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After one year with the LR4

54K views 20 replies 18 participants last post by  RandyH 
#1 ·
I have owned my LR4 (ALL OPTIONS except for camera & entertaimment system) for about 11 months now and i just wanted to report what i have found that is post worthy. I am not a super auto guy with descriptions and knowledge of parts, classifacations etc and i am not a "off road" driver. Just a regular ole married man with 5 children living in NYC. Here is the bad news:

1-Gas GUZZLER. No surprise there. I am averaging about 11pm total and about 12-13 highway.

2-At 11,234 miles, my brake pad worn sensor came on. I called the dealership and i was told they average about 10k-15k before being worn. Cost at the dealer is approximately $760 including labor and taxes. So far that has been my ONLY cost outside of gas. I am avergaing about $280 a month in gas. FYI, i called a auto body shop in Brooklyn and saved $200 on the brake pads. Word of advice...only take your LR4 back to the dealer for warranty work and when the warranty runs out..only for major engine work. You can save hundreds of dollars by going to a good recommended specialist auto shop.

3-Be careful of closing that back gate, for some reason when i close it i have to be aware to move my head as one time that corner hit me in the forehead and i had a nice little gash to show for it. LOL.

4-The dashboard for reason just goes BLANK at times. Not many times, about maybe 4 times in 11 months but it goes blank when you need the GPS and ALL functions shut off. No radio, no nothing. I found just shutting the vehicle off resets it but it is pain in the butt when it happens.

5-Speaking of the GPS, they could not have made a more user friendly one? Sheesh, you need a MBA to figure out some of the things on it. Ever tried searching for a POI manually on the thing? After 10 months i finally figured out how to use the voice command to take me to a stored location. I don't know, maybe i am too busy to take the time to figure it out but I have owned 3 previos GPS vehicles (04 Pacifica, 07 Lexus, 08 Acura) and their GPS are very easy to figure out.

Now the good news:

1-Hands down the BEST SUV luxury vehicle on the road. Yes i said it. I Like i said, i have owned 3 others and this vehicle is BOSS. Luxury, Power, ammendities, comfort, look. It is a head turner when it is shined up and Landrover has done a fine job with it. I am surprised it is not getting more press and i do not even use it for what it is built for.

2-It handles very well on the road. I have POWER. I can over take just about anything on 2 wheels that is under a V-10 on the road and the past winter in NY there were several heavy snowfalls and i was the toast of my neighbors when i did not have to shovel out. I just turned that little knob on the floor on the dashboard to "snow/ice" or something like that and POW snow became asphalt and very smoothly i went over mountains of snow.

3-Transmission is smooth and quiet. No hiccups and very responsive. I guess that is where Jaquar comes in.

4-Interior is very well built. Especially the 3rd row. Adults can sit back there in comfort unlike my previous 3 vehicles. I have 5 kids and finally everyone has their own space. the 2nd row seats flip out and fold effortlessly with a solid construction that might just last a while! Leather is top knotch. Easy to clean. I do not care for the rear floor mats too much.

5-The headlilghts..you have to drive this car at night to know what i am talking about. You have CLEAR visibility no matter what!

6-I have the upgraded sound system or maybe it is standard but it is KILLER! Love it. Strong clean sound and when turned up the max do not sound as if i am about to blow a speaker. I listen to alot of rap..so i listen to it LOUD!

Well those are my 2 cents. I hope it helps anyone thinking baout purchasing this vehicle and feel free to ask me any questions.
 
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#3 ·
Lexman34,

Great review of your ownership for the last year. I'm with you, I just love the truck and it gets even better when you take it off-road to see what it really can do.

Here are my thoughts on your impressions.

1 I agree that it doesn't get that great of gas mileage. But I get easily close to or above 18mpg when on the hiway. Around town I get as low as 13mpg but my trips are extreemly short when in town; less than 1 mile in general.

2. It's too early for me to tell on my truck, but it is my opinion that this should get way better than 12,000 miles out of pads. Maybe it is the stop and go traffic you have to deal with but I would assume something is wrong with poor pad life. I normally get 50,000+ out of brake pads on my vehicles.

