Land Rover and Range Rover were obviously designed and built in parts of Europe that have access to freeways and high speeds such as the autobahn in Germany. Whilst these countries also have highly congested cities similar to Sydney and Melbourne, these vehicles were not actually made for those driving conditions.
In recent times the vehicle brand has become popular in affluent households across major cities and the vehicles are used for trips to shopping centers, coffee shops, the beach and to pick children up from school. Whilst many view this as easy driving for any vehicle the opposite is actually true. The stop start city driving along with short commutes are very harmful to any motor vehicle but a heavy turbo diesel four wheel drive is absolutely not made to cope with those kind of driving conditions. The car will do it if needed but is far more susceptible to faults caused by start stop driving, in particular the EGR valve issue we have covered in other blogs.
The most important thing to look at with this is the servicing schedule. Land Rover state that the service interval for these vehicles is 26,000kms, except in extreme conditions. We assume extreme conditions are if the car is subject to a Top Gear testing video or hard core off road work, but you need to know what the dealers consider to be extreme conditions.
Now in the fine print as to what constitutes extreme conditions you will find that almost all of Australia’s climates are considered extreme. You will also find that the stop start driving and short commutes class as extreme driving conditions and therefore the vehicle should be serviced more frequently.
This is something the car salesman neglects to tell potential owners when the are drifting through the front doors of a fancy show room.
Avoid any costly damage to your vehicle and stick to the traditional 10,000kms or every 6 months. It may cost you a bit more in oil change costs however the alternative is major engine repairs required and potentially not covered by manufacturers warranty due to the “extreme conditions” statement.
GDL Automotive Services has a qualified Land Rover and Range Rover technician in our team. Harith is based at our Warriewood store and you can read up about him and his qualifications by clicking here.
Contact our Warriewood branch if you have any Land Rover or Range Rover inquiries (02) 9979 5933.
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