I saw a listing on craigslist for a key fob for a 2010 to 2013 Range Rover/Sport/LR4. We only have one key fob for our 2010 Range Rover Sport. I emailed the lister and met up with him down at San Diego Bay. Brand new key fob, still in the wrapper....great deal. Seller was a Brit.

We started talking and he kept talking about "we" when speaking of Land Rover. Turns out that he was an engineer for Land Rover.

He was incredibly familiar with all models and the issues that seem to plague our beloved modes of transportation. He also knew much about the local dealers and knew many of the techs at the local dealers. It was a blast to talk with him. Gave me a sense of pride in Land Rover and the capabilities of these incredible vehicles, despite their shortcomings. He took great pleasure in talking about the Land Rover sponsored off-road days. Taking soccer moms out in their garage queens and watching them put the trucks through their paces. Really amazing vehicles.

One of the guys at the local indy shop was telling me to sell off the LR3, the two sports and get a newer full-sized diesel. The engineer echoed how capable the diesel is, but warned me that they estimated that to replace the exhaust system on the newer diesels could run as much as $6,000. He said that they are super efficient at burning off ash and are great on emissions, but all that efficiency comes at a high cost.

Fun day down at the bay. He is now retired. He and his wife are preparing to sail around the world........

Great Land Rover family.

Phil

 

One thing that he did mention that was interesting was that they were getting odd Dynamic Stablity Control ("DSC") malfunctions on 2005 to 2006 LR3 and Range Rover Sport models. It was only happening with vehicles equipped with the active response front suspension, I forget the exact name for the option. I think that it came standard with SuperCharged version. On the DII is was the ACE system. It randomly cause the DSC to kick in on an off-camber road/trail. Turns out that it was a Bosch software issue. The system could not be overwritten/updated on the versions in the 2005 to 2009 vehicles. Land Rover bought back vehicles that had the issue for a while. He said that they had issues in isolated areas, a few in Nor Cal, one in San Diego that would kick in on the I-8 west to I-5 North transition and a number in Detroit area. Land Rover thought is less expensive to buy back the problem vehicles than to do a recall or replace the part. So, if you have a random DSC issue.......

 

Interesting on the DSC!

 

I've never heard of such a system on the LR3.....and I've only been an LR3 Junkie for 14 years. Could be that he was referring to RRS and lumped in the LR3.

 

thank could have been my mistake. I think it is called the stability control. It is on the anti-roll bar. I drove our LR3 down to meet him and we talked Land Rovers for about an hour in the marina parking lot. I did drive a few Range Rover Sports with stability control option. They were really tight. It was like driving a sports car. That said, it is one more thing to break.......Phil

 

...pretty sure the LR3's Anti-Roll Bar is purely mechanical.

 

I met and talked with the same guy, who had listed some rubber mats for an LR3 for sale. Really nice guy with interesting insights into the 2008 recession and some of the supply chain issues that plagued LR at the time. I assumed he had left for his world cruise by now. Maybe he’s back and about to do another one....seemed to be living a good life!