Overview & Reviews

Land Rover is a luxury SUV manufacturer that has its roots in England. Many of its vehicles are replete with the sort of leather-lined comforts that call to mind hunting lodges and high tea. Land Rovers are also known for being stellar trail-busters, endowed with the moxie to get down and dirty when the road gets rough. Currently owned by Tata Motors, Land Rover is one of just a few automotive brands in the United States to solely market SUV products.

After World War II, two British brothers, Spencer and Maurice Wilks, were impressed by the rugged and versatile nature of the U.S. Army's Jeep. They worked with the British automaker Rover to create the first Land Rover in 1948. Called the Series I, this truck was equipped with permanent four-wheel-drive, a canvas roof and optional doors. These early Land Rovers were crude but extremely well-suited for operations in the field.

The 1950s saw Land Rovers moving toward increased power and refinement. Launched in 1958, the Series II offered added horsepower and a somewhat less rudimentary exterior, with sills designed to disguise the exhaust and chassis. The first diesel-powered Rover was also produced during these years. The Series IIA came next, in a production run that lasted from 1961-'71. As the '60s drew to a close, Rover was acquired by Leyland Motors Ltd. (which would later become British Leyland).

Land Rover's storied Range Rover made its debut in 1970. Equipped with a V8 engine and a body made mostly of aluminum, the stylish vehicle was more consumer-oriented than its predecessors. In the mid-'70s, British Leyland was nationalized; by the mid-'80s, the company — renamed the Rover Group — had been acquired by British Aerospace.

The automaker officially entered the U.S. automotive market in 1987 when the Range Rover made its debut on American shores. It was followed in 1989 by the Discovery, which was initially offered only in two-door form. The Discovery was the first all-new Land Rover in 19 years.

In the 1990s, the sudden popularity of the burgeoning SUV segment placed the brand in an enviable position. In response, Land Rover's vehicles, while still retaining their go-anywhere attitude, became more luxurious, particularly after BMW bought the company in 1995.

The Land Rover family of vehicles has continued to grow. The late '90s saw the introduction of the Freelander; the compact sport-ute held the distinction of being the first production vehicle to offer Hill Descent Control. The latter optimized maneuverability on steep descents by automatically braking to keep the vehicle's speed in check.

BMW's control was short lived, however, and in 2000 Land Rover was sold to Ford. Ford worked hard to improve the reliability of Land Rover's vehicles, but by 2008 Ford's financial instability resulted in Land Rover being sold again, this time to the Indian automaker Tata Motors.

Today, Land Rover is still well known for its luxury SUVs, including the ritzy yet rugged Range Rover as well as smaller and more affordable models like the LR4 and Evoque.

User Reviews:

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  A Ford Escape wearing a dinner jacket. - 2015 Land Rover Range Rover Evoque
  By Joseph Teyssandier - December 3 - 10:10 pm

  All looks and no actions. A brand that I always admired Land Rover. My dream SUV turned out to be my worst nightmare and biggest disappointment in the automobile industry. As an avid car fanatic. Ive had the pleasure of owning and leasing most of the high end vehicles in the market. From Mercedes Benz to BMW to Lexus both in sedans and SUVs. Until I decided that I was able and comfortable enough to finally afford my first Land Rover product. The 2015 Range Rover Evoque Pure Plus (5door). Well, my biggest mistake. I purchased the entity on 2/26/2015 as a Certified Pre Owned with barely 17K miles on the odometer. The vehicle looked show room condition inside, outside and under the hood. Rich leather scent inside gorgeous full glass roof and one of the most impressive infotainment systems Ive ever seen. After driving it home and four days into my purchase I decided to google reliability of said vehicle and under Consumer Reports all reviews were one star and the horror stories were too much to mention from all over the world from the UK to Minnesota all over the US. People just devastated with their experiences A TRUE CAR BUYERS NIGHTMARE. Everything from engine stallings to sudden braking at high speeds causing driver and passengers injuries. To constant Check Engine lights and other notifications of malfunctioning all over the cluster. Repeated visits to the dealership days and weeks without their cars then getting back and the next day the same issues arising and the worst thing was the treatments by the dealers disconcerting attitude. To the point they said to a particular owner. WELL WE CANT DO ANYTHING ELSE FOR YOU .... CONTACT LAND ROVER. After coming across this unexpected and disappointing horror stories I decided to return the Evoque just today 3/2/2016 on the fifth day and I was fortunate enough that the dealership has a FIVE DAY Return/Cancel or Exchange Policy. So I got my 2014 Mercedes Benz E350 back (Luckily again it had not been sold yet) got my title back and PUSHED THE PEDAL TO THE MEDAL. Like a bat outta hell I rushed home. I was one of the lucky ones. Shame on you LAND ROVER and JAGUAR brand. Youre selling RATS WRAPPED IN MINKS. Disappointed.

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  Disapointment with Landrover - 2004 Land Rover Discovery
  By paulnaples - October 10 - 2:00 am

  We bought the top of the line 2003 in August....traded it last week.. It was too hard to drive, terrible turning radius and horrible to get a baby seat in and out of the back seat...It cost $50.00 a fill uo and would only get 250 mile per tank.....We couldnt wait to unload this huge albatross.....I am not a pessimistic person but I would never recommend one of these heaps to anyone... PJH

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  Worst Electrical Ever - 2015 Land Rover Range Rover
  By Mark - September 16 - 12:50 pm

