I'm looking for a new vehicle for my wife. She loves the LR3's. While they're not NEARLY as practical (for us) as a minivan (also considering an 05-10 Honda Odyssey), they're 10x cooler and more capable. We have 3 daughers (ages 7, 4, and 1) and are in the process of adopting another child (most likely between 1-3 years old) which should hopefully be finalized in the next 1-2 years. We will drive this a lot - probably between 25-30K miles a year. Not all highway... lots of stops here and there in town. We plan on taking a 75K-125K miles vehicle to about 250K miles.

So - what do I need to know? Please be as thorough as possible, as I'm new to Land Rover's. While I'm an advocate of the Odyssey's, there are some problems that I'm aware of...

- Hit or miss on a getting a strong transmission.
- Timing Belt is a must around 110K.
- Power steering affects more than the amount of recalled vehicles.
- Years 05 & 06 gets better fuel mileage than the 07-10.
- Touring Trim use run flat tires which don't get near as many miles.
- etc.

That's the type of things I'm looking for. If you could spell out the bad (primarily), the good (be sparingly on these - I'm sure you guys could go on forever), and the ugly, I'd be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

 

You need to look for a vehicle with documented maintenance, best if dealer maintained

Vehicle must be worked on at a dealer or independent rover specialty shop

Diffs go bad, electrical problems, sunroof drains clog causing leaks, vehicle is heavy expect tires, brakes,suspension work

Fuel mileage can be bad

Suspension air compressor, sensors etc. When its good it is awesome to drive when it breaks down it sucks and can be expensive needing a scanner, check the other threads for a better idea

 

Thanks!

Could you elaborate a bit on the differentials going bad and the electrical problems that are common? Things like estimate mileage when it generally occurs, cost to replace, etc. I do not plan on doing most of the work on the vehicle myself.

Again - looking for large ticket maintenance items that I can expect to shell out that are HIGHLY recommended and NEVER advised to be left unreplaced.

 

I'd move on, Brett. No one who favors a minivan could possibly be happy in an LR3.

LR3 = supremely capable off-road, a major commitment in terms of maintenance.

 

- Not true! Trust me - I'd be super happy in an LR3...

... when I wasn't needing to maintenance it or put fuel in it.

I get your point though.

 

Bottom line - if you want to be practical, the Odyssey is going to win over any Land Rover. That is why you will see 5X more of them everywhere you go.

If you can afford to NOT be completely practical, the LR3 will be far more enjoyable and unique to own. Both will go to 250K miles with the proper maintenance.

Try as I might, every time I try to be practical, my wife stomps all over me. She just reminded me the other day how stupid I was for suggesting we get a Honda Pilot (she now has an 08 Range Rover and I took her LR3 and she is very happy).

Good luck with the decision!

 

Bearings go bad diff causing gears to go bad

Suspension bushings wear faster than normal, heavy vehicle

Power to spare IMO but we get 11 MPG city on super wife does a lot of short trips in few miles of home

Sunroof leaks cause wir harness shorts, corroded splices in harness

Poorly sealed wire harness connectors also corrosion to short connections and sensor/ecus

But seriously unless you have a big checkbook to pay for repairs I would steer clear, with your family size you probly need the hse 7 passenger version, more $

If you are into offroading that's different

 

x2 on Tom's very last comment. If you are into off-roading the LR3 is hard to beat. If you just want something to haul people in all-weather, it's just not the right vehicle.

The Lexus GX470 (460 now) or the Infiniti QX56 would be good choices.

Agree on an earlier poster's comment that both an Odyssey and an LR3 can get to 250k with proper maintenance....hahahaha, but the LR3's maintenance will cost you 5x as much!

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: owning an Land Rover without off-roading it is like dating a high-maintenance but super-hot girlfriend without having sex with her.

 

cooler with cost you, and if you're not expecting to adequately budget for maintenance and repairs, you might be in for high dollar aggravation, and a lot of it.

if it's typical in your auto ownership let an issue linger before paying attention to it, then this is not the truck for your wife.

i got my LR3 after a lot of research and making sure the records were consistently from not more than two repair locations for the big stuff (dealer and highly regarded indi shop); i think i did well. no roof leaks, and no surprises (gas, tires, tpms).

i recently purchased a prius as my sometime daily commuter.

and please...if you're not going to take this more-than-capable beast off road, please stick to the minivan...like a BMW needs long road trips to stay happy, an LR3 get depressed when she doesn't crawl a rock or two.

 

hahaha...no such thing as a super-hot wife?