[RahulNagaraj]

Thanks to Donald Luke Mathew for sending the information in. Heartfelt gratitude for sharing it with other enthusiasts via this Team-BHP share page!

Hi,

This is to narrate the unexpected ordeal that I have been encountering with a Range Rover Evoque. Range rovers are known for their go-anywhere capabilities, but mine needs a tow truck to go anywhere on most days. The longest drives the car has embarked upon is whilst on the tow trucks.

This has turned out to be the most unreliable car that we have owned to date.

I must also admit that it’s a charm to drive when it occasionally does and the cabin feels a luxurious one be in as compared to Mercedes and BMW. We have limited the usage of this car for the fear of being stranded in the middle of the road on long drives. Needless to say, it was not the kind of experience anyone would look for.

The car was bought for the safe journey of my ageing parents. I’m an NRI living in Dubai. The only plus point in having bought this car is befriending the local tow truck guys who embark to our home without wasting time to pick up the calls. We currently use the car for going to stores within a 30 km of radius. The service centre is a good 150 km from our home

Car in question: Range Rover Evoque HSE Dynamic (purchased in November 2019. Current ODO reading: 9000 km)

Repeated faults one after another, two of which happened immediately after delivery from the service centre.

• The first episode of fault happened on 09 September 2020 and was related to headlamp failure and fogging of lights which were corrected
  
• The second was on 14 October 2020, when the car failed to start and was hence towed to the service centre, and subsequently diagnosed to have a fuel pump failure which was replaced under warranty
  
• The third was a mere 22 km (on 20 October 2020) of taking delivery from the service centre after the correction of the aforementioned complaint. The fault was found to be with the timing belt and related pulleys
  
• The fourth was within 50 km (on 30 October 2020) of taking delivery of the car after rectification of the second complaint. The fault seems to be with the gearbox and the headlight cluster
  
• The fifth was on 23 February 2022 when the car was towed to the dealership for “system failure” which turned out to be crankshaft pulley failure and fuel supply failure

Well that boils down to 5 faults including an engine belt fault within 9000 km which is unacceptable even the farthest stretch of the imagination

Point stressed: The car is outright unreliable, to say the least

It’s a petrol car and I wonder if the issues are related to the fuel quality in our country. A root cause for the complaints has not been identified IMHO

We requested them to replace the lemon or give an additional warranty of up to 7 years: thereby alleviating some of the concerns. JLR has outright refused the request and offered a refund for the 3 and 4-year warranty payments. However, I’m looking for stress-free ownership rather than getting a couple of lakhs as a refund.

The car is already in additional warranty up till 5 years

An alternative option given to them was to provide in writing that it’s normal a for Range rover to get frequently towed for failures

JLR had promised to get back to us after the 4th towing episode with a feasible plan but they never did and I find it completely unprofessional from a firm as big. I guess this partly explains their sales figures

Retrospectively I feel that a JLR should be bought only by film stars or Binamis who could work a way around addressing the faults and should not be bought just because one can afford one

A car is more than just a machine: its an emotion, an aspiration and this should be acknowledged

Please advise on the further way ahead

Thank You!

[GTO]

Unbelievable. And the simpler Evoque is supposedly the more reliable Land / Range Rover. It's the poor reliability, repeat problems, slow after-sales and long wait periods for parts that has ruined the brand's reputation in India. Just see how many people are moving over to other luxury marques...even Maybachs at the higher end.

Even if the vehicle is repaired for free under warranty coverage, there is still the time wasted, agony caused by problems, followups, having a backup car etc.

[RohaNN_kWh]

Woahh, I just can't imagine what one goes through after facing such an ordeal and spending that amount of money on a premium car/brand.

We are in strong need of lemon laws in India!! this car easily qualifies to be a proper lemon and JLR should be ashamed of this kind of customer service, surprising that they have the audacity to negotiate a warranty refund with the customer instead of offering a viable solution or replacing the lemon.

At this point, asking for a 7-year warranty seems like a bragain from the customer's end.

Also, I am pretty sure there are shipping methods that don't take a whole month to reach any corner of the planet for whatsoever product, even if that includes customs clearance.

JLR stop using China Post

[redohabitat]

Imagine spending close to a crore rupees and getting a lemon, you don't have to imagine very hard, just buy a Land Rover / Jaguar product I wish the owner files a consumer court case, this is sheer fraud.

