Fairly common, seen a few D3's similar colour to mine with black wheels that look good. Not keen on white rims on the Defender, silver or black depending on the vehicle colour.
I had been looking for a cheap set of rims and saw that these had been advertised for a while with the price having been reduced a few times down to $300, i offered $250 ans he accepted. Only wanted the rims but the tyres are not even half worn although they are 255/60/18.

 

So 18 inch rims appear not in favor any longer - odd, maybe everyone now is a smooth pavement type owner.

For rubber, I have the narrower 235 width and the taller 65 profile tyres on my 18" rims. (235 65 R18)

Our pavement up here comes pre-potholed and our gravel roads are closer to what is termed corduroy, hence vertical rubber is prized. The narrow width tends to cut thru the mud or snow rather than float on top. I guess for sand, floating is good (cutting in is bad, that I know) and for good pavement it does not really matter - anything that holds air is adequate.

As to rim colour, black is I guess OK but to me looks like aftermarket or commercial; re white, well that is a trailer or I guess an older Defender - and now the new Defender.

 

I plan to just get steel wheels eventually. $500 for a set is not bad and they look pretty good. My 19" factory alloys are beat up anyway.

4.4 V8 - As for millage, just average 19.4mpg on a 22 hour drive through the midwest involving Chicago and a couple other major cities. Round trip, so 11 hours each way. Pretty much non-stop. Truck said average speed was 53mph. While I have hit numbers like that before and even 22mpg on some hilly trips, I was not trying for milage at all this time. So usually I get closer to 18. But I think the transmission service may have had an impact, all my milage as of late seems much better, even around town. (trans has 150,000 miles and appeared to have factory plastic pan. Not sure of any previous fluid changes).

 

18's are still popular and even more so in aftermarket for the D4, quite often guys buy a 2nd set for mud tyres and then move them on when they change vehicles.
I wont mention that my TDV6 gets up to 32mpg on a highway run

 

I heard that engines run better upside down, hence probably nothing to do with the compression ignition.

Yes, I would think in Australia, the 18" rims are valued as I understand the word trail better describes most of byways out of town, or perhaps more accurately, greater than 100 miles to the west of the Gold Coast.

That also explains why you were able to source a steel pan kit - they are quite popular down there. Here, our tranny guys tend to favor the plastic as the feeling is the steel tends to conduct cold in the winter and hence the tranny oil can have difficulty coming up to temperature or even maintaining temperature. For you, it is the reverse - the steel helps to cool the oil, helpful on a typical December or January day out back. Narrow tyres would not be too good an idea either.

 

finished up the drive yesterday afternoon when we pulled into Vegas.

I gotta say, the LR3 was even better than i expected on a long haul. It fit 3 suitcases, 2 coolers, 2 people and a dog with no effort and is such a comfort to drive that far. We felt downright spoiled.

Not to mention it ran like a champ. No breakdowns or even a hint of one. It got over 2 mountain ranges (Appalachains and Rockies), across the plains and desert without a fuss. The only hiccup it had was climbing up the highest pass in the Rockies on I-70. Turns out they get underpowered at 11,000 feet. But it pulled itself up and over the pass. Had a blast taking a day and going down to Moab with it. Nothing hardcore, just some dirt trails and went to Arches National Park.

Overall stats:

2,701 miles
14 states
20.2 mpg
0 times popping the hood (except for daily fluid checks)
started with 117,400 miles, finished with 120,100 miles

 

I can believe that your 3 does not give problems any longer. Mine with over 220,000 miles is more reliable than when it was new. After fifteen years, all the areas of weakness have been resolved and I am now confident with it. It is almost up to Chev and Ford pickup standards - the gold standard.

 

I always think of these LR's as designed to be in all kinds of extreme temperatures, but I swear - I spend more money on replacement plastic trim parts on my 2008 LR3 than any other item on the vehicle. One is coming off in the carwash unnoticed every other month. Does anybody else lose their door bottom panels or mud guard trim as much as I do? Is it just my Phoenix high temperatures??? Grrr....

 

I think the "in the carwash" comment is the key.

 

Upgraded from 10 year old GAP EAScontol to full IIDToolBT. WOW - Additional menus are a little overwhelming! Live values is GREAT - Found a bent height sensor. Fixed my bluetooth ECU recurring 2121 problem that even the dealership couldnt flash. Programmed a new key and IIDTool already paid for itself. Thank you GAP & Lucky8! Need to add 3X blink and dash clock next...