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Range Rover or GX470 or..? need advise~ for kid car

topman2005

topman2005

Experienced Member
Joined
20 March 2006
Messages
405
Location
NYC
Hi, heres my situation. A newborn just arrived our family, so now i really need a SUV/Van for kid car. My budget is about $35k, i searched on ebay and i found some used 03 Range Rover and GX470 is pretty nice and in my budget, but i dunno which one is better for family use. I'm also interested on used RX330 and MDX. Actually i like the Range Rover the most, but i dunno if its reliable and hows the cost of the maintenance for this car. The Lexus also look good and its reliable. The MDX has 3rd row seat........ gosh.. its hard! any advise or other suggestions? thanks alot. and sorry for my poor english. :biggrin:
 
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Ummm... we really don't know what your priorities are and why you would want one over the other. MDX is a no brainer to me.
 
I'd be interested to know the reliability issues on an 03 era RR as well. Something I'm considering but have been wary of due to reputation.
 
I had a brand new 04 Land Rover Discovery HSE for a short period of time in 2004. Loved EVERY second of it. Like I said, it was for a short term so nothing broke on me. Well except for the leaky left front wheel because I rammed it into a curb at 35 mph sideways while making a turn in the snow way too fast.
 
I have a 2005 MDX and just plain love the car. It has been reliable, has tons of room (3rd row seating) and gets decent gas mileage.
 
If you are concerned with warranty, I would go with a Land Rover LR3. You can get a 2005/2006 in that range. I am the second owner in a 2005 that I bought just over a year ago for my wife and 2 year old and it has been wonderful. It looks great, rides great, and I have not had a single problem. Great stereo, NAV, three sunroofs, and a third row seat that the Rover doesn't have. (I believe) We looked at MDX's and I like those, but we liked this much better.
 
The RR is a beautiful vehicle. The interior is very nice, the exterior is nice and it feels nice to drive. But... and this is my opinion only... the're not cars I'd own out of warranty. When something breaks (and I believe it will) it's going to be extremely expensive to fix and it's going to happen a lot more than it will with the Honda or Toyota product.

Do you ever really go off road?
Do you have only the one child?
Do you have any pets that you routinely take with you?

The answers to these kinds of questions will help me give you some more meaningful input.

If the answer to those three questions are no... then a soft roader like the MDX or Lexus RX are arguably better choices. They drive more like cars, get better fuel milage and are cheaper to run (fuel economy and maintenance).

I am a Honda fan but I personally don't like the MDX. I've never found the front seats to be comfortable and think they look like a minivan. I know... that's not good criteria for judging a car... but that's how I feel.

We have a 2000 RX 300 AWD for 6 years and 100K miles. Not one problem. Always got good gas mileage and it was more than enough room for us. I sold that to a co-worker. His wife has since put another 30K trouble free miles on it.

You can get better MPG and lower maintenance if you stick with the FWD version of the RX. That's fine for rain and light snow. But if you need more, the AWD is a great snow vehicle but not much of a real off roader (not that anyone really takes theirs off road like that).

The third row seat (if you need it) is world's better in the MDX than the GX and isn't an option on the RX. So keep that in mind.

Here's another question for you: Have you thought about a wagon? Subaru (and some others) make very good wagons these days that can are excellent on road, offer similar off road ability as the soft roaders I mentioned, offer great utility, get great gas mileage, and are worlds more fun to drive.

I came very close to pulling the trigger on a Subie Outback XT (I think that's what the turbo model is called). Great vehicle.
 
Why not lease a new GX470?

I picked up an 06 last April and love it.......except the gas bills. :rolleyes:


Loaded w/ nav, 3rd row seating, and every option but the DVD/LCD back seat screen. (I never sit back there anyway)

$53k+ was the sticker and I leased it with no money down for $599 a month/39 months (15k miles per year.)

They took the sticker price down to somewhere around $44k and change to get me the payment I wanted. Incidentally, we replaced an '04 RX 330 with this one. I like the GX much better!

In the spirit of my car hunting hero, Al Bundy, I made them throw in the chrome exhaust tip! :tongue:
 
Stay honda and pick up an mdx!
 
Looks and bling= Range Rover

Reliability and luxury= Lexus


Reliability/logic/utility/Sharp = MDX
 
Get a Toyota and If your going to get marginal fuel mileage you might as well get as much seating and storage as possible...I really don't like SUVs so here is my suggestion and it comes in AWD too:smile:

04.toyota.sienna.500.jpg
 
My last three vehicles have been Land Rovers. A '00 Disco which I had for a little over a year (with no problems). I traded that in for a '97 Defender which I owned for 5 years. I actually traded that in for the NSX. :cool: My daily driver is a '95 Range Rover Classic which I purchased about two years ago with 120k on the odo. I've never had a single issue with any of my Rovers, in fact, they have been the most reliable vehicles I've owned.
 
