lr3log

Update on Trailer Receiver replacement

2006-04-03T15:17:00.000-07:00

The saga of the trailer hitch continues. Something in the universe appears to really not want me to have a trailer hitch.

The replacement receiver was shipped last week, and UPS says it was delivered to and signed for by "Lal". Problem is, there is no Lal at my mailbox receiving place, and there is no box and no trace of said box.

We wait for UPS to investigate. At least the retailer I've been getting parts from haven't told me to pound sand, yet.

Other than that, Rover's running great. We've put only 850 or so miles on it, so we'll have plenty of warranty-miles to use over the summer.

Update: The mailbox receiving place lost it somewhere internally, and found it several days later. The hitch works perfectly, and the hitch-mounted bike rack fits fabulously.

Broken parts and run-around

2006-03-06T15:35:00.000-08:00

Well, this is my first really unhappy experience with Land Rover so far. I bought a Land Rover part from a non-Land Rover affiliated parts dealer, and was very happy with the transaction. Good service, good price, general happiness.

However, one piece, the trailer hitch receiver, didn't work out so well. On the LR3, the hitch receiver is removable, and it uses a little handle and key to remove/install from the vehicle.

Late last week, I was going to buy a hitch-mounted bike rack for the car, so I tried to put the hitch on the car. The handle wouldn't turn, so I thought it might be locked already. I turned the key, and while the key handle turned, the lock didn't appear to. I tried to pull the key out, and the key broke in half. Bummer.

Land Rover parts are warranted for 12 months, and it was less than a month ago that I received the part, so there should be no problems. I called my local dealer, affiliated with the dealer that I bought the vehicle from. They said no problem, bring in the broken part and the receipt and although it would be a few days before they could get the replacement part in, they would handle it. Great!

Brought in the broken part today and the person in parts (after waiting in line for 10 minutes holding a 20-pound hitch) refused to take back the part. Apparently, you must return it to the dealer where you purchased it from.

That's sort of like saying that if your toaster breaks 6 months after purchase, you should bring it back to Best Buy to get it replaced.

So, knowing that the national customer service number for Land Rover is known for being extremely helpful, I give the folks there a call.

They have never heard of someone trying to contact the company for a parts warranty return.

At this point, I'm forced to contact the place where I purchased it from and likely ship it back to them. They will likely ship it back to Land Rover. Why not handle things direct?

More to come.

Update: The third-party parts supplier where I got the hitch receiver from agreed to take it back. So, I'm just out shipping for it, and the few weeks while this one goes back and the replacement gets delivered. That's not too bad.

Two small issues; High engine compression, and suspension status.

2006-02-13T12:05:00.000-08:00

Not sure if these are idiosyncrasies or actual problems, but I've noticed a few things about the LR3 so far. About 250 miles on it.

1. When you have the cruise control on, and are going down hill, it seems as if the car is trying to slow down with engine compression. It also slows down quite a bit when you are off the accelerator -- I tried this by going 30 mph on a flat surface, and within about 10 seconds I was under 5mph. These could be related.

2. This morning, when the car was in access height, the height display on the console showed that the car was both in access and off-road height. Pulling the lever up brought it to cruise height -- could this have been my first suspension sensor fault? Bummer.

Other than that, love the car. The light sensor for headlights and the NAV sensor is a little sensitive -- it gets dark and light quick if the sun is on your right and you pass streetlamps (the shade from them.)

AUX Port Volume

2006-02-07T07:56:00.000-08:00

Like many others, my LR3 seems to have the same 'problem' with the AUX port volume. Specifically, it is much too quiet. My MP3 player (iRiver H340) has to be turned up to the maximum volume (40) for it to put much of anything out of the LR3's speakers -- and the LR3 volume control has to be turned up to 15-20. At that volume, the navigation system screams at you.

I'll likely have to either not use the MP3 player when driving and navigating (annoying), or come up with a small amplifier for the mp3 player, which seems less than ideal.

One-hundred miles and counting.

2006-02-06T09:35:00.000-08:00

One-hundred miles and four days, and the car is still ticking. No faults, problems, and we're only down to 3/4 gas tank remaining.

We opted for the factory extended warranty -- I honestly didn't expect to, but they offered one that was 84 months, 85,000 miles, exclusionary, and about the same price (< $2700, remember to negotiate these things!) as a third-party inclusive warranty. We plan on keeping the car, but we know these Rovers can be tricky. A $200 deductable.

Today we'll figure out the insurance and sign the loan paperwork. Credit unions are great for getting excellent financing; the Rover financing was promotional at 5.9%, which was good, but a credit union offered us 5.0%. That is better.

One of these could be mine.

2006-02-03T13:22:00.000-08:00

One of these could be my Rover. Looks like a truck just dropped off a batch of new ones.

Link to Flickr PDI gallery.

Update: One of those was mine, am picking it up tonight if everything is right.

Sources of Useful Rover Knowledge

2006-02-03T08:24:00.000-08:00

Here are some links I've used for Random Useful Rover Knowledge (RURK):

Specific to the LR3:

Any others I should be looking at?

Reconsidering having a dealer install driving lamps.

2006-02-02T08:49:00.000-08:00

Perhaps I should have a dealer install the driving lamps, although one dealer I asked wants $1,100 to put them in.

Reading through this post at the UK Disco 3 (UK term for LR3) forum indicates it may be more involved than I want do handle -- where more involved involves drilling anything where people can see.

