To Rover or not to Rover... LR3 purchase consideration...

[Nikson]

allright. is 21k a steal for the year/condition?

will the seller sway if you were to have less than 21k at hand,cold hard cash?

say 18k? :evil:

Well, what I've found is that $16-19k is about the market price for 2005-2006 LR3 SE, with average to that year mileage (up to 100k), while HSE's are obviously a bit higher priced, and condition is about 7 out of 10...

While this one at $21k is at 50k mileage, its HSE and in pretty good 9 out of 10 shape overall (interior / exterior).

It is also a West Coast car, so no salty rust area...

 

[Nikson]

Given the fact he is getting a HSE, its likely he will have 19" rims, so both of these choices are now not available. I had the goodyear duratracs on mine and they were awesome, but no longer available. I am now using the Perelli Scorpions AT's, by no means aggresive or barely AT's. There is little choice in the 19" wheel

18's should fit on either SE or HSE, right?

 

[Mack73]

18's should fit on either SE or HSE, right?

Yup. Brakes are the same on all v8 LR3's.

If you really want some more sidewall, you could get the v6 brakes (I believe carrier and rotor is all, calipers are the same) and import some 17's out of europe.

But 18's are all you need to open up the tire selection options.

 

[achampagne]

To be honest, unless you really need some MT tires, the traction control system and street tires perform just amazing. Let's face it most of us are never going to rock crawl our LR3's.

 

[d67u57]

allright.

even if you were to keep it on normal roads mnost of the time, i would follow the above and not stick with 19's

 

[racehorse]

To be honest, unless you really need some MT tires, the traction control system and street tires perform just amazing. Let's face it most of us are never going to rock crawl our LR3's.

I guess that depends on where you live. Quite the opposite in socal - our club sclr is often filled with at least half dozen LR3s on trail runs, some with 33" tires, many fully armored, tip to tail with tactical rover or rover speciality armor. Tactical guys are part of our club in fact. Several of our guys have run their LR3s on the Rubicon Trail. I would get ATs at the least. You'll find that although you might not set out to 'rock crawl' it only takes one good trail following other LR3s when your street tires give way and make a good day bad.

 

[Nikson]

I guess that depends on where you live. Quite the opposite in socal - our club sclr is often filled with at least half dozen LR3s on trail runs, some with 33" tires, many fully armored, tip to tail with tactical rover or rover speciality armor. Tactical guys are part of our club in fact. Several of our guys have run their LR3s on the Rubicon Trail. I would get ATs at the least. You'll find that although you might not set out to 'rock crawl' it only takes one good trail following other LR3s when your street tires give way and make a good day bad.

I'll have to totally agree, its a matter of one day going bad to change things a bit a little. I'm planning on using mine for overland type trips, so AT tire will be a proper setup.

 

[MCObray]

Can't wait to see what you pick up Nik. Being a few miles away from you, i'll make my way over once you pick up your LR3 to check it out!

 

[REDROVER]

There is one general rule when u are buying a European made car. Never ever buy the first 2 years of that production model. Last years is generally the best year . Because. In the first years They have so much untested garbage in them it takes few years till they fix them. Buy the newest lr3 u can .

Best lr3 are the Ford made ones . BMW made ones are not good.

 

[proper4wd]

There are no BMW made LR3s.

 

[Nikson]

Well, more or less the choice is made & I've paid it off...

Picked one up from south California, 75k miles HSE with HD package.

Now the wait time - while truck brings it this way...

 

[proper4wd]

Bought sight unseen? Taking a gamble at 75k miles... check up on both diffs and the transfer box immediately

 

[d67u57]

you mean 75k is not enough for the dealer to have fixed most bugs?

these have a timing chain right?

 

[Nikson]

Bought sight unseen? Taking a gamble at 75k miles... check up on both diffs and the transfer box immediately

Unseen that is so... the way I figured is that if there is anything needed to be done - i'll get it done on my own in my homearea. For the most part, I've never dealt with a bad car from California, and have purchased dozens which I've never had any issues in the past...

If you were to buy from "grandpa-grandma" type used lot, there might be some concern, but from an actual Land Rover dealer, I hope that would be the last thing to worry about, being as reputable of a dealer as they can be for such high end vehicles.

I'll be prepping it for my overlanding trips, so if I need to replace a seal or a worn out bushing - its okay, and sort of expected.

 

[Nikson]

you mean 75k is not enough for the dealer to have fixed most bugs?

these have a timing chain right?

thats how i've thought of it for the most part, considering that I have the complete service record to review before I made my decision on it.