SUMPTUOUS AND STRAPPING.

LONGTERM TEST
OUR 40,000-MILE LR3 HAS A MIXED MÉTIER.
by AARON ROBINSON
PHOTOGRAPHY BY AARON ROBINSON
SUMPTUOUS
AND STRAPPING.
LAND ROVER LR3 HSE V-8
00
THE HIGHS
THE lows
The Verdict
Sandre modipisit nim aci ea facidunt
ent prate consequis ea feumsan
henis augait praesenisi. Cum dolor.
Sandre modipisit nim aci ea facidunt
ent prate consequis ea feumshenis
augait praesenisi. Cum doloretoo.
ent prate consequis ea feumsan
henis augait praesenisi. Cum dolore
dec
2006
caranddriver.com
Mapping the Serengeti or mooring
in a shopping-mall lot? Roaming
Waziristan[cq] or waiting at the schoolbus stand? What is a Land Rover’s true
métier—that French word means the
work one is particularly suited for—now
that the Ford-owned company has fully
transcended its birthplace in the Yorkshire mud to become an urban fashion
accessory.
As always, the measure of the métier
is made from behind the wheel. Never
ones to flee from a beckoning leather
seat, we rolled up 40,000 miles in a 2005
Land Rover LR3 to find out for you. This
is essentially Rover, Round 2. In 1996, we
performed the same public service by diving deep into one of the LR3’s predecessors, a $38,730 Land Rover Discovery [C/D,
May 1996]. We discovered that the Disco’s
métier was as a sturdy expedition taker,
comfortable and spacious and beset with
strange ergonomics and British quality
stereotypes.
Little has changed in 10 years.
caranddriver.com
To avoid biasing our métier meter, we
again went for full everything on our longterm Landie: full opulence with the toptrim HSE model, full 300-horse V-8 power,
and some extra off-road kit [see Baubles
and Bolt-Ons]. The 5779-pound pride of
Her Majesty’s Fleet lumbered up to Hogback headquarters in June 2005 wearing
a window sticker of $53,870, including
$49,995 for the base HSE (the HSE gets a
navigation system, 19-inch wheels, blueblazing xenon headlamps, rain-sensing
wipers, and park-distance control among
the additional comfort features added to
the base $44,995 SE).
Our options were a $1250 rear-seat
package that included a third row and
related amenities such as extended curtain airbags; a $1050 cold-climate package
that included heated front seats and an
electrically heated windshield; rear-seat
climate control for $950; towing equipment for $375; and a center-console drink
chiller for $250.
The first safari was to the track, where
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Pellentesque
ullamcorper luctus tellus. Quisque
commodo vulputate erat.Vulla consequ ametue min henim et acilissenim
ing el ulla commodo exero odo odolenisim at nos ea
dec
2006
00
LONGTERM TEST
LAND ROVER LR3 HSE V-8
LAND ROVER LR3 HSE V-8
RANTS AND RAVES
TONY SWAN
Towed great on highway and
byway alike. Plenty of passing
power and a smooth ride, but the
hitch height is so low we scraped
a pound of metal shavings off her
underside.
TONY QUIROGA
Drives a lot like the more expensive Range Rover.
DAVE VANDERWERP
Nice to have an auxiliary input
for the stereo, but no way can the
driver get his iPod into the plug
in the back of the center console.
Why not put it in the glove box?
PATTI MAKI
Audio about impossible to read
with bifocals. Sorry, but everybody over 40 wears ’em, and
anybody who could afford this
car is over 40.
KIRK COLWELL
The headrests are some of the
worst I have seen. The have no
adjustment and hit at the top of
my head, causing my neck to
bend to about 140 degrees—not
comfy.
LARRY WEBSTER
Terrific headlights. The high
beams make nighttime look like
daytime.
DAN WINTER
Who’s the a-hole who put on
this brush guard? Not only does
it distract from the LR3’s only
attractive angle (the front), but it
also adds unnecessary weight.
00
dec
2006
CAPTION HEAD TK
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Pellentesque
ullamcorper luctus tellus. Quisque
commodo vulputate erat. Pellentesque
urna felis, ornare sed, feugiat a, accumsan ut, sapien.
