Land Rover LR3, Anyone Got One??

GG Allin · GG Allin's Garage

My wife wants an SUV bad. I'm not very thrilled. Her '08 Toyota Corolla is just fine. But her mother is willing to take that car over. She's eye balling used Range Rovers. I told her she's nuts. I'm thinking I could compromise and get her interested in the LR3. She could get a newer one with less miles for less money. Like any car that I buy, I want to learn everything I can before diving in. What should be known about these? Any help is appreciated.

gt350mike · 06-18-2009, 10:45 AM

My buddy has a 2006 with little to no trouble. I've driven it a few times (on and off road) and I've really enjoyed it but the LR3 does have a reputation for not being reliable. The other negative is that it only takes premium gas......at 14 or 15 mpg it can get old quick.

HHI944 · 06-18-2009, 10:53 AM

Bah, get her a series and see how quickly she decides that she no longer wants an suv. One 50+ mile trip will have her pissing blood for a week.
In all seriousness, the lr3 is a nice truck and pretty capable all around but it does suffer from the rover mileage syndrome.

Dottore · 01:43 PM

Bad mileage and an unbelievably cheapo-plasticky interior. Maybe so you can hose it down or something, but it looks like shyte.

GG Allin · GG Allin's Garage

She's also looking at X5's. They scare me too. But I'm a BMW guy, maybe I should look closer at those.

Deschodt · 06-18-2009, 12:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mbrouder

My wife wants an SUV bad. I'm not very thrilled. Her '08 Toyota Corolla is just fine. But her mother is willing to take that car over. She's eye balling used Range Rovers. I told her she's nuts. I'm thinking I could compromise and get her interested in the LR3. She could get a newer one with less miles for less money. Like any car that I buy, I want to learn everything I can before diving in. What should be known about these? Any help is appreciated.

Wife's got one... 2005.. .I'm not an SUV guy, but this thing is actually very good at what it does... (4x4). We've had it in the mud near Ocala, FL, it's incredible... Took it to Land rover's days out and it was a ball... Aside from that, if we ever have to evacuate for a hurricane, that is the car of choice ! I'm liking it - It's been uber-reliable (one cracked coolant tank, that's it), it looks nice, and yeah, the MPG sucks but ours is only used in town so it's not a biggie unless you drive 30K mi a year... Our kid loves it too, stadium seating gives him a great view and it holds tons of ****, great towing rating, and if you get Tboned it's stronger than A Smart car ;-)

I'd get one over a range rover because the trunk is cavernous. You can live there. The Range trunk is surprisingly small...

jhynesrockmtn · 06-18-2009, 02:03 PM

This brought back memories of sitting in the Jag/LR dealer in Bellevue for one of the many visits my ex wifes 2000 XJ8 made to the service dept for warranty repairs. High maintenance lady sitting in there waiting for her LR to get done. She's from Yakima which is the other side of the mountains, probably a 2 hour drive from the dealer. No LR dealers in Yakima. She proceeds to tell me what a nightmare her 2 newer LR's are, how she or her husband are constantly driving to Bellevue to get something fixed, etc.

I'm thinking in my head, you bought 2, with no dealer in town, with LR's reputation for quality issues, etc. and your surprised and upset with how much of a pain they are to own?

I just smiled, listened and thought what a poor son a *&(^% her husband was.

serge944 · serge944's Garage

The 2003/2004 Range Rovers with the 4.4l BMW engine are actually quite reliable, from what I've read on RR forums.

One issue is that a lot of RRs had their front differential misaligned which lead to spline wear and eventual failure. There was a recall issued for this, so the affected RRs should already be repaired.

Air suspension failures aren't common like they were on the P38 RRs (95-02).

If you're never going to off road though, I don't see the point of buying a RR.

onewhippedpuppy · 06-19-2009, 04:49 AM

Don't drive one, you'll want it. As far as SUVs go, they have a LOT of character. I nearly bought a Discovery 2, then wised up and went with a Land Cruiser. Supposedly the LR3 is more reliable than the Disco.

Deschodt · 06-19-2009, 05:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

Don't drive one, you'll want it. As far as SUVs go, they have a LOT of character. I nearly bought a Discovery 2, then wised up and went with a Land Cruiser. Supposedly the LR3 is more reliable than the Disco.

Ditto... Again, coming from a guy who hates trucks, the LR3 rides very very well... Each time it's in for service and we get a loaner of another brand or a lesser model (LR2 for instance), we're amazed at how comfortable and "solid" the LR3 is... The other ones are all over the road, the LR3 feels like one block of solid metal... The Cayenne may be sportier but we drove both and prefered the ride of the land rover, and also the practicality (rear trunk is huge) !

We bought ours 2 year used, at a 20K discount pretty much, and somehow it came with something like 7 year warranty....excellent, as well as the service but that could be our dealer... I forgot the specifics but I think the 05 onwards is a Jag engine and Bosch electronics... None of the niggles of Land Rover past... I'd buy another one in a heartbeat, but I wish they sold a diesel in the states for a little more fuel economy !

chuckw951 · 06-19-2009, 08:45 AM

My wife owned a 1999 LR Discovery for a couple of years. We liked the truck but required multiple major repairs which cost a fortune. Took a beating when we traded it in on a 2007 Xterra Offroad. I hear that the LR3 is much improved but I will not buy another LR out of spite.

Deschodt · 05:15 PM

I think to a large extent land rover is like Hyundai ;-) if you got burned by their stuff years ago you probably won't give them another chance... But right now their stuff is pretty good! I still hate Hyundai though, so I understand, but the Lr3 is nothing like a discovery anymore.. We've had both - no comparison ;-)

jwhcars · 06-21-2009, 04:33 AM

I have been driving Land Rovers on and off since the 1980's and our last one was a 2006 LR3 ...It was the most reliable of the Rovers we have driven but they are a thirsty vehicle,my wife traded it after she got tired of the $100.00 tank fill ups. I miss the the thing but she likes her convertible ....I may get another one but I want to see how things go with the new owner from India.

einreb · 06-21-2009, 05:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mbrouder

My wife wants an SUV bad. I'm not very thrilled. Her '08 Toyota Corolla is just fine. But her mother is willing to take that car over. She's eye balling used Range Rovers. I told her she's nuts. I'm thinking I could compromise and get her interested in the LR3. She could get a newer one with less miles for less money. Like any car that I buy, I want to learn everything I can before diving in. What should be known about these? Any help is appreciated.

when my wife got the suv bug, i took a long look at them. I couldn't get past the mpg.

we 'settled' on a loaded used acura mdx and have been very happy.