My 2005 S600 has had $70k in repairs and maintenance in last 6 years/100k miles (I bought it with 18k miles). Warranty covered $52k in repairs, the dealership has an entire file cabinet dedicated to me. My BMWs are also costly but not in Ferrari realm. I share his sentiment that german cars are junk. They used to be luxurious and well built. Two months with my LC and I'm not missing my twin turbo V12. I used to ask the MB salesmen what car do you buy after the 600 and they had no idea. I'm going to tell them when I see them you buy a Toyota Land Cruiser.
Range Rover Sport versus LX570
- Thread starter TexasHusker
- Start date
This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.
My 2005 S600 has had $70k in repairs and maintenance in last 6 years/100k miles (I bought it with 18k miles). Warranty covered $52k in repairs, the dealership has an entire file cabinet dedicated to me. My BMWs are also costly but not in Ferrari realm. I share his sentiment that german cars are junk. They used to be luxurious and well built. Two months with my LC and I'm not missing my twin turbo V12. I used to ask the MB salesmen what car do you buy after the 600 and they had no idea. I'm going to tell them when I see them you buy a Toyota Land Cruiser.
Preach on it gruve.
Ha sorry. I may have been venting some personal stress there. Piece of crap still left us in the middle of nowhere though.
My uncle had similar issues with his SL550, the hydrolic suspension failed and the pump burnt up. The motor had to be removed to replace the high pressure line that comes off of the pump for the suspension. Over $20,000 spent on a three year old car. This included four new struts, new pump, new main hydrolic hose, four new valve bodies. Once part of the system fails it can send trash into other parts of the system contaminating the entire system.
He now drives a Lexus.
He now drives a Lexus.
This is the same system that Mercedes runs in the S600. When it works it is very cool, it has a camera that maps the road in front of the car and modulates the suspension over potholes and irregular conditions in the road serface.
Taco2Cruiser
Crazy American Off Road
My good friend bought a RRS after his diesel GC kept failing after 50,000 on the clock. The RRS is a very nice vehicle when new and they do look good (but I like the ford explorer also and they look the same). That said, his RRS after 10,000 on the clock keeps having engine electric issues like on his GC. Just two days ago, he called me because the sport just turned off while he was driving home on a state road. Just turned off, completely, not even map lights would come on.
When I was with the Australian's one time, we were talking about cars and off roading, and one of them said, "you buy a Land Rover to go into the bush, you buy and land cruiser to come out of it."
I would love to own a Rover, I really would, but like Jeeps (which I grew up on and would love to buy one of those also) I never will. Your wife likes it and that's all that matters, she won't when it breaks down at a probably embarrassing time, but that's not the point. The point is to be happy when you drive, and happiness means a lot of differ things to different people.
That's why comparing cars doesn't really get anywhere, because number crunching is for non car people. The best car in my opinion was a '96 Toyota Tacoma single cab, 4cyl, 4x4, with manual windows and door locks. It was slow, loud, rattled, got bad millage, could only hold two people, but god it could go anywhere and never break, I loved it. But friends with expensive cars didn't get it.
So the best car, is one you build a relationship with, everything else is just 2 tons of metal, glass, and plastic.
When I was with the Australian's one time, we were talking about cars and off roading, and one of them said, "you buy a Land Rover to go into the bush, you buy and land cruiser to come out of it."
I would love to own a Rover, I really would, but like Jeeps (which I grew up on and would love to buy one of those also) I never will. Your wife likes it and that's all that matters, she won't when it breaks down at a probably embarrassing time, but that's not the point. The point is to be happy when you drive, and happiness means a lot of differ things to different people.
That's why comparing cars doesn't really get anywhere, because number crunching is for non car people. The best car in my opinion was a '96 Toyota Tacoma single cab, 4cyl, 4x4, with manual windows and door locks. It was slow, loud, rattled, got bad millage, could only hold two people, but god it could go anywhere and never break, I loved it. But friends with expensive cars didn't get it.
So the best car, is one you build a relationship with, everything else is just 2 tons of metal, glass, and plastic.
Markuson
SILVER Star
Reliability is everything to me.
Warranty work is great, but does you absolutely ZERO GOOD if you are 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle and you can't get back.
