Thread: The reason LandRover isnt building in this market

The LRA "gesture of goodwill" statement has at least 2 purposes, an explanation for doing the repair without admitting liability, and to make you feel good about the deal so you don't follow up. Replacing the motor at no cost to you is the minimum obligation for LRA. So be clear in your mind about that. Even without the statutory warranty, they are under a contractual obligation to warranty the product given it's only got 72,000km.

Some might say you'd be unlucky to have another failure. Given the history I'd say you'd be lucky not to have one. I'm betting you don't feel too lucky and have no confidence in the vehicle.

As I indicated earlier you haven't had a full opportunity to test other failure points others have experienced.

Going well these are a great machine. When they're a lemon they are an expensive liability that's not fit for purpose let alone if you only used it as a car on the black top. You will find plenty of JLR promotional vids on YouTube to illustrate what they market the vehicle as.

Given LRAs obtuse attitude I'd push very hard for a refund, as the lack of written acknowledgement indicates they will fight hard to resist any other warranty assistance.

At the end of a big push they might give you another 3 years which is the minimum in reassurance.

LRA and JLR are experiencing tremendous brand strength but still have a nagging unreliability reputation, which is raised by most vehicle reviewers. You should use the risk of reinforcing this nagging reputation in your push.

Just my 2c worth.

Hang in there Digger
We will see you at Melrose and share a cold one

I will update this thread tomorrow but for the moment let me say Solitaires have gone above and beyond - Thanks Michael!
this is just a quick update...

There are a few things left to iron out with the new motor etc but Solitaires are aware and are more than willing to have a go at them! - great work by the guys having it ready so quickly so we could go to Melrose....

The car is (touch wood) going well and has been given a decent outing.... if I can get written warranty from JLR I'll be pretty happy...

more tomorrow all going well ...

Mate , lets hope this is the end of a long and frankly disgusting saga. And how much has it cost LRA and the dealer (let alone you) from not doing it right first time?

Regards Philip A

Got to say I was amazed and impressed with Solitaires service when they came up to Melrose the very next morning (On the Easter weekend) after the issue was discovered on Diggers Deefer.

Originally Posted by Homestar

Got to say I was amazed and impressed with Solitaires service when they came up to Melrose the very next morning (On the Easter weekend) after the issue was discovered on Diggers Deefer.

I was impressed...

Michael has always been fantastic to deal with.... Truly committed to customer service - Above and Beyond in fact...

Now.. Knowing he likes to keep abreast of this thread...

Post some pics of your Scooters Michael

Firstly I should apologise for how long it's taken me to add this post. I found I was getting quite upset at some of the posts on the forum and figured that it was time to take a bit of a break, better that than to say or type something that isn't necessarily going to be any good! But unfortunately for you lot, I'm back!

Grab a coffee and a biscuit this is going to take awhile!
You have been warned! Continue...


So back to this. I collected My vehicle after a marathon effort by solitaires to have it ready for me to take to Melrose at Easter. They received my engine readied it and had it fitted for me in record time which included bringing an extra mechanic in to work a full Saturday for which I am very grateful. The engine was brand-new and before fitting Michael has gone through everything he could to make sure we could avoid any problems, so this time we know the oil pump upgrade of been done!

I collected the car on the Thursday afternoon before Easter solitaires had done about 300 km test driving the car and hadn't had any problems. Michael assured me that solitaires were behind me, basically that they had my back and that he thought I should go on Aliens tour!

I haven't had any time to affect the changes I wanted to in the back of the car to ready it for the trip so I came home (adding 200 kms to the motor distance travelled) packed my stuff and hooked up my number five trailer, loaded! And Friday (Easter Friday) Took off headed for Melrose.

This trip added another 300 kms to the engines telly bringing it to 800 km. On the way I accelerated at one stage and heard what I thought sounded like an exhaust gasket leaking. it only happened once and for a very brief time and no matter how many times I try to recreate it did not happen again. I decided maybe I was just being paranoid! But it eroded my confidence.

Other than that noise the car ran very well and we trundled into Melrose and set up camp. At Melrose we were all camping at the same spot. The first nights fire was quite enjoyable with the usual suspects, Steve td5, chops, tombie, muppet, toxic avenger, basil and others and some new ones, billy, big Jon, Justinc, Grey ghost and others! It was a very enjoyable night. Asked about how my car was running I recounted the episode that I had written off as paranoia on the way up (The " exhaust gasket " noise).

Justin went over and was having a look at the car and a little while later he and alien came over and asked to have a chat…(heart sinking) Justin had had a look at the car and worked out that the exhaust gasket noise I thought I had heard was in fact a leaking intercooler hose! There was a small tell-tale spray of oil indicating this. Whilst also looking at the car Justin noticed that an exhaust support bracket was missing! This pretty much convinced me that Will and I wouldn't be going on the alien tour!

I sent a number of photos and an SMS to Michael's phone explaining what had happened and what had been found.. I figured that I will try to limp it down to Adelaide and take it in on Tuesday and hopefully solitaires would be able to rectify the problem. Within 15 minutes Michael rang me and told me he was chasing his on call mechanic who would come and affect repairs at Melrose!

