I have admired land and range rovers for years now. I just love how they look and how appointed they are. Granted I will not be doing in off roading in this vehicle it would just be a work commute and a trip/travel car for my husband and I. We would probably be trading in our 09 Gmc Sierra 2wd for maybe a 06-07 because those are the only years that are within our budget.

So are they reliable cars?

How are they about costs? Oil Changes? Maintenance? Etc?

Anything else anyone could tell me about would be great.

 

All Rovers need maintenance, and if this is skipped you'll have a long term unpleasant experience. It is not a sports car, and mpg is not high. It is a safe vehicle, and in many encounters with other vehicles the opposing driver finds himself in the "crumple zone." Maintenance schedules attached. Many owners decide to purchase basic tools and perform some of this work themselves. There are owners on this site with all types of Rovers. I would say that one of the more common sets of gremlins can be eliminated by swapping out the battery every two years. There are so many electronic things, and each demands a tip-top battery.

I tend to be more conservative on fluid changes, like voting, do it early and often. I would go 5000 miles on oil changes, not 7500.

 

Oh yes of course I would keep maintenance up no doubt about that. We would be looking at an 06-07 model with around 60-85k miles. I have a GMC Envoy that I will soon just retire or sale because it has high miles. It has gone 160k miles without much worry. Could I expect to get those kinds of miles out of a land rover? Would buying one with those miles on it be bad? I would hope to keep it about 4-5 years or longer.

 

There are a number of D1 and D2 Rovers with owners who post on this site that are above 200K. I have 180K + on a six owner D1. I saw a write up in another site on a "series" Rover that has turned over the 99,999 odometer five times.

This can't be said for the Freelanders. I'm sure some one will post up about their LR3 and high miles.

Any vehicle will last longer with proper maintenance, and use of good quality fluids. I've owned a variety of vehicles, mostly bought new, some used, and expect to get 275 - 300K out of each of them, whether German, Korean, Japanese, Ford, Land Rover. But my tolerance for peeling paint, lumpy handling, and oil leaks is higher than some owners. Depends on your daily commute, etc. Getting to 160,000 is not much of a challenge for most Rovers.

 

Ok these things are good to know. I have heard a lot of people saying how they are the most unreliable cars, poorly made, and extremely high maintenance costs....I guess thats what I am most worried about.

 

Well if you look at forums, you're always going to see more posts complaining about something breaking than saying how beautifully it is all running. So that can skew your perception. Also bear in mind that if you aren’t going to do any off roading (not necessarily rock climbing!) there are "extra" items on the LR that could wear even if not "used" - I recall several posts from users surprised that their transfer box or differential needed maintenance despite "never took it off road...". If you had a jet engine strapped to your LR, then even if you never lit it up, its going to need maintenance from time to time and being a jet engine is going to be more expensive than one without.

So long story short, it could work out more expensive to maintain than you would first think but we put up with it because (and this is what makes people keep buying them) it's such a fun vehicle to own and drive. As I'm sure other forum members will tell you, check the service history out and maybe spend a couple of hundred dollars on a presale inspection by an independent LR shop who knows what to look for. Many of the park brake issues can be traced back to work by an independent brake franchise not being fully aware of the LR special tricks for adjustment and bedding in.

Not trying to frighten you off a prospective purchase, just trying to set expectations...

 

Its just a matter of luck. Any car, despite its reliability rating, can turn out to be a lemon.

What you can do, is find what you are looking for, and pay for a Pre-Purchase Inspection, by somebody other than the seller, or the sellers "mechanic".

Also, find yourself a good Land Rover specialist. If you think the dealer or a good Land Rover independent is expensive, wait till you try a bad one!

 

I noted you have both a GMC Sierra 2wd pickup and the Envoy. The LR3 would be a real change, well maybe 29 days a month the 3 would be just transportation, but I find at least one day a month, the 3 is special.

If you cart big stuff around around keep the pickup about but say good bye to the Envoy. When I was looking, my choices were an Envoy XUV, (the rear area is unique), a Chev Tahoe and or Avalanche. I came out of a 92 Buick Roadmaster RWD with 300,000 trouble free miles on it. I keep my vehicles a long time and rather than any real mechanical problems, the body just start to sag - tired I would say.

