K964

I am looking to upgrade my wife's current nanny-mobile, a Volvo XC-70, to either an '04/'05 CS or an '05 LR3. Its primary duties will consist of lugging 3 small kids to/from school; secondary will be towing my Cup Car to DEs.

Any thoughts? Thanks for your help.

Torags

LR3 towing? What's its capacity. I thought it was a compact (short wheelbase) SUV (3500lb tow).

K964

The LR3 can tow 7700 lbs according to the website. I've read a ton of threads on the Cayenne S and am somewhat leery of its reliability/QC issues. Of course, the Land Rover is a brand new model and will surely have its issues as well.

mudman2

Based on a review on UK Top Gear they rate it "bone shaker" on the street. Great offroad but zero in the way of comfort.

Torags

Ooops... I thought the LR 3 was a replacement for the Discovery.

It appears to be the same chassis as the Range Rover (my daughter owns one). They both have the 113.5" wheelbase.

They are not the great off road Rover(with solid axel), they are a more road worthy truck with independent suspension.

Drive both - they handle much differently (Living room vs performance truck). I find it humorous that you're concerned about QC and comparing the Rover to the Cayenne. How far has Porche fallen... Hmm...

Marc in AK

My GF's Land Rover (03 HSE) was the biggest POS vehicle I have ever dealt with (ongoing electrical problems, repeated oil leaks....to mention a few)...and the customer service we got was about as good as a DMV run by drunk monkeys. We traded it in after ongoing frustrations for an S4.

My Cayenne only had a minor problem with the radio...which was fixed and I got some hot cocoa while I waited. It out maneuvered the LR in every aspect of Alaska driving.

Volvo's are nice....never had one.....very soccer mommy.....but that is not a bad thing (unless you borrow it to cruise the strip...)

my .02

AK

P-Car944

I sold LandRover/Range Rovers and I would never, never buy a LandRover/Range Rover product due to the problems that happen over and over again. I have never seen more pissed off wealthy people who want to own a English Suv and just hate it so much because its never leaving the shop.

Sloth

I test drove the LR3 and had a deposit on one for a while. The LR3 is nice and is a lot of truck for the buck. A nicely equiped HSE model is in the low $50's while a similarly equiped Cayenne S is in the high $60's (air suspension, Nav, Xenons). In the end I went with the Cayenne because I much prefer the interior and don't need the third row seating right now. I was also not keen on the LR reliability and having a first model year trruck. The ride on the LR3 is also more truck like compared to the smoother sportier Cayenne.

FYI... The LR3 is an all new truck. It does not share the same chasis or engine as the past Discovery or the current Range Rover.

Marc in AK

Yeah, I know......"all new".......but the same company.

AK

Torags

[QUOTE=Sloth
FYI... The LR3 is an all new truck. It does not share the same chasis or engine as the past Discovery or the current Range Rover.[/QUOTE]

I'm curious.. Do you think Ford would make two different 113.6" chassis for the LR3&RR?

If you know, where are they different...

Sloth

The current Range Rover was designed by BMW during their brief ownership of the marque. The LR3 is newly designed by Rover and Ford. Regarless of where the chassis design came from... the wheelbase may be the same, but the chassis is different. I suppose that the next redesign of the RR could share the same chassis as the LR3.

Here is the body chassis construction info presented on the Land Rover website.

Range Rover 2005
Monocoque integrated body/chassis with three steel subframes.
Front fenders, hood and doors are aluminum alloy. The rest of the body is double-sided zinc-coated steel.

LR3 2005
Integrated Body-frame™ with hydroformed, boxed-steel ladder frame and welded steel monocoque underbody
Double-sided, zinc coated steel outer-body panels

Discovery 2004
14-gauge, boxed-steel ladder frame with six crossmembers
Welded steel monocoque underbody mounted to frame at 14 points
Outer-body panels are double-sided zinc-coated steel or aluminum alloy.

Torags

ahh... ha...

Thanks for the information..

umfan866

I would get an '04 CS at invoice or below-invoice at this time of year. Make sure it has all the recalls done to it. The handling is pretty incredible for the tonnage you are driving (and I only drove the V6).
Compared to an XC-90 SUV (I know it's not on your list) the Cayenne is a sports car and the XC-90 is a UPS truck.

mudman2

And for the Soccer Mom's its impossible to get the into the third row without putting the kids down on the street.

I did like the offroad modes tho', programmed to road surface type, nice idea

ozr

Two VERY different species...
Test drive them both, you'll feel the difference. If you can't feel the difference, then get a VERY soccer mobil car, like...

Cayenne drives like a heavy car, but still like a CAR, and also allows it's driver to use SUV practicality, LR3 drives more like a tractor...

It's up to you, what type of drive feeling you want to select for yourself on and off the road...