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gleibig said:
My last three vehicles have been Land Rovers. A '00 Disco which I had for a little over a year (with no problems). I traded that in for a '97 Defender which I owned for 5 years. I actally traded that in for the NSX. :cool: My daily driver is a '95 Range Rover Classic which I purchased about two years ago with 120k on the odo. I've never had a single issue with any of my Rovers, in fact, they have been the most reliable vehicles I've owned.
Click to expand...


Either you have serious memory loss issues or you are a very very very lucky man..or both:wink: :biggrin:
 
My advice is to stay away from Range Rovers. My buddies shop is constantly seeing these things come in for repair. He was telling me that they are VERY unreliable and expensive to fix.

A friend of mine at work went in to check them out at the dealer. He saw more with service tickets than were for sale. He decided to buy an MDX and has been happy ever since.
 
We've had an '06 HSE for a few months now, and so far we haven't had any problems. However, I know I wont be very lucky when the car goes out of warranty, so we went ahead and purchased an extended warranty. From what I've been hearing, if you want an RR, just make sure its under warranty.
 
I have a 2007 mdx & jeep cherokee sr8t and
all i can say is that I do not like driving the mdx.
The jeep goes go o-60 in 4.6 secs along with
brembo's and bilesteins(probably spelled wrong)
you might find a 2006 in the high 30's.
28536.jpg
 
zahntech said:
Either you have serious memory loss issues or you are a very very very lucky man..or both:wink: :biggrin:
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I second that.....i am in disbelief... The couple of range rovers i had, where breaking down, just sitting in the driveway..literarlly. I actually saw my turn signal marker just fall off, while i was standing there. I wouldnt buy a range rover with out a serious warranty.

If you want to haul kids around minivan like a honda ody would be perfect. But if your not a minvan guy. The Acura MDX is a great option. Also i know alot of people on here are are honda import fans, but how about a Cadillac Escalade or the Escalade ESV. People love their escalade ESV.... and you probably can get a 2006 with warranty on your budget.

Check out www.edmunds.com and read consumer reviews..
 
Sounds like you made the right decision to avoid the RR. I love the looks of the RR, but the equation goes like this:

If no newborn/kids (so you can tolerate a breakdown waiting for tow truck) = get RR.

If have kids = get the Lexus.
 
Come on you guys. Aren't we exaggerating the faults of the Range Rover a little bit? How many of you have actually owned one? My first car was a 1996 RR 4.6HSE, 1 owner, low miles, all service records, etc..... It was a clean, unabused car when I bought it and never caused me any big problems. Yeah it was tempermental at times but having a good private Land Rover tech can help avoid the high costs at a dealer and all the BSing they do.... The problem cars you are talking about have most likely been abused/neglected and not serviced at regular intervals. A Range Rover doesn't have any more problems than your typical full size Luxury SUV (H1, G Wagon, Cayenne) or sedan (7 series, S class, etc....). Why compare it with a Lexus GX, RX300Acura MDX, etc.... Those cars are not in the same league :confused:

I would argue that as far as build quality (the quality of leather, wood, etc.) the RR is hands down better than any Lexus. Heck, put a mint condition low mileage earlier model 4.0se/4.6hse next to a new GX and try to honestly tell me that the Lexus is better.
 
Diablo360 said:
A Range Rover doesn't have any more problems than your typical full size Luxury SUV (H1, G Wagon, Cayenne) or sedan (7 series, S class, etc....).

.
Click to expand...


And you think those cars are reliable?:rolleyes:

I worked at a shop that did Jaguars,Range Rovers and Rolls Royce for 5 years and I can tell you from much experience that these cars are not to be driven by persons that have high expectations of reliability from their cars.
 
zahntech said:
And you think those cars are reliable?:rolleyes:

I worked at a shop that did Jaguars,Range Rovers and Rolls Royce for 5 years and I can tell you from much experience that these cars are not to be driven by persons that have high expectations of reliability from their cars.
Click to expand...


They are "fairly reliable" if they are properly maintained and fixed when they need to be. Most people who own used RR's or lease new ones could give a damn about spending the extra $$ on preventative and regular maintenance. that's why there are so many "bad ones" out there. I do agree with you however that they need more "attention" than say a Lexus or Acura, but does that make them bad cars? Hands down the Range Rover was and still is my favorite SUV. Well, maybe after the H1. In the end if you find a clean, no issue, low mileage, 1 owner Range Rover with all of the service records you should be okay. It's up to you from that point. Plenty of people in my area drive one. If they were that bad I shouldn't be seeing one every other second.
 

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