2.0 TD4 180 HSE Luxury Auto 5dr SUV

Eye-catching design does NOT compensate for its ongoing technical flaws...

I purchased this MY17 ex-JLR Staff vehicle at 6 months/9000 miles, primarily because it was in the colour that I wanted (now deleted), had just made it under the 2017 VED increase threshold, and because I'd had my eye on one since launch, but wanted to give them time to iron out any niggles, as all manufacturers have with rolling out new models.

So you would think that after 3 years, any major issues would have been resolved, right? Wrong!

I collected the vehicle on 1st August 2017. It was returned to the supplying dealer the very next day as the haldex pump was whining and "stepping" under load. The dealer proceeded to keep it until September! Whilst they loaned me an SE Tech, we didn't exactly get off to a flyer, but I persevered....

In October, with just 10500 miles on the clock, the vehicle decided that it needed an oil service. Now, I read forums, and am well aware of the (currently unresolved) oil dilution issue, but the dealer couldn't (or wouldn't) complete the complimentary oil change for 3 weeks. Great support - not! So much for the 24 month/21000 mile service intervals (now deleted from all marketing literature, conveniently)

November came along, and I noticed that the rear discs were severely corroded - apparently a further known issue. Booked in again (just a months wait this time - do you see the pattern here?) Rear discs and pads changed under warranty.

Finally, I thought, I can start to enjoy the car. Wrong again!!

Christmas came and went, and in January the rear camera unit packed up. This was closely followed by InControl Apps crashing every time the phone was connected, and eventually resulting in the infotainment unit failing to boot. During the cold weather, the offside B pillar started ticking annoyingly, like something was loose inside there as well.

Back again to the dealer, a slight improvement on the last booking experience with just a three week lead time to get it seen to this time. They kept the car for a week, got the technical team at JLR involved, and eventually applied a "massive software update" to the vehicle - their words, not mine. Infotainment issues mainly rectified for now, but sporadic rear camera failure still prevalent.

I got the vehicle back three weeks ago, and so far, so good. My faith in it however needs to be restored, as currently I just don't trust it. Fortunately, I am lucky/astute enough to have kept hold of my Freelander and by default have been using that as the preferred reliable vehicle of choice. I am currently of the opinion that if you sneeze in the general direction of the DS, it will have a tantrum and throw a further fault, and it is going to take an awful lot of convincing for me to have any long-term faith in this vehicle. As a result, unless I plan a long journey involving motorways to help with the farce that is the SCRF regeneration problem, (which JLR simply won't re-engineer a fix for) it is simply not getting used by choice. I certainly don't plan on keeping it beyond the warranty period, or probably even to the end of this year - there are just too many minor (and major) design faults that appear to be a common theme on this vehicle, and given it's price point, totally unacceptable in the quality stakes in todays market. Land Rover might be selling bucket-loads of these models, but they are not without their issues, and those issues should have been resolved a long time ago. Mr. McGovern and his team might have designed a good looking vehicle, but its reliability from an engineering perspective is hugely suspect, as is the quality of the components that are being sourced and installed within it. A lot of owners globally with similar issues regarding the diesel in oil dilution issue have been having the old oil tested independently, and nearly all report back high levels of aluminium, sillicon and iron in the old oil, which indicates premature engine wear. JLR's stance on this is that it is "architectural differences" and cannot be resolved without redesigning, and until the facelift version comes along, I suspect that they won't. Which is a shame, because it has the potential to be a really great vehicle!

If anyone from JLR is reading this, then please take this feedback in the constructive manner that it is intended. And more importantly, get a grip on your appalling, shoddy, dis-interested Dealer network...for a supposed "premium" product, the after-sales support is truly dire, and I have come across better service in my local petrol station. It is a fact that you will lose more UK customers in churn rate than you will gain if this pattern remains unchecked. But hey, with China and Russia ordering thousands a week, what do home-grown customers matter eh?

