My Love Affair with a Stranger

I admit that I have had a fascination with Land Rover for years. It seemed any tennis or Equestrian event I watched on television, ran nifty commercials showing the underbelly of a white Range Rover being clanked by brawny men wielding mallets, set to classical music (the piece eludes me). Ever since, I had this dream in my head of one day owning one. I could envision hauling my horse trailer to country clubs where I'd sip mint juleps after watching a round of Polo with my cardigan clad, pearl wearing girlfriends. I would essentially become a card-carrying member of Yuppydom. Heck, I already owned some cardigans, and had the horse. I even dated a guy named Ken. It was only a matter of time until I was part of "the muddy oval" society. It took nearly 7 years to realize my dream, but in 1997, I finally convinced my husband that I deserved a Land Rover Discovery.

Ok, so back in 1997, I looked comical test-driving the Discoveries over their man-made hills (designed to take you to the point where you feel like one more inch will set the Discovery to roll-over). I was 8 months pregnant and any vehicle felt uncomfortable. I didn't have the patience to test-drive any competitors like Toyota, Infiniti, or Mitsubishi. I had that dream in my head, and THAT was my major reason for seeking the Discovery. It had a yuppy yet rugged appeal, and simple yet refined amenities.

After a week or so, I was officially driving a Willow green 1997 Land Rover Discovery, fully appointed with:

* leather seating surfaces (the back of the front seats are vinyl)

* under seat 6 disc Alpine CD changer

* dual climate controls & heated front seats w/lumbar and 6 way power

* automatic windows, heated side mirrors, remote keyless entry w/security

* driver controls for stereo & cruise control on steering wheel

* HomeLink system for garage doors and other remote devices

* a second separate air condition system for rear passengers

* fold down mid seating

* two rear side-facing fold up jumpseats

* roof racks

* rear window wiper

* dual sunroofs

* hydraulic step for rear entry door

I was cool! I was driving an 8 cylinder, fish-bowl on wheels (well, that's what my friends called it).

My "coolness" factor waned within the month. The truck began to show a defect with shifting and would curiously down-shift and up-shift on hills. It jerked terribly and on occasions would set the differential to clunking. It was embarrassing to be seen with a new vehicle that made horrible sounds mid-traffic. It was back at the dealership's and remained there for two days or so for a check-up and observation. Long story short, that clunking and shifting reappeared over the course of two years, and many more quirks came as well. Here are some weak spots & gripes that I have encountered (besides shifting):

* faulty sunroof rails (repaired 4 times)

* ceiling cloth shifted and came away from seams (completely replaced)

* misfiring of delayed wiper

* chronic fuse blow-outs exacerbated by car washes (faulty fog-lamp seals)

* electronic glitch with synchronized keyless doors

* driver side rear passenger door not properly hung (repaired 3 times)

* driver seat rails loud and grinding (replaced once)

* water seepage found dripping from front visors (poor sun roof seals)

* terrible cup-holder placement & small (blocks heating/air controls)

* under seat storage compartment has cheap, ill-designed fronts

* considerable wind noise which affects optimal stereo sound

And for the Piece de Resistance...

* Replacement of Short Block @ 15,000 miles at company expense!

Ok, so maybe it was a bad day on the assembly line??

A Notable Mis-Adventure with my Discovery

Once upon a time, my Discovery became a candidate to wear a case number in the courts of Philadelphia, under the Lemon-Law Act. In our state (and many others), you are entitled to money compensation or a new vehicle if the manufacturer in conjunction with their service centers, fails to repair defects after a certain amount of attempts. That is a very general statement on the Lemon-Law, but just enough to give you some background. After 5 attempts at fixing our shifting problem, we notified the manufacturer and dealer that we would seek damages in court. The dealer kept our vehicle for 8 weeks straight attempting to correct the flaws. I was given a used, basic Discovery (off the Enterprise rent-a-car lot), but I was still obligated to pay my monthly lease charge (of nearly $600.00)! What I Discovered is that my green truck had a sibling with some very quirky problems of it's own. This one was a very loud idler, had some issues with it's starter, and the windshield wiper delay was inoperable. It's pickup was substantially better than mine, but on the downside, much louder. Since it had low miles and did not appear abused for a rental, I'm left to believe that these trucks have some reliability issues.

