2005 Land Rover LR3
The Good
The Bad
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Brick DriverI drove the Land Rover LR3 over a week ago, and I'm honestly having trouble remembering much about it. Part of the problem was the salesman. I'm not sure if it's because I was looking at used cars, or because I'm female and drove up alone in an Audi wagon, but the only information I received about Land Rover's amazing off-road capabilities was that "all Land Rovers have four wheel drive." Funny, I think that's a given just based on the name "Land Rover." It sure didn't compare to my first Land Rover test drive.
I headed down the highway, through a u-turn and back. The heavy LR3 wasn't peppy, but I didn't feel the need to coax more speed out of it. It was surprisingly quiet on the freeway. The LR3 is also very skinny-looking and tall, but never felt tippy at all.
The second seating row is level with the first row, limiting visibility, and the seats themselves are pretty firm. The doors open wider than on the Discovery, allowing easier access to the seats. This model didn't have the optional third row, so I didn't have a chance to test those seats out.
The view from the driver's seat is obstructed in large part by the enormous dashboard. I like my feet to touch the floor which means lowering the seats quite a bit, but my view from down there consists of more dashboard than road. I don't think it's dangerous like the Hummer H2 (where I could run over a Mini and not notice), but it was distracting. It probably wouldn't be as noticeable for someone taller.
The interior is very black – not much color or trim to break up the monotony. Everything looks and feels high quality and all the controls I used like the a/c were easy to adjust. The temperature gages are in Fahrenheit now, without an option to change to Celsius.
The LR3 feels much more refined than the Discovery. But it's also lost a lot of the personality. It looks like a brick and has lost the "African Safari" style that made the Discovery so distinctive.