The Finest - Rackspace Hosting

L
et me say right off, there was a time when
I favored the Discovery. After graduating
from Montreat College in North Carolina in
2004, I started working for The Land
Rover Experience at the Biltmore Estate in
Asheville, NC. There my vehicle of choice
was the Discovery. We also used Range Rovers and Freelanders
- but I preferred the Discovery.
The Discovery proved itself a great vehicle to learn the
“ins” and “outs” of Land Rover. It taught me how to bleed
green in more ways than one! At tremendous driving locations
like the Greenbrier [VA] and Biltmore Estate I learned to hear
and to feel the vehicle. From the driver’s seat of the Discovery
I feel like I’m on top of the world and there is nothing like the
sound of the V8 - to this day I hear a Discovery well before I
see it.
At our school in Quebec, Land Rover launched the LR3, an
all-new vehicle from the ground up. At first sight of the LR3 I
thought, “This thing is nowhere near as capable or as rugged
as the Discovery.” Man, was I wrong!
The LR3 incorporates many styling elements of the
Discovery and brings them into the future. The product of an
For example, I always felt like I had to crawl to get into a
Discovery, especially in the middle seats. With the LR3, it’s easy
in and easy out. The rear doors open wider and you don’t feel
wedged getting into the back. The new tailgate, replacing the
5th door, is much easier to access with stuff in your hands. [It
also provides a great place to sit while putting on your mud
boots! – ed.] It might seem petty, but the 11 cup holders and
2 gloves boxes are needed touches. Indeed they fill up quickly.
The LR3 also has many other finer touches that make a big
difference.
The tailgate of the LR3 offers a good example of one such
upgrade. “Jeep,” my beagle, loves to ride in the back of my ’91
Range Rover Classic. Every morning my workout starts early
when I load him in the back. The tailgate of the Classic has no
hydraulic assist and feels like it’s filled with cement. While
great for building biceps it’s not so good on the back.
Land Rover removed this inconvenience in the LR3 by adding
a cable to a spring-loaded roller, which equalizes much of the
tailgate weight for gentle lowering and easy lifting. If only my
Classic had such an amenity!
The best improvements of the LR3 are where it counts
most, in the drive train and off-road capabilities! Let’s start with
obvious evolution, the silhouette of the Discovery remains recognizable
in the LR3. Inside the LR3 has all the best features of
the Discovery: The tall, upright seating, stadium view for the
passengers and the ability to look down the hood and see the
corners of the vehicle. But, the LR3 does more than just pay
homage to the Discovery; it fixes all those details we wanted to
change about the Discovery.
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the transmission. The LR3 features an automatic transmission
with Adaptive Shift Strategy that uses sensors to calculate the
way the vehicle is being driven and then adapts the gear change
points accordingly. The system is programmed to give the driver
maximum response when driving aggressively, but maximum
economy when driving at a more leisurely pace. Sensors
calculate driving style by reading acceleration, engine speed,