First Road Trip

[LR3Novice]

Just came back from my first road trip in my LR3. I had been driving my 2006 SE V8 in the city for the first 1000 Miles or so and was itching to take it on a longer drive, so I finally took it out this past weekend.
Prior to doing that, I had my engine oil changed at the dealer to ensure that the engine is running on fresh oil after the initial break-in period. The dealer put Mobil 1 synthetic oil in my truck and I hope this is a good oil to use after the initial 1000 mile break-in period; can anyone give their opinion on the use of Mobil 1 synthetic after about 1000 miles on the truck.
Anyway, back to the road trip, although I didn't do any off-roading since it was a family trip with my 2 month old son, but was very impressed with the plush and comfortable ride of the LR3 on the highway; the truck practically drives itself; very very comfortable and was more than amazed at the mpg, it averaged around 22 MPG on the 400 Mile round trip in south-central VA with mostly highway driving and since the weather was perfect; AC unit was switched off to let the cool blue ridge mountain air in the truck.
Any recommendations on how to get rid of the dead bugs from the windscreen and the front of the truck?

 

[joey]

dead bugs? How about bug-b-gone? http://www.seafoamsales.com/bugsBGone.htm

Mobil One is a good thing, there are a few vehicles that now come straight from the factory with Mobil One already in them. BMW is just one of these, and since you have a BMW engine in your Rover.


***edit***

I had BMW on the brain this day sorry.... The LR3 Does have a Jag engine and I knew this, but been thinking 335i and hoping for a hard top convertable.....

***done with edit***

 

[jptruck]

Just took mine on a 1500-mile trip from Virginia to South Carolina this past week. . .Lumpy averaged about 18mpg for the trip, but that was carrying two surfboards on the roof and a ton of junk in the trunk. It didn't help that it was windy on both big legs of the trip.

Anyway, aside from the usual annoyances (speakers), the car did fine. I did curse it a bit when one of the windshield wipers blew out crossing a mountain pass. Autozone had some teflon replacements ($10), but it added 30 minutes to my lunch break.

The GPS had a few odd moments where it went off track for a while, but I'll forgive it for that. The GPS unit on the LR3 is the one thing any owner can be proud of. It got me to some out-of-the-way locations with ease. Friends of ours took their Tourag on the same trip, and theirs was insanely difficult to deal with. My wife's BMW has an inferior GPS, also.

Thank god for lower gas prices. I paid around $2.25 a gallon for high test in NC and SC. VA is a bit more expensive. Compared to a few months ago, that saved me around $15 a tank.

 

[toddjb122]

dead bugs? How about bug-b-gone? http://www.seafoamsales.com/bugsBGone.htm
...

Yeah, that BugsBGone stuff is amazing. No scrubbing, just melts the critters right off and doesn't seem to take off the wax like the old tar & bug remover used to.

 

[roverman]

"Mobil One is a good thing, there are a few vehicles that now come straight from the factory with Mobil One already in them. BMW is just one of these, and since you have a BMW engine in your Rover."

We can only wish Joey, I believe we have a Jag engine...
Agreed re: synthetic oil can only help, but I fall into the 'it's unnecessary' camp. Heck, the rest of the truck won't last long enough to worry about babying the engine anyway.

 

[joey]

OOPS, you a correct, I don't know what I was thinking there for a minutes... Had a BMW on the brain.

 

[Jaak]

"Mobil One is a good thing, there are a few vehicles that now come straight from the factory with Mobil One already in them. BMW is just one of these, and since you have a BMW engine in your Rover."

We can only wish Joey, I believe we have a Jag engine...
Agreed re: synthetic oil can only help, but I fall into the 'it's unnecessary' camp. Heck, the rest of the truck won't last long enough to worry about babying the engine anyway.

Synthetic oil will improve your gas mileage about 10% or more due to it's lubricating properties. Will more than off-set the cost of the oil.

 

[nwoods]

I just drove 1400 miles in a round trip to Moab Utah in my LR3, plus another 270 miles in low range (that's got to be some sort of LR3 record, LOL , while on the trails in Moab.

Prior to departure, I was very nervous about that long drive because I have a bum knee and I usually can't go very far with having to stretch it out and/or ice it down.

But during the 14 hour drive (each way), I was pretty comfortable. My only complaint is that I forgot my CD collection at home and had to listen to AM radio stations endlessly repeat themselves throughout the entire length of the desert (FM stations being few and far between out there in the desert areas).

Photos of the trip:
http://nwoods.smugmug.com/Land Rover/198186

 

[andyv]

I noticed the red LR3 is sporting a rock slider. What do you think about this? I tried the website but the LR3 slider is not there yet.

andy V
LR3 SE7

 

[nwoods]

I offer a competing product (rock sliders for LR3), so my opinion is a bit biased. However, I can tell you that the SlickRock sliders (that you saw on the red LR3) worked fine. They are philoshopically a bit different than the RoverSpecialties.com sliders, but hey, after a long 2 years without anything, now you have a choice!

Cheers,

NW