Thread: Discovery II - A Let Down

My opinion, earlier Jap cars built their reliability on being simple, under powered, no added gizmos and driving like tractors (I had an early model Patrol ). Take an early model Prado diesel, maybe 90 kw? About the same as a Hyundai Excel? A similar period Disco had creature comforts, off road technology and much more power. More that could go wrong. The later Jap models are far more high tech and their reliability is now suffering.
I've had quite a few cars from new into the 300-400 k mark and you can expect a few big bills after 260 k in any brand. Land Rover and Jeep do suffer from a certain lack of parts and labour availability.
Its like race horses, only the good ones break down. The plodders will run forever.

Originally Posted by subasurf

No one should have to feel like they have to add this little disclaimer to there posts. Yet AULRO often does that to people.

Agree. I put that in 'cos I sometimes seem to unintentially wind up the wrong folk... text on a screen does'nt give you the instant feedback, body-language etc that real life does... Add my quirky sense of humour (see my last post on 'videos' ) to my tendency to be a catalyst, and the mud hits the fan quite readily!!!

Part of the problem is the buyer.... yes, us. We dont' complain properly or often or powerfully enough when a manufacturer tries it on. Or stuffs up big-time.

I had a problem with my one and only *NEW* car, a Holden HX/Z. Brakes were either locked or off. Shrt story, had the State manager in the back, recalcitrant Service advisor in the front.... drove around to PBR state branch... Brake mech got in, drove it a metre, touched brakes and confirmed that it IS a warranty problem, - theirs - knew all about it... will replace booster etc 'yesterday'... and 'why did'nt the Service advisor phone and tell them?(that they have yet ANOTHER one for them!) Said Service advisor was almost in tears with me telling him/them that my mate's NEW Falcon has PBR brake components...and feels normal, and I did'nt care if my Holden was "normal" in his experience.... It simply was'nt good enough.

State Manager said zip throughout... but his loooks could kill....

Never saw the Head of Service dept again...

James in Gosnells.

Sounds like your battery and starter problems are related. Leaking oil getting in or maybe a misalignment issue? Fuel pump problems too, perhaps the diesel or rubbish in the tank? Everything else is related to the age of the vehicle but unless you are hands on with these, they will always cost you money.

I'm going onto one year now in my first Land Rover. It had problems when I bought it but I fixed them all except for the three amigos. Now the door locks are giving me grief but they will be all fixed(not replaced) soon.

Spending money on cars is a pain when it comes to constant problems arising. Where do you draw the line? Fix the issues and keep it or just get rid of it? If you are not a spanner man, get rid of it. Get something that is newer that serves your needs.

Tank is 100% correct and what he says relates to most vehicles that rack up the kms. If you have the skills and knowledge, fixed cheap. Rely on "specialist" services, expect to pay big money.

Originally Posted by Rayngie

Landrover sponaneous windscreen destruction claims another victim.

i've gotten rid of 5 of my provious landrovers on this exact problem...it got to the point of not being able to look through it for fear of it cracking and needing replacement....i say get rid of yours now!

Also had to ged rid of one due to running out of fuel....everytime i started it up and drove off it would use fuel...the faster i went the more it used!...never again willi put myself through that, and i was told it had a perfect service history..

Ray.

Thank you Rayngie for making my weekend perfect!

Originally Posted by chazza

Thank you Rayngie for making my weekend perfect!

x2 Bob

Originally Posted by Ralph1Malph

I'll try and add value to this post whilst attempting to keep my comments in the 'centre', neither offending nor defending the marque.

The Jap cars of the 70's and 80's were an aberation. It was the japs who pioneered the art of reliability in the 60's and 70's for commercial gain. Adapted from the US Military. Remember KanBan, Kaizan, Just in Time, TQM etc? All pioneered by Toyota and Suzuki to sell cars. The cars they pumped out therefore, were outstanding compared to the rest of the world.
In the 80's and 90's the rest of the world caught up and some good cars were made. I owned european cars in the 90's coz they were generally ok. Remember the Alfas and early BMW, not to mention early Jags.

Cheers

Ralph

Here is some trivia that I never thought would be of any use...

The man who introduced a culture of building qualiy products to Japanese business and industry was an American Dr William Deming just after WW2. If I remember rightly the American government basically sent him to Japan to assist them to get back on their feet after the war.

He is considered as a hero in Japan and did much to teach Japanese industry that building quality products would give them a strong position as a world wide exporter. The funny thing is while he was teaching the Japs how to build good quality products American business never bothered to listen to him till just before he died in the 90's.

Obviously he never spent anytime in the UK. ...

cheers,
Terry