Land Cruiser vs Range Rover (1 Viewer)

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I really don't see this as a point of contention at all guys.

RR was ok for a Leyland product until 1995 when the P38 heap was released as a Leyland/BMW bastard. These were notoriously unreliable and our friends 2001 model caught fire.

What followed it with the L322 looked great but was only slightly less terrible and in the end became a BMW, Jaguar and Ford amalgamated lump. The earlier ones collapsed on a different corner all the time and the original engines were terrible as was the transmission. The Ford and Jag TDI's were slightly better from the mid series, again though, they were let down with air suspension and electronics.

The new generation is now Tata and basically a computer on wheels. There is no apparent quality or durability and zero real off road applications for the vehicle. 22inch wheels, no underbody or breakover protection. Can you fit a winch or bull bar to it? Doubtful. Again, how long can you overland on a s***ty air strut before it blows out on you?

The company is passed around from new owner to new owner every decade like a plaything.

Meanwhile we have the TLC designed and engineered with a 25 year minimum service life in mind from the factory. A RR is as disposable as a smart phone.
 
I used to love RR products in the same way a guy loves a stripper. I had a Disco II total POS. Looked great, great visibility, Europe status, great off road. Total POS in terms of reliability. Water pump went out w less than 40k miles over heated the engine and a bunch of other s***. Then I thought I'll upgrade to a RR get some real status going. Left me on the side of the road several times. But I hung in there like that buddy of yours whose hot girlfriend is crazy but he can't see it. So, I bought another RR. This one had 25 k on it. When it hit 88k in the space of a month th following happened:
Water pump, transmission replaced, starter replaced, 2nd starter, and the the best part... they discovered the engine block had a crack in it. I F'ing hate all RR products! So I ditched the stripper and got myself a homely fat ankled version of a car. Even though I always said I'd never buy a Japanese car I bought Toyota FJ best hands down car I ever owned, cost nothing to maintain, 117k of pure joy plus great resale value. But I longed for a bit more comfort and bought a 16 LC 200. I'm loving it! I'll never buy anything other than Toyota.
 
I grew up on a ranch here in Colorado. We had three road vehicles on the farm untill we sold in in 1993: a 1978 F250 Custom, a 1985 FJ60, and a 1987 RangeRover.

The F250 was a farm truck for bucking hay and towing trailers, we didn’t really use it for too much more then that. It survived a very tough life until giving up at 150K miles on our new farm in Grand Junction - what can I say, Agg workers can be hard on trucks.

The 1985 FJ60 my dad bought new and drove until he gave it to me for my first car, I drove it for 50k then bought a used 1997 4Runner. We let it sit in a field for 11 years after I bought my 4Runner, and it still started right up, I rebuilt it (now with 380k miles) and or ran like a top - sold it to a forum member. My father bought this one because he was an exploration geologist, and he was too big for the FJ40 (he is 6’ 10”). He drove that thing everywhere, up mountains in Nevada with no roads, to pheasant hunts in SD, and in the mud and snow on our ranch. Of course we got it stuck, of course we did maintinence items - but in the first 375K miles the worst thing to happen was a blown thermostat.

The 1987 Range Rover was a bit different. It was (please don’t yell) more balanced and capable off road then the FJ60 was, the factory locking diffs were probably part of that. It was pretty comfortable. In the 119k we put on it it never had a mechanical issue that left anyone stranded. That having been said the local mechanic used to joke that it was wired by the prince of darkness. When it rained the auto door locks would fail, the turn signals would inexplicably decide they were used too much one day, and take a few days off, only to come back of their own free will later, the horn shorted and triggered the wipers. The final straw was when the catalytic converters went around that 119k mile point and we shuffled that truck off to another home. This car was my mother’s, she went two other cars before returning to the Landrover family, she got a Discovery I. I drove that one two, and it was not as capabil as either the RR or the FJ60, and it broke more often. She hated it and got a Highlander. She has not left the Toyota family since.

Obviously I do have a dog in the fight here - my first purchased car was a 4Runner, then I bought a new 4Runner a few years back (2014 and boy, was that disappointing compared to the 1997) now we are onto the 200 series land cruiser - and I wouldn’t trade it for anything made by Land Rover anywhere in the world.

As a comedic side note, my retired father needed a new car and went and got a Disco - the last of the old roof design with the supercharged V6, because it is the only car he can get into without having to bend his neck to get into, which is nicer on his back. He bought the extended warranty.
 
My god father used to have a mid 80s RR Classic, he was a lead mechanic for the Rain Forest Challenge. He said RR is a piece of s*** that constantly broke down in the trail. He replaced the RR with an early 90s Nissan Safari which is a tank and claim that it is stronger than the 80 series in stock condition both with 4.2TD in that era.

Most people claim that the Defender is the most reliable Landy, that is probably true but rides and and drives like s***. I like the way it looks but drove a 2014 110 and does not enjoy it one bit.

May be we can have the best of both world by swapping out the cruiser seat with a RR seat :)
 
they dont have factory locking diffs. You can lock the center diff, the transfercase. Otherwise the axle diffs are open.
MrCWineMan said:
I grew up on a ranch here in Colorado. We had three road vehicles on the farm untill we sold in in 1993: a 1978 F250 Custom, a 1985 FJ60, and a 1987 RangeRover.

