Hello All

Please humour me a moment before I get to the point!

After much thought I am not now going to sell my 07MY, 28.8K mileage vehicle but take out an expensive extended LR warranty instead.

I principally use the FL2 for:

.Hauling around 3 tons of fuel timber each year 8 miles to my home, following chainsawing to size.
.Enabling my good wife to get 20 miles to work along at least 10 miles of narrow untreated country roads in the winter.
.Short local journeys myself, being retired.

I have kept most of my cars for years, several in excess of 150K mileage, one in excess of 200K miles servicing them myself, but after reading Alex Pecaru's recent FL2 camshaft failure feedback together with other concerns for the particular manufacturing year of my vehicle - '07, I really felt quite uncomfortable re keeping it.

The subject of CREDIBILTY.

This international site is important, its knowledge database widespread and far reaching, and its value to you and I really important. The trouble I have, and probably other folk aswell, is sifting the data available in posts for quality and whether from a source of reliability that stands up and supports forensic and rational argument - with LR for example.

None of us use any sort of protocol when presenting the data and arguments in our posts, and this frequently thwarts providing any sort of statistical picture re a specific type of failure or problem.

We don't automatically provide in each post:

The Vin number of the vehicle concerned
The vehicles year of manufacture
The vehicles first registration month
The vehicles current mileage
The vehicles mileage per annum
The vehicles specification - manual, auto, engine type.
The vehicles typical use.

I have often thought that if this site had a search facility coupled with MS Excel spreadsheet software, a really useful dataset (perhaps) could be achieved that would make LR and by default manufacturers of all marques sit up and pay attention to consumer power. - Perhaps again!

The Honest John website has considerable credibility, is independent, though in the Weekend Telegraph aswell, and is usually very accurate and technically reliable in its commentary.

I just wondered whether this post might just encourage debate among'st you.

Thank you for reading,

Kind regards, Toadshall

I think a user created database of cars and their "history" would be a brilliant idea!

If each of us could keep a log on our profile page of the car, its details and an ongoing log of "issues", "scheduled maintenance" and "unplanned maintenance" perhaps?

This data would build up over time, each issue or maintenance entry could be logged with a mileage entry and perhaps some level's of severity that could be agreed on?

This way you could start to build up a statistical analysis of how old cars are when they develop minor issues, moderate issues and major issues as well as looking for common issues and when they may occur!

I think the dealers and the manufacturers would HATE this as it would provide cusotmers with a potential snapshot on the reliability of certain models and issues that they might not want to admit to!

The only issue you would have with all of this would be the amount of buy in that you would get, those with issues are more likely to log them than those without, and those who use forums such as this are more likely to be clued up to look for issues - this make the data less valid as a whole but it might still be worth considering - if anyone has the time and expertise to make this work!

A good idea!

Perhaps one of the moderators could host a Google Docs spreadsheet and give access to trusted posters? Freelander 2 SD4 HSE Automatic - Aintree Green
Discovery 4 HSE - Aintree Green
Defender XS - Tonga Green
Freelander 2 TD4 SE Automatic - Tonga Green
Freelander 1 Td4 ES Manual - Epsom Green
Freelander 1 Td4 Kalahari SE - Epsom Green
Freelander 1 XEi - Epsom Green
www.greenlandrover.uk

Coming from a techie background I would have to say that this is probably not a job for a Excel Spreadsheet!

This needs to have a database into which the details can be recorded, I could probably knock up the database objects and the database design for something like this if it would help but I would need someone with the web design skills to provide a front end to input data into?

hover your mouse over the little car under each posters name to get a few details of the posters car, not always upto date mine is woefully in accurate I sold the fl2 a year ago At work
At home

"I can't always believe facts I read on the web" - Charles Dickens

winner by default of the tractor vs caravan race

chicken george wrote:

hover your mouse over the little car under each posters name to get a few details of the posters car, not always upto date mine is woefully in accurate I sold the fl2 a year ago

For an extensive database, contact the user mkaresh.
And his thread: LR2 / Freelander reliability
And his site: www.truedelta.com

Alex,

The truedelta website is similar to our own as regards the lack of a a structure to ensure identical and fundamental data is recorded before expanding on a specific problem.

It is impossible to compare like with like, manufacturing year with manufacturing year, Vin range with Vin range, mileage with mileage, regular type of duty with regular type of duty, geographic location with geographic location, ambient temperature against ambient temperature etc, so understanding a specific problem or failure which has a high frequency in posts cannot be easily analysed as to whether one or more of the criteria above are dominant.

If we take the camshaft failure issue. We do not know whether it is specific to Romania and to Russia or more widespread. Is the problem specific to the '07 manufacturing year or more wide ranging. What is the real Vin number spread?

My instinct suggests this problem may be fuel quality related and perhaps ultra low ambient temperatures which are associated with specific countries.

In retrospect I can crunch the data independantly, assuming sufficient volume, but having the quality info provided in the first place is the hard bit - unless there was a pro-forma at the beginning of each post to be filled in.

Kind regards Toadshall

L/R database would make interesting reading.
It would certainly be comprehensive.

We'll never gain access of course
Dunno if my 3TB HDD will be big enough  Another member of the failed FL2 clutch/DMF club, twice.