Wall Street Journal report

[Peter-man99]

I was looking at the WSJ and saw a review on the LR3 the blurb on the cover of section W said "over the river, through suburbia. We drive the Land Rover LR3 to see if a trip to the mall requres "hill decent control"

For the most part it was complimentary. However it was using the Disco II as a comparison more than any other car. It sighted a need to improve sales as "Discovery's sales sagged 21% since 1999 to 17,420 last year and are down a further 23% this year, to less than half the sales of rivals like the BMW X5 and Lincoln Navigator."

They also called it for what it was stating, "Land Rover has softened its midsize SUV to appeal to people who actually buy it: baby boomers whose journeys almost never include unpaved surfaces." and "...On the other hand, it doeds have gadgets such as Hill Descent Control, which modulates the brakes and throttle while driving down steep grades... Neat features, even if you never use them."

It has one soccer mom stating, "I like it because it's different and cool, not frumpy like most of the other mommy cars."

just thought I would share.

 

[mudderducker]

sounds pretty accurate

 

[jhmover]

YES! Give them the cool mommy car! Make sure they have their buffy baseball cap on with their ponytail hanging out the back! Put a jar of Grey Pupon in the glove box! Make sure the GPS has directions to every Nordstoms loaded! Hi Ho..Hi Ho...it's off to the mall we go!!!!! I've got the old man's credit cards...Hi Ho!...Hi ho hi ho hi ho!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Christopher]

God, where's the Defender when we all need it?

 

[RoverChic]

***Sigh***

My mom looked @ a LR3 before she bought a new Ford Ex-Poser...She went with the Ford because her words were as follows: " The LR3 and Ford Explorer were almost synonymous, however the Ford had a better price tag."

Her best friend said when she saw the LR3: "Is that a Ford"?

 

[ducati]

***Sigh***

My mom looked @ a LR3 before she bought a new Ford Ex-Poser...She went with the Ford because her words were as follows: " The LR3 and Ford Explorer were almost synonymous, however the Ford had a better price tag."

Well I'm not sure how "Explorer" and "LR3" are "equivalent or have the same meaning" but that is an asinine statement even if you chose the proper adjective. You couldn't place two more different SUVs in the same sentance; they don't share a chassis, suspension, engine (yet), drivetrain, interior, etc.

I challenge you to drive an Explorer Limited and an LR3 SE and actually state the two are at all similar.

 

[jerseyhippo]

He shoud have said "ignorant statement". Anyone who doesn't spend the time to do some simple research (like calling their "rover-expert" kids) before buying a new vehicle is ignorant, not assanine. By the way you might want to check if that Exploder is part of the huge recall Ford just announced.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

 

[RoverChic's Mom]

He didn't even mention your Mom.

I do not understand as Melissa mentioned why those things (suspension, chassis, ect) are important to offroading or capability (And I honestly do not care or do I appreciate what they can do off road). It was the vast consensus as stated by Peter that I bought the car to get from point A to point B and maybe the mall, or social functions, ( I am sure you get the idea). It was my OPINION that they looked the same to me. I also did not want to purchase a car I knew my daughter would drive more than me. No I am not asinine either.

Linda N

 

[sinned]

Who here thinks RoverChic's Mom is actually RoverChic trying to be a smartass?

 

[jhmover]

Well whatever....good point made...average person wants the SUV for transportation, going to the mall, hauling the kids around.....they don't want to be uncool in a minivan......the very vast majority probably couldn't tell the difference between an Exploder and an LR3.....same vast majority probably will never, ever even come close to utilitizing the capabilities of the LR3 or even realize they have them. I'd wager I could get a new Exploder, put Landrover identification on it and most people would think they were looking at the new LR3. So much for being unique like a Disco.

Frankly, if I didn't actually use mine for off roading and only wanted daily transportation I'd buy a car and enjoy the performance and gas mileage. If I needed a 4 wheel drive just to go skiing (because I HATE putting chains on and in California they get 2 snowflakes on I-80 and the CHP puts the Chains sign up) I"d buy a Subaru and still enjoy the performance and gas milage.

 

[Peter-man99]

Hey Ducati

We all know you love the new LR3 so much you could hump it, but seriously jumping on anyone's case when talking about their mother is a little too much.

We get it, you love the LR3.

 

[ducati]

LOL it's just like the Porsche forums when the wasserboxers arrived. Someone's gotta be a counterpoint or this place will slide into oblivion as the Disco 1s die off. Although I noticed that Disco 2s are starting to become fashionable lately, which means the LR3 should become fashionable around these parts in, say, 2010.

Asinine: utterly stupid. Still fits, but I admit it was overly harsh. If Mom drove both and felt Explorer == LR3, we're in trouble. Personally, I don't they drive at all similarly, but... Good points about the average user. I think it really depends upon the price point the Explorer is purchased at. At the top end, like my neighbor's Limited V8, the value is gone. Might as well spend $5k more and get an LR3, offroad utility or not.

