Page 1 of 2
- <
- >
-
- RedBall
- Member Since: 27 Feb 2018
- Location: Derbyshire
- Posts: 43
How I ended up in a D5 and why it may be my last JLR car.
Grab a cuppa – here’s my story of how I ended up with my first Discovery, and why I fear it may be my last.
I think I was probably below the average age of a JLR customer when I first bought a Jaaaaag. Ordered an XF when I was 29. Took delivery when I was 30. I had finally saved enough to buy a new Jaguar in cash. It felt great. I’d never really had a “prestige” car before and now I had one, I didn’t want to be without one again. Yes I had the flat cap and old before your time jokes, but who cares, I’m 30 and I’m in a new Jag!
I didn’t get off to the best start with my first new Jaguar though, as it had major issues with the paint. The dealer repaired it twice, but it was still wrong. They then did it a third time even though I had told them not to, and made a statement that the car was repaired fine and I should just accept it back. Letters to Jaguar didn’t help either, they washed their hands of it saying that is was between me and the dealer.
Being a bit green to it all, in the end I took that car back and just put up with the fact my nice new XF had dodgy paint on one side. After a couple of years or so, I was able to make the switch to my first Range Rover, a white 2011 Range Rover sport. I’d finally got into a Range Rover! After years of second hand older cars such as Fiat Tipo’s, Vauxhall Astra Merits, even an Austin Maestro (can you imagine the street cred of a 21 year old in a turquoise Austin Maestro with a rusty front wing?). I was proud as punch, worked hard, saved up and now I was sat in a new Range Rover Sport. The wife and I were chuffed to bits with it.
Fortunately aside from the common air suspension compressor fault requiring a single day out to the dealers, this Range Rover Sport was great. We kept it until swapping into the Discovery around a year ago. That RRS was in our house when we had both kids, it was a great family car, but on occasion we needed to transport more than 5 people, which is where we turned to our Ford S-Max. I also managed to have a couple of “toy” cars during the time. An F430 came, and went when the kids came along. I then had a brainwave that an Audi RS6 would be a great “toy” car, but also be practical being a large estate car. I was wrong, whilst it did do that job, as the Range Rover and S-max could do almost everything we wanted, the Audi never got used. Its still sat here today, having done less than 9,000 miles in 3 years.
So – cue brainwave number 2. Why don’t we have a look for a seven seat prestige vehicle that can replace both the S-max and the Range Rover. And I can sell the Audi and get into the car Ive always aspired to at some point, the full fat Range Rover Vogue. So we looked high and low on and off for some time. Audi Q7 was nice, and if it was as reliable as the RS6 has been, then it would be great – but the rear hatch was too small and to get anywhere near a “prestige” level, you had to throw options at it like confetti. Though the newer model seems to have addressed some of these issues.
It was then, by chance that we popped down to the local Land Rover/Range Rover dealer on a Sunday afternoon just for me to hang my nose over a Vogue, as I had a few times in the last year or so. But the deal (with the wife) was that I could only get one of those after we had sorted the replacement for the S-Max and the RRS. I noticed the new Discovery in the showroom. I’d not seen or heard anything about it, as we had pretty much given up looking at cars for a while (house extensions and garden landscaping were taking up all our time). I went straight back out to the wife who was sat in the car with the kids while they napped, and told her to go and look at the new Discovery. That was it, she was sold. That was going to be the replacement for the RRS and the S-Max.
A few days later and the order was in. We had gone for a red HSE with a few options. Tracy has always liked red cars, proper candy apple red being the favourite. Then we saw a full size Discovery in red. It somehow didn’t look the same colour as the little red plastic model under the bright showroom lights. It was a lot darker than we thought it would be. So we did some sums, and justified going for the slightly more expensive First Edition in Namib Orange. (We ticked the red car box by buying a second hand Renault Twingo for those “hard to park” places)
Our local dealer couldn’t find a First Edition as they said they were all sold or pre-ordered, it seemed we were a bit late to the party. So there was a moment when we thought we wouldn’t be getting the car we now wanted afterall. But then to the rescue came another local-ish dealer who managed to find one for us. It came with a couple of extra dealer fit options like side steps and mudflaps, but that was fine a small extra price to pay for getting into the Discovery. We took out the 5 year service plan because we anticipate this car being with us for a while.
