i have a 01 DS and considering trading to a 04 Dis. or 05 LR3

i use my dis. off road in OK. for Hunting
can the LR3 hold up to off road like the Dis.?
any problems with the LR3 05?

 

Can the LR3 hold up to a Disco? Apples for apples, the LR3 is better IMO. Let me explain. Take a stock disco and compare it to a stock LR3 and the LR3 has the advantage. The adjustable air suspension is great. Specialy (and many people fail to remember this)when you consider the ground clearance you can get from the LR3 once it goes into "extended mode". And once there, you can select an even further extension manually from your suspension giving you some crazy clearance from a stock suv with zero mods. Sure, you can't maintain that clearance for long before the LR3 will bring itself back to a safer "off road mode" but the fact that it is available, is simply awesome.
What about the dial in terrain response? Once you understand the inner workings of the different settings and how they make the LR3 interact with the terrain, and learn to use them to your advantage, it simplyblows off roading to a new level.

However, there are many mods available for Discos that make them serious Off road monsters. It's quite simple to buy a Disco for under 20k, spend an extra 5k in mods and have a very nice hunting rig you don't mind getting dirty and even a bit scratched up. On the other hand again, not many people want to fork out 50kfor an LR3 just to tear it appart with mods and go get it scratched up in the woods hunting. So it's all in what you are willing to do to it and if mods are in your agenda at all.

Second question, the 05 LR3 came plagued with minor quirks. Three years later however, all of them have been worked out through warranty work at the dealers. You should be able to get a reliable 05 at this point. That's my non- professional opinion. Hope it helps!

 

Jantiz, I am curious;

How do you select the extended mode? I can not remember it from the hand book.

On beforehand thank you!

Best regards

Jens

 

You can't select extended mode yourself. The LR3 needs to "feel" reduced suspension load (like when you get hung up or high-centered). Then it goes to extended mode automatically. Once this happens, you can hold the brakes and push the suspension height selector (if I remember correctly). LR3 will then go into "super extended mode"

 

As stated by MTM quite correctly, first extended mode is NOT driver selectable. However, "super extended mode" ( and I love that name BTW ) is. And he described the procedure quite acurately. I have had my LR3 is "super extended mode" before a few times and I can tell you, it is quite scary how high this thing will go. I am 6'1 and when I opened my door to get out the first time to take a look at how high I was, I literally had to jump down off the LR3. That much ground clearance from a stock vehicle that behaves like a well mannered champ on the highway is simply genius and with the heavy duty package you get factory installed center and rear lockers. All this with zero after factory mods. Which is why I again say that apples for apples, a stock LR3 has the advantage off road over a stock Disco.

HOWEVER, mode up a disco correctly and you can make that thing unstopable off road. You just loose a lot of "on-road" good behavior in the process. Not trying to make any hard core disco fans hate me, but I think I'm just stating the facts here to answer an honest question [sm=grinangel.gif].

 

For my two cents worth, having had the Disco II and a 2005 LR3, the LR3 is wayyyyy better than the Disco out of the box. The offroadsystems of the LR3 make a neophyte offroader pretty good, and an experienced driver even better. I so love my LR3. A few weeks ago, did Nightmare Gulch with SCLR and the Disco's had a pretty tough time coming out of the gulch, and many needed assistance. The Defenders with proper gear did ok, but all of the new generation vehicles were stock, except for tires. All made it with no problems. In fact, one guy had the stock Goodyears with nearly 26k miles.

I have no problem with the LR3 being top dog stock. I don't even know what add ons that you need, except for tires. I do have the heavy duty package, with the rear locker, and with that, the vehicle doesn't break a sweat.