60 mph loafed by in 8.6 seconds, a time
that would inexplicably bulge to 8.8 seconds once the 32-valve DOHC 4.4-liter V-8
had racked up 40,000 miles. Conversely,
the initial skidpad performance of 0.69 g
and stopping distance of 175 feet changed
hardly at all.
Learning the LR3’s many controls, we
were skillful button pushers by the time
of our first service at 7500 miles (which
was free, owing to Land Rover’s policy of
offering maintenance on the company’s
tab up to 45,000 miles). Early logbook entries noted a quiet highway ride and stout
passing power even with a race-car trailer
hooked up.
The V-8 was always thirsty. Over 13
months, we made 173 visits to Exxonistan
to fill the 22.8-gallon tank with increascaranddriver.com
ingly pricey premium, averaging 15 mpg.
That’s just 1 mpg better than our ’96 Disco,
despite a new overhead-cam engine and
six-speed automatic. The farthest we ever
trekked on a full tank: 390 miles, averaging 18.1 mpg. More often, the fuel light
was shining significantly earlier—over
the test, we averaged 232 miles between
fill-ups—leading to this frustrated Yodalike logbook entry: “250 miles on a tank
do not an adventure vehicle make!”
A few quality ticks showed up early. At
5613 miles the fuel door suddenly refused
to latch, and a fix was performed gratis
under the four-year/50,000-mile warranty.
At 9633 miles, the dealer replaced under
warranty some black exterior door-trim
panels that had faded to a foggy gray. At
13,301 miles, the LR3 became convinced it
was capsizing, flashing a panicky “overturn” warning light even in low-speed
turns. At the same time, the air suspension refused to rise to its maximum setting. The dealer diagnosed a short in the
suspension height switch and replaced
it—all bills absorbed by the Mother Protector warranty.
By 22,817 miles, the LR3 was losing
its new-car luster. A low-coolant warning
light was twinkling, an unsightly crack
cleaved the windshield, and it was being
summoned back to the barn for a fueltank recall (sadly, not to make it bigger,
but to replace it to avoid a potential leak
into the breather pipe that could pump
fumes into the cockpit). The coolant
warning was caused by a shorted sensor in the radiator’s expansion tank and
was replaced under warranty. The new
electrically heated windshield set us back
$1031, which we didn’t register as a repair
because the crack was probably caused
by an errant stone. Soon after, the new
windshield’s new weather strip flapped
loose and had to be reglued.
The factory trailer hitch, inserted into
a bumper socket so it hangs from the rear
like a sack of bull’s essentials, was deemed
too low hanging not to be scraped on every
driveway ramp.
People were pleased with the LR3’s
tight steering but noted jumpiness in the
V-8’s throttle tip-in. Modest applications
of the go pedal could send packages in the
vast cargo hold sprawling.
At the 30,000-mile maintenance pit
stop, the dealer cured a liftgate rattle that
proved to be a latch out of adjustment.
Another buzz developed in a speaker
grille, and the glove-box door went awry
until the dealer adjusted it. The LR3 was
to give no major trouble for the rest of
its stay, although the dealer would later
upload new software to the transfer-case
module under a factory bulletin and to
caranddriver.com
LONGTERM TEST
BAUBLES AND BOLT-ONS
ROOF-TOP TENT: Eezi-Awn
roof tents from South Africa are
designed to “keep you out of the
food chain,” says U.S. distributor Paul May of Equipt Expedition
Outfitters[cq] in Salt Lake City,
Utah[cq] (www.equipt1.com)[cq].
Sewn from heavy canvas with
sturdy seams and a waterproof rain
fly, the Series 2 1400[cq] raises as
you open it like a book. The 1400
sleeps two in spacious comfort on a
soft foam mattress above a plywood
floor. At 160 pounds, the Eezi-Awn
is too bulky for most factory roof
racks, but we got by with Thule
bars adapted to the LR3’s stock
rack mounts. An aluminum ladder
provides access, and a cinchable
vinyl cover keeps bugs and dirt off
while traveling. The only bummer is
the price: $1475, plus shipping and
rack mods.
