2006 Land Rover LR3 Review / Road Test

If you buy one, just make sure you drive it off road.

I'm serious.  The world's most famous off-roading firm releases perhaps its best ever vehicle and you want to keep it on the straight and narrow, perhaps ferrying the little ones to school? 

Please, please don't. Drive it off-road on hills, on mountains, slopes, the outfield at Angel stadium I don't care where, just do it.  You'll be so very happy you did.

Now that Land Rover has massively expanded its range and its new-model production, chances are you will soon see a whole lot more of this unquestionably pedigreed 4x4 on LA's streets.  The problem, I venture, is that not enough LR3s and future releases will be taken to fun places for some serious (and not so serious) testing action.



I found mine about five minutes outside Long Beach, or San Pedro, even, in LA's vast port area.  As far as I could see, a massive playfield opened up in front of me after a couple of workmen waved me through what looked to be a rocky, rutted, gritty field enclosed on all sides by heavy metal and heavier machinery. Nice.

So with a twist of three handily-labeled dials one to raise the suspension, another to engage the stability controls and another to make doubly sure this beast 'knew' it was on unstable ground I was off with a trail of dust behind me and a vast stretch of broken tar, loam and dirt ahead.

And the Land Rover LR3 showed its full potential right away. In the last year I've taken three or four real big beasts off road including the Tahoe, Yukon, Escalade, Explorer, Navigator (whoops, that's five) and the Lincoln LT truck and this British-built behemoth could well have been the most adept off-road quite a claim considering the stiffest of  competition.

On-road is a much tougher proposition, but we'll soon get to that.  Manifold changes   to emerge in the latest Land Rover following its 2000 swallowing by Ford have  given the aging and clunky Discovery  a kick up the proverbial, with the new model taking its place between the smaller  Freelander and flagship Range Rover.

Improvements   include its Jaguar-derived 4.4 liter V8 that spits out an impressive more than 300 horsepower, every one of them necessary for a beast of these dimensions, or nearly two tons  and more than 190 inches long (a five-inch improvement on the last one, for more leg-room, essentially).  Its super-stiff structure gives a solid on-road driving experience, and its steering has also been tightened from the barge-like qualities of its predecessor.  And can anyone say low-down torque? Helpful for low-down maneuvers and on-road acceleration alike.



All of which will make this a very appealing vehicle indeed, to off-roaders and executive cruisers alike.  And everything inside is so easy,  the dash remains uncluttered, with the dials and switches for off-roading out of the way yet handily placed next to where the hand-brake traditionally is, on the center console to the driver's right. 

An example of good ergonomics: on my way back to return the LR3, coming up that stretch of the PCH going through Long Beach and San Pedro  -  when maybe, just maybe, you feel the chance of getting rolled up  on by a gun n pipe-totin' hoodlum is at its greatest -  I had to brake suddenly when a broken-down van hoved into view being pushed by a group of people.  So I put on the emergency lights to warn other drivers of a hazard ahead, and the reach from the driver's seat to that red button was so  instinctive,  taking I reckon under a third of a second, I was convinced that this is the way it should be.  Ergonomics like these minimize  response times, and therefore accidents.

On road the LR3 is pretty near as good as SUVs of this high-rider shape get. Up there with the Escalade and the Navigator, the Land Rover is adept and enjoyable to drive at high speeds with little body roll or jerk and exceptionally good visibility, which can be rare in the sector.  It's a snip to park, with little effort for arms short or long to spin the wheel from full lock left to full lock right.  So basically it accomplishes everything you could want, or expect, of a luxury SUV.





Special features that came as part of the options package and which help set it apart from most include  the handy  icy-chilled central console box that kept my sushi cool for 30 minutes or so on a baking hot day, split/fold seats that went up and down in seconds to accommodate the Ikea flat-pack king-size bed I loaded and unloaded with an belying the difficulty of the task, and those gorgeous rims,  took the package up to a shade over $54,000, on the road. 

Safety is good as usual, with more than adequate levels of airbags and the like. Gas is not good at 16 and 21 town and highway respectively.

So a good few of these LR3's will soon find homes in and around Los Angeles just make sure you get yours off the concrete and on to the rough stuff.