... Right now, I can't get my family in my Defender, and I'm not really a solo guy. Would rather have an overland vehicle that everyone can enjoy.....
If the intended purpose is to nearly always have the whole family along (is it 3, 4, 5 people?) then the fact that the LC 2nd row seats are pretty much in the way of everything except sitting becomes a moot point and therefor removes from contention one of the main features the lr3 provides, it's flat/flush folding 2nd a nd 3rd rows.
Secondly, while one lr3 may not give you any serious failure costs over 100,000 miles, there's no way to really predict this. Mine has been taken care of well beyond the factory recommendations yet still lost a rear differential last summer at less than 90k miles.
I had a very nicely optioned 2006 lc100. It's msrp was only about $5000 more than this lr3. However, had I stuck with it, I imagine I would not have bothered spending the $4500 on extended warranty which has covered my A-$$ so far.
Some of the major systems on the LC are still simpler and thus less prone to issues. Such as basic steel springs and less complicated 4x4/traction control. Random unrelated things can cause the modern land rover computers to get "worried" which result in messages like "loss of communication with ..." transmission or whatever nonsense I've seen before. I don't mind too much that a glitch on my phone or computer is "solved" by "restarting" but having to pull off a road, shut down, then start up again....while hoping it gets fixed.... is not a fun moment usually.
Now, to play devils advocate some more, the terrible depreciation of lr3's is fantastic for the used car buyer. So much that you can pretty much find your favorite lr3 and then also a perfectly running non-favorite color/optioned but doner/parts car for roughly the same $ as a super clean LC100
I almost bought a LC200 last year but decided to give it a couple more years to see what changes, if any, come to the line. For now, even with an issue here and there, the lr3 is far more functional for my needs than any LC. The air suspension is actually quite dependable but that may be due to the newer compressors. Mine is just a couple steps away from being set up with a redundant backup air supply though so some of what makes mine particularly useful and maybe more dependable are all the extra things done, which in hind sight, is a bit ridiculous when you can just buy a LC and really do nothing at all to it except put on an E range tire and leave town with no worries. No IIDtool, no being careful of maximum tire size in case suspension drops, etc.
While this thread seems all in favor of LC, go visit some of the lr3/4 sections to weed through equal kool-aid blindness to find some reasonable opinions from people who really use these things as you might.
