LR3 praise, D2 bashing

[cmoore207]

Those hippies at the NYTimes are at it again:

"Manufacturers kept adding sport utilities, of course, but the action last year was clearly in the long-neglected automobile; Ford even declared 2004 "the year of the car."

I would not disagree. While the latest sport utilities are better than their predecessors, most do not move the bar very far. A notable exception is the Land Rover LR3, a big improvement over its tired, quality-challenged predecessor, the Discovery.

...

LAND ROVER LR3 ($44,995; SE as tested $46,000) The LR3's predecessor, the Discovery II, may have delivered more aggravations per dollar than any vehicle on the market - even cheap Korean cars danced past the Disco in quality surveys - so any change was bound to be an improvement. But the LR3 turned out far better than even a die-hard Land Rover lover might have hoped. It feels like a baby Range Rover, with a smooth ride and driving dynamics that set standards for true off-road vehicles. Its exclusive Terrain Response control takes the mystery out of selecting the optimal settings for any driving condition (dry roads, sand, ice, hilly mountain trails). On a single miserable driving day - constant snow, patches of ice, driving winds - the LR3 never felt less than omnipotent."

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/02/automobiles/02autos.html

What I would like to know, is what the hell does wind have to do with Terrain Response Control?

 

[MarkP]

So much for Ford's Year of the Car ....

http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/050104/autos_sales_8.html

"YEAR OF CAR

Ford, which proclaimed 2004 the "year of the car" when it hoped new models like its Mustang sports car would boost results, reported a 3.6 percent drop in sales for December.

Ford's results exclude its foreign brands Volvo, Jaguar and Land Rover, which posted mixed results. All sales results are adjusted for an extra selling day in December 2004."


It should be interesting to see what impact the tax law changes have on expensive vehicles. I have seen very few, maybe 2, LR3's on the road here in Colorado. There are Discovery's and RRC's everywhere.

 

[montoya]

i've seen four lr'3 on the road here in san francisco. they were all silver with a woman behind the wheel, not that there's anything wrong with that. seen lots of new mustangs. there's the new ford 500 and focus. there's two more cars to get excited about!!!!!

 

[dormobiledisco]

I saw one on the road on Cape Cod Nov. 5, right after they came out (well, it IS Cape Cod.). And I saw one on the highway here in NJ, and one at an intersection in town. Oh yeah, and a heck of a lot sitting in dealer lots.

 

[utahdog2003]

I've yet to see an LR3 on the road here in Jax...but we are the land of the Disco...they are everywhere. Dealer has "a few"

*snif snif* I smell market survey miscalculation?

 

[waterbrat]

Just before the LR3 came out, I started to see articles about how bad the Disc II was. I was surprised to see such an article in Land Rover monthly. For years they had been writing about how useful the Disco II was. Now they are blasting the Disco and praising the LR3. Gees. I wonder if Ford pays for these articles to come out. so they can push the new model.

Here in Atlanta, I've seen only two LR3, both driven by what appeared to be 'soccer moms". The local Land Rover dealer claims they are sell like hot cakes...yeah right @ 45k+.

I am not sold on the LR3 as an off-road truck. It looks more like a "keep-up-with-the-jones" status symbol.

 

[Steve-O]

We are not selling them hand over fist, but we have sold 45 since the middle of November, a L/R dealer in NJ sold 60 in one month. so they are selling but its going to take some time before you really start to notice, and hell if we can keep them out of the shop and put them back on the street you will be able to notice them a little more.


(What I would like to know, is what the hell does wind have to do with Terrain Response Control?)
actually not a &%ing thing, just some hyped up journalist ass.

It really is a good vehicle (not a great vehicle yet) but they do have a few bugs to work out as with any new vehicle.

you will start seeing more of them as the press keep sounding off on how great it is.

Steve-O

 

[MontrealRR90]

i took one out for a test drive and was pretty impressed with about everything fron the engine to handling and light duty offroading. its got 300 + horsepower more than a range rover and handling his very good.Off roading was good its got more room on angles than the disco and even has a locking diif that locks when it feels like it needs it. with better tire like BF'S on there i would like to try it out and it probably would do pretty good.Lots of power and great terrain response system it just craws on rocks. Has far has soccer moms driving it who cares iv seen soccer moms drive 1990 range rovers and i still drive one and go off roading all the time in heavy duty manners. I'll wait a couples of years because a have a new freelander but will probably upgrade to one. great vehecule for expeditions on road and light duty offroading. Has far has extreme offroading forget it unlees your rich and can afford trashing the body wich would be fun by the way.

