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Hi Robert would you share with us your requirements? how many door & seat you need? is the brand or the luxury a major issue for you? do you plan any modification for off road use? and about engine ... dose size matters for you... number of cylinders and displacement? and Majorly budget. land rover didn't design it they are sharing it with BMW and in cold weather it's running perfect and it's all most the same design used for most of electronically controlled all wheel drive like Ford explorer & expedition and Chevrolet trail blazer and taho and nissan patrol and Toyota land cruiser but the type of belts and actuators varies.

Hi Robert driving on sand (one level road +/- 2 meter up and down) will not over heat the transfer case (reasonable driving old people driving average speed of 60 to 80 km/h) for for 3 hours in winter, but summer time 1 hour is more than transfer case can handle when it over heat the actuator motor jams and the steel chain belt stretch and you start to receive audio and light warnings and it would effect other working systems like engine and transmission as it may not responds to accelerator pedal and ABS as wheels are not rotating by power train as planed (designed calculation) and finally suspension as a part of dynamic traction control related and connected to ABS & power train......So you may start to feel like crashing Boeing 747 and you wonder what I did to face all that kind of troubles (You did not do any thing bad or over specs!!) it's just was not designed for this weather! as I mentioned before for daily paved roads it's nice ride and Jaguar engine if you take care of it with good service and reasonable use and you need to push it to limits from time to time (every 2 months once) to avoid carbon slugs inside other than that spare parts are the same for Rang Rover sport for both engine and suspension except for drive belt as sport mostly super charged while LR3 is rarely available with super charger and I like the shape more than standard range rover and sport and I like the 3 line seat availability and the roof windows! to have a closer look check these image for the transfer case:

Probably one of the worst vehicles you could buy. AJ engine is made from chocolate, BMW transfer box is made from chocolate, suspension failure in the sand is an issue as mentioned above. If the suspension fails, the vehicle will sit on the ground like it's straight out of the fast and the furious. Random electrical sensors fail so the vehicle thinks the bonnet or doors are open so you can't lock the vehicle with the remote. Electric handbrake fails and is an expensive repair. They do have one good point, you get to play warning light bingo every day. Im my opinion, if you want reliability, buy a land cruiser.

For mud or gravel or wet roads it's ok (very nice ride) But for sand for long time driving the transfer case (the same one in BMW X5) will over heat and the belt stretch and require replacing the transfer case and some times the actuator motor (including the controller) and requires alignment (adaptation) and air suspension is costly to repair and if it fail on the sand you need a truck to pull you out!

Re: Your point number 2. Bring back temperature gauges on the dashboard. Only a warning light to tell you the engine has overheated is useless when the engine has already overheated. I would prefer a gauge that I can actually see the temperature on.