Land Rover LR3 RR

[GeorgesADV]

Hi

Does anyone have a link to a good RR to Central and South America using a Land Rover LR3 or a Disco II?

I did a search and found lots of links but not necessarily using LR, I might not be using the search tool properly.
I tried using "land rover LR3" and also "Land+Rover+LR3" but I'm not even sure if this forum supports complex searches. Maybe I'm doing it wrong

Blog links would be welcome too, I read lots of blogs and found this one recently, two couples driving from England to South Africa using Discovery's
http://wheretonextafrica.blogspot.com/2015/11/tanger-to-chefchaouenmorocco.html

Thanks

 

[GeorgesADV]

Wow, 179 views and not a single person knows of anyone doing a long distance trip with a Land Rover LR3?

I'm researching the LR3 and really want to see how people are using them and what experience they have had in South America

 

[StreetsofCompton]

Crickets.

 

[GeorgesADV]

Ha ha, I know, I'm overwhelmed, can't keep up with the blogs coming my way

Seriously, I was just looking at an 08 LR3 SE on AutoTrader with 74K miles and they are asking $18K for it and it's the color I want, Tonga Green :drool:

All the round the world people I read about are driving old Disco or Land Cruisers or some other contraption.

 

[StreetsofCompton]

I think the general thoughts are that they make fine long-distance(expo) rigs. But under the assumption that you are mechanically sound and know your LR3 well. The EAS system, while not prone to catastrophic failure, is known for little issues that could make being out in the middle of nowhere an ordeal. But again, if you have the right equipment/tools couple with the knowledge of how to diagnose and repair certain issues, it should serve you well.

I haven't taken mine on any true distance trips other than southern Ohio last month, but that was all highway. It sure is a fine ride for those duties as well.

 

[GeorgesADV]

I have ridden my Yamaha Super Tenere motorcycle all the way from NJ to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska then down to Valdez and back to NJ, 12900 miles round trip.
Lots of other people have done the trip with other bikes but I bought the Yamaha because it's constantly rated as the most reliable adventure motorcycle.
I have ridden it south to Florida and then rode west along the coast to Galveston including a stint through salt water in the Bolivar Peninsula and not a single issue.
I have now 41K miles and all I have done is change engine and drive shaft oil and the valve service at 24k as per Yamaha. Best motorcycle I have ever had.

Now I'm looking for a used 4x4 and so far I like the LR3, Nissan Xterra, Jeep Wrangler, Toyota Land Cruiser and a few others

Here's my bike in Alaska:

and the link to Valdez:
http://www.riding-the-usa.com/2014/02/day-23-ride-to-valdez.html

 

[StreetsofCompton]

Dang man, thats a **** ton of miles in one go. I've never been in a Land Cruiser, so I wont speak to that one but can definitely say I wouldn't want to log major miles in a Wrangler. Even a stock one.

 

[Ray_G]

So I'll chime in, I honestly had/have no idea what a RR is in context, so that makes it difficult to address the question.

Then the idea of driving to Central/South America in and of itself has some challenges that would be a better research opportunity elsewhere in the forum but I'm sure you've looked at the general info in the Expedition and Exploration subsection of the forum.

Specific to the LR3 platform, I don't know that they have quite the popularity down there than the do elsewhere in the world. Africa seems to get a great deal of attention because of its proximity for European overlanders to come south, or those based in SA and nearby to go north. Likewise the density of 3/4 utilization is high in Australia because of the nature of the market, to a degree that is true here in the Middle East but seemingly less so than the African and Australian ideas.

Simply put, you may not find anyone doing significant overlanding in the 3/4 platform down south-I'm not sure the infrastructure supports it, if I were going south of the U.S. I'd do it in a Toyota to be honest-not just b/c the answer to every question on Expo is the 80 series LC (I'd probably do it in a Tacoma anyway), but b/c the simplicity + reliability + parts would make that more practical.
IMHO.
r-
Ray

 

[Mx468]

Ha ha, I know, I'm overwhelmed, can't keep up with the blogs coming my way

Seriously, I was just looking at an 08 LR3 SE on AutoTrader with 74K miles and they are asking $18K for it and it's the color I want, Tonga Green :drool:

All the round the world people I read about are driving old Disco or Land Cruisers or some other contraption.

Tonga Green rocks!!!

 

[GeorgesADV]

So I'll chime in, I honestly had/have no idea what a RR is in context, so that makes it difficult to address the question.

r-
Ray

Sorry about that, I come from the motorcycle side and ADVRider website :bike_rider:

I should have been more clear, it's "Ride Report", I guess here would be Drive R (DR) or Adventure R (AR) :coffeedrink:

I tend to agree with you from the research I have done so far, a Toyota will probably be the best vehicle for South America

 

[GeorgesADV]

Tonga Green rocks!!!

Yea, the Tonga Green is the best color for this truck. That is a beautiful truck you have there :drool:

 

[DiscoDavis]

Would agree with the info posted here. IMO South America is still best for toyotas, but if I was in Europe or Africa/some parts of middle-east, the D3 "should" be fine. Judging that only by the amounts of those vehicles I have seen in those areas. They're super vehicles but the few problem areas are those catastrophic/hard to fix stuff, but it would be amazing to see better market/region penetration as used vehicles move to new owners who actually use them (D3/4).

 

[A.J.M]

http://www.disco3.co.uk/forum/topic117572.html

Trip round Africa in a D4.

http://www.disco3.co.uk/forum/topic105526.html?highlight=Round+the+world

Round the world in a manual coil D3.

http://www.africa-overland.net/Bio-870-Lilongwe-Down

L322 Range Rover trip from London to Africa.

Happy reading.

 

[GeorgesADV]

http://www.disco3.co.uk/forum/topic117572.html

Trip round Africa in a D4.

http://www.disco3.co.uk/forum/topic105526.html?highlight=Round+the+world

Round the world in a manual coil D3.

http://www.africa-overland.net/Bio-870-Lilongwe-Down

L322 Range Rover trip from London to Africa.

Happy reading.

Thanks for the links.

Reading the first one now and it's in South Africa, I lived there from 1975 to 85

The 2nd link has me a little worried, quite a few broken pieces on a new LR

We had a broken engine in Sumatra and a nasty accident in Mississipi. A broken shock absorber in Australia and a broken coil spring (heavy duty from OZ) in Bolivia!

We changed the handbrake unit 6 times (all under warranty), the clutch slave cylinder 4 times (2 times at 10.000 km), the master cylinder 3 times but the high pressure diesel pump only one time at 95K miles in Chile

 

[A.J.M]

Engine could be poor fuel or the oil filter being wrongly fitted. There have been a few tdv6 engines that have died because of that.

Springs are likely due to weight, the 3 is a heavy car at 2.7 tons stock before adding kit to it. I've never been in a coil model as they are pretty rare in the uk so can't say for sure.

Handbrake is due to lack of maintaining the shoes at the back wheel, they can get clogged and need stripped and cleaned properly to stay fully functioning, in the early days even the dealers couldn't get them set up properly.
There is an easy step by step guide to do it which my mate and I followed and mine works fine.

Clutch systems is driver error, my friends manual that he bought brand new in 2006 is on its original master and slave at 167k, the slave will need changed soon.

Fuel pump could be anything from crap diesel killing it to a faulty pump.

Fuel quality in some areas can be hit and miss. A local supermarket fuel station to me has had water in the diesel on two occasions.
Killing several car engines and fuel systems each time which they had to pay to repair.

Plenty of people use the 3 and 4 to travel in Australia now so they are good long distance cars.