Like A Moth To The Flame- My New LR3

[rijosho]

Rugbier had one last year he was going to sell me, but it may be long gone by now...plus he's in MD.

 

[justfred]

Very interesting - I'd been watching your threads, thinking "If he can tow his trailer with the Jeep..." as I try to decide on a vehicle to replace my 2002 D2.

Do you know what MPG you're getting with and without the trailer? In the D2 I get about 11.5 around town, and 10 or so with the (Evolution 2) trailer, on highway but keeping the speed down. I guess my trailer is around 3000lbs with minimal load, and the D2 slows down going up hills but otherwise pulls the trailer admirably.

My other concern is maintenance - the D2 has needed a lot, but apparently the LR3 isn't quite as "hungry".

 

[Dendy Jarrett]

Justfred:
Well, I haven't had a chance to pull the trailer yet, since I just got the truck last week. For me, ... the good news is the mileage will most certainly be an improvement over the jeep (which got 12 on a good day without the trailer).
Yes, the LR3 is not near as "hungry" as you say regarding maintenance.

I'll get you those figures once I've had a chance to get it out.
Thanks
D

 

[Campndad]

Dendy

If you plan on hauling a dog their is another part you can add to rear cargo area that will keep luggage off of him. It does well for our lab and mastiff. You can also keep one locked up with the gate down if they sleep better in a kennel.

 

[Dendy Jarrett]

I've got one of those in my watched items on ebay at the moment. They are proud of these OEM LR parts!

 

[achampagne]

Dendy, any luck yet with a pic of the work light switch mount?

 

[Longtallsally]

Dendy, I've enjoyed the progression of vehicles and trailers you've had since I started lurking around here. I have to say I was pretty surprised to see you off the Jeep so quick, but totally understand as folks generally like to stick to what they know.

The thing I'm stupefied with is your economy with the JK. I don't have a clue how you could get such bad economy. I don't get anywhere near that bad even when towing our camper loaded to about the rating of the Jeep.

Even on the way back from this trip to Death Valley in high winds and going over a number of mountain passes, the worst I got was just over 14. On the way down, I got around 17. And even unloaded with the 300+ lbs of stuff (armor and winch primarily) I still got 19.5 on my last tank. Now I have the 6 speed, but still, I just can't fathom how you got such horrible economy.

Either way, congrats on the "new" ride. Rovers continue to interest me, but I'm too scared of the reputation to take the plunge, and we've currently got enough toys...

 

[khronus79]

Very interesting - I'd been watching your threads, thinking "If he can tow his trailer with the Jeep..." as I try to decide on a vehicle to replace my 2002 D2.

Do you know what MPG you're getting with and without the trailer? In the D2 I get about 11.5 around town, and 10 or so with the (Evolution 2) trailer, on highway but keeping the speed down. I guess my trailer is around 3000lbs with minimal load, and the D2 slows down going up hills but otherwise pulls the trailer admirably.

My other concern is maintenance - the D2 has needed a lot, but apparently the LR3 isn't quite as "hungry".

I pulled this fully loaded trailer ( and I mean "FULLY" loaded) from Orlando FL, to Denver CO, almost 2k miles. Car was also fully loaded, 3 adults, 2 kids and a 6 month great dane pup, plus luggage, etc.......
I did 16/14 mpg depending on terrain(Tennessee was 14, Kansas 16), needless to say I was pleasantly surprised, my 04 Durango only got 10 mpgs pulling a similar sized trailer. YMMV

 

[I Leak Oil]

Looks like a cool truck but with any modern rover you may end up being the moth to the bug zapper! Let's hope not.

 

[Dendy Jarrett]

Longtallsally- I track all my mileage and fuel consumption via an app on my iPhone called Gas Cubby. I am not sure why the bad economy. My wife was driving a Jeep Commander with a 5.7 ltr Hemi, and it has only been getting 9mpg in town. Did better on the highway when it drops to a 4 cylinder at 16mpg.
Before that she drove a 2011 jeep rubicon and it got 13.1 MPG in town.
The AVERAGE it shows (in town and highway) is 11.5 MPG for the AEV. It got (not towing) as good as 15.1 on the highway, and as low as (during the break in period) 7.6 mpg.
When towing, I was getting towards the lower end of 9mpg.

Khronus79 - I hope to do that well. My trailer cannot weigh as much as that did fully loaded!

I Leak Oil - "Take it back"! (say cancel cancel! - no harm no foul!)

D

 

[Longtallsally]

I mean just, WOW. I would think something was wrong with my truck if it did that bad. I bet your app is a bit wonky b/c the only time I've EVER seen below 10 mpg was on the Rubicon trail itself. Either you drive it like you stole it, or something was very wrong with that machine.

I verify mine the old fashion way with odo to number of gallons. The OEM mileage computer is actually darn accurate.

 

[Dendy Jarrett]

Running lift and oversized tires with 5:13 gearing ... lockers front and rear. HD Axles and drive shaft 4:1 T-case. Keep in mind, when I sold the AEV it only had 7K miles on it. It wasn't even really broken in well yet. It may see marked improvement for the next owner.

Your rig looks great BTW.

D

 

[ChuckB]

I really like the dog kennel, very cool setup.

 

[Dendy Jarrett]

Today, I took some of the Molle bags from the old jeep seat covers and created two storage pouches for the kids stuff, and a LED flashlight for each of them. Also few accessory bags for the rear and the "nightstick" flashlight mounted all to the Cargo Guard.

Lighting was poor, but this is the two larger storage pouches with the small LED flashlight holders next to the storage pouches:

 

[Dendy Jarrett]

Added a proper tire cover ... and tow plug: