Test drive Land Rover Discovery LR3 2004 - 2009 SUV

Overchits of Europe

The best -selling American brand in the Old World has been Jeep for many years. The place of the most popular SUV Europe was firmly taken by Discovery. Than there is no reason to push them with bumers, especially if the bumers are magnificent diesel engines, so beloved by Europeans and are increasingly selling us.

Our current duelists appeared almost simultaneously, although their ancestors shared their last two decades of the last century. The first serial Discovery saw the light in 1989, and Grand Cherokee in 1992. If we take into account that the five -door versions of Discovery were published later, then they can be called the same day. However, we are not too worried about the distant past. The events of the beginning of the current century. Just imagine ... Detroit of the beginning of the 21st century. The middle of winter. A presentation of the latest technological development closed for civilians is prepared by the Cobos Center, over which professionals of the highest class in the classified laboratories of Her Majesty, hidden in the impassable meadows of England near the town of Gaidon, have been preparing for several years. At the appointed hour, the cover is torn off, and on the lips of a few invited experts an exclamation of admiration freezes, mixed with surprise and joy ... The SUV universe was saved, although it was pretty injured. Do not think that behind the ocean at that time only slept and drank Cola. By no means! There, too, secret developments of superweapon, designed not only to save the freedom of movement, but also the spirit of this freedom. And a year later, in the same mysterious kobo center, the cover is torn from another model of all-wheel drive technology. And again, experts who came to look at this miracle of engineering thought, hardly hold back the tears of joy! The world is saved! In short ... Land Rover Discovery III was presented in Detroit in 2004, and Jeep Grand Cherokee is the same, but in 2005.

The opposites are repelled

You need to understand how different they are and how changed. However, from the very beginning they shared the abyss of technical misunderstanding. Actually, they had nothing in common-underdeveloped bridges with spring pendants, and even then of different types, all-wheel drive, also, by the way, realized differently, if you look at the details. They even had a marketing purpose. The Land Rover Discovery was served as an ideal family car, the Jeep Grand Cherokee was more positioned as an actual alternative to business towns. That is why accents in the power range of cars were set differently. For the most part, powerful multi -liter gasoline engines were put on Jeep, and the potential owners of Land Rover were seduced by economical and painful diesel units of a relatively small volume. Being approximately equal on off -road, both in this area were a kind of victims of advertising: if Discovery, after one widely known annual event, began to be associated with an unconditional rogue, then many considered Grand Cherokee only a symbol of status, unable to off -road exploits. Both are erroneously by virtue of its limitations. Only one thing is true - before each of our heroes it was necessary to grow. If with Cherokee or Range Rover everything is more or less clear, then the decision to buy Grand or Disco cost some of a fair amount of nerve cells. Doubts are clear: in the nineties there were so many diverse SUVs, close in the class on the market that their eyes were scattered. However, you must admit that such a monterey or Prado does not stretch such a train of disputes, rumors, jokes and envious views, which, we will be honest, treated more to the owners than to cars ...

TIMES CHANGE

The current Land Rover Discovery and Jeep Grand Cherokee are a little more similar than their predecessors, but there are many differences. The British SUV flaunts a completely independent suspension and a frame integrated into the body. The American retained the Body-Frame supporting circuit and the dependent rear suspension, but acquired the front independent. A full -fledged transmission with a lowering gear in the handout and differential locks remained, fortunately, both of them. To substantiate both innovations and traditional solutions are easy. Considering that in Europe and America, the owners of modern SUVs move from asphalt less and less, but on the road the requirements for SUV are harder, you need to choose a running circuit guaranteeing high controllability and sufficient active security. Therefore, the front independent suspensions were used, and in the case of Land Rover, even the back. On the other hand, the owner of an all -wheel drive car, therefore, acquires that he wants to have all possible degrees of freedom of movement, which cannot be achieved without reduced and locks. The compromise solution regarding the rear axle at Jeep is dictated by endurance considerations and, possibly, the healthy conservatism of the Americans.

The penetration of modern technologies into the chassis of Land Rover is reflected in the Terran Response system. You choose the type of off -road, and the car sets up under it yourself. On the other hand, Jeep offers a truly advanced transmission. About this, however, later, but now we should more worry about their engines. Both are a new generation of diesel engines close in architecture and design with a V-shaped cylinder arrangement. Until now, in constructive schemes of inflammation with ignition, in -line architecture dominated, if you do not take into account the mighty eights of General Motors. The first swallow was the 3.0-liter Bavarian six, the main principle of the construction of which was a sports character. In general, with the advent of the latest generation diesel engines, combining efficiency with fair dynamic characteristics, manifested in almost the entire working range of crankshaft revolutions, the SUVs were transformed.

