Test drive Land Rover Discovery LR3 2004 - 2009 SUV

Any path

SUVs are beautiful! Especially if they are really beautiful. There are not so many of them in nature, but one more has appeared. Land Rover Discovery of the third generation The true embodiment of off -road beauty.
That's just the case when the editorial opinion may not coincide with the opinion of the author. That is me. And even if most of the team believes that for a citizen a serious SUV is not an urgent need, but only part of the image. I may even agree with this. But only partially just so that the opinion does not coincide. Still, I am sure that with all their shortcomings (which are the result of advantages), SUVs have more than a valuable property of the greatest functionality. Do I need such functionality is a tenth issue. I will find how to use it for the good of the main thing that she is. This is like an inviolable supply, he may never be needed, but still better when he is. And when asked if an SUV is needed in the city, I always answer positively. In addition, here again my opinion, regardless of the general film, I find a special positive aesthetics in high cars with large wheels and encouraging road clearance. Yes, you can solve me in place, but I will stay with my own. SUVs are beautiful!

Especially if they are really beautiful. There are not so many of them in nature, but one more has appeared. Land Rover Discovery of the third generation The true embodiment of off -road beauty. Beauties! There is everything that the soul asks: the correct proportions, and strict conciseness, the continuity of style, and light brutality, and sufficient originality, and absolute geometry would have looked without breaking away! A sort of hefty block, as if cut down by several powerful blows of a giant ax, is especially good for a disco radical-black color with tinted glasses. By the way, have you ever seen on any other cars repeaters of turn signals on the front doors? Personally, I do not remember this.
And the turn signals in the rear -view mirrors are not considered!

Direct angle main design idea. Everything is square or, on an extreme, rectangular. To complete the picture, only a square spare wheel on the back door is not enough. Why is there not enough? Yes, because the double -leaf fifth door is made asymmetric as in the car of the previous generation. Only there, asymmetry was explained by the reserve suspended on the door, and on Disco 3, it hid under the bottom of the trunk.

But there are benefits from asymmetry, there is! Since the gates are divided across, the lower side is thrown back, respectively, down. And what? But it turns out that it does not work to climb deep into the trunk! Well, at least on the right. But on the left side, where the board is lower, you can still reach the bowels of the car. By the way, you can at least jump on the leaned lower wings: it is able to withstand up to three hundred kilograms of all weights of living and other things.
So, why, in fact, you need to climb into the trunk? The main reason is the third series of seats. It only at first glance seems that he is not. He is. But under the floor, very cunningly hidden. So cunning that when it materializes literally out of nowhere, it seems absolutely unrealistic at the first moment. But even more surprising is the fact that the gallery in the interior traditional for the Discovery amphitheater is not only suitable for habitat, but also very convenient even for people of ordinary human growth! At the same time, you can get into the rear seats, as well as to get out, without outside help.

I have already said about the amphitheater: in all Land Rover cars, the second row of seats is located just above the first. But there is plenty of place over the head in this very place the famous step, which has always been a distinctive feature of disco. We had a diesel-automatic machine, in the configuration of SE this is far from the most expensive version. But in the absolute values \u200b\u200bof more than sixty thousand dollars, the amount is by no means small! Of course, you do not make complaints about the quality of materials. But, you must admit, the quality and cost is not the same thing at all. And therefore, a simple fabric (this is also called a slightly dismissive word a rag) in expensive and prestigious, with a claim, an SUV causes a feeling of easy disappointment. However, I do not exclude that the British deliberately went for some simplification of the salon in order to keep Discovery at a respectful distance from a more expensive and status Range. And then, you know, too much is gaining in common: dimensions, air suspension, V8, bixenon there

But in fact, the difference here is more serious than it seems at first glance. In search of a new disco, the British made a very interesting and logical move, going their own way. The other way. After all, Discovery is what essentially? This is a real one hundred percent all -terrain vehicle, according to the prevailing image. And what in turn is an all -terrain vehicle? This is obvious: a car that has no place in the city. Here I will probably join the opinion of the editorial majority. So, you need to somehow link together a ready-made powerful image with a set of qualities that are relevant on public roads. And so we have a very interesting product: in fact, this is a typical modern all-wheel drive car, but it seems like not a purebred all-terrain vehicle: an independent suspension, electronic differentials, the absence of a load-bearing frame in its pure form, an Integrated Body-Frame technology designed to lower the center of gravity. On the other hand, there is an honest handout, the main Landrover values \u200b\u200bare preserved (like a low glazing line that allows more accurately maneuvering on the roads), an important possibility of adjusting the clearance has been added. And, most importantly, a completely special thing has appeared the Terran Response system, which allows you to maximize all the capabilities of the machine on the road. On a very different off -road.

