At some point our trustyish Seat Altea XL will be moved on and thinking of trading up. A friend of ours has a RR 08 plate (L322) and thinks it's the best thing since the Fiat Coupe so his judgement is suspect . I've done a bit of research but anyone with experience owning one and have a frank opinion? Looking at alternatives and the only one is the X5 (2nd Gen) which comes in for similar money as the RR but probably less complex so easier to live with? As I'm looking at petrol forget about the Q7.

I would have said the x5 was more complex then the RR, and more expensive for the bigger bills, tyres especially as I was lead to believe they’re specific run-flat otherwise it messes with the handling.
Last year I needed to renew my towing wagon so I looked at RR, X5, Q7 and settled for a Touareg because they have an awesome tow rating and torque that could drag down a house, great vehicle, petrol models are available.

Minor problem with Joe's Taureg is that when he tries to pull out of the yard, the Tuareg stays put and the yard goes backwards...

Our L322 (07) is, well, awesome. Oodles of torque from the TDV8 and it's like driving your armchair......

They're not trouble free but part of that is lack of preventative maintainance, not helped by LR offering 'lean servicing option' a few years back which is a glorified oil change. I've done bot EGR's and a transfer box as well as the normal things like battery/alternator/airbags/lower arms (twice). I think a lot of people forget these were a £££££££ car new.

It does all sorts. Car parts collector. Shopping trolley. Parent taxi. Tow car for another silly project on a trailer. European cruiser.

if any use to you my friend has had 3 or 4 R Rovers over the past 10 years ....loves them ,, but says they are the most unreliable vehicles in the world ,and cost him a fortune in repairs.

I had a VW Toureg for 4 years did nearly 72,000 mls in it ,nothing ever went wrong ,just did a fantastic job all the time ,only sold it due to the mileage ,and was changing over to a electric vehicle due to the massive tax savings

I know a couple of golfing pals who have had X5's ,liked them but said expensive to run and service

Any car that large you are going to be getting hefty service bills, the L322 is a lovely car but be careful as its prown to gearbox issues much like the X5 if i am honest.
Having driven them all, i would probably go for the Taureg, its the most like driving a car, probably useless in the mud and snow but as a work tool I would go that route.

Toyota Land Cruiser. Expensive to buy but a top 4 X 4.

Jeep Grand Cherokee? Nice engines, vast array of toys.
We work on a lot of Land Rover vehicles and although the owners like what they represent, most of them have had more issues than you'd hope for. Our dent technician does a lot of work at their HQ and wouldn't have one. Their customer services sometimes leave a bit too be desired...

If you want bullet proof reliability then Toyota or Lexus it should be, likely not cheap but my Landrover spent way too much time in the dealership,Various bearings, water pump failed etc seemed it had many weak points.

I had the older RR P38. Great car but highly unreliable.
I bought a low mileage car with good service history and spent a lot on maintenance. Didn’t help much as I always had issues.
I understand the L322 is no better.
If you do buy one then you must buy a diagnostic system too. Without one you will get stranded.

I cannot comment on the X5 but I don’t see it being worse than the RR.

I've not had much experience of 4x4 but when I told a friend who'd worked on them for the MOD that I was thinking of buying a LR he was horrified. Very critical of reliability and cost of running them. I'd go for a Japanese brand.

There's a piece in car and classic about 4x4s today, quotes the old australian saying, "if you want to go out in the bush take the Land Rover, if you want to come back again take the Land Cruiser."

Aye I would agree with that. In my neck of the woods retired or semi retired men in my age group tend to buy classic old land rovers. That proves nothing really, but they are easy to work on & loads of spares & help is easy to get.

Been out for a walk this morning & spied a brand new Nissan xtrail 4x4 parked up behind some houses, & not wanting to sound like a git, not the sort of vehicle associated within their price bracket. What got me was the sheer size of the thing, it's massive. Vehicles that are based on farm jeeps have came a long way right enough. Not really my cup of tea but a few years back I had to use the company vehicle, a Kia sportage, I've never thought they were really cars more glorified vans/jeeps but the Kia suspension was so smooth on the pot holed Inverness roads. I would imagine the Nissan would be silky smooth by the size of the tyres alone.

Just my thoughts...

yea apart from the sheer height and size of the things ...they just power over our terrible roads with impunity ,my Touareg had air suspension ...............bliss on almost any surface ,have to say the Tesla's air suspension is pretty good too.

My son has had both. Several winters ago he used a Range Rover to tow a Tesco artic out of a ditch as it was blocking the road on his way to work. The road was 8 or 9 inches deep in snow.

More recently he was using an X5 which was showing about 200K on the clock, it had actually done 500K miles and worked perfectly.

Do you think there's a Range Rover forum somewhere where they're talking about how unreliable Fiats are?

My mate has a 20 year old V8 petrol P38 Range Rover and loves it. He paid £3500 for a £65000 car, that's like paying £1200 for a coupe and expecting perfect reliability.

Similar to the coupe so long as the engine and bodywork are basically OK then most other things can be done DIY using cheap parts. Of course it has lots more to go wrong, height adjustable air suspension, 4 wheel drive, electronics and sensors everywhere. Like the coupe I'd recommend having basic DIY tools + experience + a diagnostic computer + the service manual and being prepared to get your hands dirty, then it can be owned on a relatively modest budget if you keep the mileage low.

It's very much an enthusiasts car just like the coupe, where people "not in the know" don't have a good word to say for it, but those who "get it" , love it.

That's a fair comment Graham.