Dealer’s Diary
The first time I jumped into a Range Rover Sport, it reminded me – and you won’t believe me, but it’s true – of my first time in an early Rover 800-series. The familiarity both amused and concerned me. How could it be so?
Well, like the dear old 800, the Sport was never designed to sit on its own platform. It was developed to sit on the Range Rover 38a chassis now that it was fully resolved. But that chassis was then switched to the T5 platform that underpinned the Discovery 3 and 4.
Now the T5 platform was designed purely to spite the Germans, who’d developed the L322 Range Rover. Trust me when I say that nobody knows stubbornness like Solihull. And that’s where all the problems lie.
So why the history lesson? Well, here was a car that literally saved Solihull, as people around the world flocked to join waiting lists to buy it. And why not? It looked fabulous and drove terrifically well when new. Sadly though, as a used buy they are a total disaster.
A prestige used-car business I work with closely has been rejecting them in part-exchange for over a year. They will gladly lose a sale rather than take one as a swapper. They initially made great money selling them, only to lose it all, and more, on warranty. They can’t even trade them off, let alone retail them.
Sadly, they are not alone. When a punter was told by the company that they simply wouldn’t take a Range Rover Sport in part-exchange, the punter replied that they were the fourth usedcar outfit that morning to have turned it down. They’ve changed the wording on their website to reflect this, so it now says ‘part exchange considered’.
What kills them is a combination of factors. Obviously there is the horrendous complication and lack of foresight with regard to serviceability. There is also the appalling quality of the fixings, which corrode or snap. Finally, and unusually for a Land Rover, there is parts availability. Often replacement parts are from the next model year, meaning a visit to a main dealer for complex diagnostic coding. Due to their fall from grace, many have been badly repaired over the course of time, and this just adds to the pain. So like the 800, the trade has turned its back on this once-desirable vehicle.
‘Many have been badly repaired over the course of time.’