What a car. It was great. It feels very much like the previous generation full fat Range Rover inside, it had the practicality of the seven seats, the rear seat entertainment is great for the kids, they always want to go in that car because they can have the TV on and they sit up high.
We even treated it to a full ceramic protective coating at around £800, to make sure that when washed it comes up like new – just look at the shine on this:
Click image to enlarge
Sadly, JLR electrical gremlins were ever present. Every now and then for no reason at all, the “rear media not available” message would appear. It wouldn’t work for days, and then suddenly would start working again just as randomly as it had stopped. The Tyre Pressure Monitoring Syystem would fail for a few days, and then work fine for a few weeks.
The same could be said for Navigation, surround cameras and oddly the volume on the stereo. Random bouts of working and not working. I mentioned a couple of these to the dealer when it went in for an oil service early on. Im now finding out that this early oil change is apparently a “feature” caused by the positioning of the DPF, and I can expect regular oil changes forever.
I found that there was a software update, but I couldn’t have it as the car had Rear Seat Entertainment, and the update couldn’t be applied to those cars because it breaks the RSE. Its been a year and still no sign of this. Having worked in IT for years I really can’t understand why JLR are releasing software that updates the infotainment system without testing on cars with RSE. I get the impression the customer base IS the test environment. I mean, why spend money testing these things in house when you can have an army of free testers do the work for you?
Then as an early Christmas present in December, the car decided to throw a much bigger electrical gremlin our way.
We were going to a 50th birthday party the other side of town and it was snowing. No problem. We don’t have to worry about being snowed in, we will go in the Discovery.
So we make the journey to the other side of town, and when we get out to go to the venue, the car wont lock. It simply wont respond to the keyfob lock button. Hmm, slightly miffed I resort to locking it manually by removing the plastic cap on the door handle. It didn’t lock all the doors. Then a few seconds later I heard it unlock itself again. No amount of manual locking even on all four doors, would secure the car. It simply kept running an unlock routine every 30 seconds or so.
We had to take the car home, put it in the garage to secure it, and took the Twingo to the party and spent the evening keeping an eye on the weather like everyone else that didn’t own a 4x4. Not the position I expected us to be in having spent around £70,000 on a Discovery.
Nevermind. It will just be a frozen lock or something. I night in the garage defrosting and it will be fine.
It wasn’t. It resulted in the car being recovered by the AA, and taken to the dealers. By the time it got there the battery was flat.
Click image to enlarge
To be fair to the dealer they did give me regular updates, The first being that they were charging the battery. Once the battery was charged, the update was “there is a drain on the battery”. I advised that the drain was most likely the fault it was brought in for, the constant unlocking of the car.
After several more “were trying to establish the problem” updates, I was old that they had been in contact with JLR who also didn’t have any idea what the problem was. They agreed on a replacement of the entire Central Locking Control Module and the recoding of all keys.
I had to make a separate 90 minute round trip to drop off the rest of the keys for them to recode. A day later and the car was ready to collect. Another 90 minute trip.
Unfortunately after driving it home, I discovered that all wasn’t correct. The stop/start function wasn’t working at all, and the activity key refused to work.
Another few days wait and they eventually came and collected the car (after I said I wasn’t happy at spending another few hours out of the office bringing the car back that hadn’t been fixed properly).
A day or so later and the car was ready again, and was returned.
A couple of months of driving with the usual niggles followed. “rear media not available” and other intermittent issues that persist for an afternoon or more. A few days with the Tyre Pressure Monitoring System not working, and the back to full health for a week or so.
I then get another service due warning pop up and I find that I can take the car to any dealer with this service plan. So I take it to my local dealer (I get to hang my nose over that Vogue again, after all the RRS is gone and the S-max will soon follow now we have the Disco right). There were a couple of software updates (from what I gather related to splitting out the oil and service counters due to the rapid oil dilution).
I fetch the car back and all is fine. I then take my son to school after the half term and get the dreaded “rear media not available” message. Oh well, lets do spelling test instead today.