3. I'm waiting for the day I catch my wife under there and konk her on the head. I did this one time with my Pathfinder, and she has never let me forget about it. On a related note: I have found if I leave the hatch open for more than an hour, it is very hard to close and sounds like the hydrolic props are rusted.

4 I have had this happen once, but I have had the display come on and be nonreponsive twice. Restarting the car fixed as you have done.

5. Seriously??? this is the best the interface team could come up with? I am learing more of the voice commands in hopes that it will alliviate some of my frustration. But something can't be fixed: If you live close to the border of a state and need to cross the border to a location you are screwed. Or if you do cross, all of your search for POIs will be in your normal search area. NAVing a destination in motion would sure be a plus. Too many frustrations to list

Yeah, the goods are very similar. The truck is so quiet, music seems to envelope you. The ride is so smooth and comfortable, only when I corner do I remember that I am in an SUV that is this big, tall and heavy. I suspect that this truck will go through snow as if it weren't even there.

I must comment on the lights: your observations are correct; there is a ton of light to deal with and visibility is awesome. I was a bit skepticale that the auto hi-beam function would really be that great and work as described. I call tell you this is one of the best features ever and hardly anyone knows about it. It works so good I can't imagine buying another car without it.

Power is available all the time and I made quick work of a string of vehicles on out last trip to the Black Hills. I passed 10 motor cycles, 1 car, 1 SUV and a truck towing a fith-wheel trailer all in one shot going up hill. More than enough power and it keeps pulling and pulling. I love it.
 
#4 ·
@Crewcabrob.I have to learn to drive like you do then for that type of MPG. I think i am too heavy on the foot with it and you are right, the thing just keeps pulling and pulling. One time from a dead stop, i floored it and the thing stated peeling and burning rubber. Suprised the heck out of me for a vehicle this big and heavy with full time AWD. I would have loved to have found out which wheels actually were spinning!

I have heavy stop and go traffic EVERY day. I am confident that is the reason why i have burned out my pads. In addition i am an aggressive driver and being the idiot i am, racing up to a red light only to mash down on the brakes. That changed 48hrs ago, for good and for safety!

Be careful of that back gate...it is heavy and that thing ripped a chunk of skin out the side of my forehead. I don't think wifey will like that.:) Thanks for the warning about keeping it open for too long of a period.

So i was not bugging out about the GPS?! It sucks! It is hard drive based and hopefully their "customer satisfaction" team can read our posts and enough of us speak up, they should be able to give it a firmware update and change it and make it right! It is really fustrating to command on the fly. Especially to input. You can recall addresses pretty easily but the horror is adding or finding POI's! :complain::complain:

Funny story about the lights..about 3 weeks after i brought it, i took it on a 600 mile roundtrip to pick up my son from college. While driving at night i see that the high beam's came on, i said to myself hmmm..i don't recall hitting it but maybe i did by accident. I hit the switch to turn it off. About 5 minutes later it came on and i proceeded to turn it off again. At my next rest stop i called my wife and told her i am loving the car but the damn high beam switch is broken. Only about an hour later that i figured it out. Unbelievably cool ass feature. It turns off at incoming traffic and comes right back on as their vehicle pass your front bumper. Works REALLY well.
 
#5 ·
My funny story with the lights happened just last week when we went to Valentine Nebraska and then to the Black Hills of South Dakota. We didn't get to leave until dark as our son was finishing up a class as the local community college. (he is taking a math class there so he can take two math courses this fall as a sophmore in HS) We were driving on the interstate with too much traffic for the hi-beams to turn on. When we turned off the interstate and got on secondary roads, I kept waiting for the hi-beams to come on. they never did. Then I figured out it was because there was too much ambient light inside the cabin. My wife was reading a book and had her light on, my son was studying for A+ examination and my daughters both had thier netbooks out surfing the web. As soon as my wife go tired and turned her light off, the hi beams came on and functioned as they should.

