[Chetan_Rao]

As much as we need laws to protect consumers, we also need a sense of responsibility on part of the manufacturer. Why wait for laws to arm-twist you into owning up to your responsibilities? Whatever happened to integrity? To standing by something you created and sold? To the promise you made to the customer when he parted with his hard-earned cash? To all the fancy 'customer first' mumbo-jumbo printed on expensive paper or painted on every wall in your company & showrooms?

All bogus PR-speak, while you fleece the customer for every dime available in a race for profit? Blame him for surviving a near-fatal incident in your joke of a car, then threaten him instead of being ashamed?

People sing paeans about Ratan Tata's integrity and visionary zeal. What use is it Mr. Tata, if the company your family built and nurtured is behaving in such despicable fashion? I'm not acquainted with Mr. Tata personally so not trying to insult him or hold him individually responsible, but every customer mistreated like this is a blot on the name held in high esteem over generations.

Have human value systems been eroded so much by profit-driven businesses that integrity is now filed under 'Utopian' ideals?

P.S. My apologies for the rant. It may sound old fashioned (even funny to some), but I still value integrity, whether personal or in business and see no reason to give up on it, just because everyone else seems to be.

[abhishek_d_zulu]

It's very interesting to read this thread & witness the kind of trouble you have had with your LR4, Mad Monkey.

Having dealt with Land Rovers for half a decade, it is a different side of the coin I get to see here. Of course, I must add that the Landies I deal with are from a different time, when electronics hadn't stepped in to play spoil sport, nor customer service outsourced to folks outside of the mother organisation.

I thought I will add my experiences here in this thread, as it does provide a different perspective. Coincidentally, I too have a Land Rover Discovery as my daily drive vehicle- a much older version from 1998 stable- a car that I have rebuilt in a local garage from parts directly imported from the UK- working with specialists in different forums. Doing that, I did end up with a vehicle that is fairly stable, with no breakdowns since it came back from the garage & a pleasure to drive- anywhere.

I know LR3 had a series of issues, which they seemingly fixed in the latest version of the vehicle. But looking at your experience, it seems not. I have also learnt that we need to take advantage of the collective wisdom of people who use these vehicles & have faced & sorted these issues. Are you on any of the UK Land Rover forums, interacting with other LR4 owners?

Secondly, I have also heard of people buying after-market diagnostic tool to check for small fault messages themselves- taking a car to JLR is simply ridiculous considering the beauracracy & cost one goes through. Of course, one will have to keep in mind all warranty principles here.

Lastly, I have personally benefited with establishing a direct supplier path for car parts from the UK, instead of relying on JLR India for parts.

To demonstrate the difference, let me quote an example- I had recently requested JLR to get me a set of tyres for my Defender. Considering 235x85x16 isn't available in Indian market, I thought it will be easier to have JLR import them for me. A typical set of 4 tyres in the UK can set you back by £800... Say ₹80,000... JLR quoted me ₹52,000 PER TYRE in India! So one can imagine what sort of a ridiculous margin they work with here. Needless to say, our Govt's import policies don't help either.

So to survive the ownership of an expensive car like LR, and to keep our sanity, many different out of box solutions will have to work in parallel. Maybe many of these will have to wait till the official warranty runs out- but these are most certainly options on the table.

But it is also worth mentioning that these vehicles are definitely special to drive. Everything isn't all bad. There must be a reason why they outsell many other similar cars in their class & people lining up for months to buy them. Technology is both a boon & severe restriction.

I wish you luck with your car. Please do keep us posted how things are working out for you. And if any of us can provide any help in any form.

[Cartman]

Any updates, Mad Monkey?

In related news, a Discovery and a Range Rover Sport inside the premises of the Bombay High Court. Extremely saddening to see such vehicles rotting away. Both the vehicles seem to have failed air suspension. Wonder what cases these vehicles are involved in/against JLR.

Maybe you should take a cue from these owners and file a case against them yourself.


Cheers,
Cartman.

[Akshay1234]

Its really sad to see those cars in such a state. The air suspension has completely dropped. God only knows what went wrong with those.

JLR India really needs to get their stuff together. The amount of dissatisfied customers is just increasing day by day, and if they don't even take proper action on a clear lemon such as this Discovery I feel bad for the owners of JLR cars. Skodas service seems like a dream after this.

[cityvic]

Originally Posted by Mad Monkey

The discovery is at present priced at Rs. 1,44,50,710 on road mumbai
AND Yes that is correct it is priced at Rupees 1 crore 44 lacs

Hey, Mad Monkey.
Any updates on the car and the case yet? Been quite long since the last update.

[shady_lawyer]

Originally Posted by Cartman

Any updates, Mad Monkey? Maybe you should take a cue from these owners and file a case against them yourself. Cheers,
Cartman.

MadMonkey should plan a midnight raid and take all the parts required to get his prized possession back in working order.

As for these cars in the pictures they have quite a history. These beauties along with several other beauties including RR's have been seized by the EOW Mumbai pending investigation. What is really surprising is the registration numbers of these cars, they are rightly blanked out in the pic above, but it sure is a mystery as to how they ended up in Mumbai.

