[Michael1]

I've been doing a lot of shopping lately, and comparing features on true off-road vehicles. While the LR3 looks too pretty to be a formidable off-road vehicle, every test and report from the field has proven otherwise. Apparentley, Land Rover does know what they are doing with traction control and suspension systems. The words "unstoppable" are used over and over, which is pretty amazing considering it rides on 30" street tires. They also know how to build an SUV with a usable interior, meaning all the seats fold flat, and you've got a flat load space that's 6 feet long. You could easily sleep in this thing. They also have a tailgate so you can put even longer items in.

The underbody is very flat, with no protrusions to catch rocks. As was mentioned, the armour is limited. All the major pieces such as fuel tank, and transfer case are covered, but it is not the full cage available for the H3. LR does sell rock rails, and a HD front skid plate through their accessories catalog. The snorkel is not water tight, but prevents water from splashing into the engine intake while fording up to 27".

The air suspension is amazing. It lifts the truck 2" when you set the conditions control to one of the off-road settings. There are settings for mud, sand, ruts, and rocks. It adjusts the suspension height, locks the center and rear differentials, and adjusts the traction control and throttle. Now here is the amazing part. If the truck electronics detect that you are high sided. It will lift the truck another 1.5 inches so you can get free. If that isn't enough to get you free, you can manually adjust it up another 1.5 inches for a total of 3 inches! That's above the normal off-road ground clearance of 9.45 inches.

Even though it has independent front and rear suspension, LR cross links them so it becomes an "anti-roll bar". Motor Trend measured the RTI at 518, which is almost the same as the H3 they measured at 521. So much for requiring solid axles to get good RTI.

You don't need to spend $60K for a rear locker version either. It's a $625 option on all models including the V6 version which retails for $39K.

So where does the LR3 fall down compared to the H3? The crawl ratio for the LR3 is 45.6, compared to the H3's 68.9 with the manual transmission. Oh, and there is no manual transmission available (big minus for me!). The V6LR3 has about the same acceleration performance as the H3, but requires premium gas, and gets 2 miles per gallon poorer fuel economy. Also the seat adjusters are not as complete as the luxury version of the H3, and they eliminated the lumbar adjustment on the LR3 in 2006 for some strange reason with a side air bag redesign. I was able to get more comfortable in the H3, although the LR3 on-road ride is better and it is slightly quieter. With the factory accessories, the H3 is certainly better armored. The H3 is a better value, too, being about $8K less expensive for a comparable vehicle.

While there is a lot to like about the LR3 (nice things GM could copy), I would say if you are off-road, and had to get home again, I'd be in the H3.

Michael