That turned into several days. This time the “Rear Media Not Availale” was here to stay. Had the latest updates broken my RSE? It seemed that way.
The dealer said they couldn’t get me back in for three weeks. Not happy. I take it in for a service and it comes back with another fault that they wont look at for nearly a month. So I speak to JLR Customer service and say Im not happy.
Whilst waiting for a call back from somebody, it starts to snow. A lot.
Like many in the last week, we closed our offices, I offered lifts home to staff that didn’t have the right vehicle for the job, and I got the call to fetch my son from school. I went to preheat the car using the app, and was told “car unlocked”.
Strange, I’m sure I locked it when I parked in the office car park this morning.
I go to the car and its sluggish to start. The cold is affecting the battery – nothing strange there.
I fetch my son from school, and lock the car on the drive. Only it didn’t lock. Try again. No response.
Then I hear it try and unlock itself. And again. The problem is back.
I’m not taking the kids sledging as I promised as I no longer have a car that can drive us to the nearest park to do it. I can’t go and help out the staff left at the school and get them home, and if the wife’s elderly parents need help, I’m stuffed for going to see them too. £70,000 on a Discovery and I’m back in the Ford S-max or Renault Twingo in the snow.
Even after having the Central Locking Control Module replaced and all keys recoded, the same problem is back again. So back in the garage it goes, and in the morning it barely has enough power to start the engine (nice low battery start engine red triangle). When it is started, I drive it to my purchasing dealer and tell them I want a refund or another one building. I also phoned JLR Customer service and updated them.
This car now has a 100% success record of letting me down when I most need its features as a 4x4. Ive been defending against comments of the rear end looking like its had a stroke, Ive been praising how great a family car the Discovery is and why I can justify the £70,000 I spent on it. Then when the weather arrives that presents its time to shine, people are asking me why Im driving the little cherry red Twingo. Slight egg on face.
Sad really. When the Discovery works, its brilliant. The kids love it, the wife loves it. Luxury and go anywhere ability.
I had a call on Friday morning from customer service, they weren’t aware of my taking the car back to the dealers and the central locking fault reappearing. Even though I had updated that information on Thursday morning. I was told I would get a call back.
No call.
So, no courtesy vehicle. No call back on Friday, and so far no update today either. (I’m starting to form a bond with this cute little Twingo)
Even though I purchased my first JLR only 9 years ago, I saw myself being a lifelong customer. I would get into that Vogue one day. However, my (short) rollercoaster journey of ups and downs with JLR ownership seems destined to end on a low, with this car. Now that the RS6 is being sold, my thoughts of spending that cash on getting into the Vogue I always wanted are starting to drift. So much so, that I have a brochure for the new S-max in my possession, and I’m reading articles about the upcoming Q8. -
- Chrismcnaz
- Member Since: 03 Oct 2017
- Location: Over Yonder.
- Posts: 193
-
-
- RedBall
- Member Since: 27 Feb 2018
- Location: Derbyshire
- Posts: 43
-
No update from either dealer or LR Customer service today either.
-
- Chalkys HSE
- Member Since: 04 Jun 2017
- Location: Yorkshire
- Posts: 339
-
-
- simonh
- Member Since: 02 Apr 2017
- Location: Shropshire
- Posts: 1002
-
-
- RedBall
- Member Since: 27 Feb 2018
- Location: Derbyshire
- Posts: 43
-
-
- simonh
- Member Since: 02 Apr 2017
- Location: Shropshire
- Posts: 1002
-
ah. Got it
Velar HSE D240 - MY19
Served by the excellent Shukers Land Rover of Ludlow - 10 Land Rover’s and 20 years of amazing customer service. -
- RedBall
- Member Since: 27 Feb 2018
- Location: Derbyshire
- Posts: 43
-
Update from the dealer...
I had a call from the dealer yesterday, and the car is no longer presenting the fault. However they aren't happy to just say "oh well its fixed itself" and hand the car back, because there is obviously something causing this fault.
That impreses me as a customer, as Im sure some dealers would just pretend they fixed the issue and hand the car back to get rid of the problem. This dealer however knows thats just kicking the can down the road until the car eventually does it again. Their understanding attitude thus far with the problem has been exemplary.
