Hello all Land Rover owners,

I live in Northern NJ, USA. I was wondering if you could offer some advice on purchasing a 2017 Land Rover Discovery.
The only thing that's keeping me from pulling the trigger is that I read a few articles that said Land Rover has been known to have reliability issues (some of the worst in its class) and is very expensive to maintain.
The salesperson at my local stealership said the 1st year maintenance cost $700. Looking at the maintenance guide a 1st year maintenance is essentially and oil change and air filter change so that price sounds outrageous to me. If they charge that much for an oil change I can only imagine what repairs cost.

So what's been your experience? Have you had reliability issues with your Land Rover?
Do you recommend purchasing an extended warranty and/or prepaid maintenance plans?
Do you have your maintenance and repairs done at the stealership or at a regular mechanic? Does this void the warranty?

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

 

I'm of little use my newest Rover is a 2007, I do all my own maintenance and find that my LR3's are very reliable.

 

Thanks for the reply. How expensive are parts compared to other carmakers?

 

They really aren't that bad for the LR3's but with newer technology comes higher prices typically.

For the oil change on mine, admittedly I have a skid plate so its more annoying it takes about 1.5 hours. On the stock truck it's about 30 min.

You figure in 8 quarts of your favorite brand of synthetic oil at around $7 a quart, and $15 for a filter. It already is much higher cost than doing my old MGB 5 quarts of whatever is on sale and a $4 filter.

If you look at it Land Rover vs Mercedes Benz vs BMW I bet across the board you will find they all have similar maintenance costs.

 

Aside from 1999-2005 they have been alright. Before that period, more user serviceable, after that, parts and labor get pricey. Reliability wise I wouldn't worry so much about the car working and driving, but expect a few electrical or software bugs as this is the first MY of the new Discovery 5, they will work out the kinks.

Especially considering their new oil interval is 15,000 miles that $700 is a rip off. You should invest in the few tools you need to at least do filters and fluids on your car. Not sure how that would affect your warranty but I imagine it should be fine, they can't force you to get your oil changed at LR? Use whatever the new Castrol oil that LR specifies, or find the equivalent.

 

Thanks for the replies. As far as warranty claims go, has Land Rover requested you provide proof that you did the required scheduled maintenance?

 

I can't answer that for you, I've never had one that still had a warranty left on it. I'd imagine they would ask for receipts if anything. How I would do it if I did it that way was keep receipts for the oil and filter, and write the date, mileage, and oil type on the filter (if thats possible).