BUT if Explorer == LR3... We're all screwed.

 

[vabiro]

Well whatever....good point made...average person wants the SUV for transportation, going to the mall, hauling the kids around.....they don't want to be uncool in a minivan......the very vast majority probably couldn't tell the difference between an Exploder and an LR3.....same vast majority probably will never, ever even come close to utilitizing the capabilities of the LR3 or even realize they have them.

I think we should all encourage as many mall crawlers as possable. They are likely to treat the car gently, use premium gas, do every maintainance and oil change, and take the lions share of the depreciation hit.

Those of us that aren't as well heeled as they, can then aford to buy a Land Rover and use them as intended.

Besides, without the Mall Crawl crowd Land Rover would be out of business and there probably wouldn't have been a Series 3 Disco, much less a Series 2. Then we could all drive Toyota Land Crusers (or Lexus LX4XXs), and lament how Land Rover didn't evolve with the realities of the automotive market-place.

Victor

 

[ducati]

BTW--It is too bad so many reviewers are comparing the LR3 to the Disco 2. I bet LR ad execs are tossing and turning at night over that. They want to get rid of the name Discovery for the bad connotations most folks have when they hear the word, but every review uses it as a basepoint...

At least a few of them have pointed out the obvious in the comparison--if it's as "unreliable" as the Disco Land Rover will slide into the "great nameplates of the past" column.

 

[Muskydisco]

sigh

 

[rockjock]

roverchic has an excuse. Have you seen the back of her green disco that she drives like a bat-out-of-hell? It has the answer to the question that all Longhorn & Cowboy fans ask "How do you spell stupid?" answer "stOUpid" Roverchic the post didn't attack your mother, so loose the profanity and get a decent tire cover.

 

[scubaman99]

God does anyone else agree with me when i say that Land Rover... or Ford or who ever makes the high level decisions should just re introduce the Defender back into the US....

Seems to me it gives LR a product line to satisfy almost any need:

Freelander = city dwellers who want/need a compact SUV
LR3 = Soccor moms and those who want the look of a Ford Exploder (hey you guys made the association) with the Price/prestiege tag of a LR product
Range Rover = White collar worker who has a secret need to be able to off road every now and then
Defender = hard core off roaders

KEN

 

[utahdog2003]

Seems to me it gives LR a product line to satisfy almost any need:

Freelander = city dwellers who want/need a compact SUV
LR3 = Soccor moms and those who want the look of a Ford Exploder (hey you guys made the association) with the Price/prestiege tag of a LR product
Range Rover = White collar worker who has a secret need to be able to off road every now and then
Defender = hard core off roaders
KEN

more like:
Freelander = 97% road
LR3 = 96% road
RR = 95% road
Defender = 90% road

as much as I'd like to say otherwise...there are a boat-load of stock 90s still roaming around....either way, think in terms of production totals and you see why there aint a 90 here no more, as maybe 2000 or so of each model year Defender actually hits the trail.

and as for the

You couldn't place two more different SUVs in the same sentance; they don't share a chassis, suspension, engine (yet), drivetrain, interior, etc.

garbage. Check the stat sheet...body on frame-yup, Ford corporate V8 of some ilk-yup again, IS front and rear-check, slab-sided generobox-yup, electro-hocus traction-pocus, pray for spare fuses 4x4, yup yup. Hmmm, looks like a mommy-car, smells like a mommy car...Achems Razor says that bad boy must be a mommy car! Roverchic momma made the right choice. If she wants a real Rover, she can buy a nice DI-DII with the $17000 she saved and mod it up nicely.

oh, and go easy with the mom bashing, or someone will likely get all Ron Artest on your a$$!

 

[montoya]

i read an article in land rover enthusiasts where they interviewed a pr exec for lr north america. he was asked what the purpose of having the 110 ckd at sema last year. the exec said that they had observed all these competitors putting out these off-road capable new suv's like the h2. ford wanted to remind everyone that the defender was the original and was still being produced around the world (except the us). as the ckd version needed assembling they felt it was the ultimate accessory to show at sema.

he acknowledged the amount of interest the 110 ckd stirred up but didn't say whether or not they would bring it back. i think if they could bring the 110 back w/airbags, automatic transmission, and electric windows it would sell and double as a rolling marketing machine. i tried to get my wife to give the ok on one i found w/a $29k asking price. she saw the stick and roll down windows and laughed.

seeing as defenders are so highly desired on this forum, i'm surprised there isn't more talk of getting g500's here. a new defender would probably retail for about $45-50k unless they really pimp it out. 2002 g500's are getting down to that price level.

 

[ShaunP]

Plenty of Defender 110's, 130's wagons and crew cab utes in Australia. They sell a version called an Extreame here which gets traction control, diff lock, a/c, power windows tinted glass, Disco alloy wheels, flash mica paint colours etc, they look great. Only come as a TD5 5 speed however. They have just started selling 90's again this year.