Smallish Rant:
Prestige?
If you actually wheel your vehicle... Screw prestige.
-Car parts don't care about impressions or bank accounts.
Whether you're a Stretch-to-buy-200-person (like me)...a millionaire...or a BILLIONAIRE...
...We all need a means of travel that works when no service shop is near.
-Only a reliable vehicle that doesn't have a propensity to break...will consistently get you home.
Silly rant over.
Love the Cruiser for so many reasons...but reliability is something I don't think anything on the market can match--at any price.
Warranty work is great, but does you absolutely ZERO GOOD if you are 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle and you can't get back.
Smallish Rant:
Prestige?
If you actually wheel your vehicle... Screw prestige.
-Car parts don't care about impressions or bank accounts.
Whether you're a Stretch-to-buy-200-person (like me)...a millionaire...or a BILLIONAIRE...
...We all need a means of travel that works when no service shop is near.
-Only a reliable vehicle that doesn't have a propensity to break...will consistently get you home.
Silly rant over.
Love the Cruiser for so many reasons...but reliability is something I don't think anything on the market can match--at any price.
Last edited:
Cars are no different than homes. The bigger the home, the more needs maintaining. The bigger and more elaborate the yard, the more costly to maintain. I don't believe Mercs, Ferrairs, Range Rovers, etc are junk but when you stuff more gadgets, hp and so on, you're going to have more expensive maintence. Honesty, if someone buys 100k+ ride and can't afford or complains about maintence and repairs, they should buy a Toyota, Honda, etc. Yes, Lexus are very realiable but my neighbor has a LS600H and it's freaking boring and not very stylish but that's kind of the point of the vechicle to be more understated and less bling. But to me, it's something my Grandpa who is 80 drives. 
Maybe when I'm his age, I'll get one. Lol Life's short, enjoy the crap out of it 
Drive whatever makes you happy and don't give two poos on what someone else might think. Gear heads like me just look at cars as a piece of art and something to have fun in. Reliablitly is not my worry, that's why I have a Cruiser as my go to realiable workhorse. Love it!
Maybe when I'm his age, I'll get one. Lol Life's short, enjoy the crap out of it Drive whatever makes you happy and don't give two poos on what someone else might think. Gear heads like me just look at cars as a piece of art and something to have fun in. Reliablitly is not my worry, that's why I have a Cruiser as my go to realiable workhorse. Love it!
Last edited:
You were unlucky because you had the W220 generation S class. That whole generation was just garbage. My uncle had an S430 from that gen and I had to pick him up at least once a year for the 8 years he had it.
He has a 6 year old W221 S550 and it runs fine, and my W221 S600 was running far more reliably than yours or his W220. I had to replace the transmission conductor plate and a rear sunshade in 3 years (years 4,5,6 of the car's life).
The big thing with the Mercs as some people have touched on is the ABC suspension. Most people replace it with a standard one when the car is old enough and it fails.
The suspension that another poster was talking about that scans the road is available from the W222 model (2014+). I think it's called magic body control.
***
The only car whose unreliability I'll put up with is Porsche. I think the fact their sports cars are generally more reliable than other German makes has a lot to do with me ready to "put up" with it. (Please nobody talk to me about the IMS issues, because the direct-injection engines since 2009 have proved outstanding in every application)
Other than that I love my Toyotas and Lexus like many of you do.
- Thread starter
- #50
The LX versus the Range Rover is kind of like your high school love life: The LX is you're cute-ish, smart, and loyal girlfriend. The Range Rover is that hottie you keep spying at the football game and you know she couldn't replace your girl, but sure might be fun for a weekend when the parents are out of town!
Markuson
SILVER Star
Ha! Almost like the analogy I thought of recently, but mine was about makeup.
The Land Cruiser/570 is like the sporty girl with nearly no makeup, but still beautiful...AND...beautiful underneath, and when she wakes up in the morning..you still recognize her.
The LR? Looks GORGEOUS...because she's a makeup artist...but underneath? -She falls apart, and you don't recognize her when she wakes up in the morning without the facepaint and bling.
Gimme the solid, sporty girl every time.
