Why I bought a G4

Author	Message
DarrenG	DarrenG posted 18 Years Ago Topic Details
Group: Forum Member Posts: 513, Visits: 2.1K	In his email asking for contacts from G4 owners for a magazine article one of John Pearsons questions was why we bought an ex G4 vehicle. One of my answers was that it got more attention than a car costing five times as much. Returning from Stansted on Sunday I stopped at a petrol station (not an infrequent event with a v8!) and as I walked to pay for the fuel a guy returning to his car said totally unprompted 'that is one cool truck'. Left me with a grin from ear to ear! As someone who has loved Land Rovers from a very early age I had always lusted after an ex Camel vehicle but by the time I was able to contemplate a purchase they were getting old and I needed a reliable daily drive. The 2003 DII's appeared about this time at Keith Gott's albeit export only. I decided then that they were exactly what I wanted and then spent nearly 12months trying to find one. Luckily for me one came up in Auto Trader and better still was not far away. It was an ex Keith Gott vehicle purchased to transport guests around a shooting estate. The owner had thought it too good for that and it had spent most of his 8mths ownership stored in a barn hence his decision to sell. Anyway its been mine for seven months now and in that time I've reinstated the sponsor and G4 stickers and plaques and sourced a bike, kayak, tent and a selection of original G4 clothing. I'm afraid to admit I've become an anorak albeit an Orange one :) Darren Griffin Editor PocketGPSWorld.com
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PH	PH posted 18 Years Ago Post Details
Group: Forum Member Posts: 39, Visits: 1.3K	Fair one, I can see how it might become addictive. I wasn't looking for a G4, but it just happened to be the vehicle with the lowest mileage / best spec available. I wrote off my much loved and bog standard 110 CSW (green). However, I am currently in discussion with LR about possibly returning the new one to them - it has been in the garage for a couple of days in the three weeks I have had it and the transmission issue hasn't been resolved. It was also sold as a backup vehicle which wasn't taken - and it turns out to have been in South Africa in 03 and Stages 3&4 in Bolivia in 06. I get the impression everyone is 'an events vehicle' or a 'back up vehicle'! Hopefully I will get some proper service from LR and the transmission problem will be resolved under warranty and a courtesy car provided with minimal fuss etc. Part of the problem is that I bought it from Caffyns in Lewes and I live up in Worcestershire. My local dealer is Droitwich LR and there is no good will whatsoever. It is all rather the spoiling the joy of buying a fresh vehicle. Thoughts / brickbats? Naked G4 110, 2003 & 2006
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martin bisby	martin bisby posted 18 Years Ago Post Details
Group: G4 Member Posts: 657, Visits: 2.7K	interesting that you have got any kind of reaction from LR, as the vehicle is coming up for its 4th birthday. i assume the warranty is a local aftermarket one. not all vehicles were eventers, some are press vehicles that have accopanied the stages, is the lack of goodwill from previous experience or is this a reputation for the garage in general regards martin 2003 Stage 3 Event Vehicle D2 V8i ES Founding Chairman G4 Owners Club
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PH	PH posted 18 Years Ago Post Details
Group: Forum Member Posts: 39, Visits: 1.3K	Well, the vehicle came with a 12month LR used vehicle warranty so there is some committment there. The service dept. at Droitwich when I contacted them for the first time actually said 'there is no goodwill from us as you bought it elsewhere'. I only wanted it booking in and the issue with the transmission looking at. Interesting approach to customer service. It took Caffyns to call them and sort it out i.e. agree that anything not covered under warranty would be paid for by them. It was the day after I picked it up - the problem only became clear on the 190 mile trip back from Lewes. Having had all the stick for driving an orange thing, hopefully it will get sorted out! Naked G4 110, 2003 & 2006
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martin bisby	martin bisby posted 18 Years Ago Post Details
Group: G4 Member Posts: 657, Visits: 2.7K	ph stick with it, i know what you mean about the orange thing, there is a company at J31 M1 who seem to specialize in second hand RAC vehicles, as i pass it twice a week it is sooo yesterday:P interesting about your LR warranty i assumed they all fell out side the normal 3 year warranty from new by the time of sale. i had a 6 month free extended to 12 months (££££) from a firm that Keith Gott use. keep with them as the basic fit for purpose applies. regards martin 2003 Stage 3 Event Vehicle D2 V8i ES Founding Chairman G4 Owners Club
