Photo by Muffy Aldrich
The Modern Guide to The Thing Before Preppy

Thursday, July 8, 2021

Land Rovers/Range Rovers

Photos by Salt Water New England

Two Questions for the Community:

  • What are your thoughts on current Land Rovers/Range Rovers? 
  • What is your all-time favorite Land Rover/Range Rover?

   













 

43 comments:

  1. I love the old Defender 110s, but I also love an old 1990s era Discovery and 1980s era Range Rover. But ultimately I’m actually a Toyota Land Cruiser guy. GLH

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  2. If I had to buy one new today, the update of the Defender.

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    1. I did, like the one in the 6th photo here. Just what I did and do want.

      Randy Ventgen
      Vancouver WA

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  3. If it looks like it could have been in the movie Born Free then love it. If it has air conditioning then not interested.
    Seriously, the 1948-1978 versions are what interests me but I know from riding/driving them that I would not one as a primary vehicle.

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    1. The Born Free Rover is the only one I'd want!

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  4. Love them…reliability is a big issue for me though. If it wasn’t for that then I would own one. Until that happens I will stick with Toyota (reliability) and Grand Cherokee (affordability).

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    1. Walked dog around neighborhood in Charlotte and counted 18 range rovers. I'd buy one but the reliabilty kills it.

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  5. We have owned nine (9) of them, from a 95 Defender to a 2018 Range Rover LWB plus two (2) LR4's for our daughter. The square, boxy versions were our favorite. Their reliability was atrocious and their utilitarian purposes have been eclipsed by someone who thinks wind tunnel design is more important than function.

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    1. Have to agree with Roarbo on the phenomenon of Range Rover as the "get anything done" vehicle transitioning to Range Rover as "status symbol when pulling into the club parking lot". I lived overseas in Africa in the late 80's - early 90's, where Range Rovers and Toyota Land Cruisers were absolutely critical for getting around (and helping others who were stuck in the mud or sand dunes.) It's hilarious to me now to see how little they're used for their original purpose.

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    2. Glad I don't need a 'status symbol' when I'm pulling into the club parking lot.

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  6. In the classic car world, the original design is simply referred to as the Range Rover Classic. If you are looking to purchase one, the number one problem is rusting. Soup Classic Motoring over on YouTube has an extremely satisfying time-lapse restoration of a classic he refurbished in Ireland. Once you get past the rust, then it’s the electrical systems and engine mechanics. You will find people who have strong opinions about all of the engine options that were available over the years. In any case, you can certainly have a fantastic looking RRC as a non-daily driver for around $45K and up, or significantly cheaper if you will finance or perform the refurbishment yourself. However, another option entirely is to get a resto-mod, in which either the original spotty engine has been replaced with one from a Chevy Corvette in most cases, or the gasoline engine has been replaced entirely by an electric motor, which enhances performance and reliability. Those latter options can cost as much as building a new one, but the new design is too “new money”. Classic Defenders are VERY rustic, and in my opinion the new design looks too much like a Toyota FJ Cruiser. But to each their own.

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  7. All time fav belongs to my husband's cousin. He removed the G E and R from the front, so it now reads RAN OVER.

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  8. An old DEFENDER! The very first car I ever fell in love with. Still my favorite.

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  9. They have become overpriced and completely unreliable. That is why Consumer Reports gives them such a low score. They have also become too common for people that care more about demonstrating status than disguising wealth. People with a practical sense and don't care about appearances don't drive them.

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    1. I agree. I guess there is another way to look at it. If you truly like them then you shouldn’t care what anyone thinks about you or your choice.

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  10. Riceburner aka Toyota Land Cruiser trumps Range Rover....have owned both.

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    1. Toyota Land Cruiser trumps Jeep also. Our motor pool man in Haiti (alas in the news again) pointed once to a Jeep and said, “those last 3 years.” He then nodded at a Land Cruiser and said, “those last 10 years.”

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    2. Right on about the Jeep. Owned a 1984 Jeep Grand Wagoneer, made by Chrysler. If it was a horse, I would have shot it.

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  11. The ‘70’s era Defender. The same in which we bounced along a dry wadi in Djibouti to get to marvelous snorkeling at Plage d’Arta on the Gulf of Tadjoura next to the Bab el Mandeb Straight. Which is at the mouth of the Red Sea and close to Les Isles des Sept Frères where Jacques Cousteau, everyone knows, first studied marine life.

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    1. Yes, that era of Defender said, "Adventure!" Proper down-to-earth adventures in remote or exotic locations. At least, that's what the vision they conjured up for me.

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  12. Not only have these vehicles (RRs and LRs) become expensive and remain unreliable, they have morphed from being utility vehicles into status symbols driven by people for whom "offroad" means their driveways and who want to project what they believe is an affluent and perhaps WASPY image. Beverly Hills and Palm Springs are crawling with RRs and LRs, where they make absolutely no sense.

