1000 mile impressions

[afretiree]

We have an adventure, auto, monsoon, tow and XM radio combo and I just wanted to start off the weekend with some highs and lows for the truck. Our previous 4x4's were: 94 Cherokee, 97 Wrangler, 01 LR Disco II.

Lows

1. Rattle in drivers door - will fix 1st oil change
2. Engine vibration around 1200 RPM - see above
3. No room around gas pedal - my Boxster has more room, I am only a size 11 and my boots touch the brake pedal when I am on the gas. It looks like they have a manual brake pedal on an auto vehicle.
4. The seats have too much support in the middle, I seem to sit on top of them and not in them - maybe too used to the Boxster as my wife loves the seats
5. Not enough cubby holes for storage - center arm rest box is very small, nothing overhead.
6. Not enough undercarraige protection. My disco had none but the wrangler was much better. On a serious 4x4 I should not have to spend more $$$.
7. No rocker protection/sliders standard - See # 6
8. No standard side air bags - A casualty of building to an under $30k price point.
9. Lack of torque (bet you thought I would say HP) - My Disco only had 185HP (V8) but felt stronger and downshifted less on gradual interstate roads. A 5 cylinder diesel would be awesome.
10. Cheap plastic door handles/locks, wiper stem - I would have paid a few bucks more for real metal. Were they afraid nobody would buy the truck at $31000 base price?
11. Where the hell is the front end? The hood dips enough to make it hard to tell where everything is - the Wrangler was tops in this category and the Disco not too far behind. Practice will make me more confident.
12. Old fashioned temp controls - the disco (and many other modern vehicles) let you set the temp and forget about it. Another under $30k price-point thing.
13. No locking gas cap standard - See # 12
14. Not enough hand-holds - Ditto
15. Rear view mirror has a chintzy looking cord running to it - I would pay $5 for a finished plastic cover.
16. No place to rest my left arm, door sill is too far away and armrest covered with controls - Disco was no better, Wrangler was perfect.
17. Not composed when hitting potholes and bumps - Disco was much better due to rear coil springs.
18. Whip antenna??? Even Land Rover (with their Lucas legacy) topped this
19. No driver vanity mirror, passenger mirror not lighted!!
20. Rear seat headrests not removable! Results in very poor rear visibility.

Highs
1. Very solid feel for its size, no flex so far - On par with Disco and Wrangler, much better than Cherokee (and Explorer and Grand Cherokees that I rented)
2. Crawl ratio - I could not believe how low it is, cannot imagine what the 5-speed is like. Nothing else comes close except a trials bike.
3. Turning radius, makes me feel like I am sitting on the front wheels - Disco was horrible as was the Cherokee.
4. Efficiency, 17 mpg average so far (regular gas) - Disco sucked (14 MPG premium gas) and the Wrangler (which was much smaller/lighter) never got over 19 highway.
5. Overall handling is very good, offroad and on. Doesn't lean as much as some reviewers indicate. Much better than Disco, Wrangler didn't seem to lean at all, you could really throw it around on the street.
6. Off-road is boring in this truck but that is a good thing. We tried a few steep/off camber/rutted spots and got stuck a few times (dueler tires) but not because of the truck. We went down a hill that would have scraped the front bumper on the Disco but nothing touched on the H3.
7. Value - The Disco went thru $12K in warranty work in 38 months and used premium gas, the scheduled service was outrageous ($35 wiper blades, $200 for spark plugs)
8. Aftermarket support, should be extensive - After about a year of the bling-bling chrome crap we should get some winch bumpers etc
9. Comfortable, an overall feeling when driving day-to-day. Most controls feel solid and in the right place. Spouse loves the seats.
10. Tow hooks.
11. Hydralic assis rear gate.
12. Monsoon radio. Wife loves it, I am not sure about it yet.
13. Partial skid plates standard.
14. Decent tires with adventure package.
15. Confidence-inspiring - The truck feels unbreakable (which may also be a bad thing) when off-road. It just feels like it was made for going off road and not just a street truck with 4 wheel drive added. It took my wife about a year to get used to the Disco quirks.

Lots of the lows can be corrected with aftermarket stuff, I couldn't buy anything to make the Disco more reliable. I know a guy that races 911's and gave up on Land Rovers because of the $$$.
I can see us keeping this truck (unless there is a H3 diesel Alpha) past the payments. This truck is a daily driver for my wife and we are not hard core extremists but we do like going off road. We do not have buyers remorse (except for not getting the power seats) like we did with the LR (lease).