ROVING 'ROUND THE WORLD.(News)

Byline: NATALIE NEFF

OUR LAND Rover LR3 didn't break the record for most miles for a long-term vehicle-that still belongs to the Chevrolet TrailBlazer (35,777)-but it came close. After 12 months in the fleet, we tallied just less than 31,000 miles for the LR3, which slots it snugly into fourth place behind the Audi A4's 33,135 miles and the Infiniti Q45's 32,274-all the while having our attention split among six or more other long-termers at any given time.

Perhaps that says something about the staff here that we spin more dials on truck odos than the sports cars we purport to love so much. Perhaps vehicles like the LR3 act as a sort of automotive truth serum, exposing what we can't openly admit even to ourselves, the same mechanism at work that allows us to sing along with Barry Manilow at the top of our lungs, but only in the car, and never, never with a witness present. In mixed company of course Radiohead is the greatest thing to happen to music since the Fab Four yeah-yeah-yeahed their way across the pond. (Oh, Mandy!)

Or perhaps it simply says something about the nature of life in America, a life full of kids and groceries and soccer games and vacations; where adult responsibilities trump the urge to just leave it all behind for a blast down a winding road.

Whatever the case may be, the LR3 carried us safely through a year-and across a good part of the country-with few problems, even if those problems nagged us through much of its tenure.

In the best tradition of British motoring, electrical gremlins made up a large portion of those problems, beginning three months into the loan when we discovered the driver's seat heater didn't work. We had it fixed at our first 15,000-mile service interval. The dealership overnighted a new heating element and called in its upholstery specialist to get the job turned around as quickly as possible, leaving us sans LR3 for just one night, and with a high regard for Land Rover service.

Of course with the seat heater repaired, new glitches quickly began to emerge. First, the driver-side power seat would intermittently cease working, almost stranding a shorter driver when she couldn't reach the pedals. Then the power sunroof experienced the same problem; thankfully it didn't rain while it was stuck in the open position.