PS: cases like these make people buy the over priced Fortuner with eyes closed such situations are almost unheard of in a toyota product. Ask me, I bought a 16 year old Landcruiser and then drove it for 10 years without a single break down. Just saving money for my next Landcruiser now!

[Gaur]

Originally Posted by redohabitat

PS: cases like these make people buy the over priced Fortuner with eyes closed such situations are almost unheard of in a toyota product. Ask me, I bought a 16 year old Landcruiser and then drove it for 10 years without a single break down. Just saving money for my next Landcruiser now!

A joke i once read somewhere sums up both the product very well.
"If you want to go everywhere get a Landrover but if you want to go everywhere and also come back home get a Landcruiser"

A distant cousin in a tier 2 city once asked for my feedback on the Evoque, was smitten by the looks, knowing his driving conditions and driving style suggested him Endeavor/Fortuner he finally got the big Ford and is a happy man.
I precisely had warned him about the poor reliability, need to share this thread with him.

[gandharjc]

Originally Posted by Gaur

A joke i once read somewhere sums up both the product very well.
"If you want to go everywhere get a Landrover but if you want to go everywhere and also come back home get a Landcruiser"

I believe this was Topgear - old one of course. You beat me to quoting it!
I really do not understand where the idea of land rovers being reliable comes from, as far as I know they've always had some reputation of being unreliable.

[TROOPER]

My sympathies with the owner for this disappointing experience.

All I could say to him is to quietly sell it off and get a Kia Carnival or Toyota Vellfire so his parents can travel in peace and luxury. I don't expect anything from JLR.

Forgive my lack of knowledge, but one would imagine for all the money Tata has poured into JLR, what stopped them from hiring a whole lot of Japanese engineers or setup a R&D center in Japan, just to ensure that the cars are reliable enough to at least run on the road. Touchscreen and gimmicks be damned.

This company is nothing but a black hole. It'll now eat up all the money the Indian division of Tata Motors will make, which in itself has been an uphill task.

[Navinprakash]

Sorry to hear about your agony. when it comes to luxury car ownership "We don't own the car. The car owns us". This is true with most of the luxury cars except the Japanese/Korean makes. This car sure looks like a lemon. Its better to part ways with the car as soon as possible.

The quality issues in JLR is an open secret in Industry. Even JLR boss is well aware of this fact and not sure anything is being done to fix the quality and reliability.

thedrive.com/news/39590/jaguar-land-rover-ceo-says-company-loses-over-100000-sales-each-year-over-poor-quality-reputation

[Laidbackakki]

Hi,
Really sorry that you are undergoing such agony with a brand like JLR. True, that JLR make unreliable cars. The show carWow ranked it in the top 10 unreliable cars in one of their episodes.
If I was in your position I would look at these 2 options.
1. Take them to court. CONS of this option is the mental stress, time consumed, the army of lawyers employed by a MNC, and lastly but most importantly the possibility of not getting a satisfactory verdict in your favour.
2. Just get rid of the car, get the couple lakhs refund offered and put the proceeds of the sale into a new reliable car. Alternatively you can go for the C5 if comfort is your priority for your parents as per the glowing reviews by couple of bhpians of their respective C5s. But yes the reliability aspect of the C5 is yet to be tested.
Sincerely hope all the things work out in your favour
Regards

[apachelongbow]

Originally Posted by GTO

Unbelievable. And the simpler Evoque is supposedly the more reliable Land / Range Rover. It's the poor reliability, repeat problems, slow after-sales and long wait periods for parts that has ruined the brand's reputation in India. Just see how many people are moving over to other luxury marques...even Maybachs at the higher end.

Even if the vehicle is repaired for free under warranty coverage, there is still the time wasted, agony caused by problems, followups, having a backup car etc.

The culprit seems to be the battery management system (bms). A poorly set bms can cause ancillary faults/failures like a fuel pump failure, charging system (generator connector) failures and headlight cluster issues. The bms is the Achilles heel of jlr. The system measures voltage /current across the unit and allows the battery to remain upto 80% charge all the time. In the process it can throw warning like low battery please start engine and or, low battery charge, shutting down system in 3 mins etc. Sometimes a bms reset will solve issues. Sometimes the battery needs replacement.

[hands-on]

Having driven freelander for 8.5 years, I can authentically say that jlr is all about extremely high billing with low resolution of issues for everything they don't even want to do a fact finding but simply want to replace everything at exorbitant prices.
It's time they wake up and take appropriate measures.