Once again I was hugely impressed by the way Michael dealt with this, he told me that he was having some difficulty getting hold of the mechanic and would ring me back as soon as he did. Feeling better about things I figured I would hear from Michael likely in the morning and probably have the repairs done by Saturday arvo but it was not to be!

How's that coffee going? Did you get the biscuit?

Only reasonably short time later maybe 30 to 45 minutes Michael rang me again he explained he still hadn't got hold of the on-call mechanic and so was in at solitaires grabbing the parts required and would be at Melrose (300 kms from Adelaide) between 630 and seven in the morning! I corrected him and said if you leave at 6:30 or seven I will see you around nine or 10 and must say I was pretty happy with that. Michael corrected me and said that he was aware of the Saturday morning events
(cavalcade, line up and judging) and was determined that the car would be ready to enter in time!! So he would be there between 630 and 7 AM and told me to have the coffee ready!

This meant 3 AM wake up and departure from Michael, although his title is service manager i'm sure this isn't part of his job description and believe it sums up the dedication to getting this sorted that he and solitaire a putting in.

Sure enough at about 630 a Jaguar 4wd slipped into the Showground and headed over to our spot, out out popped Michael ! When I asked about the Jaguar Michael explained that this was the latest company car here been given and that much to his disappointment they took his D4 Back for sale.

Michael had the parts and Lost no time fitting and replacing them whilst doing this it became a stadium event with people gathering around talking and watching as he worked! talk about being put under pressure!!

Michael was very generous with his time and extremely patient and with all the questions put to him by the ever-growing group! He and Justin ( Who is well known as the land Rover doctor of Lower mainland Australia ! ) had a long discussion and exchanged contact details so I assume will continue to keep in contact which can't be a bad thing for either of them !!

Took the car for a test run on dirt and rock tracks and then out on the open road and it went beautifully. Michael told me that I should take the car on the alien tour and that I should ring him if I have any problems And he would get me going again! Michael also told me that after the trip was over I should arrange when I could to take the car back in so they could recheck all the hoses and fittings to make sure everything was okay if nothing else as a peace of mind Thing for me and him!! Michael suggested that a good trip such as this would help to restore my faith in the car and keep me as a believer!


I cannot express enough how grateful I am that Michael got up even earlier than Sparrow Fart to come up and fix the car, once again it's actions like this from people like this that keep the Land Rover name up there!

I went into the cavalcade etc.. he had finished in time! Champion!

The car performed faultlessly at Melrose and survived the bridal track AND RETURN (this is where it grenaded last year) easily...

So after long discussions with Kyle, Tom, chops and Shane it was decided will and I would go on the tour and any problems I would pull out and limp home or ring l/r assist!!

First leg, the trip around to a spot near streaky bay, nice run and no problems... getting a better feeling..

That coffee will be cold if you don't drink it...

Second leg was to Ceduna. Will and I peeled off and planned to visit the spot where my fathers ashes were scattered at Pinjarra station near Nunjikompita (not far from Wirrulla) - unfortunately the track we normally use was impassable and we tried but couldn't find another way in... disappointing but we covered a lot of dirt kms with no hint of a problem.. into Ceduna that night ..

Off in the morning - nice drive into Maralinga - still no problems...

So after a couple days at Maralinga, a round the campfire talk about whether or not will and I would take on the googs track was had, I was talked into it - still worried about some unexpected failure causing everyone hassles... the others had more faith in my car than I did at this stage..

Onto Googs, everything going well, (except muddy kept covering my car in mud from in front of me, he is sneaky like that.... )

We got to Googs lake, all good. After an eventful rest day, we took off headed north again, although the track was trashed from Easter traffic we got through (with reversing being a major part of my going forward !!)

We got to the top of the track and headed towards Tarcoola, the car was going brilliantly... my faith restored a hell of a lot by one trip... turns out that Michael is not only the service manager or or miracle worker as I'm thinking of him but is also some sort of psychologist!

From there to Kingoonya for the night catching up with the others who bypassed Googs, and to camp. And the sky opened! It ****ed down for half the night ( making my swag very cold! ) and in the morning we checked with transport SA on the road to Glendambo was open so we got going as quick as we could! As we got further down the road with the constant rain it began to get worse so it was quite a relief when we reach the bitumen! Refuel at Glendambo and down to Woomera for the night, after tea at Pimba and spending Anzac morning at the service at defence base Woomera, we headed through to andamooka! ( great to go back to one of the spots I've lived before!)

We had a great few days there and then because of the rain couldn't go through the Farina Track (a huge pity) but back to the highway and back to Melrose for the night. A last night of fun and laughter and then we peeled off and headed our seperate ways to home.

It was a great trip to reinforce my faith in the deefer, and again my appreciation to those on the trip with us and of course my appreciation of Michaels efforts!

With work and other things I haven't got down with the car to Solitaires yet.. I've cleaned a lot of the mud off.... well some of it! And I'm well and truely back on the truck as a landy lover again (lucky as a have a swag of the buggers!)

So - summing it all up, new motor and turbo are ( touchwood ) travelling well, Justin has done me a huge favour looking at the car and telling me what was what.. Solitaires have again gone above and beyond - especially Michael, damn he is good I don't know if solitaires know how good he is for them and the brand..

Cheers! (Again sorry for the delay)
Time for another coffee....

nice write up