Land Rover Problems

Like most cars, the Range Rover has vacuum boosted brakes. This vacuum assistance helps you apply enough physical pressure to the brakes to pull the vehicle up. Without this assistance, the brakes require much more input from the driver. In many cases, this can make the pedal feel like it has gone hard or stiff.

The danger is that, in an emergency, you may not be able to apply enough pressure on the brake pedal quickly enough to avoid a crash. So this needs to be sorted immediately. A loss of brake assistance can be caused by a leak in the vacuum system or a failure of the booster unit itself.

If this was just a case of the engine not starting every now and then, I’d be inclined to look at the starter motor and, in particular, its solenoid. But since the starter-stop button also sometimes refuses to switch the engine off, it sounds very much like the button itself is faulty.

You can remove the button and clean the electrical contacts with a cleaning spray, or simply swap the switch for one you know works perfectly.

The reason the scan threw up a camshaft phasing problem is because the belt has stripped and allowed the camshaft timing to become way out of synch. This is also why the engine lost power and wouldn’t restart in the first place.

Simply replacing the timing belt won’t fix it, as the engine’s original camshaft timing has to be restored for the engine to ever fire again. There’s a specific method to do this, but pretty much any mechanic will be able to retime the camshaft and get you going again.

If the engine is retimed and still won’t fire, there’s a chance the stripped belt has allowed internal damage to the engine which may need a full rebuild. You could be looking at bent valves, cracked pistons and more.

I wouldn’t be concerned about the cylinder configuration of a particular engine. What’s more important is how much power and torque that engine makes, and how towing-friendly that power delivery is. By which we mean how smooth and flexible is the delivery. What you don’t want is a peaky engine that needs to be revved before it delivers the good as that puts a strain on everything and make the vehicle tricky and unpleasant to drive.

The good news is that all the vehicles you’ve nominated have good, solid powerplants that are well suited to towing a caravan. Modern turbo-diesels – especially with an automatic transmission – are ideal for this task.

What you should go for, however, is the vehicle with the highest towing rating. In this case, that’s any of the Grand Cherokee, MU-X or older Discovery, all of which have variants that can handle a towed load of 3.5 tonnes. The Everest is almost as good with 3.1 tonne, but only almost. The problem is that the van you’ve nominated can easily weigh between 2.2 and 2.8 tonnes which, with a 3.1-tonne limit, leaves you very little headroom for water tanks and camping gear. You’d be amazed at how much a fully loaded caravan weighs, so don’t rely on the brochure, load the van and take it to a weighbridge to make sure the vehicle you have can legally tow it.

Land Rover still refers to the third-generation, L462-series model as the Discovery 5, but the number was dropped in some markets to distance it from the L319-series LR3 and LR4, which were the North American names for the Ford-era Discovery 3 (2003) and Discovery 4 (2009) respectively.

Though not officially confirmed, it is believed that the name change in both instances was due to the poor reliability reputation that the earlier models gained. The same fate befell the Freelander badge, when its successor became known as the much-more-chic Evoque.

Thank you for getting in touch.

Indeed it will so get in quick.

With its mix of classic Range Rover and a Rover Group parts-bin bits, Morris Marina door handles, Austin Montego van tail-lights and Buick’s ancient alloy V8 all part of the mix, this thing is pre-BMW/post-BMC era British engineering genius.

Also, the original Disco is cool, with its lovely two-door wagon body, stepped roof with skylights and airy, inviting cabin offering minimalist, attractive design. And please don't forget the Land Rover's formidable 4x4 capabilities.

All-in-all, a '90s classic worth collecting. Land Rover doesn't make 'em like this any more.

The most expensive new Land Rover in Australia is the Range Rover SVAutobiography LWB supercharged V8 petrol which lists at $403,670 and boasts 405kW of power. A high percentage of that cost, however, is down to luxury-car tax and other import duties, and the Australian government loves to slug car lovers. That said, countries such as Singapore which have extortionate fees and taxes just for the privilege of buying a car would have higher Land Rover and Range Rover prices.

However, my money for the world’s most expensive Landie would be on the original Land Rover prototype used to develop the original off-roader way back in 1947. This protype actually featured a central driving position and had the nick-name the Centre Steer as a result. Opinions differ on whether it still exists as some say it was broken up as production started in 1948 while others surmise that it could be hidden in storage somewhere in the UK. If it does exist, it would surely be the most valuable Land Rover in the world.

Beyond that, I’d say another prototype named Huey (named for its registration number HUE 166) from 1948 would be a close runner-up in value terms. Huey now resides at Land Rover’s Classic workshop in Coventry in the UK.

Land Rovers of this era seem to have a few more reliability problems than other off-road vehicles from other makers. That said, they’re more complicated to start with, so that explains some of that phenomenon.

As you’ve correctly identified, Karen, a vehicle’s ability to keep on keeping on is down to far more factors than simply the age of the engine. These are big, heavy, complex machines and they suffer wear in many areas including the driveline, suspension, brakes and general body condition.

Parts for things like air suspension can be expensive, but it’s worth keeping in mind that no off-road four-wheel-drive is cheap to maintain. It comes down to how much you like the car and whether you can justify the on-costs. If you do decide to keep the old girl, finding a specialist Land Rover workshop can often save you money as these businesses specialise in the brand and know all the common problems and the servicing tricks to keep your spend down.

Not if you use a mechanic who knows their way around a Range Rover. There are mechanics that specialise in them and they know them best.

Seek advice from the state government consumer affairs people, or take LRA to VCAT.