Land Rover Discovery 3

Land Rover Discovery 3

The Discovery 3 made its debut on 2nd April 2004 and was showcased at the British International Motorshow in May of the same year. Whilst it was marketed as the Discovery 3 in many locations, it was also known as the Land Rover LR3 in North America and The Middle East. The reasoning for this was that Land Rover believed that the Discovery name had negative connotations in these areas. They also believed that American consumers favoured alpha-numeric names, hence the rebranding.

Exterior & Chassis

The new Discovery 3 was designed by Andy Wheel and, by and large, it kept many of the key features of its predecessors, both the Discovery 1 and Discovery 2. In the construction of the Discovery 3, Land Rover developed a new kind of method to create the body. This was known as the Integrated Body Frame.

Integrated Body Frame construction saw both the engine bay and passenger compartment built as monocoque (where the chassis is integral to the body). These are then mated to a basic ladder frame chassis for the gearbox and suspension. This departure from traditional monocoque construction gave strength, toughness and adaptability to a vehicle.

Interior & Technology

As well as this, the Discovery 3 boasted a fresher, more minimalist style. Changes to the layout now meant that passengers in the back row of the vehicle could enter the vehicle through the rear side doors.

New technologies within the vehicle also include a navigation system, with Bluetooth connectivity added to later models. Known as the “infotainment” system, it included off-road navigation and a four-wheel drive information mode, which displayed vehicle schematics detailing suspension movement, angle of the front wheels, and the status of the locking differentials.

In the last production run, a newer model of the Discovery 3 was released which featured a few key upgrades. This included a state-of-the-art Harman/Kardon stereo system upgrade, six-CD changer, and new clear side indicator lights and body-colour bumpers.

Mechanics & Engineering

There was a choice of 3 engines in the new Discovery 3. These were the 4.0 L Ford Cologne V6 and 4.4 L AJ41 V8 for petrol models, and the 2.7 L AJD V6-T for diesel models.

The gearboxes on the new Discovery 3 were also a new feature. For diesel models, a six speed manual transmission was included as standard, with the option of a six speed automatic transmission available too. Both the automatic and manual versions of the Discovery 3 came with a 2 speed transfer box and permanent four wheel drive.

Other new features for this model was the addition of  driving technologies such as Hill Descent Control, 4-Wheel Electronic Traction Control, Dynamic Stability Control and Terrain Response. All designed to support with the off-road experience, these electronic traction control systems, prevented the vehicle from losing control when descending steep hills, minimised the risk of wheel spinning in certain conditions and prevented skidding when travelling at speed.

Finally, the Terrain Response System was designed to make off-road driving as easy to master as possible in the Discovery 3. Rather than requiring the driver of the vehicle to take into account multiple different factors whilst on the road, instead they could select one of 4 terrain types and the on-board computer system would take care of the rest. These terrain types are:

• Sand
• Grass, Gravel & Snow
• Mud & Ruts
• Rock Crawl

Similar to the Range Rover L322, the Discovery 3 features an air suspension system which enables ride height to be adjusted for better handling, particularly off-road. This is achieved through pumping up or deflating the airbags, which raises or lowers the vehicle.

Discovery 3 models available in both the UK and Europe featured a coil-spring independent suspension on the base model.

The vehicle was publicly well received across the world. In the UK it was praised as “the best 4X4 of all time” and in Australia the Discovery 3 was awarded 4WD of the Year.  It enjoyed a production run of  5 years until 2009 when it was succeeded by the Discovery 4.