Squeezing

I must say that both engines of the company did not develop themselves. The Land Rover put an engine, designed jointly Ford, Peugeot and Jaguar, and on jeep, respectively, Daimler or, if you like, Mercedes-Benz. Each of the engines boasts of boost turbines, intermediate coolers of pumped air and a lot of innovation in the structure. The six installed on Land Rover with a working volume of 2.7 liters gives out 190 liters. with. At 4000 rpm, and the maximum torque of 440 nm is realized from 1900 rpm. The motor is equipped with one turbine with an adjustable stream and has four valves per cylinder. Its distinctive feature is the use of pumps with piezoelectric injection. Another power scheme is used for the Jeep Grand Cherokee diesel - this is a branded Mercedes Common Rail. Injection under a pressure of 1800 bar, a turbine with variable geometry and 24 valves allow you to remove 218 liters from a 3.0-liter engine. with. At 3800 rpm and 510 nm already at 1600 rpm. These figures suggest that Jeep is alive than Land Rover.

Practice shows that this is true. And on the asphalt, in the city or on the highway, and on the off -road, in the sand or on the rise, Grand Cherokee demonstrates the best traction and speed qualities of its diesel. However, it is necessary to pay tribute to Discovery, which is only a little behind him, and the differences can be found only thoroughly complaining. At the same time, the Land Rover engine is surprisingly soft and quiet, which is especially felt for prohibited speeds on public roads. At a time, when the harsh rocker of the Grand Diesel at a speed of 150 km/h already interferes, the Land Rover engine is almost inaudible. On idle, vibration now and then breaks into the Jeep salon, and the Discovery engine was sometimes recognized as gasoline, not noticing its work. Nevertheless, the handling of the Grand Cherokee gas pedal finds a much more lively response in the behavior of the car, and acceleration and braking by the engine are equally well carried out at 40 km/h and 140. But this is largely related to the driving on the asphalt, on off -road The picture is somewhat different.

Complex sentence

To clarify the features of the behavior of the Land Rover and Jeep on the road, we recall the nuances of the structure. An independent front suspension on the triangular levers of the unequal length, which both SUVs are equipped, ensures good controllability through greater rigidity in the transverse direction and the absence of harmful connections. The flip side of the coin is that for the sake of controllast, the articulation of the levers was clamped to the permissible minimum, aggravating the situation with thick stabilizers. In the crossed area, hope is only for locks and on the rear suspension. We expected special successes here from an American - a dependent suspension, as a rule, has large moves.

In fact, it turned out that on Jeep it was also clamped to improve running qualities on the asphalt, as a result of which Grand Cherokee is inferior to the Discovery in the ramp index, that is, the ability to choose a diagonal suspension in the posting situation. This is noticeable even from the pictures! Moreover, the British suspension level switch was transferred to the position of the off-road, therefore, the levers were at the lower point and their adversary was practically chosen. But if the Grand Cherokee would make a disconnected rear suspension stabilizer like Patrol, then he would have beaten the Discovery for sure. In the meantime, on a crossed area, Land Rover shows its advantage by all means, trying to get out of the asphalt loss. One of its advantages is pneumatic elastic elements that allow you to change the road clearance from 160 to 300 mm. However, the strongest remedy is the mysterious Terran Response ...

Charming techno

In a military manner, you could call Terran Response an automated system for selecting an optimal algorithm for the interaction of nodes and mechanisms Land Rover Discovery. And you know what? Paradoxically, but I like this thing invented for charming newcomers. We tried to change the regimes, being in a certain situation - for example, in deep sand, and the best -scaler behaved in the best way when the Sand of the switch is positioned. On a rocky slope, it was most possible to climb faster and most confidently on the stones ... The rest of the regimes, in principle, did not deteriorate the situation radically, but forced the motor to noticeably strain, then the driver was nervous.

