To Buy Or Not To Buy - Help, Please!

[roverman]

My vote is to get mustbeaudi's. Buy a three year ESP warranty for $2200. Probably lose about $14,000 in depreciation after 3 years. But you can NEVER lose more than $26000, including the warranty I would never buy a new one...you just get absolutely clobbered in the first few years, and...well...I'm just too chintzy to handle that.
Plus, it's a great color IMO. Trying to get my dad to buy it btw. He LOVES my truck, but he's stuck on American.

 

[mustbeaudi]

Tell him it was built by Ford back in the day, and the profits came here to enrich only pureblooded Americans!

 

[zdas04]

I'm on my 2nd and 3rd Land Rover (2005 LR3 that had a raft of first-year problems, drove it till the waranty ran out, 2008 LR3 that is 14 months old, 22000 miles without a problem, and a 2008 LR2 that my wife won't let me drive) and I can't recommend them strongly enough. Pre-2005 Discovery's had a pretty bad rap for reliability. The 2005 LR3 had its own share of problems. Most of the things you read after that are all glowing.

My car spends a lot of time in the mud, snow, and rocks. My wife's LR2 rarely gets nasty, but when the roads are slick it is rock solid. I don't know that I'd buy an LR3 (I never lease vehicles, I've heard too many horror stories about excess-mileage and excess wear-and-tear charges) for only highway driving, but it is pretty comfortable for that. If you like the price (I paid $60k for mine, but that included a brush bar and winch, and every non-HSE option available including upgraded tires) and like the car, go for it.

David

 

[joey]

If I may add, you live in NY, so snow is common in the winter... you will not find a better snow vehicle IMHO than a Rover of any skin. They will go through snow that will leave almost every other vehicle stuck.

So on your commutes you will not have to worry about the weatherman.

 

[zulu]

Ive been driving the same Nissan Pathfinder for 12 years. Loved that car (some may differ in opinion) but I decided that I needed something with more bells and whistles and overall luxury (mid-life crisis). I settled on a 2005 LR3 HSE that had all of the TSBs addressed.
Some of my friends thought I was nuts in getting a 2005 because of the bad rap that has been mentioned on this forum. Along with it being a cow on gas and on it's weight, but after I drove it on my first test drive.. got the feel for it, I fell in love with it.
After alot of research, I went for it with an extended warranty. Shortly after I bought it, I had to go away for work and believe it or not.. I missed the beast. I couldnt wait until I got home to drive it. I have a company car so most of the time, I only get to drive my beast on the weekends..but in between the weekends, I am always looking for reasons to take it out. I purchased it on Feb 28th.. and loving it since. The car looks good, I get alot of stares from people. It's Silver/Tan and just stands out. I havent had the chance to take it off road yet but gonna do so come the summer time. Im still learning more and more about the beast and this forum is the best when it comes to advice..good luck.

 

[LR3_Virgin]

ok, i just bought LR3 2008 from the dealer in NY (Long Island), it was a loaner car so it had some miles, but i didn't mind. I have the same packages (technology, xenon and cold climate package including the cooler), I paid $30,800 + tax. The car comes with service (all 08 models do), the good thing about your car since its brand new (left over) warranty starts from today. That is worth $2500, add to that you have no miles, (not sure what that value is worth to you, i was ok with some miles for the lower price) it is a pretty fair price (maybe $37k would be great)

 

[Houm_WA]

The 2005s did have their problems, but it should be noted that most of them (if not all) have been sorted out. As long as the problems are fixed the 2005s are solid; the problem in trying to get into a used one is that you don't know whether that stuff got done or not.

2008s seem to be the best year, naturally...

 

[cupcrazy66]

Thanks everyone for all of the replies!

 

[uspurs]

Not sure if you've pulled the trigger yet, but I hope the dealer isn't really putting that much time pressure on you.

My 2 cents - I'm NYC based and I'm on my 3rd LR product; I had an '03 RR (bought it used, had some problems that were fixed under warranty), an '06 RR (bought new - way better than the '03, had no problems in the year and a half we owned it) and now an '08 LR3 HSE (leased new, great vehicle, no problems to speak of, have covered 23K miles in 16 months).
Most of the miles are highway (Taconic State Parkway, FWIW) and it's a very comfortable and quiet ride (after we swapped out the original GYs for Synchrones); we're always carting stuff around and it can swallow a heap of gear.
We don't use it offroad - except to get up the driveway of our cottage upstate, and I'm sure that doesn't count! It did very well this past winter in what snow we had.
It's an excellent device for Manhattan - no worries about potholes and the cab drivers don't mess with you;-)
Fuel economy isn't outrageous, considering its size / weight and capabilities - we've seen 24mpg on the in-car display (but that translates to about 22mpg) when driving at 60-65mph.

The LR3 really is an excellent piece of kit for way less $s than a RR.

OK, that's a little more than 2 cents .....

Best, John

 

[m2469]

How can you find out if all the recalls and problems have been done?