I honestly have to say I cannot recommend a Landrover. Especially a Discovery Sport or a Evoque (I suspect Jaguars are also same).
From start to finish it was a complete and utter disaster for me.
Even the initial buying experience was awful. My wife and I were treated like cattle at Preston and I had to literally tease out questions I wanted to know about the cars, even though I had done my own research I wanted reassurance. You know - spending nearly £40k is supposed to be a good experience. I bought my Landrover Discovery Sport from new - late 2015 at a cost of £38k. When it came the specification was significantly not what I asked for and I was forced into accepting it as that would have caused further months long delays when I had no other car (sold it day before to take delivery).
I was also a bit nervous as it came with the new untested Ingenium 2.0 engine as a result of the expiry of the Ford licence on the 2.2 engine. The first serious failure I had was a rear track control arm after 2 years. If the car drove more than 50 mph the steering ripped out of my hands as the car computer tried to correct itself. Especially in motorway ruts. In the end I could almost predict when it would happen. I took it to Landrover (Inchape Preston) who said it was fine and just tyre pressure. I asked several times - pleading to look at it with their same response - as I thought it was unsafe. I put up with this issue for a further 2 years until in the end a local garage thankfully diagnosed it as an offside rear track control arm that had snapped - at a cost to me of over £200 fitted. Not covered or supported by Landrover.
Second main issue was an air bag sensor failure. The sensor failed while driving on a main road on a blind bend. This sensor disabled the Landrover Discovery Sport in the middle of the road. I was unable to move the car, blocking loads of traffic until Landrover Assist (The AA) came. Landrover (via Inchcape Preston) DID NOT not cover this under warranty even though I was nearly killed by oncoming traffic on the blind bend. When I got the car back they didnt even bother to refit the undertrays which were taken off to tow it onto the pickup truck. The undertrays were left in the boot of the car for me to arrange my local garage to refit. I cannot believe an airbag sensor failure should completely disable a car in this way. Completely dangerous situation. The cost to replace the sensor was £1000. I was also told I would be charged a £150 triage fee for looking at the car under the warranty but this was eventually refunded as I had the work done at Landrover?? At same time I also requested Landrover fix my tailgate ram which had failed but they never bothered to fix t.
My final unrecoverable major issue was the main engine failure. I was absolutely meticulous with all my services via a local garage (recorded to anyone who wants proof) - oil and filter changes every year at MOT time and always less than 9000 miles regardless of the 21k recommended long life oil change. Even less than 9k miles during COVID 19 lockdowns - my concerns about buying a Landrover Discovery Sport with an Ingenium engine were borne out like a smack in the face in a catastrophic failure at short notice in seconds. An oil pressure light came on and several seconds later the engine stopped. I checked the oil but it was at the top level. I then again called Landrover Assist who must be very busy with these cars. This failure was caused by the very well known DPF injector oil dilution issue, causing the turbo bearings to burn out which then causes the engine to starve of oil and scrap itself. Resulting in a basically destroyed engine. I tried to mitigate all of this this prior by going for the Landrover Extended Warranty since the main warranty expired. I paid religiously nearly £1000 a year for 3 years on this extended warranty. When the inevitable engine failure happened Landrover (via Kendle Landrover) refused to honour the extended warranty or even offer part payment for repairs.
The result of this was a £38000 car with 88000 miles on had to be scrapped. An engine replacement is £12000-£15,000. The best bit was a demand to return the hire car at 3pm in the afternoon as they withdrew the cover once they had decided to not honour the repair.
To add further insult to injury Landrover tried to carry on collecting the warranty payments after the car was disposed of to the scrapyard/breakers.
Scrapped at 88k miles. I just cannot believe it. Google DPF Oil dilution or Timing chain issues on the Evoque and Discovery Sport. Plenty of discussions around it.
A car like this at this cost and more should last hundreds of thousands of miles. Thats partly why we buy a diesel isnt it? Instead these cars are as fragile as an eggshell.