3rd August 2019 *UPDATE*

Having now owned the vehicle for exactly two years, and 18,000 miles accrued, I thought that I would update this review with the good, bad and ugly over 17 months since I initially wrote the above.

Whilst the vehicle has yet to fail mechanically, the software gremlins continue. InControl Apps still fails to launch correctly, and the addition of CarPlay some 5 months ago to the InControl Touch Pro infotainment unit seems to have caused even more connectivity issues than before. The vehicle is scheduled to go back to the dealers for the 7th time this year next week for a few days, as their Master Tech wants to try and install 19A4 (latest software), and switch on SOTA (software over the air) updates to avoid continued repeated visits to resolve continual software problems. Unfortunately, JLR at this moment in time are only allowing this feature on 18MY>, for inexplicable reasons known only to them, so yet again this will involve field tech's taking the car back to Whitley Engineering Centre to put right. Interestingly, InControl Apps has disappeared from all 20MY Marketing literature and configurable build options across the range, so I should imagine that they have finally conceded defeat and quietly dropped it

The rear discs and pads have now been replaced three times, with the last set in September 2018. This last time, they used Jaguar stamped pads, and there doesn't appear to be any delaminatting or corrosion on the metals, so it looks like they have changed parts suppliers. So far, so good.

There has also been a warranty issue with the Data-Sim unit, which needed replacing, a recall for DEF Injector wiring under tension replacing, a software update (N289) that raises the oil/diesel dilution algorithm from 6% to 10%, and that's about it. The B pillar rattling has appeared to cure itself in the main, yet pops up again occasionally.

The vehicle had its first service 5 months earlier than scheduled last August, and has just had a fresh oil and filter change under warranty/goodwill (JLRP00100v4), having reached a mainly-motorway mileage of 9000 miles over 11 months before requesting one. It will be interesting to see how long this oil lasts under full implementation of the N289 update, but if it manages a year then that is all good with me, as I don't believe oil should be left any longer than that in any event. Of significant note is that the long-standing relationship with Castrol appears to have been replaced by Shell, as my main dealer now uses Helix Ultra Professional as opposed the former. Apparently, a bulletin went out last year to all dealers advising them to use Shell - presumably it is lasting longer than the Castrol? Who knows......

The manufacturers warranty is up at the end of the year, and then its decision time. Oh, and the other bonus is that I now know just about every member of the service department in my dealership by first names terms. If you can call that a bonus?!!

More to follow in due course......

**October 2019 update**

Since my review back in August, I will add the following comments.

Oil service (early complimentary) completed end of July - yet 3 months/3000 miles of purely fast A road and Motorway driving has seen the clock reduce down further to 9000 miles. So still a farcical diesel in oil dilution/regeneration issue that just will NOT go away. I predict, based on current trends that this counter will reach zero by December also based on current drive patterns and mileage, rather conveniently just as the factory warranty ends. However, I will push for a further replacement oil and filter change under goodwill.

Since August, the vehicle was subject to a Software update (19A4) which bricked the IMC (Infotainment Master Controller), duly replaced at a cost of thousands under warranty. The good news being that the replacement IMC allows the vehicle to now receive SOTA (Software over the air) updates, which it successfully completed just a week ago, without any issues. So no more dealer visits for software updates (touchwood).
The only other ongoing problem, which remains unresolved, is that the power tailgate failed late August. Struts replaced under warranty, same issue 5 days later. Further intensive investigation revealed that the plug on the harness is corroded due to water ingress somewhere in the tailgate (whoever has heard of a 4x4 that leaks water near electrics?), however the plug is not available, which means a completely new harness! And guess what......? The harness is not available, and is on "back order" until the end of October at the earliest! You really couldn't make it up!!

19 days this year alone spent at the dealership, and still not repaired, so more time off the road to come before the year is out.

Mechanically, this vehicle has been perfect. Would I recommend it to anyone? Not a cat in hells chance!! (This coming from a seasoned Ford/Vauxhall owner back in the 80's when they had problems almost daily!)

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