Last edited:
- Thread starter
- #52
...the Range Rover is a brute and technological marvel...she just is high maintenance. If you sign up for a Rangy and aren't up for that, you're going to be very disappointed.
I like what our salesman at LR Albuquerque said when I asked him about Rangy's reliability, he responded "certainly their reliability has improved significantly, but reliability is NOT why people buy these vehicles."
I like what our salesman at LR Albuquerque said when I asked him about Rangy's reliability, he responded "certainly their reliability has improved significantly, but reliability is NOT why people buy these vehicles."
Markuson
SILVER Star
That's what I will never understand.
Why would anyone want to be in the boonies...far from help...in a LR...when reliability is NOT a strong point???
Just seems like the opposite of what you want in that scenario.
- Thread starter
- #54
Mechanically they are world class reliable. Leaving you stranded isn't the issue; whether your blind spot sensor works is another matter. The Rangy is loaded with a lot of cutting edge tech that is repair intensive.
Markuson
SILVER Star
Ah. So... Are you saying that the reason they spend so much time in the shop for repairs tends to be peripheral item failure rather than something that strands you? Small stuff fails, but main functionality is solid? That would be helpful to know.
It would be interesting to find a stat sheet of most common failures...to get a feel for trip-stoppers...vs. minor failures (like the sensors you mention).
- Thread starter
- #56
The vast majority of Rangy warranty repairs are related to creature comforts.
- Thread starter
- #57
My wife's RRS is built like a tank, but we did have to have it in to fix the power passenger side mirror.
Canyonero
Beating up Land Cruisers since 2015
Cars are no different than homes. The bigger the home, the more needs maintaining. The bigger and more elaborate the yard, the more costly to maintain. I don't believe Mercs, Ferrairs, Range Rovers, etc are junk but when you stuff more gadgets, hp and so on, you're going to have more expensive maintence. Honesty, if someone buys 100k+ ride and can't afford or complains about maintence and repairs, they should buy a Toyota, Honda, etc. Yes, Lexus are very realiable but my neighbor has a LS600H and it's freaking boring and not very stylish but that's kind of the point of the vechicle to be more understated and less bling. But to me, it's something my Grandpa who is 80 drives.
Drive whatever makes you happy and don't give two poos on what someone else might think. Gear heads like me just look at cars as a piece of art and something to have fun in. Reliablitly is not my worry, that's why I have a Cruiser as my go to realiable workhorse. Love it!
I feel compelled to respond to this. Lexus' are reliable AND "stuffed with gadgets" -all of which never break. AND all Lexus are not boring, either.
My RC-F 5.0 V8 sounds like a giant eating a mountain when I'm over 4500 rpm, and it has the mouth to do it.
With Lexus you can have your cake and eat it. No compromises necessary.
Yes, your neighbors LS is boring though!
Markuson
SILVER Star
I feel compelled to respond to this. Lexus' are reliable AND "stuffed with gadgets" -all of which never break. AND all Lexus are not boring, either.
My RC-F 5.0 V8 sounds like a giant eating a mountain when I'm over 4500 rpm, and it has the mouth to do it.
With Lexus you can have your cake and eat it. No compromises necessary.
Yes, your neighbors LS is boring though!
View attachment 1315871
WOW, that RS looks FUNNNNN... !!!
And yes. Lexus and Toyota just seem head & shoulders above in reliability... I do think Lexus (and Toyota too) have come a LONG way recently in shedding the "boring" stigma. Holy cow, your blue RC really seems like a life-size...well...RC car (radio control)! Just wanna jump in that thing and go. I ha a little WRX for a while, and even with it's little 4 cylinder boxer engine, I got it up to 154mph. But it was cheap inside and never a looker. Your RC is MORE than a looker. Wow.
- Thread starter
- #60
I feel compelled to respond to this. Lexus' are reliable AND "stuffed with gadgets" -all of which never break. AND all Lexus are not boring, either.
My RC-F 5.0 V8 sounds like a giant eating a mountain when I'm over 4500 rpm, and it has the mouth to do it.
With Lexus you can have your cake and eat it. No compromises necessary.
Yes, your neighbors LS is boring though!
View attachment 1315871
Sorry but I don't think the Japs are serving up this sort of cake ...
