I had the same set of issues and it turned out to be a bad cluster; replacement with a new cluster was ~$2k. I understand Land Rovers have their quirks and i really like my LR3 but there is no excuse for this type of failure on a 10-15 year old car with less than 100k. This would be a black swan type event for most manufacturers except Land Rover, where it seems to happen way to frequently for a modern car. The fact that this is a "known issue" being talked about on multiple messageboards over the years is rediculous. The indy repair shop who fixed mine said they do a handful a year.

 

Actually cluster failures are not uncommon in any older car. I would know, I had a BMW. And I would guess LR does not make the cluster, probably made by VDO. Also most cluster issues are easily repairable, usually its just a cold solder joint.