  Complete nav/computer reboots all the time. Buttons connected to computer SLOW. Takes 2-3 seconds every time you press a button to respond. Navigation takes up to 3 minutes to initialize after starting vehicle. Worst computer integration EVER! Doors have unlocked and opened while driving! Wow! Update: Vehicle has been in service for about 50 days over the past 6 months for a multitude of problems. The nav screen continues to reboot about every 2 hours of drive time. They have no idea whats going on. Have been told by service that this is a common problem. The computer integration with all of the functions just blows! To turn on the seat heat and massage, you have to go into the navigation screen! I do not like my passengers touching my navigation screen. Same with their climate control. You cant just put all the functions into the nav screen. Way too many steps to do much of anything. I find myself thinking that I would like to do something, but it is just too much of a pain in the butt to do so. The screens look like they were designed by a 12 year old. A real pet peeve is that I like to see the navigation FULL SCREEN. So, I press the screen to put it that way (getting rid of the road exit information). Then every time I go to a different screen , or the navigation gives a direction, it goes back to showing the road exit information. Petty? Yes. But just shows the lack of detail that went into this vehicle. On the satellite radio, they put so much worthless info on it, that you dont see the name of the song, just the artist, and the channel number. Really? Its a large screen, plenty of room if they did it correctly. I know thats minor, but, every little detail was ignored in this vehicle. When you pay this much for a vehicle, it should be easy to use, fun, and informative. Not at all. My Hyundai Genesis has a navigation/computer integration that totally blows this away. At less then half the price. I prefer to drive the Hyundai! Thats pretty bad. After putting 18,000 miles on this vehicle, I have found this to be the most uncomfortable vehicle Ive ever owned. The seats are HORRID. Like sitting in the cheapest airline seat. This is a common comment from many passengers Ive had. It hurts to drive this vehicle for more than 2 hours at a time. Your butt is just killing you. There is NO padding in the front or rear seats because they cheapened it up so much to save weight. My 2012 Range Rover SC was way, way, way better and nicer. Also, the dashboard, which in my 2012, people used to comment on how nice the leather was, has been replaced with PLASTIC! The interior looks and feels cheap when you really get looking at the details. There are WAY better vehicles for $120,000. I really feel ripped off. On the plus side, the acceleration, is outstanding, though and the ride is very nice. Update 4/7/16. Land Rover has agreed to repurchase this vehicle under the California Lemon Law. Good Riddance! Many people have exactly the same issues with this vehicle...

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  Problems after Problems - 2015 Land Rover Range Rover
  By WKG - July 5 - 9:25 pm

  Where to begin... 30 days in the shop in counting after 6 months. Electrical issue after electrical issue. You would think a company that values its customers would want to ensure a repeat customer, but after owning 3 land rovers, they dont seem to care. I would not recommend this product upon my worst enemy.

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  Possibly the worst vehicle ever - 2005 Land Rover Freelander
  By NJB - June 22 - 1:03 am

  I am writing this review in hopes of deterring and potential buyers from purchasing one of these horrid little automobiles. I do not own one; I am a career mechanic, and we contract with a used car lot to repair their vehicles. They have brought in a number of these Freelanders with mileage ranging from 30k to 80k, and not one of them has been saleable without at least $1k in repairs. Aside from being under powered, lazy/sloppy handling, and interior ergonomics worse than the old Ford Festiva, these things have more mechanical and electrical problems than any other model from any manufacturer. VERY expensive parts and high labor costs. Absolute JUNK!

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  Lemon - 2015 Land Rover Range Rover Evoque
  By ken duff - May 30 - 8:24 pm

  Bought January 2015, nothing buy trouble. In and out of repair shop 8 times, last time they replaced the whole engine.

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  My complaints - 2002 Land Rover Freelander
  By Jonathan - February 17 - 5:03 pm

  My Landrover is now dead for 85,000 miles. It can not run anymore. The mechanics of Landrover cannot find the problem by diagnostics alone. They have to open the engine to find out but not a guarantee that they will find it. How STUPID this Landrover diagnostics is. Landrover should terminate the Engineer who built this STUPID car diagnostics computer. The service advisor told me that the only thing that can fix my car is to replace the whole engine which will cost me $8,000 plus labor and tax.

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  Worst Car Ever - 2008 Land Rover LR2
  By unhappy customer - June 9 - 8:13 am

  This is the worst care I have ever had. Land Rover is buying it back as a lemon. The car constantly cuts out while driving, the gas gage constantly tells me I have no gas even when the tank is full and I have taken the key out of the ignition and the car stays on and tells me the key is still in the ignition. I have had nothing but problems, it has been in the shop more than at my home and the guys at Enterprise are my new best friends. I would never, ever buy another Land/Range Rover again, or for that matter even take one if someone gave one to me.

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  WATCH OUT! - 2005 Land Rover Freelander
  By SCREWED - May 4 - 2:10 pm

  Watch out! I had two freelanders (first replaced it was so bad), seccond one in shop all the time. Land Rover Customer service is horrible, they refuse to work with you at all. Bad Transmission, failed windshield wipers,seat came off rails (twice), sound system failed, windows stopped working, Brakes squeek, streeing wheel squeeks, engine rattles....... They never even attempted to make it right. I even had strangers come up to me and ask if mine was as bad as theirs. I think they rated as one of the worst SUVs in the world.

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  2002 Landrover Freelander - 2002 Land Rover Freelander
  By Kate - July 30 - 9:03 pm

  Its sad to say I must agree with all the negative reviews written. This by no means was the worst vehicle I had ever owned. Within the first few months the sunroof went 3 times, after the 3rd time landrover replaced it, but the new one had issues too. I stopped using the sunroof. The driver side rear window broke 3 times. After the 4th year of owning this vehicle hugh mechanical disasters, and finally the engine went, transmission started slipping and the diffrentials went. I would never reccommend landrover products to anyone, waste of money and time. Landrover should pay the customers to driver the vehicle.