Looking.... (Discovery)

Read some of the posts on this forum. Very capable vehicles, but they have a lot of flaws and maintenance problems are frequent and not cheap. I know this because I worked inside of a Land Rover dealership in San Diego from 99 to 00. Lotsa problems. Again, very capable trucks offroad out of the box, but lotsa problems.

I remember the window stickers for the ones with the 5.0 V8's said 12mpg around town. I think 15-16 on the highway. My Ram gets 13-14 mpg around town with a 5.9L V8 and still has solid axles front and rear. It's all what you want.

Oh yeah, the rear seats are a bitch to get into and out of because of the goofy door design, and the dash layout is goofy because all Rover basically did was switch the steering wheel and glove box from side to side from the English spec one to make it left hand drive for US and other LHD countries. Seemed rather underpowered too, even with the "big 5.0L V8".

Long story short, I wasn't impressed, especially not for the money and problems.

Steve83, yep, I think you're right, got my numbers wrong. I was thinking of the 4.6L. I wasn't thinking of the Ford V8 though. I beleive the new Rover V8 is 5.0L, and also if you do the bore and stroke routine to the 3.5L V8 you get a 5.0L V8. Know a couple guys overseas who have done that.

Steener, don't take it as a bad mark against all Rovers, they are good trucks within limits, but yeah, they aren't the most reliable. The Toyota 4Runner is a very capable vehicle however. I think you'll be presently surprised with them. I come from Michigan, land of the "US-made" vehicle (even though my Ram says heche en Mehico and my last Blazer was made in Canada), and was quite surprised with how well Toyotas and many other Japanese 4x4's did offroad and also with their overall quality of build when I lived in SoCal. If I ever buy a smaller 4x4 it'll be a Toyota Tacoma or 4Runner. I do have to say that the reliability of a Toyota is immensly greater than a Rover. Not trying to down on Rovers again, but just the truth as I've seen it.

Here in Memphis, Ducks Unlimited is BIG BIDNESS. Each year they have a weekend of sports equipment dealers displays at their property by the AgriCenter. Among thousands of others, they have ALL the 4WD brands' dealerships out in force, offering free test drives on the mud/obstacle track used by all the brands. For the past several years, the local LR dealer & LR USA have offered to foot the bill for setting up the track, provided that THEY get to decide on the complexity. (Do you see this coming up 5th Avenue yet? ) Year before last, they had a particularly challenging track and ALL the other brands (Chebby, Ford, Toy, Dodge, Nissan, etc.) went to the DU officials and complained that the track was TOO extreme because ALL their vehicles were getting stuck WITH THE TEST DRIVERS (that's EX-potential buyers to the salesmen ) IN THEM ! ! ! To add insult to injury, the Rovers were driving past them on the harder lines and PULLING THEM OUT !

Last year, DU politely declined LR's offer to build the track, so LR pulled all corporate support.