Range Rover Sport Servicing Dubai

[CJMCG]

Dear All,

Hope all is well for all the LR fans in the UAE!

I will soon be coming to Dubai, and am very pleased to see that it is possible to get hold of a used RR Sport for reasonable money!

My concern then shifts to the servicing and parts/labour charges. I am comng from the UK, but, have spent the majority of my life in the Middle East, and so, am used to the differences between the EU and Middle East in terms of costs and services.

I am hoping that the decent cost of purchasing such a vehicle as the RR-Sport would be matched by similar low cost of maintenance and servicing/parts?

If someone could offer some insight, then that would be great!

Thank you! If it helps, I am looking at a 2006-7 Range Rover Sport V8.

All the best!

CJMCG

[nutbolt]

Hi CJMCG

You would be looking at 100k - 120k aed for used 06 sports depending on km and Service History. IMHO spend few grand extra for car with full service history.

Regards to service there are few good landies specialist in Dubai.

Al Tayer being a dealer, but usually a rip off for older model. Then comes AAA which is second to Al Tayer in workmanship and half in price. Then third comes Gulf Star in Sharjah at very decent price but long waiting sometime as he is favorite among used rangie owners.

Hope it helps.

btw welcome to Dubai

[billyboy360]

Give A2B garage in Al Quoz a try for servicing. They look after my sport and offer a good service at good prices also run by British expats.

Al Tayer is very hit and miss, my car has come back from them with more problems that it went in with.

[CJMCG]

Wow. Thank you both - very kind. As you can tell, I have been absent a wee bit - finding a house has somehow become more important that landing a Landie. Don't ask me how...

Although the RR-Sport is what I am most interested in, and if possible, a V8-Supercharged variant, is there anything else, LR/RR or otherwise, which should be considered? I know it is a bit of an open question, but, I am no stranger to the Middle East, and with the local's obsession with all things LandCruiser! Does anyone have an opinion on, say, the Toureg (European-pricey option?), the Armada (giant Jap option), the Pajero (tried and trusted Jap faithful - yawn) or the Prado (baby LandCruiser after liposuction...)... I am looking beyond purchase price, and adding concerns of a) performance, comfort/image (wife!), c) off-road ability (some would be nice!), d) servicing, part, labour costs. The other realm I was looking into was that of the Yank-Tank Option. GMC Yukon, Chevy Tahoe or Ford Expedition...

I would love to hear some stories/ideas or experiences? I certainly don't think I would have the 'pocket' deep enough for a full-on RangeRover, hence the interest in the Sport. Also, the Discovery (aka LR4?) seems scarce here and unappreciated? Is there a reason for that?

Can I also ask the average servicing cost of the Sport/Sport SC? I have heard reasonble stories and nightmare horrors!

Much much appreciated, and it was nice to arrive in Dubai, amidst the hectic set-up period, and have a nice few replies on here, so, thank you!

[bmwdoc]

@CJMCG,

LR4 is overpriced hence not many around yet, locals pay the extra and go for the RR. Evoque may do well but engine a bit small for here, LR3 is good option, plenty around at reasonable prices, try and find Expat owned direct from owner and not car showroom (in fact don't buy anything from used car showrooms here) American 4x4 not recommended, not that great off road, boring to drive (wife will not like) Pajero an OK car but too many around (I have one as company car ) Toyota you can’t go wrong but again look very closely at who owned it and poss. of millage roll back, Land Rover is a great car to own but parts tend to be a bit expensive, don't go with X5 as cant do off road, Nissan Xterra is a good option and reliable try and get off road edition, don’t touch ford exploder no matter how cheap, FJ a nice car but visibility is very bad when driving, VW touareg is not too bad but not great off road, give me a shout when you are ready to buy and I will try and help you (ex Aftersales director so I know cars quite well)

[Gaurav]

Doc responses are quite well. Good luck CJMCG.

[CJMCG]

Wow, again, thanks Doc, thanks Gaurav!

