We just purchased a 2007 LR3 as my wife’s car. We picked it up just before the Memorial day weekend. I have a few questions about the vehicle.

Does the gas pedal function as ‘fly by wire’ or is it directly connected to the throttle body?

I can’t seem to accelerate smoothly. As much as I try to easily depress the gas pedal, the car always takes a sudden launch. I know it’s not just me, because my wife says she is experiencing the same thing. We use to have a 2004 Disco. and I never experienced the kind of launch we get with the LR3. I know the LR3 has more horsepower, but I would assume the high weight of the car should allow a smooth launch. That’s why I wondering if the throttle is ‘fly by wire’, maybe it was mapped that way.

What is the purpose of the two 20 – 30 pound weights located on each end of the rear bumper? They each pivot on some kind of mount.

 

The weights on either side of the spare wheel act as harmonic dampers to stop the chassis creating a vibration or resonance at certain engine / vehicle speeds....etc. as for the acceleration is is fly by wire. I am not sure if the sudden launch, but it does happen to me as well.

 

Thanks for the info. Can anything be done about the lurch? It would be nice to tame that out a bit.

 

The transmission on the LR3 is a smart design that learns your driving style and adjusts itself to it in time.I believe they all do the famous "launch" as a race horse out of the box when new. However, my driving style tends to be on the smooth side so my LR3 has learned to accomodate that. It now takes off like I'm holding full wine glasses on my dashboard. It didn't take long as I recall.

While on the subject of drive-by-wire, make sure the wife is driving it in normal drive, not in sport mode as this would make the quick start more pronounced. Should you ever need that quick take off to merge in trafic or else, the gas pedal has a switch at the fully depressed position that tells the computer to adjust all settings for maximum speed. Press the pedal until you feel a click at the bottom and hold until desired speed is achieved or the mother in law has sworn not to come visit unannounced again

 

there is an update for the transmission control unit.

 

If you dont like the abrupt launch simply switch your terrain **** to the grass ,gravel, snow setting, it changes the throttle response and gearbox operation to prevent wheel spin,also increases the sensitivity of theABS system.I leave it there .you might see improved mileage as well.

 

Holy smokes is that what those are? I was installing a trailing wiring harness from Landrover on my LR3 and I came accross what appeared to be "weights". I was stumped, I searched online and couldn't find an answer. I came up with a top 4 list of what they might be for:

1) car didnt weigh engough to be in a certain class
2) some exec at landrover had a friend that manufactures weights that was having some financial trouble and he decided to help him out and buy a bunch of "dead weight"
3) (this one as short lived) maybe they were for detecting vehicle momentum (I couldn't find any sensors attached to them).
4) As a runner sometimes when training we throw on extra weights... I was wondering when I could take them off my LR because I've put it through hell and back, I thought it might be time to take those training weights off :-)

Anyway, that was just one of those questions that was reallllllllllllllly annoying me, thanks soooooo much for pointing that out!