Video: 2008 Land Rover LR3

Now, with gas prices where they are and the fuel economy on this model, 12 city, 17 highway. The question why would you buy this model? Is more important than ever. We'll examine that. Now the main reason to buy an LR3 is to go off-roading because it does things that most four- by- fours can not do. It's partly designed short overhangs, the distance between the front bumper and the wheel gives you very steep approach angle to climb steep inclines and air suspension is standard. So basically, you can adjust the height of the vehicle for whatever ground you're attempting to go over. Now, just like there's an off-road height, the opposite side of that is access height, which lowers the body all the way down, lower than you would have it while you're driving to make it easier to get in and out, and to load cargo. Now, there is an adjustment for the suspension height, but aside from that, instead of having to manually lock and unlock differentials, do all that stuff that a lot of people don't know how to do, this truck gives you terrain response, which is a knob that basically does all the different changes for you in the height and the way that the drive line works. You just choose by a pictogram whatever condition you're driving in. So if you look outside and you see snowflakes, there's snowflake, you turn that one on. If you look outside and you see, bumpy terrain, you choose bumpy terrain. If you look outside and there's like a Buick going 40 miles an hour in front of you in the fast lane, damn it. Now people customarily buy SUV's for cargo space. This one actually does pretty well in that regard. Now notice that there's a combination lift gate/tailgate, and the reason is you don't need as much clearance back here. You can also just reach in and grab something here, or lower this down. Obviously, when it's lowered, you've got to reach a little bit farther. Now with the seats all folded flat, you get close to 100 cubic feet of total cargo volume. Which is actually pretty good compared to the BMW X5, the Audi Q7, the Mercedes M-Class. Now the seats are really nicely executed. You'll notice it's a three-way split, not just a 60%, 40%, which is nice. You can fold them flat like this, and then pull a strap on the front. And they collapse all the way for a flat floor like this. Or a different strap in the back, tumbles the seat forward like so. Now why do you need to do that? Well, that's to get in the third row. Now the third row seats are also very slick in the way they work. Spring-loaded to help you get it up. And then here, the cushion flips up like so. At my height, I'm six feet tall, this isn't bad. There's a lot of headroom throughout the truck, leg room isn't great, my knees are raised a bit, but it is workable. Now I'm in the second row, again, plenty of headroom. The leg room is so-so. The seat is all the way back here, the front seat, and the back rest is scooped out. So, it's definitely workable. I've seen worse. So, we've got a vehicle that is great off-road. It can tow more than most vehicles, more than 7,500 pounds, which is good, but how many people really do that? The vehicle starts in the mid forties. This is an HSE, the top trim level. It is about $58,000 as equipped. Overall, the quality is decent inside, but there's one thing that really gets me, and that is the handle. (handle creaks) That sound. If I heard it on like an entry-level Ford focus would make me livid. (handle creaks) [Man] - For additional information on this car, or any other go to cars.com and our blog "Kicking Tires".