Land Rover discovery 3! Most decorated off-road 4X4 ever
The Land Rover is best known in the world for their off-road vehicle manufacturing qualities. The Land Rover Discovery-3 is one of those off-road cruisers that have followed the tradition to be best in class of its parent company and voted as best used and most decorated 4X4 SUV by the What Car? Magazine. The award was given to the Discovery-3 in 2009 while considering the price, performance, availability and reliability as demonstrating factors for the sectors for which the Discovery-3 came out on top by beating the two runners-up the Nissan X-Trail and KIA Sorrento. It is multipurpose vehicle without compromise that has to appeal to wide audience unlike a high performance sports car.
It is the benchmark that all other off-road 4×4 vehicles will be compared to. For the UK market there is a choice of two engines, the petrol gas guzzling, V8 with the 4393cc that can produce a rocking 295bhp which is a derivative of jaguarEUR(TM)s AJ v8 4.2 litre and thoughtfully for those of us without an oil well, the V6 2720cc of 190bhp diesel engine. The combined fuel consumption of V8 petrol is 19mpg and around 28mpg for the diesel automatic. Land Rover Discovery-3 is the only vehicle that uses the lighter weight compacted graphite iron engine block rather than the traditional heavy cast iron blocks used in previous models. If you are windows up, it is hard to feel that you are on the diesel engine but from the outside it gave the game away.
The petrol engines are mated to six speed EUR~intelligent shiftEUR(TM) electronically controlled ZF automatic transmission that offers a sporty feel with the sport mode. It delivers the performance-oriented throttle response and the gear shifts; it also features the Land RoverEUR(TM)s command shift operation that offers the driver a full manual control over the gear changes. The TD V6 is also available with this advanced transmission system or you can get the six speed ZF manual gearbox. The acceleration is rocking if you consider the official figures of propel form 0-62 miles per hour in just 11.7 seconds with the three tonnes package. The older models with TD5 were very slow and took a mighty 17.1 seconds time to reach the 62miles mark per hour. The air suspension system is adequate on the road with the sophisticated feel through the corners and an impressive absence of the roll. The steering is also refined and helps the driver to be more accurate and smooth on tricky manoeuvres.
The ride is very comfortable with the automatic modules in the transmission and air suspension wafting over the bumps and completely isolating the occupants from the road surfaces, however the manual transmission is a bit headache for the drivers while they are on long drive. Off-road the Discovery is truly a vehicle that can go anywhere with electronic tools taking the car of most situations. The amount of axle expression with the air suspension is amazing as well. The Discovery was awarded a four out of five stars rating in euro NACP crash tests. A four doesnEUR(TM)t mean that it is a bad score by any mean but alternatives like BMW X5, and Volvo XC90have five star ratings. The Discovery includes front, side and curtain airbags along with dynamic stability control and active roll mitigation system over in sudden direction changes.