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Peter Jarrett	P Peter Jarrett posted 18 Years Ago Post Details
P Group: Forum Member Posts: 244, Visits: 1.6K	According to our local main stealer, several of them had the manufacturers warranty cancelled by Land Rover on account of the hard life they had already led. If you look up the official entries in the LR database for my car (and i'm assuming Erasmus's as well) it is actually listed as WARRANTY HOLD - my suspicion is that LR themselves saw how much it was costing to fix all of the problems that occured on some of them - for instance 4x4xFlowers needed new suspension components - and panicked. In my case, the dealer I bought it from supplied it with a 1 year after market warranty so made no odds to me - it had a minor problem with a bent trackrod which they paid for a local independent specialist to do with no questions asked. My guess if anything major came up, they would have had a tough time getting the money back from LR! Incidentally, the dealer claimed to have done all the issued Service Actions to rectify some known issues with DII's, and the LR database shows that they claimed the money for doing it on LR's behalf, but at a recent inspection none had actually been done, so the local main stealer here did them (for free, as they are Recall level issues) Peter Jarrett, ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- G4 Discovery II V8 from South Africa 2003 Challenge. Mods: Uprated front springs, winch cutout safety switch, rear parking sensors, Prinz 80ltr LPG conversion. Blog: http://pyjamas.spaces.live.com/
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curryman	curryman posted 18 Years Ago Post Details
Group: G4 Member Posts: 54, Visits: 240	When i bought my vehicle from KG he gave a warranty for 6 months I also filled in the new owner sheet in the owner book and LR sent me a warranty card (it was under 3 years), some work was done under warranty by my local LR dealer who were very helpful however afterrecall work and bumper painting/work lights replaced i was told that the warranty was on hold. I rang LR to complain and emailed the CEO to complain as i had acted in good faith and notified them of my ownership and their warranty dept had sent me the remaining warranty and relay, LR would not budge and cancelled the warranty and said that these vehicles were B class prodution vehicles with water damage and they would not be provided with a warranty as their components would fail, it was just time!!, they were sold to companies in the UK with the proviso that they should be either dimantled for parts or sold outside the UK/US market. I said it was a shame they had this approach and it would not be good PR to see thier Orange vehicles on the back of repair lorries- a little customer service would not have harmed them. My dealer informed me that the vehicle once checked by them could be covered under the "Landrover Approved warranty" which was useful last year to repatriate the vehicle from the Alps, mended vehicle washed and brought to the house, and get all the family home plus car hire in the UK. I have usually not got involved in warranties as they are expensive but I can say that the service provided by landrover warranty was superb so can heartily recommend them, it got around this problem of LR refusing to guarantee it. I think the water damage concern they must have had was the snorkel leaking issue unless some one at LR knows differently. My vehicle as I have said on other pages has only had the typical fialure which are common across the world, Banjo nut on ACE, plastic tensioner pulley (plenty failed in US) and normal, recalls eg headlight breathers, ABS nuts replaced for strpmger ones. Well it is a shame if you have a LR guarantee and the dealers are providing poor service when Dealers in places like Reading and Ascot are doing their bit to give what you should expect irrespective of whether you purchased from them. however it is still worth getting the vehicle sorted as they are great fun to own and sooo different. Cheers Tango Discovery 2 Western Australia setup vehicle 2003:w00t: My other toy is a Discovery 4 SDV6 SEtech previous toys -Freelander HSE TD4 2005; Range Rover Vogue soft top 3.5 Disco 1 300TDi N reg with red hairdresser wheels!
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PH	PH posted 18 Years Ago Post Details
Group: Forum Member Posts: 39, Visits: 1.3K	Well hopefully it will all be sorted out and I can start to play with it on the farm. Cheers Paul Naked G4 110, 2003 & 2006
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