When you take delivery of a new car, the salesperson normally sits in the passenger seat, spends a few minutes making sure you're familiar with all the controls, and then bids you good luck.
If you happen to be buying today's test car - a 2008 Land Rover LR3 - an hour's worth of classroom instruction would only be enough to touch on the vehicle's multiple systems and controls. That's certainly one reason the company includes a lengthy DVD tutorial along with the thick owner's manual. The DVD is must viewing for any new Rover owner - it has an amazing amount of technology incorporated into its innate toughness.
Last spring, I was able to drive several Land Rovers on an off-road course the company's marketers set up on the 25-acre grounds of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Endi cott House in Dedham. It was a chance to see how Land Rover's Terrain Response system worked. The system has five modes. In addition to "general" - the equivalent of the "automatic" setting on a digital camera - there are separate modes for sand, mud and ruts, rock-crawling, and for driving on wet grass, gravel, and in snow. Each mode starts out with different settings for vehicle height, throttle response, braking, and suspension travel.
It takes a leap of faith to trust the vehicle when you're climbing and see nothing but sky until you crest a steep, rocky incline and point seemingly straight down. That's when the Hill Descent feature kicks in, inching the vehicle slowly and surely down the rutted landscape that passes for a road.
"Despite all that, you have to remember that descent control doesn't change the laws of physics and doesn't fix driver misjudgment," said Bob Burns, Land Rover manager for off-road operations, in the company-supplied DVD. Still, it's an impressive system and a true off-road vehicle.
Land Rover has been to off-roading Europeans what the Jeep Wrangler has been to drivers in the United States. In 59-plus years, more than 4 million Land Rovers have been sold worldwide.
Normally, the LR3 has 7.3 inches of ground clearance. In off-road mode, the suspension boosts that to 9.5 inches and the LR3 can "wade" through 27.6 inches of water.
That same suspension will drop down two inches below normal to allow for easier entrance and egress, as long as you remember to hit the lever on the console between the seats or lock that command into the programmable key fob. The fob also is built for toughness, being able to function after being dropped 30 feet onto pavement or after being fished out of water up to 75 feet deep - two claims we didn't test, there being no backup at hand. In addition, the fob is powered by a battery that recharges when it's in the ignition.
The key fires up a 4.4-liter (268 cubic inch) V8 that puts out 300 horsepower and 315 lb.-ft. of torque. A six-speed automatic transmission does a nice job of putting that power through the full-time all-wheel drive system. The driver can employ the transmission in full automatic, a "sport" mode that raises the shift points and downshifts more aggressively, or manual mode.
Because the LR3 weighs 5,796 pounds (add a reasonably sized driver and a bit of gear and you're talking three tons), the fuel economy takes a hit. We felt fortunate to manage 16.2 miles per gallon in mostly highway and back road driving.
The LR3 is loaded with safety features, including adaptive headlights, a full array of airbags, dynamic stability control (DSC), active roll mitigation (ARM), cornering brake control (CBC), electronic brake distribution (EBD), and the previously mentioned Hill Descent Control.
Functionally, both the second- and third-row seats fold flat for cargo carrying. Flip the seats back up and you can carry seven adults, though that doesn't leave much room for cargo behind the third seat.
The center stack on the instrument panel is filled with controls for climate, audio, and navigation systems. All of the systems have amazing versatility and an array of features, which one discovers by practice and reading, or by having a 13-year-old techno whiz in the family.
Both rows of rear seats are raised - so-called "stadium seating" - and the twin glass roof panels add to the brightness and airy feeling of the interior.
The complexity of the controls is the opposite of the simple exterior styling. The LR3 remains a box. Designer Andy Wheel calls it more "product design than automotive design." It's a simple look that will help the car "remain contemporary for a long time," he said.
And it deserves to remain relevant. The LR3 is a vehicle that's equally at home on or off roads.
