Landrover electronics ?

Unfortunately, that's the way they are all going or have gone in the last 5 years.
Electronic gadgets are quite reliable but its the complexity that bothers me.
ie: what to do if something goes wrong? By the time you have the problem diagnosed and fixed, your trip is over and everyone else has continued on...

Despite the considerable design care and subsequent testing which goes into them and despite their high level of reliability I don't like significant levels of electronics in off road vehicles - and I design this sort of stuff!

They are too difficult to fix in the field - we accept there are many mechanical faults which will be impossible to do a field fix on but why add a whole extra level of complexity?

Mike Harding

G'day Davoe
I doubt that they are genuinely designed with the expectation that they will go too far off-road. The more electronics and gizmos the greater the chance something will go wrong. Will not matter too much if something goes wrong in the city but as you say it could be serious if it happens out bush.
Cheers from the Moose

It just so sad really that a car with so many atributes on paper repeatedly lets itself down in the reliability area.

That 2 years in a row that vehicle has failed in the 4wd of the year tests.

Hard to get away from the relative reliability and seviceability of the big Jap wagons.

Robin Miller

They had even worse things to say about the new Jeep, and while i own a Disco 2 and with 50,000ks of outback travel i've done in it, i've never had a problem we didn't fix by the side of the road (had the roll over switch activate after hitting a 2' deep trench on the road to the Dig Tree) and so far she has never let me down, i'm not sure myself about the new Disco 3 electrics either.

But it's early days and i wouldn't bag it just yet, after all this is only one problem and it's only been on a couple of occasions.

Baz.

Hi Davoe
Dont believe everthing you read and you are a brand basher . When you look at the picks in the mag which you read did you see how high the water was on the other brand vehicles . LR stipulate how high the wading depth can be with out special preperration . The vehicles can go through ONLY 600 MM HIGHT OF WATER with out special preperation. I would not dare to sugest that the editor of the mag deliberately set out to drown the DISCO3. I would not trust the mag everagain, also i would not trust the pics of the 100 SER with all that water flowinging over the bonet and half way up the windscreen it could be faked you just dont know, oh also i do not bash any vehicle brand and the ones that do could be frigtened that they bought the wrong vehicle.
Snailbaite

I heard a report of a new disco3 going into limp mode after going down a very steep hill on a track at Musselbrook. It apparently thought it was rolling over and it took considerable time before anyone realized this and reset the sensor.

Are we not talking about the same vehicle that was recently given the title of 4wd of the year by one of Australia's famous and always unbiased 4wd magazine??

From what I have gathered, see below :
People up the cape saw the 4wd Monthly guys drive all the vehicles very hard. They saw them hit water crossings with high velocity. Indeed, Cairns Land Rover said that the ECU was contaminated with water.
4WD Monthly were overheard on UHF CB discussing issues with the other vehicles as well. This wasn't reported.
Now, at the end of the day, the D3 should not have failed. Wiring looms and computers definitely should be driver and track proof. No doubt about that. However, the D3 was definitely the most technological car there. It is so much different than all the others. More gizmos, air suspension, the list goes on. It seems ridiculous that 4wd Monthly went away without knowing anything about the car. Did they even look for the computer to see if it was swimming? Did they know where to look for important wiring looms that may have fouled?
I know that the consensus will be that 4Wd's of this cost shouldn't break down. I totally agree. EXCEPT when the testing has been well and truly beyond what could be deemed reasonable. Like hitting water crossings at warp 3.
That being said, if the other vehicles were subjected to identical treatment, then perhaps Land Rover can still learn a thing or two about protecting the ECU and important wiring looms.
I have a Disco 2 and have taken it many a place. All without a problem except for a stuffed tyre. I would trust my D2 up at Cape York tomorrow. I know the vechicle. I know what to look for. I know not to try and kit it at high speed through water crossings. And I have an interest in the vehicle and know its capabilities. 4WD Monthly, on the other hand, had no idea on what to look for to troubleshoot. I don't know why you would take any vehicle up the Cape, whether its work 2K or 200K and not know anything about it except on how to point and steer it.
Regards

I read the 4WD monthly article and came to the conclusion that they chose the wrong vehicles.

They did this by setting an arbitary $80 budget figure.

This ensured that:

1. The high tech D3 HSE made the cut thus no need to take the coil sprung S model (less chance of gremlins).

2. The GU TD-6 (Manual) made the cut, thus no need to take the more popular and less sluggish 3.0Di Auto (Performance cost the GU points).

3. The Tojo 100 Sahara with the high tech suspension and extra gizmos missed the cut (more chance of gremlins).

IMHO, if I were a buyer, those vehicles would not have appeared together on a short list. If you were looking at a D3 DSE you would be comparing it to a Sahara and the TD-6 would probably not even be in the picture. If I were looking at a TD-6 the competition would be a different list altogether.

Just my 2 bits.

OT

I had a 1996 RangeRover HSE 4.6 for 5 years. Lost year Boxing Day, I was driving along Alpine Way from Therabo on the way to Melbourne, all of a sudden , smoke coming out from dash board, I quickly parked on the side. Open the bonnet, frame was found at a spot underneath the brake fluid bottle, and the car was slowly brunt in gut. I lost my rangie and all my belongings in 30 mins. It was a total fire ban day as well. The fortunate thing was my family were OK it did not cause bush fire.

I am looking for a new 4WD now. it would be either a Prado or Patrol. Recently I make up my mind to go for a Patrol. Reasons are

(1) Much less electronic stuff than Prado or 100 series.
(2) Cheaper than 100 series.
(3) Patrol is still truck like and very much mechanical.
(4) Landrover's air suspension is great when it works. If it does not, it is hell !

When going to the bush, nothing is more important than reliability, comfort comes 2nd. By the way, I still have my old Merc for city driving.

We returned from a West to East simpson trip a couple of weeks ago with 1 Rangie Sports, 2 D3's, 1 D2 and 1 D1.
The D3's absolutely ate up the soft sand but I probably wouldn't buy one for the reasons stated above - suspension lowering above 40kmh (not that this was a problem on the French line) but worst of all is the inability to lock the suspension when you want to change a flat tyre. You have to raise the vehicle to the full extent of it's travel (on a flimsy scissor jack - no hydraulic bottle jack supplied).
Nice cars but I'll stick with my D2 until they fix these issues with overrides.

TROLL