PS: anyone attempting to actually raid these cars, perish the thought, they are parked inside the PS Azad Maidan

[Mad Monkey]

An update -



Since the last time I have updated this thread, many incidents have occurred. My car still spends more time in the workshop than with me. Let me summarise the list of failures/workshop mistakes/incompetence.



These issues are not in chronological order as the issues have been far too many for me to remember when each one of them happened.

1. The wheel lock key was lost the workshop, and I was made to pay for it since they were not sure if it was there when the car came.
   
2. Interior plastics were damaged around the instrument cluster when it was changed, which were blamed on me. Once I explained to them how they would have damaged it while changing the instrument cluster, it was changed as a 'goodwill gesture'. Plastics on the front right door was also scratched.
   
   
   
   
   
3. I have had to remind them on multiple times to carry out services which were supposed to be done , while the car was in their workshop, and they were still not carried out. I was told the services were done, but on another visit when I checked the service history (which took them an hour to find) I found out the service was not carried out.
   
4. The car was returned to me with the fuel reserve light on, after I had dropped the car with at least 3/4th tank. This happened twice.
   
5. One time the car was returned to me with ambient lights not working, including the glove box light.
   
6. The parking brake had a fault where it would keep showing some error and it would not disengage.
   
   

   Parking Brake Error

   
   
7. Another time the car was returned to me with the wiper switches not working. The water would spray on the front windscreen but the rear wiper would come on.
   
8. The car was kept with them for a 1000km test, after which the suspension bushes were worn out. This was replaced by them.
   
9. AC knobs were sticky, which was blamed on me as usual. This was replaced after more arguments.
   
   
   
   
   
10. The infamous airbag warning light has still been reappearing and causing the engine to not be able to start. This has stranded me a few more times.
    
    
    
11. Most recently the audio was working but the central screen went blank. When it came back from the workshop the screen was working but the audio had stopped.
    
    

    Dead Navigation Screen

    
    
    One of the videos of the infotainment system screen being dead.
    
12. The climate control system had a mind of its own, and it would change the blower speed on its own to maximum.. The knobs and the full panel stopped working altogether, and I could not change any settings at all.
    
    

    Fan blower stuck at full speed!

    
    
    
    Notice how the fan blower noise is constant irrespective of the manual inputs.

Also, I have a very startling discovery (pun intended) to share, which will certainly surprise everyone here.

[Jaggu]

This is quite shocking. Why are you still living with this vehicle? Have you tried writing to UK and ask for a replacement?

[a4anurag]

Originally Posted by Mad Monkey

Also, I have a very startling discovery (pun intended) to share, which will certainly surprise everyone here.

Man, that Land Rover is just making you do 'discoveries' of the problems that it is throwing onto you.

Surprises me as to why the ASC blames the customer as though we have no knowledge about operating vehicles.

Sad to see the car spend more time at the ASC rather than with you!

What does Tata have to say on this?

[HimuraKenshin]

Its very scary and sad, the ordel you have been through.
People would expect that if you buy a vehicle such a yours, you'd etleast expect a cometent diagnosis and rectification.

This again brings up a question that a very famous mechanic once told me. Why do we need over engineered cars?

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by HimuraKenshin

I
This again brings up a question that a very famous mechanic once told me. Why do we need over engineered cars?

There is nothing wrong with over engineering cars. Infact, its "over engineering" which makes LCs the gems they are. They were over engineered to handle stuff which the normal user(even offroaders) will never do.

The problem comes when people confuse jugaad with engineering. Looking at the issues with this vehicle, its a classic case of jugaad. Jugaad while manufacturing, and then jugaad while servicing.

Just having lots of blinking colorful lights does not make jugaad engineering. If that was the case, our highway trucks with 100s of blinking LEDs would be the pinnacles of engineering.

[noopster]

My 9 year old/ 85,000 km Swift that will fetch me barely 2L if I try and sell it now has less issues than your expensive toy, Mad Monkey. You think money'd buy some peace of mind!

I think it's high time you spoke to Ratan Tata directly- am sure you have the werewithal to pull that off. This is getting ridiculous.

[rav11stars]

Reading through 6 pages of replies my head is already spinning. You've got luck and tons of it to come out alive after what you've been through.
Selling a car is only the beginning; the real job begins when you begin to service the vehicle and bring that wide grin on the face of the customer.
I thought TATA has come of age and is more matured when I heard about it's purchase of JLR. But looks like "Money can buy you fancy overseas companies, not their values".

[GTO]

Monkey,

Can you explain to me why you are still wasting your time on this vehicle? It's clearly troublesome - like most high end Land Rovers & Range Rovers are - and whatever you do, it'll never offer you a trouble-free ownership experience.

Please cut your losses, sell it off and buy something else.

[srivatsahg]

After going through all the problems you've listed in here.There are two things

I'm certainly sure of :

• Definitely you have a Guardian Angel around you all this while.
• You should consider selling your Discovery ASAP.