 

[dormobiledisco]

Saw today an ad featuring "Special Lease and Finance Rates" for LR3. I havn't seen any more than my last post in this thread 1/6/05, but I have sure seen a lot of '04 Discos (distinguished by the beefy roof bars). I just discovered the other day that my county is one of the richest statiscitally in the nation...why don't I see more? Are they not selling? I am amazed that for a brand-new vehicle, they are already offering the special rates.

And the icing on the cake...we have a mall around here that has vehicles from the Paul Miller dealer group scattered throughout the first floor. Last week, my family was there, and I saw the LR3. Funnily enough, the right rear tyre was sagging a few inches. We had a problem on our '01 DII that we turned in where the SLS in the back would fail and the entire car would sit on the rear wheels. That's why we turned it in for a Yukon. But I love that this electronic gee-whiz truck is having problems when it probably has 10 miles on it and sits in a mall all day.

Talk about a "mall crawler"...

 

[4n24wd]

I think they look pretty damn cool and I haven't seen but 1 or 2 in Northern VA area, prolly 2nd or 3rd on that RICH LIST that I"d say none of us are on !! I mean if it's beast and holds up offroad wise, go with it !! I just dislike FORD so much it hurts to know that they are the BIG BROTHER ya know, I guess I know how the locals in Solihull feel now huh. I'd push one if I could afford it !

 

[jvelador]

No complaints here

My wife's '03 Disco II has given us very few problems and is a pleasure to drive. Then again, we're not nearly as anal as many car buyers:

"the fit fo this door is off by .04"
"the thud from closing the door is off by 17 decibels"

Yes, we've had a few minor problems that were promptly fixed under warranty, but that's just expected with just about any car. I say people want everything to be so precise and want to pay as little as possible. Buying any new car and expecting it to be without ANY problem is just naive.

Hell, even auto workers have a right to get drunk on Sunday night or anxiously wait for Friday 5pm to roll around, no?

Javier

 

[jrolfedrev]

I have a Disco II 2000 with 77,000 with no complaints so far. As for LR03, as a bunch of them in San Diego, CA but I just don't like their design.

 

[roland]

Same here, my current Disco is a 2003 TD5 and so far no problems whatsoever, same with the previous model which was a 1999 V8.

So far I have only seen one LR3 on the road here in Switzerland (plenty at the dealers though), but then Switzerland has never been Disco country. It's Japs, M-class Mercs and Grand Cherokees all over the place...


Have spent the last week in Ireland and have seen five LR3 on the road and I am still not sure whether I am ever going to like the design...!

Roland

 

[ShaunP]

The TDV6 diesel has won both the Overlander and 4x4 Australia magazines 4x4 of the the year they reckon they are great and cleaned up the rest on and off road, cars like Nissan Patrol 3.0Di which is reckoned as the Australian market leader along side the Toyota landcruiser. The v8 came second in the 4x4 oz and 3rd in overlander mag this was due to the fact that they use more fuel and cost more, they couldn't see why anyone would buy the v8. The diesel has more torque and you get it at 1900rpm. They loved them, comments like "this is a land mark 4x4" and "this car will make all other companies rethink how to put a good 4x4 together" and " we were all weighting for it not to be able to do something but it did what ever we chucked at it. They had one complaint, the terain response lowers the suspension height in sand mode once you get over 50kmph they thought maybe this was to get around some US roll over or salem test perhaps. The ones they tested had the rear diff lock and they reckoned it just powered up hills and tracks.

 

[jsonova99]

We are not selling them hand over fist, but we have sold 45 since the middle of November, a L/R dealer in NJ sold 60 in one month. so they are selling but its going to take some time before you really start to notice, and hell if we can keep them out of the shop and put them back on the street you will be able to notice them a little more.


(What I would like to know, is what the hell does wind have to do with Terrain Response Control?)
actually not a &%ing thing, just some hyped up journalist ass.

It really is a good vehicle (not a great vehicle yet) but they do have a few bugs to work out as with any new vehicle.

you will start seeing more of them as the press keep sounding off on how great it is.

Steve-O

Isn't that what we heard about the freelander? I've seen about 10 since it came out