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SUV Body-on-frame or unibody
Randy, the mileage isn't crazy, well, actually it is but I digress, it's the efficiency, or more particularly, the lack thereof, that's way out of whack.
It's long been known that a powerful efficient engine barely working will get the best mileage.
The Cummins is a perfect example, a very efficient 6 cyl. engine with gobs of torque, and geared correctly.
When my wife wanted an SUV instead of the sedan she was driving I let her run around and look at all the models, get prices and drive them, while I sat at home waiting & smiling.
When she had narrowed it down to 3 models, a Cadillac Escalade, a Lincoln Navigator and a Jeep Grand Cherokee, I took her to the Land Rover dealer and we drove a Discovery (now the LR3).
There was no comparison, in price, ride, quality or luxury. In fact it was cheaper than either of the Lincoln or the Caddie, and Iwon't buy a GM and would think long and hard about a Chrysler anything.
What really sold her on it was the customer we met while looking around before the salesman was finishing up with another customer. An older fellow was having his Rover 'serviced' (it's what the Brit's call an oil & lube), when she asked him how he liked it he raved about it, never a problem, rides like a dream, never any repairs, just routine maintenance and consumables (brakes, tires, etc.) yada-yada-yada. Then she asked him how long he's had it.
20 years and nearly 500,000 km. (almsot 300,000 miles).
It's always cheaper to buy a quality product.
Before anybody jumps on the "import" bandwagon, Land Rover is a Ford company, lock, stock and barrel.
Best of luck.
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I have a friend who's a land rover technician. He says they're pretty reliable but they leak all the time. Any experience with leaks on yours Murf?
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Ken, the only thing that "leaks all the time" is the driver (my wife),  .
I have to say, the ride & handling is something I could get used to pretty easy.
It's not a 1/4 mile champion, that's for sure, but it will comfortably run down the highway with 4 adults at 80+ mph without breaking a sweat.
It has a really torquey 4.6 litre V8 in it, first time I took it in the cottage road (read 'goat path') I was blown away, this thing claws it's way up big hills at barely above idle speed.
I may have to buy another one for myself as a daily driver.
Best of luck.
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We live in the mountains, lots of poor-fair roads and have a Chevy AValnche, GMC Yukon and a Honda Element.
If you're looking for best mileage, smaller like the Element is what to go with but the ride qulaity on a bad road is not great.
Our Avalanche -- which is the Z71 (off road package) and has on/off-road tires -- is DEFINITELY the most comfortable and controlable of all of our (and our friend's) vehicles on our roads.
The Yukon (which is also has the off road package) isn't that great -- better than the Element but not much better than most other vehicles.
I think that the Avalanche - between the suspension and the stiffer body/chassis and long wheelbase -- might be your best bet.
As an FYI, before getting the Avalanche we looked at a Ford 150 but the Avalanche was quieter, better handling and much shorter turning radius.
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On Edmunds dot com they compute a total cost to own which includes purchase price, gas mileage, maintenance costs, depreciation and insurance. Most of the SUVs I've been looking at come in around 48-55 cents/mile. The LR Range Rover is $1.15/mile over five years. Holy Cow!
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Try looking at Consumer reports for vehicles. It is sometimes scary to see some of the ratings for reliability and repairs. I sometimes just look through to find the worst rated vehicles on the road. It seems GM takes the cake and the rest of america follows not too far behind, while a coulple of the japanese companies have barely a problem in the ratings. The absolute worst rating I could find year after year was the GM van thing SAFARI or chevy Astro. I meet a lot of auto techs shopping in my Garden center and I always ask what vehicles they see too often. A Mercedes tech recently told me the diesels are golden and the worst is the sport ute model. Then he said guess why that model is so bad? I didn't know. He said it is built here adn have loads of problems. I asked a friend who has one and she agreed it was in the shop a lot.
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Ken, I suspect there's a flaw in those numbers somewhere.
Considering the Range Rover is the same money, same or better mileage and likely more dependable than most of the other "luxury SUV's" out there.
I know dollar for dollar it would be hard to beat a Land Rover Discovery with anything else out there, especially when you consider the initial purchase price.
When I bought my wife's they were under $40k. loaded, and an Escalade was almost $70k. loaded. I've been in both Escalades (a friend has one) and the Navigator (my company has one) and the Discovery beats both hands down in ride and luxury, IMHO.
Best of luck.
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Murf, I don't think they sell the Discovery any more. They sell a Freelander and an LR3 though. Not sure which of those is close to the Discovery. As far as Edmunds TCO ratings, the Navigator at $1.00/mile comes close to the Range Rover. Others are up there as well - the BMW X5 is .88/mile. They don't have a number for the Escalade yet.
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Ken-
We are currently doing the same search. We have driven and I have researched heavily, the Liberty CRD, and although it is a nice small vehicle, it neither has the mileage (21 city 26 highway on the sticker - 24mpg average, direct from an owner I know) or the size/comfort level we are looking for.
For the $25K + that they want for a Limited Liberty CRD, we are going to go with an "Off Lease" used Grand Cherokee Limited. Having owned three Grand Cherokees in the past ('94, '96, '99) we were very happy with the quality and performance. (2003 Grand Limited with everything and 34k miles is going about $20K right now) A Grand with the 4.7 V-8 will do 16-20mpg. I'll give up the 5 mpg advantage of the CRD for the luxury and size of the Grand. After you sit in and drive both you will agree.
I love diesels, and would gladly buy one, but I am a bit disappointed by the Liberty CRD. Maybe the motor will work better in the Wrangler next year (hopefully).
edit: A unitised body is fine for your application, too. Like stated before, the only thing a full frame wil give you is more towing ability.
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AV8R, thanks a lot for your input. At this time we've narrowed it down to three choices - Jeep Grand Cherokee, Honda Pilot, or Toyota 4Runner. I don't completely trust Consumer Reports, but their reliability ratings give the Honda and Toyota the edge so we're leaning toward one of those. A neighbor has a GC a few years old and she has had a lot of trouble with it. Since we're in the boonies, trips to the dealer for service are a major problem for us so minimizing those is a very high priority.
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