2 weeks in 2011 LR4 and loving it
About a year and a half ago I visited Bergamo Italy and the B&B owner picked us up from the airport in his Discovery4. I was so impressed by the comfort and utility, that I started looking for one. We don't have a LR dealer in Montana and no LR4s (a few LR3 and Discovery are around), so I depended heavily on this forum (trolling, but very grateful for the many good discussions on options, etc).
With son#2 due to be born June 1, we wanted space for 3 adults plus 2 car seats. Scanning forum posts, it seems quite a few LR4 purchases are motivated by a 2nd or 3rd car seat joining the family!
Being in Montana, locking rear differential was deemed essential (HD pkg). I really wanted green or blue, which proved to be a tough search!
Finally I found a 2011 Galway Green HSE Lux with HD package (locking rear differential), cold weather pkg (heated windshield, seats, steering wheel, etc), vision package, and DVD package. With 45K miles, price was right. It was in Virginia, so I had to buy it sight unseen and put it on a truck. That was a little stressful, but the dealer was good to work with and they found a trucker that did a great job delivering. My son just turned 3 and he loves trucks, so I took him to watch our LR4 get unloaded from the auto carrier. He loved that, but complained loudly "I don't want the green one" (LR4) "I want the blue one!" (a convertible BMW...). Eventually he agreed that "the green one" was also OK
Three days later, my brother called at ~11PM for help, he was stuck in a snowdrift in his driveway. He is driving my old 2002 Toyota Tacoma with locking diff and **** Cepek snow tires. I was one of the founding members of the Arizona Land Cruiser Association, so have a fair amount of off-road and recovery experience with Land Cruisers and Toyota trucks, but this was my first experience with LR. The LR4 has new Bridgestone Dueler (street tires); I was absolutely amazed by how much better the LR4 handled than the Tacoma even with locking rear diff and serious tires!
The next weekend my mom's drive was hopelessly buried so I ended up pulling out the 1 ton Chevy dually snowplow when he got stuck, then breaking a path for him through a field so he could plow the drive from the top down (from the bottom up was hopeless). Again, we were amazed by how the LR4 handles. It is pretty cool to see what happens when the center differential and rear differential lock, so all 4 wheels are pulling equally.
I've always wanted a vehicle with auto high beams, but this is the first I have actually driven with this feature. High beam assist works perfect and I love it on rural highways (I'm chronically bad about forgetting high beams - so love having this automatic). Of course HID headlights are really nice on rural highways where markings are poor and suicidal deer are common.
Friends laugh at me for having a heated steering wheel, but it sure feels good on a cold day!
Heated windshield is so nice - no more scraping or peephole driving (not that I've ever done that...)
Surround cameras are a nice bonus; maybe sort of a toy, but cool and occasionally really useful. Certainly the rear camera is very useful.
My wife has been driving Audi for the last 7 yrs, and was immediately impressed by how quite the LR4 is, and how comfortable! She is also impressed by how nimble the LR4 feels compared to the Q7 she test-drove. I was out of town last week and she drove the LR4 every day (I'm worried about what I'll be driving when Monday comes...).
Yesterday I installed the trailer wire kit (with lots of "help" from my 3 yr old son...) It was my first experience into the guts of the LR4. I was impressed by how well it is assembled, and impressed by the extensive use of sound damping material and the vibration damping weights.
Again, many thanks for the good discussions on this forum. Now that I'm an owner (rather than just a troller) I'll try to jump in and contribute what I can.
About a year and a half ago I visited Bergamo Italy and the B&B owner picked us up from the airport in his Discovery4. I was so impressed by the comfort and utility, that I started looking for one. We don't have a LR dealer in Montana and no LR4s (a few LR3 and Discovery are around), so I depended heavily on this forum (trolling, but very grateful for the many good discussions on options, etc).
With son#2 due to be born June 1, we wanted space for 3 adults plus 2 car seats. Scanning forum posts, it seems quite a few LR4 purchases are motivated by a 2nd or 3rd car seat joining the family!
Being in Montana, locking rear differential was deemed essential (HD pkg). I really wanted green or blue, which proved to be a tough search!
Finally I found a 2011 Galway Green HSE Lux with HD package (locking rear differential), cold weather pkg (heated windshield, seats, steering wheel, etc), vision package, and DVD package. With 45K miles, price was right. It was in Virginia, so I had to buy it sight unseen and put it on a truck. That was a little stressful, but the dealer was good to work with and they found a trucker that did a great job delivering. My son just turned 3 and he loves trucks, so I took him to watch our LR4 get unloaded from the auto carrier. He loved that, but complained loudly "I don't want the green one" (LR4) "I want the blue one!" (a convertible BMW...). Eventually he agreed that "the green one" was also OK
Three days later, my brother called at ~11PM for help, he was stuck in a snowdrift in his driveway. He is driving my old 2002 Toyota Tacoma with locking diff and **** Cepek snow tires. I was one of the founding members of the Arizona Land Cruiser Association, so have a fair amount of off-road and recovery experience with Land Cruisers and Toyota trucks, but this was my first experience with LR. The LR4 has new Bridgestone Dueler (street tires); I was absolutely amazed by how much better the LR4 handled than the Tacoma even with locking rear diff and serious tires!
The next weekend my mom's drive was hopelessly buried so I ended up pulling out the 1 ton Chevy dually snowplow when he got stuck, then breaking a path for him through a field so he could plow the drive from the top down (from the bottom up was hopeless). Again, we were amazed by how the LR4 handles. It is pretty cool to see what happens when the center differential and rear differential lock, so all 4 wheels are pulling equally.
I've always wanted a vehicle with auto high beams, but this is the first I have actually driven with this feature. High beam assist works perfect and I love it on rural highways (I'm chronically bad about forgetting high beams - so love having this automatic). Of course HID headlights are really nice on rural highways where markings are poor and suicidal deer are common.
Friends laugh at me for having a heated steering wheel, but it sure feels good on a cold day!
Heated windshield is so nice - no more scraping or peephole driving (not that I've ever done that...)
Surround cameras are a nice bonus; maybe sort of a toy, but cool and occasionally really useful. Certainly the rear camera is very useful.
My wife has been driving Audi for the last 7 yrs, and was immediately impressed by how quite the LR4 is, and how comfortable! She is also impressed by how nimble the LR4 feels compared to the Q7 she test-drove. I was out of town last week and she drove the LR4 every day (I'm worried about what I'll be driving when Monday comes...).
Yesterday I installed the trailer wire kit (with lots of "help" from my 3 yr old son...) It was my first experience into the guts of the LR4. I was impressed by how well it is assembled, and impressed by the extensive use of sound damping material and the vibration damping weights.
Again, many thanks for the good discussions on this forum. Now that I'm an owner (rather than just a troller) I'll try to jump in and contribute what I can.