The F250 was a farm truck for bucking hay and towing trailers, we didn’t really use it for too much more then that. It survived a very tough life until giving up at 150K miles on our new farm in Grand Junction - what can I say, Agg workers can be hard on trucks.

The 1985 FJ60 my dad bought new and drove until he gave it to me for my first car, I drove it for 50k then bought a used 1997 4Runner. We let it sit in a field for 11 years after I bought my 4Runner, and it still started right up, I rebuilt it (now with 380k miles) and or ran like a top - sold it to a forum member. My father bought this one because he was an exploration geologist, and he was too big for the FJ40 (he is 6’ 10”). He drove that thing everywhere, up mountains in Nevada with no roads, to pheasant hunts in SD, and in the mud and snow on our ranch. Of course we got it stuck, of course we did maintinence items - but in the first 375K miles the worst thing to happen was a blown thermostat.

The 1987 Range Rover was a bit different. It was (please don’t yell) more balanced and capable off road then the FJ60 was, the factory locking diffs were probably part of that. It was pretty comfortable. In the 119k we put on it it never had a mechanical issue that left anyone stranded. That having been said the local mechanic used to joke that it was wired by the prince of darkness. When it rained the auto door locks would fail, the turn signals would inexplicably decide they were used too much one day, and take a few days off, only to come back of their own free will later, the horn shorted and triggered the wipers. The final straw was when the catalytic converters went around that 119k mile point and we shuffled that truck off to another home. This car was my mother’s, she went two other cars before returning to the Landrover family, she got a Discovery I. I drove that one two, and it was not as capabil as either the RR or the FJ60, and it broke more often. She hated it and got a Highlander. She has not left the Toyota family since.

Obviously I do have a dog in the fight here - my first purchased car was a 4Runner, then I bought a new 4Runner a few years back (2014 and boy, was that disappointing compared to the 1997) now we are onto the 200 series land cruiser - and I wouldn’t trade it for anything made by Land Rover anywhere in the world.

As a comedic side note, my retired father needed a new car and went and got a Disco - the last of the old roof design with the supercharged V6, because it is the only car he can get into without having to bend his neck to get into, which is nicer on his back. He bought the extended warranty.
Click to expand...
 
I had a 2008 LC, later traded for an LX. I then had a 2015 RR Superharged. It was too small compared to an LC. Was like driving a car. Sits lower. Unibody means not like a real truck. Like a station wagon. I got in a wreck in it and it cost $30,000.00 to repair and took two months.

I got rid of the RR after 1.5 years. Got a 2016 LC now.

By contrast, I hit another truck with my LC recently when we had ice (not my fault - his) and it crushed the other truck and did about $3k worth of damage to my front end. Took 3 days to fix.

RR sound system was terrible quality compared to LC even though RR cost $50k more. RR nav and camera awful. RR no full size spare. No third row seats etc.

I’ll never buy another RR.
 
I went from a brand new LR4, that left me stranded in the mountains on trail twice, and fully locked itself up and me out of it on the side of Highway 82 in the middle of a Blizzard, took more trips back to the shop on the back of a flatbed than I can even recall and all of this happened in barely over 6 months. I bought a barely used 2008 FJ Cruiser TrailTeams, beat the ever loving hell out of it for nearly a decade and it never missed a beat or gave me even a shadow of a doubt that it wouldn't get me home ever.

The seats, the visibility, the sounds of the Jaguar V8, all the tech toys... lots of things to love about that vehicle and I really really really wanted to keep it and enjoy it but damn. I'd have a really hard time even considering a lease on a LR after that experience.
 
In 1995 I was single with 2 young kids. Went to the LR dealer to buy a Defender with the kids, big mistake! They talked me out of Defender and off we went with a white Discovery. 7000 miles later threw a rod. I fought and got a new 1996 black discovery as a replacement, nothing out of pocket. Drove it until 1999 when I thought I was upgrading to a Disco 2, wrong. Drove it for 60,000 trouble filled miles including a blown manifold gasket on trip home from Yosemite. I’m over Land Rovers! Toyotas only. Now driving my third Toyo nothing to report.
 
I've owned a few Land Rovers (disco, P38). Really like the P38 body and interior, but I had so many issues I would never feel comfortable taking it on overland trips. I once spent two weeks working on my glove box, haha. Spend some time in Rover forums and it's depressing, everyone says they "love" repairing their vehicles.
 
I liked this description from a recent article on Jalopnik:

International expedition guide Magnus Eriksson broke it down for me when I was working for him in the land down under: “You wanna go bush, you get a ’Cruisah. Can’t afford that, you get a Patrol. Can’t afford that, you get a Pajero.”

So who were Jeeps for? “Idiots.”

And Land Rovers? “Fancy idiots.”
Click to expand...
 
TonyP said:
No idea who Magnus Eriksson is.
But, newer Pajero as a good expedition choice? Don't tell that to Andrew St Pierre White.
Click to expand...

Good choice? Probably not. As bad as a Land Rover?
 
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