[Offtopic: If I were to install my own, I would likely not mount the switch on the dash, it would go someplace a little less noticeable. I cannot fathom drilling the bumper though -- I am not that skilled at measuring. I tried to build a table once, and after getting all the pieces together, I stood it on its legs, and it promptly fell apart.]

Accessories and Extended Warranties.

2006-02-01T13:20:00.000-08:00

Thinking about accessories, I've liked the idea of rubber floor mats, tow package, cross-bars for the roof, driving lights and an A-frame bar on the front for practical and visual purposes.

Wife nixed the A-frame idea, and some more research nixed the idea of the OEM driving lights. (Why spend $500 for lights when you can get excellent lights for $100.)

The salesperson is including the floor mats, and we'll be ordering the accessories from http://www.roverconnection.com, due to their lowest quote. We'll be getting the tow bar, electrics (self-installed), and front seat-covers to protect from wet swimsuits.

---

I'm still conflicted on whether to get an extended warranty. I'll likely keep the car for a while, though I'm pretty sure the dealer extended-warranty, while convenient, will be a rip-off. I've got quotes from other companies for an extended warranty for $2,000-$4,000 for 4 additional years, so we'll see what the dealer offers. Given all the 'stuff' on the LR3, it seems logical to expect that things will break. $4,000 worth, though?

Financing the purchase.

2006-02-01T13:14:00.000-08:00

We've looked around the area for good financing. As we're in Washington State, most Credit Unions will offer you membership and good loan rates based only on your residence.

Land Rover's financing is 5.9%, which isn't horrible but could probably be beat.

Our existing Credit Union, offered 5.5% which was better, and extremely convenient.

I found a credit union down south that offered 4.75%, but only on a 24-month loan. We're looking for 48 months.

A small, one-branch credit union with less than a half-dozen employees offered 5.0% financing on up to a 60-month loan. Although they are very low-tech, their rates were the best we could find. We'll finance through them, unless something falls through.

(We offered to let the LR dealer match the interest rate, they were unable to.)

Making the offer.

2006-02-01T13:08:00.000-08:00

We've decided on a 2006 Land Rover LR3 HSE + HD, 12/05 or later.

No dealers have this vehicle in stock, since the later production date means they are all in-transit or on-order.

We've been to two Land Rover dealers so far, so why not e-mail the third dealer in the area and see what they would be willing to do to make a deal? They had a LR3 in the specifications we were looking for, coming in about two weeks. I drove the Jeep down there, and we negotiated a good price.

We really liked the salesperson that we were working with at the first dealership, so we made an appointment to go there and talk with him again. We brought the pricing that the third dealership agreed to, and presented them the same deal. They had the LR3 spec we wanted coming in about a week and a half, and they are about 60 miles closer to home. They agreed to the same pricing as the third dealer, and we put down a deposit. They expect the vehicle about 2/6, perhaps earlier.

Why Land Rover?

2006-02-01T12:50:00.000-08:00

We stopped by a Land Rover dealership a few weeks ago while looking for a vehicle to replace the Jeep. We like the outdoors and going off the paved-trails, so a offroad-capable SUV was a must. We've heard good things about the Toyota 4Runner, so that was in the running. The Jeep, although challenged in maintenance, was in the running. Why not stop by the Land Rover dealer, since it is almost in-between the Jeep and Toyota dealerships? They had interesting videos on our TiVo not too long ago, why not try one out?

We tried the 4runner first, and it went better than expected. Tight suspension, and comfortable feel. Good maintenance, according to Consumer Reports.

We stopped by the Land Rover dealership next, not even knowing what their product line. The Range Rover seemed capable, but at more than $80,000 MSRP it and the Range Rover Sport were ruled out. The little LR3 looked nice, but could it perform?

An extremely patient salesperson (rare!) showed us the vehicle, and let me try out the seat to see if it was tall enough for me. Plenty of headroom.

The salesperson then took the car through their short rock course near the dealer. The little car could certainly keep its own off-road!

The first on-road test drive was a bit of a disappointment. The car was nice to drive, but the visibility outside the car was poor. My wife was particularly affected by this, but I was pretty sure it was just the sticker on the rear driver-side door blocking the window. We thought it was a nice car, but not great.

We tried a Jeep dealership next, and found another nice salesperson who was only on his second day as a car salesmen. (Or so he says?) We tried the Commander (horrible looking!) and the Grand Cherokee (nice, but no nicer than my current Grand Cherokee). Disappointment.

We went home, without any certain idea what we would do. The Jeep was getting to be 9 years old, it should be replaced.

Over the next week, I read more about the capabilities of the Land Rover, and how other people liked the vehicle.

The next weekend, we went to a different Land Rover dealer. We test-drove the LR3 again, without the MSRP sticker in the way. Made a big difference being able to see around the car, and the car didn't seem so small anymore.

(We also tried test-driving the Hummer H2 that weekend, fun to drive if you were out in the middle of nowhere, probably, but not that fun around town. Big ugly car.)

We knew which car we wanted. LR3 HSE (memory seats, for when your wife is a foot shorter than you) with the Heavy-Duty (locking rear diff, full size spare) package.

We also knew that we wanted one made 12/05 or after -- different compressor (Caterpillar), different (better) paint vendor, and other mid-year refinements.