The Truth about the Land Rover Discovery 3

Audi Q7 wins over Land Rover Discovery 3

So let's recap if you just joined this sorry tale.

November 2004 - Bought Discovery 3 HSE First Build - electronic melt down - Park Brake Failure - car left us stranded - took Land Rover 3 weeks to figure out what was wrong after changing many components.

July 2005 After the launch of this blog and exerting huge pressure on Land Rover - they replace my Build 1 car with a brand new Build 2 car - electronics system goes wrong with 400 miles on the clock! They replace the passenger air bag.

I give them a second chance - this is now news to the readers - the car goes wrong once again - with a Suspension Fault, Park Brake Failure and Transmission Fault all in the same week. I then am given a loan Discovery 3 SE which in a week also has a Park Brake Failure! So Land Rover replaces the loan car with a Range Rover Sport. This car is built on the same chassis as the Discovery 3 and uses the same electronic components. Guess what - this too goes wrong - Park Brake Failure!!

So I throw up my hands in the air and tell Land Rover that they have a problem - failure of 4 different Vehicles - yet they tell me this fault is somehow connected to me personally. Trying to blame my blackberry device claiming interference!

So they took the car back and refunded my money in full and I am no longer a Land Rover ower - but I continue to get a few hundred hits a day on this site and I am going to make sure that prospective owners are fully aware of the terrible QA problems this car suffers from.

Only today I got a comment posting from Garrick who says:

Thanks for the blog info. My 97 Range Rover and I have a love/ hate relationship, I love it when its working. My wife and I, are now shopping for a new car, and I thought that since the LR3 was redesigned from the ground up, and financed with tons of money from Ford, that maybe, this vehicle would be the one to change the LR reputation. But after reading the JD Power review, the Intelichoice review, and this blog, I have to (regretedly) admit that this may not be the LR3 I had hoped it would be, which is disapointing because there is so much I love about the vehicle. That post about the spare key losing its charge, is so typical, LR does not think it through; what are all the problems that may arise when the key loses its charge? My advice to LR is this, make it bullet proof. Don't build a vehicle that is supposed to go anywhere off road, but can't be trusted to go to France for a couple of weeks. Get back to your LR roots, which is an off road vehicle that is trusted, trusted like a well bred horse, a vehicle that is more like an old friend, that you know you can depend on when you need him. LR is anything but that right now.

So aren't you wondering what I spent the £45k on? I am waiting for this:

Its the Audi Q7 - it looks amazing - Seven Seats too and everything and more than the Disco 3 fails to deliver - the difference is: its built with German Precision and Quality- great Diesel Engine too , on the Chassis of the Touareg/Porsche Cayenne but with a little added Audi finesse. I am on the waiting list and Audi have sold me an A6 Avant in the meantime. So I am counting down to mid-2006. My wife & I just love the Audi A6 though and every time we drive it: we are reminded of just how we trust, respect and admire this Great Solid German Brand. We are left wondering why we ever gave Land Rover a chance. They failed us.

I also decided on an Audi dealership outside London - I was right - you get better attention and care - so if you are interested in adding your name to mine on the waiting list then email Peter Barker who will go the extra mile for you I am sure.

After talking to a vehicle journalist the other day, I now undertsand why Ford in the US is starting to get sick and tired of the lack of Quality coming out of the workforce in the UK - expect to see production moved to the US soon - sorry for Brit Bashing here but its true. The quality is just not there guys - something has to be done.

I am back with lots of news!

Apologies to you all - I am now back proudly unveiling our brand new daughter Imogen Anna Melrose! (Riding the steep learning curve of fatherhood has kept me away from my blogging temporarily- but I am now used to the sleep deprivation - so here's to a renewed energy on the blog posting front!)

Lots has happened since I last posted - not limited to the arrival of Imogen!

Imogen was driven home in a brand new Audi A6 Avant - Land Rover cut me a cheque and refunded the full purchase price of my second Discovery 3 HSE - and boy am I glad to see the back of it. In the next post I will tell you the sorry story.

PS Land Rover - you've just enjoyed the calm before the storm - please don't think you've seen the back of me - there is too much meat on this bone and consumers deserve to hear it straight!