Renting before buying?

Anyone ever heard of a place renting an LR3 for a week or so before I buy one?

You'd need to ask your local rentals places... I know a few 'round here rented the old Discovery at some sites. You can ask your local LR dealer if they know of one. LR3 is a little expensive to be a common renter.

Hertz offers the Discovery as a rental in their premium line (but not at all Hertz locations). This may be true for the LR3 as well, just give them a call.

Hertz has replaced or is replacing their discos with LR3's. I rented one in Atlanta this week.

Thanks. I checked that out for the Baltimore region and it was about $92/day. I'll have to see if I might be able to borrow a loaner for an extended test drive. Anyone ever tried that?

I have a LR3 stripped V6 rental from Enterprise. I am not sure if they have them nationally. My dealership uses Enterprise for the loaner cars, and it may be a deal between the two companies to keep the Rover drivers happy?

I looked on the Enterprise site for them and they are not listed, I was going to get one for my next business trip but I am guessing they are only at a few locations in the country right now.

Definately rent one before you buy. If I had done so, I'd never have bought it. See the thread on lumbar supports on this forum.

bwanajim said:

Definately rent one before you buy. If I had done so, I'd never have bought it. See the thread on lumbar supports on this forum.

Click to expand...

Sell it, please.

It might come to that, unfortunately. I wonder how much depreciation I've suffered with just 1000 miles on the clock! It might resolve itself if my dealer is able to do the seat swap with a 2005 HSE they have on the lot. But otherwise, I will have no choice. And I doubt there are many dealers as good as mine, who are willing to step up for the customer to this degree.

It's really too bad because I am an avid fan of the marque. In every other respect, the LR3 is a stunning achievement for Land Rover, and I applaud them for this great new design. Handling is amazing. The interior layout is very clever and flexible. The exterior is beautiful. More power and speed with improved fuel economy. But if they want to erase people's memories of the old Discos (which apparently was the point of the renaming), they have to do better. Pulling features - especially features required for basic comfort - will not help them toward that goal. Decontenting like this will not result in better initial quality ratings.

By the way, here's a shot of my MOST comfortable Land Rover: a 1997 Camel Trophy Discovery (the US Team vehicle from the Mongolia event, #CT44). I drove this one from London to Bombay in 2000-2001 and it was exceptionally comfortable and reliable. I still have it stored in the UK. It has the same basic SE style seats that you could get on the stripped-down 1995 and 1996 models that sold in the States.

http://www.spectare.com/dispatches/LondonBombayCebu/background/travelers.html

--Jim