The transmission control panel and the suspension of the new disco (see photo 10). The left key changes the size of the road clearance, the right includes the upper or lower row of the distribution; This is done with a gearbox lever in neutral. A round joystick select the operating modes of Terran Response transmission (from left to right): highway, snow, track, sand and stones. The YDC (Hill Descent Control) system is activated by the yellow key that controls the brake mechanisms and the engine thrust during the slopes. We also draw your attention to the electronic parking brake, which is turned on the large button on the left. It can not be turned off yourself: when starting from the place, the handbrake is deactivated automatically ..

According to the British, there are five types of coatings, and each implies a different driving manner. Hence the five operating modes of the omnipotent Terran Response, which can affect most of the vital systems of the car: for example, change the sensitivity of the accelerator, independently adjust the body position or remove restrictions on the trunk of the wheels. The latter, by the way, played a joke with us: when trying to climb a sandy rise in mode with a cactus, heavy Discovery buried quite quickly and almost sat on the belly. As we found out later, the wheels of the wheels can slip in the mode, which does not happen, say, in the snow mode. Well, we had common sense and the path to retreat. And the instructions still had to be read, yes!

But if Terran Response is a breakthrough, then the behavior of the machine on the asphalt is progress. And very noticeable progress! If the predecessor was closer to Defender, then the new disco is almost Range Rover. The air suspension eats everything indiscriminately: the car swallows a butter trifle without even chewing; And something very large and tasteless nevertheless makes itself felt by a modest ik. In the human language, the suspension is perceived as a comfortable, elastic and energy -intensive at the same time.

The straight car is amazingly reliable. On the track stands like a glove, there is silence in the cabin. It confuses one hypersensitivity of the machine to the slightest movement of the steering wheel. A little pulled the steering wheel and the massive disco had already gone to the side. This sharpness contrasts with what happens to the car a moment later. A roll, thoughtfulness, and other things appear typical of a high car with a long -flowing suspension and high -profile tires. The severity is replaced by a natural reactions natural for the SUV, but there is a very necessary feedback. Further easier. A familiar method at the entrance to the turn, feel the right position of the controlled wheels, fix the roll and go. By the way, in the bend, the car is incredibly stable and steer perfectly to add gas.

But where did these nerves come from? Really genetics? After all, a sensitive steering will be appreciated only by professional-ofroulester, when a fragmented track provides the only opportunity to break free. For these purposes, the Discovery 3 on the on -board computer display in real time displays the angle of rotation of the front wheels. But the ordinary driver will have to either come to terms with this feature, or learn how to use it.

The new TDV6 diesel has very good characteristics, and this is very noticeable: in the first two programs, Discovery does not seem to be a single cheerful. However, with an increase in speed, a lack of power begins to be felt: a large mass and mediocre aerodynamics of the machine affects. In the fight against air, which at speeds for a hundred does everything possible to prevent acceleration, the car begins to get confused in the programs. And, of course, more often switching and this process is not too fast. So if in the city very often manages to leave at the moment, then this number does not pass on the highway. But, turning on the cruise control, you stop paying attention to this: a calm uniform movement, albeit fast, a disco horse. Although no, he has another horse effective brakes.

Between Land Rover Discovery the very first and present, third generation is a huge abyss. And in this abyss of disco number two, the least logical of all the Land of Rover. Neither fish nor fowl. The original Discovery model of 1989 was pure water all-terrain vehicle, a legend car, once and for all setting the image of this branch of the development of rovers. Image, but not a tone. For the car that exists today is different, but still the best disco! The most cunning and smartest. And the most multilateral and functional.

Autography
Land Rover Discovery 3
Still known as - LR3
Predecessor - Discovery I/II (1989)
Premiere - January 2004
Body - 5 -door station wagon
Engines-2.7-4.4 l (190-300 hp)
Production - Great Britain
Expected replacement - 2012.

Text: Kirill Brevdo
 
 
 
  

A source: Wheel magazine [2 (88)/2005]