Range Rover (L322)

The L322 ran from 2003 through 2012, the longest single-chassis Range Rover production cycle and one that passed through three corporate owners. BMW developed the platform and delivered the first three model years with its own 4.4L M62 V8. Ford took over in 2006 and dropped in the Jaguar 4.2L supercharged V8 alongside a naturally aspirated 4.4L variant. Tata Motors finished the run from 2010 through 2012 with the Jaguar-designed 5.0L AJ133 V8 in naturally aspirated and supercharged forms. NHTSA shows 401 complaints across the full ten-year run, with 10 crash reports, 5 fire reports, 9 injuries, and zero recorded deaths.

Transmission failures dominate the complaint record at 188 filings, roughly 47% of everything logged on this generation. The pattern tracks the chassis through its three powertrain eras. BMW-era 4.4L cars ran the ZF 5HP24 five-speed and later the ZF 6HP26 six-speed, both prone to mechatronic valve-body failures and harsh shifts past 80,000 miles. The 2010-2012 5.0L cars moved to the ZF 6HP28 with software calibrations specific to JLR. Across all variants the failure mode owners report is consistent: delayed engagement, slipping between gears, and limp-mode triggers that often require a full transmission replacement at independent specialist rates of $4,000 to $7,000.

The 4.4L V8 (246 complaints) is the highest-volume engine in the dataset and carries a caution rating. It accumulated 6 of the 10 crashes and 3 of the 5 fires on this generation, with 146 of its 246 filings concentrated in the transmission category. The BMW-sourced M62 block itself is mechanically durable, but Land Rover's installation added cooling complexity that drives the secondary failure modes: plastic intake-manifold cracking, secondary air-injection failures, and chronic coolant leaks at the front timing cover. The 4.2L supercharged Jaguar V8 (31 complaints, recommended) and the later 5.0L AJ133 variants (26 naturally aspirated and 16 supercharged, both recommended) post lower complaint densities but with much smaller fleet exposure, which makes the rating less statistically robust than the 4.4L's.

Steering issues (27 complaints) and electrical issues (25 complaints) round out the top categories above the safety-systems bucket. The steering complaints concentrate on power-steering pump failures and the column-mounted electronic locking module on later cars. Electrical filings spread across the air-suspension control module, the rear differential locker, and the body-control module, which is consistent with what L322 specialists see in service: this generation runs more electronic subsystems than its competitors of the era, and corrosion of pin connectors under the battery tray is a chronic source of fault codes that mimic mechanical problems.

The L322 is now a deep used-market vehicle. Original-owner cars are rare. Most examples on the secondary market have passed through three or four owners with maintenance histories that vary from meticulous to abandoned. For buyers comparing the L322 against the newer L405 and L460, our most-reliable Range Rover years guide ranks the cross-generational complaint density year by year.