This might be a long post, sorry in advance.

Hi! My name's Abram and I've been lurking for ages, reading threads, researching models, pouring over spec sheets and decoding VINs, etc. etc. I have had the LR bug for as long as I have had a driver's license and I'm really wanting to get into my first one. My only first-hand experience is with my family's L322 RR HSE with the 5.0. I believe my parents have had it about 10 years now and it's got about 140k on it and still going. It was my mom's primary vehicle after we sold our old Suburban. She passed away last year, but my dad still drives the truck daily and puts it to work. His overall experience owning the RR has been positive. There hasn't been anything major wrong with it and he just stays ahead of maintenance as he's always done with every vehicle, a trait I inherited from him.

Now to my situation, I currently drive a Rivian R1T, coming up on 3 years with it now and it's been a truly remarkable vehicle. I previously worked for the company and was given an opportunity to get one of the earliest ones off the line and they even subsidized my payment for the first two years. That was really the only reason I could justify owning it as now that this whole year I've had the full payment, if I'm honest, it's just way more than I want to spend on a car payment alone. My wife and I are expecting our second child and as a result, I'm intending to sell my Rivian and move into something used that will be less than what we're paying now.

I had my heart set on the Defender, but it's proving to be difficult to find one with my intended budget and that's now lead me to Discos and LR3/4s. I've been quite surprised how many nice SE and HSE Discovery examples I've found with low mileage under $30k. That kind of price point makes the swap from my Rivian very appealing, and also confusing as hell that a Land Rover would be the "cheaper" option here. Now I know that despite being depreciated that doesn't mean the maintenance is any less and I'm preparing for that, I just want to know what I'd be getting into as I've seen seemingly conflicting opinions (it is the internet after all). I live in an area where I have 6 different LR dealers within a short drive (one very close) and I also have a local LR specialist 2 miles from my house. Ideally I'll be buying a vehicle outright and not financing anything and that has me mostly looking at '17-20 Discos, and '11-16 LR4s. I've got something of an idea what to expect with the LR4s and their typical issues, but I'm less familiar with what to expect with the Discovery yet.

All vehicles need maintenance, and I've never been one to avoid or defer it with my history of European cars, but is it really all THAT bad with JLR? I want to replace my R1T with an equally capable off road vehicle that will still be safe and comfortable for my family (partner, 1 kid with 1 on the way and 2 Australian Shepherds) as our "family activity vehicle". We have a primary car but I'd still need this to be as dependable as possible.

Thanks for reading and any advice you can offer. I'd love to join the LR Community someday!

 

It seems like you have a pretty good idea about owning a LR. Too bad your dad doesn’t want to sell you his L322. They’re a very good vehicle. I think you’ll also be pretty happy with an LR 3 or 4. I really don’t know anything about anything newer than that.

 

I had asked my dad if he'd sell me the RR but he declined. I know it's well sorted mechanically but does need some cosmetic work. Either way I'll make sure that vehicle stays in my family as it was my mom's daily driver for almost 10 years before she passed away a year and a half ago. I'm sure you can understand why I'd want to keep it.

 

Welcome to the forum!

 

Welcome

 

Well as of last Saturday I've taken ownership of this 2012 LR4 HSE Lux. Needs a few things to make it whole but it has had a low-stress life and has been largely well looked after. I've been spending the past week fixing little things and doing my best to clean it up so I can go get it dirty .

 

Oh, excellent choice! I think you will love it.