Interesting 4x4 comparisons

[yeboants]

a few months old but still a good browse through...
interestingly defender only vehicle with overall 5 start rating.. :D
would like to see what an Australian 4x4 site might score them all... ;)

Go4x4.eu - Life starts where the road ends... - GO4x4.EU mega-comparison: EEVs- part 1 (http://www.go4x4.eu/home/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=77&Itemid=9)

[paul-defender]

Hi,
no surprise the defender 5 star.

[Outlaw]

quite a good, no nonsense, seemingly unbiased comparison :)

[Forest]

whats the hang up with the mechanical locking diffs about. Yep, nice to have but not overly neccessary with options such as electronic diffs and traction control doing their thing???

A little antiquated perhaps?

[Landy110]

It wasn't the new defender ??????
Might be a good thing though because they seem to have a dim veiw of LR electronics.:D

[Blknight.aus]

most places will prefer to rely on the mechanical in place of the electronic as with mechanical you can generally look at it and say, that bent bit should be straight and then hit it with a hammer till its straight and it will work again for a while.

its exceedingly difficult to fix a sensor on something electronic on the side of the road.

that said....

I can carry all of the sensors on the TD5 extreme variant of the deefer in a box thats about the same size as the box the locking ring, seal and actuator guide for an early type ARB air locker or maxidrive locker comes in. at the end of the day, failure of one sensor means the TC for that diff doesnt work but its the same deal if the locking ring, seal or actuator stops working on either of the mech lockers and youd be hard pressed to fix them on the side of the road.


While Ive never officially timed it.. IMHO I reckon I can replace a wheel sensor, do a "spraynpray" on the tone ring then replace the sensor (new or not) a lot faster than I can get the half shafts out, remove the propshaft, then drop the diff center and thats not even getting into the actual repair job for the mechanical locker. Thats just the rear, imagine how much mores got to be done to do a front locker, assuming you have one in the first place.

Im happy with either as I generally dont like to have to rely on Lockers/LSD or TC and wont plan to need them but its nice to have as a backup or in the case of TC the "you are approaching the natural limits of the vehicle" warning