When comparing, I discovered I could carry bigger stuff in the 3 than I could in a Tahoe due to the rounded shape of the Tahoe rear hatch and the squarish shape of the 3's rear hatch. If you could get whatever into the Tahoe, it would fit, but you could not get it in.
The Avalanche seemed to be the best of GM for me, but the problem was it was a Chev and while a good vehicle, (great actually), I felt it suffers from being common and I wanted something special.

The 3, well it is not common, and that can be a problem too. Maintenance wise, I spend more in a year on routine stuff on the 3 than I did in five years on the Roadmaster. The Roadmaster had rear air shocks, but nothing like four corner up down air suspension. The engine was 5.7L but nothing like the 4.4L 32 valve Jag engine in the 3. Full time all wheel drive has a bit more parts than rear wheel drive particularily when you include a high and low range transfer case.

Yes, the Roadmaster had 4 wheel Bosch antilock brakes but no anti skid or downhill decent telling a six speed German tranny what to do. Back in 1992 no one could spell optical buss, hence it was never a problem on the Roadmaster; come to think of it, neither was the high and low speed CAN Bus either.

The 400 or is it 600 watt amp that is standard on the 3 was never a concern with previous vehicles, nor were the dual glass mount radio antennas; never had a problem with the GPS/NAV on the Roadmaster as there was not one. I did have a compass in the rear view mirror that always worked.

When I talk about special, I regard the HID headlights as special - they do not turn night into day, but at least you can see the road in front of you, plus quite a bit more. Then again, an HID bulb costs more than ten dollars as well.

It turns out the fog lights are for real and not just there for sex appeal; the rear facing ones I am referring to I might add, but it also applies to the front units.

What I am saying is the 3 is special, but there is a cost. The 07 and 08 model years were the best of the flock.

You might want to go thru a few of the files in the various albums of the gallery link below.

DISCO3.CO.UK Photo Gallery - Home > Member Galleries > bbyer

 

This is what I want then! A special SUV!!! I have admired the LRs for years but I always told myself I didnt need to go there because I always thought it would break my bank if I got one.
I love them and I have been looking hard for one to trade our 09 GMC in on. It has a payoff but is right at trade value. I found a 07 LR3 with 86k miles SE model - has all but Navi I suppose. It would be 23k OTD with trade. Does that seem like a bad deal?

Some more stupid questions -

Does the LR take high test gas?
Does it need synthetic oil?

 

I run mine on premium because based on the number of miles the end "saving" on cheaping out on regular isn't worth it to me. If the boys in the backroom designed it run on premium (oh don't get me started on how I wish I could buy just gas with none of the ethanol crap!) then it seems churlish to do otherwise.

There's a whole different argument for synthetic or not - basically regular oil change with a good quality oil is more important. Castrol is the brand that I believe a lot of the UK LR dealers use. Edge is their synthetic brand but their standard oil is good too.

If you've waited this long, don't be rushing until you get want you want. There will always be another.

I got an 07 SE in the colour I wanted, with all the toys (nav, bluetooth, third row seats, rear A/C) and 75K on the clock for $18K + TTL - I spent $600 on new AT tires all round and about $300 on new pads and disks, $300 on fluid changes in all the differentials, transfer box and brake fluid. I didn't mind that as I figure I got a good deal on the LR itself and tires and brakes are important safety items. My wife says she feels very safe driving it, more so than the Honda Ridgeline which we traded out of. We just didn't need the pickup any longer and the option of a 7 seater with the 3rd row option was too useful. I looked at a few which ticked almost all the boxes but walked away each time. Glad I did - it was worth it. I paid about the same for the 07 as some of the 05 models I looked at with higher miles and very nasty steering wheels (do a search for that!).

And yes, I'd wanted one for a long time too and despite some teething problems with the parking brake shoes we all had a comfortable four hour road trip to the Texas coast - that 4.4L V8 may be thirsty around town but on a long run at just about legal speeds we averaged 22mpg. I think budgeting a couple of hundred dollars for a pre-sale inspection is worth it once you think you found "the one". Best of luck.