Explicit benefits have been found repeatedly from the possibility of increasing road clearance, which is obvious, and from the fact that the bottom of the Land Rover is almost flat, with the exception of an incomprehensible shield covering the spare. On the same hillocks where Discovery just nodded his nose, Jeep was pretty applied by the protection and corps of the differential of the rear axle. Protection, however, in Grand Cherokee is installed under all vulnerable points, forming a long zigzag ski. And still, the rattle from under the bottom spoils the mood. It was interesting to find the correspondence of the operating modes of the engine-transmission of the Jeep and Land Rover. To do this, I took turns putting them on a sandy rise and first carefully, and after all the more intensively touched several times. If everything is clear with the American, you don’t care about anything, then Terrain Response could be turned in search of a coincidence. My simple test showed that Jeep's power unit works exactly like Land Rover at the sand position of the Terran Response selector. In other words, the motor gained momentum somewhere for 1,500, and only then the transmission began to transfer the torque to the wheels, if the pedal was continuing to press, then on the deepest sand the tires scrolled, allowing cars to move, and not twitch in place of the will of the anti-wings systems. The latter, by the way, is softer and more accurately working in Discovery, but the blocking of the Grand Cherokee differentials are very good in the crossed terrain, remaining closed, even if the car is just on a steep slope. By the way, unlike the English SUV, the American is able to hold posture without sliding down with a gas pedal on a rather steep slide. And both forward and back. The absence on the slopes of slippery areas did not allow us to make sure that the descent system is superior to the Land Rover hill. On dry surfaces, a reduced jeep gear coped with the descent no worse.

Machine anthropology

If you do not go into disputes about tastes, then it makes no sense to describe the appearance of duelists. We will proceed that the categories of harmony are ghostly and non-obvious concepts, and therefore we will meet that someone more likes Land Rover Discovery for monumentality and original appearance, and someone Jeep Grand Cherokee for decisive appearance and enthusiasm. Another thing with the salons of applicants. There is already something to talk about. Let's start by landing. There is much written about the team position of the driver of Land Rover Discovery and there is no point in repeating. Yes, it is comfortable, convenient for off -road and in the city, but it requires a high profile of the car as a whole. Sitting behind the wheel of Jeep, you find that the ceiling is pressing on you, and the hard chairs are too wide to provide the expected side support. But Grand Cherokee is equipped with such a useful thing as adjusting the pedal unit in distance to the motor shield. Given the wide ranges of the steering wheel and chair, it can be assumed that it should be comfortable for a person with almost any anthropological data.

Land Rover, in my opinion, lacks scope when adjusting the angle of inclination of the pillow. Car steers are great: in Discovery it is chubby, small diameter and in section is a beveled oval. The steering wheel Jeep is noticeably thinner and larger in diameter. It is more convenient - with Land Rover. British and audio installation with a 6-disk mp3 player is better. The Harmann-Kardon, which speaks for itself, designed the eight-carnal acoustics for her. True, it must be noted that the system of no less eminent manufacturer - Boston Acoustics is installed on expensive versions of Jeep.

On the second row of chairs, it is quite convenient to sit in Jeep and Land Rover, unless the ceiling of the American is noticeably lower. In addition, the Briton boasts a 7-seater salon, and the desired to purchase a JEEP similarly will have to take the recently appeared Commander. In their own way, everyone has access to the luggage compartment. The plus of Discovery should be called the door that is horizontally horizontally, thanks to the original form of which you can reach the cargo lying in the farthest corners of the compartment, and do not get sick at the same time. The advantage of Grand Cherokee can be considered the ability to open glass separately from the door from the key fob.

TARGET GROUP

Yes, yes, we are aware that everyone loves unambiguous conclusions. Please, they are in front of you. Jeep Grand Cherokee is good on the asphalt and on the road in general. It is well controlled, its suspension is slightly tougher, but this does not reduce comfort. Its main plus is magnificent dynamic indicators with acceptable economy. Our consumption did not exceed 13 liters on average by 100 km. Land Rover Discovery is still captivating with its off-road characteristics, Terrain Response, an amazingly comfortable suspension and a real off-road landing driving. His loss in dynamics is noticeable, but not so great. Another thing is controllability and stability ... Due to the soft suspension with a progressive characteristic of the compression of Land Rover, it is noticeably fucked in corners, without encouraging active rulers. Jeep, on the contrary, is worth it as a glove and is ready at any moment to lay such a turn that it takes a breath. Very short, then Grand Cherokee is more a driver, designed for people with a sports manner of driving, prone to experiment, but not ready to meddle on serious off -road.

Well, Discovery is suitable for romants who, in pursuit of impressions, can climb very far, but are not ready to give up comfort and style. However, all these categories are subjective, but we are talking about diesel cars. Potential buyers of such SUVs respect specifics. One of the factors influencing the choice may be the difference in cost: the price of the diesel jeep grand Che-Rokee Limited with automatic transmission and a leather interior 52,700 euros ($ 63 240), and for the Terrain Response and the Land Rover Discovery TD6 HSE air suspension system. Well, TD6 HSE with seven seats will cost $ 68,664 already.

Text: Igor Gubar
 

A source: Magazine 4x4 [December/2005]