My kids are spoiled. They will never know what it is like to have no air conditioning and no entertainment in a car like when we grew up. We were lucky to find a radio station out there and it was never anything "we" wanted to listen to. Now they can watch movies, read, sleep or surf the web while traveling. No wind noise or air buffeting them in the face... I never had it so good. I guess they still have to deal with the funny smells, but what a difference.

Rob
 
#6 ·
Great story and you are so right about the kids. They have NO idea. My daughter asked me could she charge her DS in the truck and i said yes. She acted like it was SUPPOSED to do that. Incredibly vain way of thinking of what they are entitled to. Look forward to sharing more stories about this vehicle with you. I am on my way to get my brake pads done this morning. Have a great time with your vehicle!
 
#7 ·
ZF Transmission

lexman, Here is some info for you. The new Land Rover LR4 now shares the same engine that the other Range Rovers have. That is the 5.0 Litter. direct injection, variable valve timed V8 delivering 375 horsepower at 6500 rpm with torque 375 foot-pounds coming in at 3500 rpm that was co developed with Jaguar. Mated to the 2010 LR4 is the ZF HP28 six-speed automatic transmission with manual mode. ZF is a german transmission, see link for info. ZF Friedrichshafen - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. You're on the right track as ZF's are used in the Jaguars too, and probably other british vehicles. By the way, very nice vehicle you have. It must be nice with all that HP. And of course you have to remember that we give up fuel mileage for full time 4-wheel drive and having a larger, heavier and safer vehicle..................007
 
#9 ·
This is my first post here. I found this forum while searching for information on my 2011 LR4's surprisingly short brake pad life. I was about to complain about getting 21k miles on my brakes, but I'm not finding that is much longer than normal. Just spinning a little since I'm used to getting about 40K miles out of a set of pads. So, new pads and sensors this morning to the tune of $900. I shall investigate a local specialist for next time that could perhaps save me a few bucks.

Other than that, I LOVE my LR4.
 
#15 ·
Good post. As a former owner of an LR3 who moved to a LR4 I concur with the wind noise (I think thinner side glass?) and engine noise. FWIW I think the noise at idle you here is the high pressure DFI.

I also preferred the slower ratio steering of the 3. It seemed less twitchy and matched the lumbering chassis better. IMO

Cup holders in the 3 were better too.


Everything else: 4 > 3
 
#17 ·
Enjoyed reading your reviews. It has been a few years since your threads were written. Would like to hear how you feel about owning the LR4 now. I am considering buying a 2011 LR4. But after owning a 2000 Range Rover P38 for 7 years I am a little hesitant. I love the car when it's running well, but never have considered it as totally dependable.

Thanks again for the reviews.
 
#19 ·
P38 Range Rover has no comparison to an LR3 or LR4 totally different engines, etc.
Dave
 
#20 ·
I have not had my 2011 HSE LUX for a year yet, but as someone who does a lot of maintenance myself and having 144K miles on a 2011 I'd like to offer my opinion. My other LR experience was with a 99 Disco II - it was the much a love/hate relationship with that truck. This Land Rover is completely different, even though it sits up high and has great vision all the way around like the Disco did, it is a superior vehicle IMHO. I'm not talking off-road stuff guys, just simply offering my observations on paved roads. It's smooth powerful of course, the interior feel is amazing, the GPS interface could be improved but this truck is a pleasure to drive. Took the family from San Diego to San Fransisco over spring break with a large Thule carrier on top, felt like a million bucks on that trip. I have had no experience with lights on the dash or any other malfunctions, I did have a warning light came on but I needed to replace the O2 sensors, no big deal. The motor is so much improved I cant say enough about it. At 144K miles not one leak, idles great, not much more I can say about it really other than I'm impressed at how much Land Rover has improved the product over the last 10-15 years. The look and feel of this vehicle is so good that if my motor overheated or had some sort of major issue I would not hesitate to replace if and keep on going instead of looking for another truck. :wink
 
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