SNOW TIRES: As the gales of
December came howling in, we
substituted the all-season Goodyear
Wrangler HPs for 12,000 miles with
255/50R-19 Nokian Hakkapeliitta
snow tires (www.nokiantyres.com),
$1524 installed. The Goodyears
never drew complaint for their
winter traction, but the Hakkas were
unstoppable in the white stuff.
BRUSH GUARD: To keep the brush
at bay on an off-road foray through
Utah’s Canyonlands National Park,
we fitted a steel-tube brush guard
from Land Rover’s dealer accessory
catalog. The rugged look doesn’t
come cheap: $617, plus $115
installation, at any Land Rover
dealer.
dec
2006
00
LONGTERM TEST
STORY/CAR NAME
2005 LAND ROVER LR3 HSE V-8
Vehicle type: front-engine, 4-wheel-drive,
5-passenger, 5-door wagon
Price as tested: $53,870 (base price:
$49,995)
Engine type: DOHC 32-valve V-8, aluminum
block and heads, port fuel injection
Displacement. . . . . . . . . . . . . 268 cu in, 4394cc
Power (SAE net). . . . . . . . 300 bhp @ 5500 rpm
Torque (SAE net). . . . . . . . 315 lb-ft @ 4000 rpm
Transmission. . . . . . 6-speed automatic with
manumatic shifting
dimensions
Wheelbase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113.6 in
Length/width/height. . . 190.9/75.4/74.1–76.2 in
Curb weight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5779 lb
Performance:
new
40,000
Zero to 60 mph
8.6 sec . . . . 8.8 sec
Zero to 100 mph
25.4 sec . . . 26.2 sec
Street start, 5–60 mph 9.6 sec . . . . 9.3 sec
Standing ¼-mile
16.8 sec. . . 16.9 sec
JEFFREY G. RUSSELL
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Pellentesque
ullamcorper luctus tellus. Quisque
commodo vulputate erat.Vulla coning
el ulla commodo exero odo odolenisim
caranddriver.com
the navigation system to cure a flicker
in the screen.
The LR3 lived mostly a city life, but
at this point it went west for a 3200-mile
off-road bash through California, Nevada,
Utah, and Arizona. In the field, the LR3’s
fancier off-road gimmicks—the display
screen showing wheel articulation, the
multisetting Terrain Response system
that adjusts throttle and anti-slip controls
to various surfaces, and the hill-descent
control that automatically works the
brakes during downhill maneuvers—
proved just gimmicks. In four low, with
the body flying high on its airlifted suspension, the LR3 could scramble cleanly
over rock ledges and promontories and
up slick rock ramps without help from
the electronics. When the right front tire
developed a slow leak, we lamented the
LR3’s space-saver spare, useless for escaping the canyons. The battery was killed
in a lonely canyon by a ridiculously selfresetting dome-light off switch that only
works with the key in the ignition. A lucky
jump from a passing truck saved us from
the circling buzzards.
A heavy fuel user suffering a few
quality gaffes, the LR3 was also a luxury
chaise for cruising urban streets and a
tenacious off-road machine. Land Rover’s
métier remains hard to pin down.
@ 84
@ 83
mph
mph
175 ft. . . . . 174 ft
Braking, 70–0 mph
Roadholding,
300-ft-dia skidpad 0.69 g. . . . . 0.71 g
Top speed
(governor limited) 121 mph. . . 121 mph
EPA fuel economy, city driving . . . . . . . 14 mpg
C/D-observed fuel economy. . . . . . . . . 15 mpg
Unscheduled oil additions. . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 qt
Warranty:
4 Year/50,000-mile with complimentary
scheduled maintenance and roadside
assistance
Service and repair stops:
Scheduled. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Unscheduled. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Operating costs (for 40,000 miles):
Service. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $0
Normal wear. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $0
Repair. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $0
Gasoline (@ $2.73 per gallon) . . . . . . . . $7280
Life expectancies (estimated from
40,000-mile test):
Tires . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50,000 miles
Front brake pads . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50,000 miles
Rear brake pads. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60,000 miles
Model year changes
2006: 4.0-liter, 216-hp V-6 offered
2007: none
dec
2006
00