2017 Best Overall Towcar

I can see that the long held tradition of deriding anything that is manufactured in  GB is alive and well, your quote " The idea of using a Land Rover out there is met with derision and shouts of don't be bl**** daft mate, we want to come home afterwards!", is similar to the old Toyota ads and of course they would say that wouldn't they.
I assume the reason you haven't mentioned the abysmal rate of recalls for faulty Toyotas is because the biased British press never report it. In the last eight years Toyota have been up there in the top four, in the states alone approx twenty four  million fault recalls in the five years to 2014 and still up there in the top four, not trivial faults either, exploding airbags and throttles jamming wide open etc. Imagine the press reports if these had been Land Rovers.
At the end of the day we choose what suits us best but as Dave FL2 said you are harking back to the faults of twenty five years ago. I am on my sixth LR, all fault free so far and I am proud to drive a vehicle manufactured in the UK that is renowned all over the world (apart from Australia that is)!

Give it a go Tigerfish, you might be pleasantly surprised!

Well said Vulcan !

I suppose if we lived in the outback or Africa we may think differently but as I live in Lincolnshire I am not really worried about meeting an elephant around the corner or being 100 s of miles from civilisation. My Volvo has 3 years warranty which I hope not to have to use but if it is needed I am not really worried. I certainly wouldn't drive round in Toyota land cruiser because they do in Africa, because I don't like them .I don't like Mercedes either but as I have a choice I choose a Volvo . I see a lot of LR stuff on the roads so they are obviously very popular and I don't knock people for buying one. I also don't want an old car and am lucky enough to be able to drive a newer one but that is not to say that some people don't do very well with older cars. I think for everyone who gets a lemon there are a lot more with good reliable cars much the same as caravans.

I do not accept the view that my experiences with Landcruisers are based on old experiences.  The first Toyota 4x4 that I purchased was a Colorado in 2001. That did 90,000 with no failures, and was swapped for an Landcruiser LC2 in 2004, 90,000 later a LC4 followed in 2007. The LC4 did its 90,000 by 2010, and was followed by a LC5 which did 90,000 by late 2011 when I retired, and it was replaced by the Merc ML300CDI.  None of the Toyota's had anything other than routine service items during the period 2001 - 2011. So I would argue that my experiences are not that archaic.   However I do accept that i recent years the smaller, none heavy duty Toyota's have let the company down a bit.  BUT none of those failures were involving the Real Landcruisers!

Since my retirement my mileage has dropped significantly, I now do less than 12,000 per year. The Merc has been outstanding in respect of its 3 Litre V6 engine which runs like a sewing machine. Now with 73,000 on the clock , she returns 35,000 per set of tyres all worn at exactly the same rate. Fuel consumption is good ranging from 26MPG urban to 40mpg on an easy run solo. Average per tank about 34 mpg.  She tows 1630Kgs like she's on rails, at about 23 MPG.

BUT she's not as reliable as the Toyota !  On one occasion taken to the garage on the back of a truck following total electrical failure , and two more occasions of partial electrical issues. All associated with central locking problems.

Given a free choice (Which being retired I no longer have) I would swap her in, but not sure where I would go.  I am afraid that LR still do not have the reputation for total reliability that I seek .

TF

Tiger fish l had 3 shoguns, l bought a Punjero import off a friend of the wife built like tank  only car l made money on bought it for 6k sold it £6500, then did a very silly thing remember fords first 4x4 yep you got it, the dreaded Maverick could not get 8000 out of asset of tyres, due to fords power steering, turbo trouble starter motor trouble, only thing didn't go wrong was the sunroof but l believe the body work was Nissan. Swapped after 8 months for MG VVC for the wife's 45th birth day. l my self found a 3 year old 2.8 Shogun GLS SWB kept it 8 years, only thing wrong in that 8 years needed rear brake light had a job to get the screws out to replace the bulb. it had done140k when l part ex for 2007 SWB Shogun equippe only problem l had with this was the vrg valve crudding up with soot deposits from turbo. changed from super market fuel and added an additive every 3 months no more problem. The shogun did 84k when l part ex for the SF, hope l have done the right thing, l am saving 300 pound road tax and getting 30 mpg out of the SF expect that to rise has its only done 4k.l believe in what you are saying if the Shoguns and Toyota's can handle the outback then surely its a piece of cake in this country

The first generation Ford Maverick was 100% Nissan. The only bit made by Ford was the badge on the bonnet and the little stickers that the dealers had to fit over the word Nissan pressed into the bottom of the B pillars.

Chap turned up to our rally on Friday with his top of the range FL2. He was a bit late as it had gone into limp mode so he was slowed down a bit. Mayday  came out but the diagnostics wasn't showing a fault code. Saturday morning took it out and the engine management light came on back to the garage still nothing on the diagnostics.  On a more positive note he was really pleased that the £725 he had spent last week on the rear differential had cured that fault. Mind you after 30k miles you expect a few problems 

Meanwhile, we took our elderly LC4 for a spot of off-roading coped quite well, I thought,  despite the 170k on the clock. 

Boff l was informed that the power steering was ford, they had problems with other models with the power steering

I understand the freelander one  was actually a Ford focus with a diferent body?

There are still thousand of all models of Landrovers overseas and plenty are being exported every year to most countries in the world,without hearing of the problems  that Toyota seem to be having with all the recent recalls