Trust me, I know the history of the brand going way back before the Discovery.

In high school in the late 80's, I worked at a European car specialty parts shop. We sold a ton of Rover parts, not surprisingly.

In college, I worked at a car audio shop, and dealt with way more than my share of Rover & Jag electrical nightmares.

I also have several close friends who have owned Defenders, Discos, LR3s, and Range Rovers, and I know the issues they've had.

All of this was considered before getting the LR4, but I made my decision based on two things:

1. Everywhere I've looked and everyone I've spoken too agree that the reliability has improved drastically in just the last few years. (I spoke to a lot of people who had no vested interest in me getting the LR4)

2. My GX was anything but trouble free. This being a GX forum, there aren't many people who want to admit it, but they are FAR from flawless vehicles. There is a pretty long list of "common" issues that GX470s suffer from, and I had most of them. (My dash didn't crack, but I figured that one was just a matter of time.)

Who knows, maybe I'll regret the decision to get the LR4? Only time will tell. I'm pretty positive I won't regret getting rid of my GX though...it was time.

As far as I'm concerned, all brands can be hit or miss, including Lexus. I had a Ford Excursion once that was absolutely a great truck. Wanted to downsize a little, and traded it in for a new Expedition....which turned out to be a complete POS.

 

i hear you man, i just figured i'd let you know that my disco was an absolute nightmare to own. as far as the long list of issues go i have yet to have experienced any with my 06 GX....knock on wood!

 

No worries, I've heard all the horror stories.

Glad your GX has been trouble free. If mine had been, I would have kept for at least a few more years.

 

Good luck with the new Land Rover. They look pretty nice. I'd love to get a Range Rover someday.

 

PM sent!!!!

 

Felt the need to drag this thread up from the dead so I could laugh at myself, being the originator.

The reason I'm reading my old threads here is that I may be back in another GX this weekend.

For anyone who cares, that LR4 turned out to be a great truck, which we never had a problem with. It was, however, extremely thirsty. I knew it would be worse on gas than the GX, but it turned out to be much worse. We ended up keeping it for about 2 years before trading it in on a 2011 Acura MDX.

The MDX is a great vehicle, but as I wrote in this thread almost 3 years ago, my wife simply doesn't like it. I was the one who convinced her to get it, and that was a mistake.

She has always said that the GX was her favorite vehicle of all the ones we've owned, so I figured I'd see if I could find a really low mile one for her. I ended up finding a one owner '08 with only 21k miles on it, which we are going to check out on Saturday. It's over 2 hours away, so if it looks good, I'm not making a 2nd trip to go back for it.

If we do end up with it, I hope it doesn't end up having all the same problems I had with the '03. In reading through this forum for the last 2 days, it looks as if a bunch of the problems I had were (and still are) pretty common.

 

Was the mileage really that different between the GX and LR4? I would think it would be a rounding error between the two.

Looking back at your thread, we had the same crossroads with my wife and her GX. Do we keep it or put in another several thousand? We made the decision to keep hers, and I honestly think my wife regrets it, but I think it was smart financially. The cheapest car is almost always the one you already own.

I also agree that the GX has not been a great car from a reliability standpoint. I certainly wouldn't call it a lemon, but something closer to a GM brand SUV and not the Lexus experience I've had in the past. I had the speedometer/ instrument panel go out, AC problems, radiator leak, numerous brake issues, driveshaft issues, the air suspension going out, peeling paint on the bumpers etc. I think most of the issues have been solved and it should be pretty low cost from here on out, but we'll see.

Doing some back of the envelope calculations over the 10 years we've owned it, it would have been close financially to have just leased a premium SUV over the last 10 years and gotten a new car ever 3 years than buying this vehicle new and taking a hit on depreciation and repairs.

I'm one that doesn't like to buy new, but my wife does. If you're the type that buys a new car every few years, I actually think you can make a decent case for leasing.

 

It was definitely worse with the LR4.

I'm not one to calculate or track MPG, so I can't give you any actual numbers. That said, my wife has the same basic routine every week. It's all around town - drop off the kids, pick them up, go to work (which is 1 minute from home), etc. With the LR4, she was filling it up WAY more often than the GX.

The LR4 is only rated at 12 MPG city, and I'd be willing to bet we were getting less than that.

Note that the gas mileage wasn't the main reason for getting rid of the LR4. It was a combination of a bunch of factors, and that was just one of them. The biggest one was that even though the truck never gave us any problems, there was still no way I was ever going to own it out of warranty.

 

Land Rovers are definitely something you lease or only own during a warranty. It's good to hear though that they've improved, years ago I had a work colleague with a Range Rover and it was almost a weekly occurrence that he needed a ride from the dealership.

That's crazy the fuel economy is that low on the LR4, the GX is a heavy vehicle that doesn't get stellar gas mileage anyway. 12mpg is what cars got with carburetors and 3 speed transmissions decades ago.

 

[On top of those is the one that aggravates me the most - a rust spot that would need to be fixed too. Inside the passenger rear door at the wheelwell edge is a rust spot that's getting worse every day.

.[/QUOTE]

The Japanese are pretty consistent with their quality. I have a rust spot brewing in that exact spot. Seems like a strange spot, and its only on the passenger side.

 

My 97 Disco has been a fine truck, a helluva lot less rust than the decade newer GX we have.

 

rainmn - interesting read here as I was making a decision among similar vehicles for my wife back in late '06 (just as '07s were released).

XC90: Wife liked design and function so we selected this, better value than competition; after 2 yrs she felt is was a bigger than she needed and she wanted something more nimble - moved on to a smaller BMW X3 and still very, very happy with it. Actually one of the most reliable vehicles I've ever purchased.
LR3: 2nd choice, she likes Land Rovers and engine pulled nicely. Good 3rd row space.
MDX: She thought it looked like an egg and too many gizmos. Against my recommendation, she wouldn't even test drive it.
Q7: Felt too long and 3rd row terrible (criteria at the time).
X5: At least 10k+ more than the Volvo, preferred to stay under that price point.

 

I'm Wondering if the GX's are problematic with the newer components, but iron themselves out once they age a bit and things have been replaced. I see all these people having issues with around 80k miles, but mine has been rock solid with 160k on it... hmmmm....

 

Glad to hear that YoshiMan! Gives us all hope.

Radiator leak. drive line clunk, diff lock o-ring leak. Yes, those items usually show up well before 120,000 miles and have to be addressed. Blue sky from there to 300,000 miles! Well, there's the alternator and the air bags...still, not ball breakers. I just hope I can afford another 192,000 miles worth of gas. Let's see - 192,000 miles @ 15 MPG = 12,800 gallons of gas @ an optimistic average price of $4.00 per gallon, that comes to.....$51,200. Gas costs dwarf the cost of GX maintenance items.

 

Well, I'm back in a GX. Went to check it out today and came home with it.