Land Rover LR3 HSE

Land Rover LR3 HSE - As always, the measure of the métier is made from behind the wheel. Never ones to flee from a beckoning leather seat, we rolled up 40,000 miles in a 2005 Land Rover LR3 to find out. This is Rover, Round 2. In 1996, we performed the same public service by diving deep into one of the LR3’s predecessors, a $38,730 Land Rover Discovery [C/D, May 1996].

Our options were a $1250 rear-seat package that included a third row and related amenities such as extended curtain airbags; a $1050 Cold Climate package that included heated front seats and an electrically heated windshield; rear-seat climate control for $950; towing equipment for $375; and a center-console drink chiller for $250.

Learning the LR3’s many controls, we were skillful button pushers by the time of our first service at 7500 miles (which was free, owing to Land Rover’s policy of offering maintenance on the company’s tab up to 45,000 miles). Early logbook entries noted a quiet highway ride and stout passing power even with a race-car trailer hooked up.

A few quality ticks showed up early, some cured at routine service stops, others with three unscheduled dealer visits. At 5613 miles the fuel door suddenly refused to latch, and a fix was performed gratis under the four-year/50,000-mile warranty. At 9633 miles, the dealer replaced under warranty some black exterior door-trim panels that had faded to a foggy gray. At 13,301 miles, the LR3 became convinced it was capsizing, flashing a panicky “overturn” warning light even in low-speed turns.

The factory trailer hitch, inserted into a bumper socket so it hangs from the rear like a sack of bull’s essentials, was deemed too low-hanging not to be scraped on every driveway ramp.

The LR3 lived mostly a city life but at one point went west for a 3200-mile off-road bash through California, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona. In the field, the LR3’s fancier off-road gimmicks — the display screen showing wheel articulation, the multisetting Terrain Response system that adjusts throttle and anti-slip controls to various surfaces, and the hill-descent control that automatically works the brakes during downhill maneuvers — proved just that — gimmicks.

When the right front tire developed a slow leak, we lamented the LR3’s space-saver spare, useless for escaping the canyons. The battery was killed in a lonely canyon by a ridiculously self-resetting dome-light off switch that only works with the key in the ignition. A lucky jump from a passing truck saved us from the circling buzzards.

A heavy fuel user suffering a few quality gaffes, the LR3 was also a luxury chaise for cruising urban streets and a tenacious off-road machine.