Long-Term Test Update: 2005 Land Rover LR3 HSE
Other drivers often gawk at the LR3--including Adam Sandler
By Neil G. Chirico
Photography by Brian Vance
Our latest trophy winner is proving a hard vehicle to schedule time in. When editors do finally get behind the wheel, they report feeling like the oft-shirtless gardener on "Desperate Housewives" because of all the hot Beverly Hills fortysomethings who stare and lick their chops. Yeah, we know, it's not us; it's the in-demand LR3's clean design. One female companion commented, "Forget the Volvo or the VW SUVs, I want one of these.
This thing is hot!" Fear not, there's plenty of muscle and guts for the guys, too: We've subjected the LR3 to off-road excursions in Gorman, Barstow, and Death Valley, where we were happy to have rubber floormats instead of fancy carpeted ones. Camping in Death Valley allowed us to get further insight on a 30-mile dirt-road trip to Teakettle Junction, where the third-row passengers noted that the washboard surface vibrated them so badly they started to itch all over. First- and second-row passengers had no complaints, though--and, so far, neither do we. Other drivers often gawk at the LR3--including Adam Sandler, who gave it a long stare as he drove by in his own Range Rover.