In 1999, I attempted a 14 hour trip with my two toddlers and my mother in tow. 5 hours into the trip, I detected shifting problems again. Cruise control had to be disabled because it seemed to have problems keeping up with the hills in the Appalachian Mountains in Pennsylvania. The jerky down-shifting became increasingly noticeable until the point that I could no longer get the truck up over 40 miles an hour. We were near Toledo Ohio (at 1:00 am) when it became apparent that I was risking my family's safety by continuing the trek. As I was pulled into a local Hotel, the truck could barely get over 5 miles per hour. The engine light was now on full-time, and I was seething.

The short story is that I was stuck in a hotel for two days (weekend) because my dealership was closed. Monday morning, arrangements were made (at my expense before reimbursement) to secure a rental truck to complete my journey. Truck was flat-bedded nearly two hours away to a Land Rover dealership in Michigan. Thanks to a reliable Ford Explorer, we reached the Canadian Border.

Suffice it to say, that the erratic shifting lead us to persue legal action against Land Rover North America. The company did not make any strides to accommodate at any level. We repeatedly asked to sign a new lease on another model, but our efforts to "make nice" were never addressed. A week before the court date, the company finally came up with a money compensation that we could live with. I should also point out, that we ended up suing under a product liability law, rather than the Lemon-Law. The cap on compensation was too narrow for our claim. Our lawyer sought compensation higher than the Lemon-Law cap. It worked in our favor. We are awaiting our check as of this post and waiting for the dealership to pick up the vehicle. I will remain uneasy about this whole fiasco until I cash the check, but I am relieved that this story is drawing to a conclusion.

Update: Our money compensation has been cashed, and we no longer have this vehicle. We put the money toward a 4wd Volvo Cross Country, and I couldn't be happier!

My dream became a nightmare. It really did. I will never look at a Discovery the same way again. I am quite sure that this vehicle performs well off-road (from off-road data I have read), and I am sure it's towing capacity is stellar. But do you really want to put up with it on-road?

Want a second opinion on reliability issues, check out Consumer Reports at...

www.consumerreports.org/Categories/CarsTrucks/Reports/9907car5.htm

The article rates the newly designed 1999 model, but almost all of the information is applicable to the 1997. The only mentionable differences are the Active Cornering Enhancement System and the jump seat configuration.

Of Note to Parents: The rear seating is very cramped. Leg room is tight and the hip room is very narrow. The rear wheel wells cut into the seats making car seat placement nearly impossible. For one child families, the car seat fits quite easily in the middle. Only downside to this placement is that significantly reduces hip room for any passengers that will sit next to the car seat.

So, Any Redeeming Qualities?

Actually, in spite of all my gripes, I am (strictly in theory) in love with this vehicle. It has a very open airy feel thanks to the plethora of windows and high ceiling. Many people have issues with the visibility through the front windshield (ceiling extends down cutting in to line of vision), but that never affected me at 5 ft 4 inches. I liked having the large rear cargo door and never had any problems loading strollers, groceries, suitcases, etc. The rear jump seats were a Godsend. They afforded extra seating room when we had to transport extra "bodies". The leather seating held up exceptionally well, and cleaned up like a dream.

Conclusion-Short and Sweet

The Discovery is a unique SUV, but just plain sketchy when it comes to reliability.

I think it's obvious that I do not recommend the Discovery as a used vehicle. Maintenance is costly and frequent. I definitely do not recommend my model year, and if you see a 1997 Willow green SE7 on a lot near you, RUN! And DON'T look back!


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Bonus Round to Members:

The first Land Rover vehicle was unveiled at the Amsterdam Motor Show. What year was it?


Answer Please in the comments section...


Hold the Presses! We have a winner. The wiz-kid of epinions, Elorraine, has done it again. Will she go for three?