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  13. I have only owned one: a 1965 short-wheelbase "estate car." It had seats in the back. It was slow but it could go. Top speed about 50 with a tail wind, although it might blow the valve cover gasket. Got stuck now and then but I also drove it over unplowed snow-covered roads in West Virginia for more than a hundred miles. It wasn't so good on ice or packed snow, to be honest. But unlike other owners, mine was quite reliable. This was all while I was in college and I knew two other students who also owned Land-Rovers, both 109 models. The list of versions I wished I'd owned is long but a forward control model would really be different.

    I've also owned two Rover sedans, too.

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  14. Like them all. They have always been reliable and have always been a status symbol. Not sure when they where not? I mean the Queen of England drives one :)

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  15. I always liked the older ones "in their place," out working. The new ones have lost the "look" but more to the point, they long, long ago ceased to be cars you could work on yourself. That was a serious consideration buying a car for use in a remote area.

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  16. In terms of looks, I do like the older, boxy Land Rovers. Not the most comfortable ride, but they were more reliable than the newer Land and Range Rovers. I knew someone who worked for the UN in the field, who said that during the war in the Balkans in the 1990s, they found the VW Golf to be more reliable than the Land Rover. I don't know how true that was, of course, because I know that LRs in the field were properly armoured vehicles. However she swore that they broke down a lot.

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  17. Any defender, and we love our old faithful Discovery! Jeeps just are not reliable enough to suit me, and the Land Cruisers we have owned, just were not for us. Thanks once again!

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  18. Does everyone here realize that the Range Rover has been around since 1970?

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  19. I loved the old Defenders, the new ones look like all the other current SUV's on the market.

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  20. Unless you are a glutton for punishment, why? I've never met anyone who purchased or leased a 2nd Land Rover. Friends thought they could improve their "experience" and leased only to find that resulted in endless trips to the dealership for repairs and loaner cars that also left them sit.

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    1. Oh no! I am sorry they had this experience. That was my own experience with newer model VWs. Not fun.

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    2. My wife's 2017 VW Golf "Sportwagen" has been thoroughly reliable but it hasn't yet turned over 10,000 miles. The owner's manual is 430 pages long (in one language) and that tells you something.

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  21. My husband is English, we love a Rover for the country, and quit visits to the shops. A Rover (range or Land models) should be well loved and have dog hair on the backseat. Preferably pre-2005 models.

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  22. Basically a love/hate relationship with the two I had in 90s and 00’s. Both Discovery’s l (leased) and ll (purchased) Loved the Disco ll when I was driving it in Chicago winters, yet hated it when I would find a puddle of something or other under the car from the engine in the morning. I gave up on them after that. Have been driving Volvo suvs ever since…

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  23. If you want to go anywhere, you take a Land Rover, but if you want to come back, you take a Land Cruiser.

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    1. Even 50 years ago, the Land Cruiser was killing the Land-Rover, probably because of the six-cylinder engine, not to mention a better dealer network. But frankly, a Dodge pickup was just as good as either of them.

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  24. My thought…Chelsea tractors.

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  25. Frankly I find today's Land/Range Rovers to be too luxe and showy. When I think of classic Land Rovers, I think of the dusty, beat up variety that roamed Kenya in the movie Born Free.

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    1. Although you are correct that today's versions are decidedly luxurious, as are Jeeps and Toyotas, the Range Rover was introduced as a luxury vehicle fifty years ago. Land Cruisers are now part of the Lexus line of vehicles and presumably are luxury vehicles.

      I still think of the dusty, beat-up old Dodge pickup trucks in the movie Hatari.

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  26. Love the Defenders. Admire the old Discos. Loathe the new iterations. I’m looking forward to the launch of the British Ineos Grenadier though. Real potential there.
    -JM, VA

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  27. I've never known a vehicle to age more poorly, or more disasterously than modern land/ range rovers.

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  28. I drive a 2002 Lexus LX which I bought used in 2009. So far, other than normal maintenance, I spent $140 to repair a broken power antenna. Land Cruisers may not have the east coast panache of of the Range Rovers and Land Rovers but they are better vehicles in every way IMO.

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  29. I inherited an old Range Rover Classic that I still drive today so may be more qualified to speak on this than many...

    Overall, all the horror stories you've heard are true. Terrible electronics, atrocious build quality, spotty reliability. At the same time, timeless, elegant, comfortable, truly versatile (magnificent offroad and quiet at 85 mph on American highways). Far more reliable than my Mercedes, though!

    Old Series trucks and Defenders are purely performative in nature because their agricultural nature (having driven the old Defender in Africa) makes them functionally unusable in a quotidian American manner. For anything more than occasional use in town during warm, sunny weather under 35mph, the RRC handily vanquishes its Series LR/Defender brethren (and looks better doing it)!

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  30. As the owner of a 1995 4.0 SE I can say that the "logistics" of ownership are problematic but then it's the ethos ..........isn't it?

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