Thread: D3 offroad

Those horror stories are, as usual, a handful of vehicles that is being blown out of proportion to make it sound like if you buy one it will have major reliability issues. They are bloody good off road, Peter from trivett brought one up Mt Airlie with us ages ago and it handled stuff that my D1 and Jeff from Getabouts D2 struggled on. They truly are an awsome vehicle and i wait with anticipation for the day i can afford to buy one. Matt

I'm sorry but off-road in Southern Sydney is hardly the beyond the black stump.

To me the issue is not as much with the D3's abilities as the lack (i.e. non-existent) of LR support in regional and remote areas. LR assist will help there and get you recovered to the nearest dealership, which could be 1100km away or more.

I think the D3, like all new 4WD's and to some extent the Disco heritage, suffers from a weight problem, its too heavy. But that also means the driver needs to be aware of this and drive accordingly off-road. As for electrics, I think we are seeing the beginning of a new age in 4WD where everything is controlled buy onboard ECU's. The problem with this at present takes me back to my point of LR support. The OBD systems are coming of age, but until they are more open and can be field diagnosed more easily they have some way to go still.

I'm sure Toyota and Nissan will copy it (e.g. new Prado) but slowly and in the end everything will be very electronically controlled.

Young Haggis over in WA is leading the way, competing (very successfully) in his D3,,
and if I assume(!) rightly, might even get serious next year


just a pity its at night
(and 5000kays away)

weight's a funny thing,,
look at willie mason(insert laugh here)
over 100 kgs but still gets fairly mobile,,

I understand willies not a car--
but weight should be viewed in perspective,,

a 2500kg metro would look/handle a bit strange,

but i dont reckon it hangs too badly off my Disco,,
anyone taken a door trim off a commodore lately?
or lifted the rear mat in a rollerdore wagon?

you can nearly see through them,, which explains the horrible road noise,,

anybody lifted the rear mat out of D1 recently?
(had a rest, then--)or pulled the door trim off?

and they are lighter than the opposition---

I came across a couple of TDV6 D3s on the French Line earlier this year. I asked how they were going -

"I just dial it to sand and go," was the nonchalant reply.

It was hard to imagine the TDV6 powered vehicle with the climate controlled, leather trimmed interior with a spacious and airy feel came from the same factory as my dust impregnated sewing machine engine powered SIII.

Originally Posted by Michael2

I came across a couple of TDV6 D3s on the French Line earlier this year. I asked how they were going -

"I just dial it to sand and go," was the nonchalant reply.

It was hard to imagine the TDV6 powered vehicle with the climate controlled, leather trimmed interior with a spacious and airy feel came from the same factory as my dust impregnated sewing machine engine powered SIII.

Unfortunately it is also easier to imagine that your SIII will still be on the road in ANOTHER thirty years than that the D3 will be on the road in thirty years (after all there are quite a few SIs still on the road after nearly sixty years); not because of its lack of reliability or durability, because the D3 is almost certainly more reliable than the SIII was when new and possibly more durable, but because of the large number of critical parts that are specific to that vehicle and unlikely to be available at all in fifteen years let alone thirty, whereas most critical parts for the SIII are non-specific or can be easily made from scratch, and in any case, because the SIII was in production virtually unchanged for over twenty years (highly improbable for the D3) most parts will remain readily available.

John

As said above technology is coming whether we like it or not. The thing is with land rover, they dont hold back and jump straight in, toymotor and ****an hold back until the others have tested it and worked all the bugs out and then introduce it and claim unbelieveable relaibilty and build quality, land rover could do that to, but then we wouldnt have any of the technology we have in 4wd's today. Matt

Very nice Dave

Any chance of getting hime up here for a day?