Utility

Any SUV worth the acronym needs to provide a modicum of utility, and the 2005 Land Rover LR3 shines brightly in this regard. Our test vehicle, which did not include the Rear Seat Package, featured a flat load floor six feet long combined with generous under-floor storage, and lots of little trays, cubbies, and nets throughout the interior.

Folding the 40/20/40 split rear seat is simple, but collapsing the bottom cushions so that the resulting load floor will be flat is not. Nevertheless, no headrest removal is necessary to clear the front seatbacks, and that’s always a big plus in our book. Once the seats are folded flat, the resulting load floor is level with the drop-down tailgate, making it a breeze to slide objects into or out of the LR3.

Land Rover also includes a rear glass panel that opens independently of the tailgate, making it easy to load smaller items into the cargo bay. But if objects roll forward to the rear seatbacks, reaching them over that tailgate is difficult. Maybe it’s best to place these smaller objects in the under-floor storage area or in one of the covered bins in each side panel.

Seemingly made for those with unquenchable thirst, the 2005 Land Rover LR3 features bottle holders that are molded into all four-door panels, ready to serve beverages to active lifestyle types. Additionally, two front cupholders with removable sizing inserts are located in the front console, and there’s a dashboard pop-out cupholder for the front passenger.

Big door bins accompany the bottle holders in all four doors, there are card clips on both sides of the windshield, and the dual-tiered glovebox is very large. A wide, rubber-lined, dashboard storage slot faces the front passenger, and there are other slots, trays, and bins scattered throughout the cabin. In fact, Land Rover provides so much useful storage area in the LR3 that it would be easy to lose something inside this truck.