2007 Land Rover LR3 Review & Road Test at Automotive.com

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The Land Rover LR3 faces the Cadillac SRX

Below is a review of the 2007 Land Rover LR3 written by the automotive experts at Automobile Magazine. A full evaluation of the driving experience, price, equipment, and specs are here in a structured, easy-to-navigate format from journalists with a wealth of experience.

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Value Rating

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LEARN WHY

IntelliChoice Value Rating

The chart above shows the purchase price versus ownership cost for each car from a specific vehicle class. The cars with better than average ownership cost/purchase price correlations are the best values, and these best value cars are represented by the dots below the curve. (i.e. the cars that have a lower ownership cost compared to its purchase price.) Those cars, which are worse than average or poor values, appear above the curve.

One way to view the graph is to draw a vertical line through any purchase price. You may see several dots that fall on this line - each of which is a car with a similar purchase price. However, notice the difference in ownership costs of each car represented by the vertical position of the dot. Two cars with the same purchase price can have thousands of dollars difference in ownership costs. This is what separates "good value" cars from "poor value" cars.

What is a good car value?

A "good car value" is one whose cost to own and operate is less than expected. The lower the cost to own and operate a car compared to what is expected, the better the value of that car.

But how do we know a car's "expected cost"?

For each car in the class, IntelliChoice plots the car's purchase price against the total five-year cost to own and operate it as determined by IntelliChoice research. Each dot on the above chart represents a specific car. Generally, we find that as the purchase price of the car increases, the cost to own and operate that car increases. This is why the dots on the graph tend to rise upward and to the right. This phenomenon also makes intuitive sense - as the purchase price rises, financing costs tend to rise, as do insurance, depreciation, taxes, and most other car ownership costs.

This is an important concept. It's normal for car ownership costs to rise as purchase price rises. Therefore, we can't just establish one "average" ownership cost number for each class, since cars in the class have different purchase prices. (This is why the "Relative" shown on each chart is different for cars in the same car class.)

Using statistical techniques, IntelliChoice "connects the dots" to form a curve that defines, for this car class, the relationship between the car's purchase price and car's ownership costs. This curve is our "expected cost" curve. The curve defines, for any car in the class, the five-year ownership cost that we would expect to see at each possible purchase price. If every car in the class were an average value, then all the dots would fall exactly on the curve. However, it's rare that any dot is exactly on the curve. Some dots are a little higher or lower, and some are a lot higher or lower. The dots that are a little lower are better than average car values, while the dots that are a lot lower are excellent car values (A dot that is a lot lower than the curve has ownership costs much lower than expected for a car of its purchase price). Conversely, a dot a little higher than the curve is a poorer than average car value, while a dot that is much higher than the curve is a poor car value.

Value is a relative term, not an absolute term. It is performing better than the logical expectation.

So is a Mercedes-Benz E320 expensive to own and operate? Certainly in an absolute sense. Most other cars cost less. But, when its cost to own and operate is plotted against cars with comparable invoice prices, the E320 costs less. So the E320 is not expensive to own and operate - it is a good car value. The Mercedes does not have low ownership costs, but it has low ownership costs for its invoice price.

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Review From Automobile Magazine

The Land Rover LR3 faces the Cadillac SRX

By Stuart Fowle / Photography by Michael McKibben / Article provided by: Automobile Magazine

One day a few years back, an SUV engineer somewhere was sitting in his office daydreaming, when suddenly a Suburban rear-ended a Porsche 911 outside his window, and he caught a glimpse of the unified mess of metal. It hit him. "Hey, guys," he proclaimed, "why don't we take one of these stupid trucks and make it really fast?" Thus was spawned the too-tall-to-be-a-wagon but too-fast-to-be-an-SUV segment of the market that is now home to the Infiniti FX45, the Porsche Cayenne Turbo, the BMW X5 4.8, and the Cadillac SRX. Things apparently move a bit slower in England; in an attempt to go where everyone else is leaving, Land Rover's new LR3 offers a traditional formula: lots of weight, lots of utility, and little gas mileage or agility. The completely new Discovery replacement promises the off-road prowess that Land Rover has come to represent, but can it escape the tractor like ride and poor reliability of the outgoing Disco and compete with modern offerings? On the other hand, is Cadillac falling short on utility for the sake of handling and speed? Or has one of these companies mixed the ingredients just right to serve up a delicious vehicle?

Cadillac SRX

In a Cadillac TV commercial, a man is driving his SRX in complete silence until he stops and allows the sound to catch up to him. While this may be a bit of a stretch, the SRX V-8 is scorching fast for an SUV-and, indeed, it can hold its own in almost any company. Our test car was mysteriously free of the heavy "Ultraview" sunroof that provides five square feet of open-air scenery, despite the fact that this sunroof is allegedly standard. Did GM send us a ringer? We considered strapping an intern to the roof to compensate for the missing weight, but liability issues quashed that idea.

Much of the SRX's athleticism can be traced to its Sigma architecture, also used in the Cadillac CTS and STS. Complementing the exceptional chassis is a four-wheel independent suspension with load-leveling rear shocks. And if the standard SRX isn't agile enough, Cadillac offers Magnetic Ride Control, which uses a magnetized fluid to provide exceptionally responsive damping. Good body control and a smooth ride really do coexist with this suspension, but it is available only as part of the $6920 Luxury Performance package, which also includes a third-row seat, a trailer hitch, navigation, XM satellite radio, a rear-seat entertainment system, and HID headlamps. Combined with all-wheel-drive, the package pushes the SRX to a heart-stopping $59,650 (a base V-6 costs just under $40,000). That's a lot of cash. But, when mated to Cadillac's outstanding Northstar V-8 (in its first all-wheel drive application), the SRX does offer a driving experience unmatched by any other seven-passenger sport-ute and on par with some sport sedans. Combine the prodigious performance with a commodious interior, and the price looks almost reasonable.

With big wheels, thin tires, and a suspension focused toward on-road performance, the SRX is, needless to say, a poor performer on gravel. Where the LR3 is smooth, quiet, and sure-footed, the SRX is loud and jittery. With the exception of a lakehouse driveway or an emergency orange-peel delivery to the soccer field, though, we feel most SRX buyers will be unaffected by this small issue.

In this otherwise superb vehicle, the SRX's interior is its one fatal flaw. In comparison with the beautifully chiseled exterior and amazing dynamics, design and material quality inside the cabin are disappointing. Cadillac's interior vehicle designer, Michael Burton, claims the interior has "rich, inviting materials, a precise, easy-to-use layout and fine workmanship." While the layout is indeed lovely, materials-especially switches and plastics in the doors and dash-are poor, and the burled walnut trim molded into improbable shapes left us wondering if it is actually wood. The touch-screen navigation system and stereo were enjoyable, and despite the extra weight, the massive sunroof we've experienced in other SRXs is a desirable feature. But in a class as competitive as this, it takes more than a giant hole in the roof to make an interior memorable.

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