rover went through a very bad patch of creating notoriously bad cars. The Range Rover was not updated for a long time, the introduction of the Disco and Freelander was a flop and the new Range Rover (Metrocab) was a heap of junk. Like many people that needed a proper 4x4 we stuck through those times with an old Range Rover Classic, our friend had a Series III and another even ventured into Jeep territory (he had Labradors, we had Spaniels, you can't put a nice British dog in a Jeep) but no one touched the Metrocab. They were sold to BMW and then Ford and eventually got back on track. Now Jaguar-Land Rover is reunited under TATA and they are making great cars. The new Range Rovers, LR2, LR4 (and Jaguars) cannot be compared to the Landrovers a decade ago. In Europe they have won many awards Jaguar XF for executive car, the LR2 for compact 4x4 and more. Personally I love Range Rovers but I hate the pretentious direction they have gone in so if I could have any car would probably go with an LR4. Although and Overfinch Holland and Holland is a tempting option! As for repairs and parts cost, I cannot comment, ours in the UK never had a problem except a flat battery and a recall on the sunroof. My 1998 Defender 90 V8 50LE has a small oil leak and the air con needs some gas, the sun roof leaks but it is otherwise still going strong. I can say a friend of ours who had a Toyota Rav4 was completely ripped off in the Toyota garage when they damaged something and wanted AED 25k to repair it! So really it's my belief the garages here try and get away with anything they can regardless of brand. Still someone who has actually owned or owns a recent model Land Rover in the UAE would be best placed to comment on that rather than speculation for myself or others.

Well it's many, many years since we had any kind of Landrover (it was a Disco) back in the UK and it was totally cr@p. Having had German or Japanese vehicles we thought we'd try and support British and what a huge mistake that was. Bought a 2 yr old Disco from a main dealer (very low mileage) and 12 months later when major service and MOT was due guess what the cost was. GBP1,700 and LandRover had paid for GBP800 so total cost would have been GBP2,500. And that was back in something like 1994 ish. Yes, yes, I know that it's many years' ago and that apparently all Land Rovers are better now but I'd never touch one again. We've stayed Japanese ever since - back in the UK it was Mitsubishi Shogun (Pajero) and, yes, we did drive off road - it wasn't a Chelsea Tractor - and here in the ME it's been a Toyota LandCruiser which has also been off-road.

Land Rover don't as standard offer free servicing contracts Good grief. Why would anyone buy such a notoriously unreliable brand of car otherwise? Yes, Land Rover and Range Rover both have poor reputations when it comes to reliability. Locals in the UAE love their Range Rovers, but they're always careful to get them brand-new (usually on the longest-term finance they can get) with free servicing and then sell them on when the service contract runs out (usually by rolling over the finance). They're only too well aware of how expensive they are to service. As Land Rovers come with a five year warranty then technically no major parts except for perhaps, tyres, filters, timing belts, general wear and tear things should need to be paid for for five years Warranties are significantly different to service contracts. Warranties (which all manufacturers provide) are very specific in the terms they use to describe problems that can be fixed without cost to the customer, meaning that there are all sorts of subtle get-outs in the small print, and of course you also need to get the car serviced on the dot at the dealership in order for the warranty to remain valid. I'm not convinced the mark up on parts has anything to do with servicing agreements I've had that from the horse's mouth - service managers at several different dealerships. Car-buyers in Dubai expect free service contracts, and since the parts and labour do have a cost attached, the dealerships make it up by overcharging massively on parts to the poor suckers who are having to pay for their own repairs and servicing. Obviously dealerships are always the most expensive place to buy anything car-related, but just compare European dealership prices (which are already high) with Dubai dealership prices - the markups out here are truly eye-watering.

you may be able to get a servicing plan from Land Rover? SWK says that the one they are thinking of buying is only a year old, so it should come with the balance of the free service contract the original owner got when they bought it. There ought to be at least two years of free servicing left. Once that's run out, then parts *will* be expensive if you get them from the dealer. Typical markups here are anything from 400-700%. That's how they pay for the free service contracts, after all. edited by Madge_Gustard on 03/04/2013 Land Rover don't as standard offer free servicing contracts. In fact in the three years we have been looking this year is the first time we've known them to have such an offer. As Land Rovers come with a five year warranty then technically no major parts except for perhaps, tyres, filters, timing belts, general wear and tear things should need to be paid for for five years. I'm not convinced the mark up on parts has anything to do with servicing agreements, it is far more likely it is to do with Dubai's uncanny ability to mark up a price on anything they can get away with marking up. For example Land Rovers are about 20% cheaper than the UK price but Range Rovers are pretty much the same price simply because they can get away with it. Anyway I'm sure someone who actually has a Land Rover can advise on how expensive repairs have been for them.

you may be able to get a servicing plan from Land Rover? SWK says that the one they are thinking of buying is only a year old, so it should come with the balance of the free service contract the original owner got when they bought it. There ought to be at least two years of free servicing left. Once that's run out, then parts *will* be expensive if you get them from the dealer. Typical markups here are anything from 400-700%. That's how they pay for the free service contracts, after all. <em>edited by Madge_Gustard on 03/04/2013</em>

We had one in the UK. It was DH favourite car. The visibility is fantastic especially for a 4x4. It doesn't quite have the clearance for any proper offroading but manages fairly well and has very good on road manners, it handles like a much smaller car when driving. Passengers commented they found the seats more comfortable than the Range Rover Sport. It has a bit of roll on corners (to be expected as it's not a sports car but otherwise drives very nicely. We're seriously considering getting one here, although the boot is perhaps a little small as we have two Labradors so leaning a bit more towards the LR4. As for servicing, no idea sorry but I think all Land Rovers come with a 5 year warranty and you may be able to get a servicing plan from Land Rover?

Don't own an LR2, but the fact is that parts are expensive here for ALL vehicles. You can reduce the parts cost by buying online, and you can slash labour costs by not going to the dealerships - there are plenty of reputable independent garages here who will, in many cases, do a *better* job than the dealership. That said, if you're buying a year-old vehicle you should still have at least 2 years (or XX thousand kms) of the free service contract left.