[RRTommy]

Hi everyone,

I’m on the cusp of buying a 2012 TDV8 4.4 and I would just like to hear from fellow 4.4 owners on their experience of ownership...both good and bad.

For example (as important to me)

* real life MPG
* infotainment interface, intuitive and easy to use or infuriating?
* rear seat AC effectiveness? Gets hot here in Spain!
* cooled front seats, any good?
* is the TFT dial cluster too bright at night?
* reliable? If not...which bits?

If if there are any 4.4 club members or gurus willing to educate me I’d be grateful! I’ve had a RR classic and currrently a P38 so I am well versed in RRs.

thanks!

 

[sowr]

I don't have a TDV8 so I won't answer questions related to that.

Infotainment interface is primitive - it looks quite nice from a colour/shape point of view, it will read your iPhone/iPod and display your songs and playlists, but there are no album cover photos etc. Similar with iPhone address book. it you want to Bluetooth to an iPhone/iPod the LR cable won't work - you'll have to Bluetooth using something like this )which works very well):

https://www.amazon.com/Bovee-Blueto...ywords=bovee+land+rover&qid=1549659866&sr=8-2

Rear seat AC works ok - it's really not very independent for the rear seat passengers - but it gets plenty cold in the vehicle in general - I see summer temperatures of 40c+

TFT works just fine - not too bright at night for me. It's a very nice display which could have had a lot more going for it. Although the off-road info is great when anything but standard terrain response is selected.

If you have the diesel then you've escaped the timing chain issue on the 5.0L V8 petrol version. I've had my vehicle about 1-1/2 years so far, 2010 with 80K Km - and it has been very good so far. My backup sensor failed when water got into the passenger side rear compartment - I fixed that with some thread sealer on the roof rail bolts. Front speakers buzz at certain low frequencies. There are some squeaks and rattles I think caused by the previous owner having the dash/interior apart. There was a recall on the passenger airbag (fixed). There is a moaning sound at 95+ Kph - caused by the airbox front vents, this can be stopped by switching off the re-circ - it only happens in summer with AC on, there's a kit but it didn't work for me. The keys I got were peeling apart - there's a kit for that too.

That's it.

 

[RRTommy]

Thanks Sowr, good feedback.

I’m also trying to find out if the headlights can be switched over from U.K driving to European driving with either a switch or a function in the cars set up menu. I’ve tried good for this one but haven’t yet found the answer

 

[RRTommy]

Took the plunge and got the Westminster, she’s a July 2012 registered car - making her quite a late on.

After driving from Oxford in the UK to Alicante in Spain over the last couple of days I was pleased with her MPG. 31 MPG on average, but she got to a steady 37 whilst doing 60ish in slower traffic in the UK. Not bad for 300+bhp and 700 nm or torque!

Over the moon