The company is living on a name which sadly has long since passed. Taking money to buy/lease flashy showrooms but lacking basic customer service.
From start to finish it was a complete and utter disaster for me.
Even the initial buying experience was awful. My wife and I were treated like cattle at Preston and I had to literally tease out questions I wanted to know about the cars, even though I had done my own research I wanted reassurance. You know - spending nearly £40k is supposed to be a good experience. I bought my Landrover Discovery Sport from new - late 2015 at a cost of £38k. When it came the specification was significantly not what I asked for and I was forced into accepting it as that would have caused further months long delays when I had no other car (sold it day before to take delivery).
I was also a bit nervous as it came with the new untested Ingenium 2.0 engine as a result of the expiry of the Ford licence on the 2.2 engine. The first serious failure I had was a rear track control arm after 2 years. If the car drove more than 50 mph the steering ripped out of my hands as the car computer tried to correct itself. Especially in motorway ruts. In the end I could almost predict when it would happen. I took it to Landrover (Inchape Preston) who said it was fine and just tyre pressure. I asked several times - pleading to look at it with their same response - as I thought it was unsafe. I put up with this issue for a further 2 years until in the end a local garage thankfully diagnosed it as an offside rear track control arm that had snapped - at a cost to me of over £200 fitted. Not covered or supported by Landrover.
Second main issue was an air bag sensor failure. The sensor failed while driving on a main road on a blind bend. This sensor disabled the Landrover Discovery Sport in the middle of the road. I was unable to move the car, blocking loads of traffic until Landrover Assist (The AA) came. Landrover (via Inchcape Preston) DID NOT not cover this under warranty even though I was nearly killed by oncoming traffic on the blind bend. When I got the car back they didnt even bother to refit the undertrays which were taken off to tow it onto the pickup truck. The undertrays were left in the boot of the car for me to arrange my local garage to refit. I cannot believe an airbag sensor failure should completely disable a car in this way. Completely dangerous situation. The cost to replace the sensor was £1000. I was also told I would be charged a £150 triage fee for looking at the car under the warranty but this was eventually refunded as I had the work done at Landrover?? At same time I also requested Landrover fix my tailgate ram which had failed but they never bothered to fix t.
My final unrecoverable major issue was the main engine failure. I was absolutely meticulous with all my services via a local garage (recorded to anyone who wants proof) - oil and filter changes every year at MOT time and always less than 9000 miles regardless of the 21k recommended long life oil change. Even less than 9k miles during COVID 19 lockdowns - my concerns about buying a Landrover Discovery Sport with an Ingenium engine were borne out like a smack in the face in a catastrophic failure at short notice in seconds. An oil pressure light came on and several seconds later the engine stopped. I checked the oil but it was at the top level. I then again called Landrover Assist who must be very busy with these cars. This failure was caused by the very well known DPF injector oil dilution issue, causing the turbo bearings to burn out which then causes the engine to starve of oil and scrap itself. Resulting in a basically destroyed engine. I tried to mitigate all of this this prior by going for the Landrover Extended Warranty since the main warranty expired. I paid religiously nearly £1000 a year for 3 years on this extended warranty. When the inevitable engine failure happened Landrover (via Kendle Landrover) refused to honour the extended warranty or even offer part payment for repairs.
The result of this was a £38000 car with 88000 miles on had to be scrapped. An engine replacement is £12000-£15,000. The best bit was a demand to return the hire car at 3pm in the afternoon as they withdrew the cover once they had decided to not honour the repair.
To add further insult to injury Landrover tried to carry on collecting the warranty payments after the car was disposed of to the scrapyard/breakers.
Scrapped at 88k miles. I just cannot believe it. Google DPF Oil dilution or Timing chain issues on the Evoque and Discovery Sport. Plenty of discussions around it.
A car like this at this cost and more should last hundreds of thousands of miles. Thats partly why we buy a diesel isnt it? Instead these cars are as fragile as an eggshell.
The company is living on a name which sadly has long since passed. Taking money to buy/lease flashy showrooms but lacking basic customer service.