As before, I am still waiting for the go ahead with car purchase. My company is playing around with visas and residency, so, I am going to have to wait a bit. I love refering back to Docs very helpful and very descriptive, insightful replies! Am a bit of a perol head and love dicussing the in's and out's of all these models! I have another two to throw into the mix, but, please understan, that I am still aiming for the RR-S V8, but, do have to justify it with the wife. She does see the likes of the RR-S bing dwarfed by Yukons, Armada's and Patrols-on-balloon-tyres, and keeps asking me why I would insist on a lower-to-the-ground Brit-mobile when you can have a massive tank like the aforementioned. The other ones that didn't make it onto the initial list (simply because I forgot! Nothing to do with the vehicles...) were the Hummer H2 and Toyota Fortuner. Now, my inital thoughts are (and please correct as appropriate... this means you Doc - lol!) that the Hummer is a fun-toy, 7/10 score for offroad despite its appearance/reputation, 7/10 for interior quality/space, 1/10 for service support/parts/costs of maintenance. Oh, and 2/10 for bing able to fit anywhere, but 10/10 for imposing brutality. The Fortuner, only really mentioned here because it is everywhere, seems to be a Prado designed for the Indian market specfically, and totters round with the same (lame?) 2.7VVTi wheeze-bag engine found in everything from Hilux donkey-carts to FUSO Buses! Seems small, weak, cheap, low-rent and common, BUT, it has some serious ground clearance! Also noted that the UAE Police use Nissan X-Terra's... Interesting! So, the challenge is on, the gauntlet pounded on the dusty ground - HOW do we justify running and owning the RR-S out here? Its lower to the ground than many others (X-Terra, Prado, Pathfinder,etc), its more expensive to service than others (vs. Nissan, Toyota, etc) [unless youre Gaurav! ;o) ], its is slower than some others (Cayenne's, X5 4.4iS, M-Class AMG, etc), has less space than some others (Yukons, Armada's, Landcruiser V8's). So, let's hear it for the Brit-Pack! What makes the RR and RR-S the ones to go for?

[bmwdoc]

to keep it short:

If I’m not too bothered about going off road but want a nice car there the RR or RRS is a great choice, be careful buying either, need to be professionally checked inside and out, look out for USA imports (much cheaper but devalue more than a house on the palms

Nissan Armarda is a big beast if the wife fancies a large one, No pun intended! Can go off road but will lose the front bumper quickly or at least the bottom of it but plenty of space and big V8 power.

Toy-mota foreskin i wouldn’t bother for the reasons you have already mentioned (although they do go off road)

HUMMER H2, now that’s one I like but ageing now and surprisingly not that great off road either (in Sand) but does scare everyone else on the road also surprisingly not that great in an accident (they just look strong)

I still think that either the LR3, RR or RRS would be a good sound choice and as others have said there are cheaper parts available from Sharjah and also A2B or AAA workshops

[Gaurav]

Hey CJMCG

It seems in this part of world people love to own two or more car for different purposes. Asking on landie forum for other brands will always be biased , no offence to Doc or my advises.

I am doing regular off roading here in Dubai, and i can bet i have not seen much US (other than Jeep) or UK cars in desert here. Japanese rules big time. I dont mean to point for LC which is safari guys donkey cart due to cheap maintenance.

Few cars i own for offroad:

Land Crusier: Big disappointment for good off road capabilities unless you like to do sand cruising ONLY. Damn reliable, cheap maintenance with high resale value.

Nissan Patrol (SWB): It was amazing for off-road with good grunt and respect but limited climb capabilities.

Discovery: Same like LC, slightly better due to smarter gear ratio.

Pajero (SWB): Overall quite happy since almost two years now and plan to keep it for long.

Few Cars i own for road (Comfort and safety wise):

Discovery: Super sliky V8 that you will love on road.

Mercedes ML500: F.fast, responsive and most fuel economical V8 i have ever owned plus decent comfort and safety.

Range Rover: Nothing comes closer to its class, status, respect, comfort and power. I give more marks to RR than my Lexus GS430 comparing its a luxury sedan still.

Few comments about your choices:

Armada: dont even think of taking to offroad as Doc mentioned you will break more parts and bumper than driving.

Hummer H2: Good, capable off road vehicle but being so heavy you need to remember its 3.2 tonnes weight before jumping over a smallest dune. My colleague broke its shock absorber on its first off road drive over a small unintentional jump. Took us 3 hours to recover it out of the dunes. Maintenance cost i have no idea.

Xterra: Very good off road car and successful due to good value for money, road comfort is decent but not great.

Patrol (LWB): New model i dont know, Old Vtec 4.8 is beast on off-road and super safari option is equally good and comfy on road.

Prado 4.0 (LWB): Amazing off road performance but being a soft car, regular bashing is not advisable. Its more of road car than off road.

Prado 4.0 (SWB): Nothing better than this for offroad having 262 hp sitting on 1.7 ton car. Give a two inch lift and off you go over highly modified jeeps and landies in desert.

If you have a budget of 150k ( i assume if you aim for RR-S), then get 2006 RR (Autobiography or Vogue) for 100k and spend 50 on SWB Prado (4.0). To have best of both the world. Two cars is always better than one to serve backup for each other.