2005 Land Rover LR3 Four Seasons Test - Automobile Magazine
In 1995, we took delivery of the new-to-America Land Rover Discovery for a Four Seasons test. It was a distinctive, rugged-looking SUV with exceptional off-road ability but poor body control, flawed ergonomics, and limited cargo and passenger space. Ten years later, Land Rover created an all-new Discovery. It dumped the old SUV's pushrod V-8 and ladder-frame construction and in their place put a 4. 4-liter, DOHC 32-valve V-8. a hydroformed frame supporting a much stiffer body. Land Rover North America badged the new SUV the LR3. In June 2005, our Tonga green LR3 HSE arrived here fresh from the Solihull, England, factory. Over the next year, we'd determine if the famous Land Rover values and abilities were intact but also if the old Discovery's many faults had been exorcised. Although totally contemporary, the LR3 maintains the classic Land Rover design language--a boxy, upright stance, a stepped roof profile, and rear side windows that extend into the roof. " It's not only the LR3's styling that is thoroughly modern: its driving dynamics also have leaped into the twenty-first century. Like most SUVs, our LR3 spent most of its year on pavement, but it handled the tarmac much better than past Land Rovers. The LR3 is still a tall beast, and since it weighs nearly three tons, it can feel a bit top heavy. Source: www.automobilemag.com