They did however acknowledge that this may be a long process of trying to fix, especially as its not currently showing the fault. So they have got to get the fault to come back, in order to identify whats causing it. This could be a needle in a haystack job and may involve JLR technicians visiting or taking the car to try and solve the issue.
They are going to see if they can find a car for me to run around in that is of similar spec to my First Edition whilst they try to find the problem, but they have also said I may as well spec up a new build car just in case things drag on that long that its easier to change the car. I guess there is a cost to the dealer/JLR of having their technicians working for days/weeks on this problem and at some point it looks more commercially viable to just replace the car.
Ive said Im happy to have the car back with the problem fixed (so long as it doesnt drag on for too long), but with the caveat that it comes with something in writing to say if the same thing happens again, the car will get changed for a new one without any fuss. If they are confident enough in the repair to put that in writing, then that will give me confidence enough back in the car not to let me down if I decide to take the family on a long road trip.
Ive also said that whilst speccing a new car I cant get the exact same spec as a First Edition, as some of the items that a First Edition has are only available as part of "Packs" on a HSE Lux. It means that the price of a HSE lux with the same minimum specification as a FE is a higher price.
I feel a bit bad for the dealer here as they didn't build the car and I'd quite happliy just have the exact same spec again, but thats not possible. Hence my needing the old FE brochure (thanks to all the folk here who got it for me) as Im going to try different ways on the configurator of getting as near to the FE spec as possible for the lowest price possible. Obviously if the car is changed then the dealer/JLR/myself will possibly each be out of pocket to some extent. Im hoping that by playing around with the configurator I can make sure that cost to us all is kept to a minimum if the car does end up being replaced.
The dealer is being fair with me, and its only right I do the same when speccing the replacement car up. Im going to have to pay for the £800 ceramic coating again and the hike in tax if a new car is built, but Im happy to sink that cost myself against some of the extras that will have to be added as part of packs to get the same minimum spec as the FE.
Ive not heard anything from JLR customer service since last Friday, but the dealer is being very professional so far, and during their busiest month which I had completely overlooked when I took the car into them on the 1st March new reg day!
-
- winger
- Member Since: 19 Mar 2017
- Location: Somerset
- Posts: 205
-
-
- roverdawgpac
- Member Since: 30 Aug 2016
- Location: Seattle, WA
- Posts: 9
Yikes! Keep us posted. I've had my 2017 FE for 7 months. No problems so far. Goes in for it's first service in a few months. Starting to dread having to have the software updated after reading some of the posts but I'm a gambler!
2017 Discovery 5 Farallon Black, First Edition
2005 LR3 HSE, 2005-2017. Sold. -
- RedBall
- Member Since: 27 Feb 2018
- Location: Derbyshire
- Posts: 43
-
-
- RedBall
- Member Since: 27 Feb 2018
- Location: Derbyshire
- Posts: 43
-
-
- RedBall
- Member Since: 27 Feb 2018
- Location: Derbyshire
- Posts: 43
-
Tomorrow will mark 3 weeks that the car has been away.
Last contact with JLR customer service was last Friday.
It is my understanding that the problem is still intermittent, and nobody knows what the cause is. It appears that the current tactic is working through replacing various parts etc as per JLR technicians instructions, testing and seeing if the problem can be recreated or not.
I don't know how long this is to go on, or how many squeaks and rattles will be present if I get the car back with how long it's spent being taken apart and put back together again. -
- simonh
- Member Since: 02 Apr 2017
- Location: Shropshire
- Posts: 1002
-
-
- RedBall
- Member Since: 27 Feb 2018
- Location: Derbyshire
- Posts: 43
-
Sent the letter today. Quite sad really as I can't blame the dealer in all this, they didn't screw it together or write the software systems. I'd just like to have some confidence restored with the brand. I really do want that vogue some day, but based on how this goes it may well swing that opinion on whether I go for a JLR car again for a long time.
Page 1 of 2
- <
- >
DISCO5.CO.UK is independent and not affiliated to Jaguar Land Rover.