Thread: Thinking of trading in the Discovery 3 for a new Defender

Our last trip up Newnes only a couple of weeks ago an experienced modified TDI 200 90 owner turned up and I must admit it struggled to keep up quite often with nearly every other LR there.

I also own a twin locked 4" lifted 33" tyred D1 with lots of other goodies fitted. The old D1 is excellent off road and gives a real driving experience, one you have to work for if you want to get the most out of it.

The same cannot be said for the D3 which apart from ground clearance and overall max tyre size restrictions goes places with ease that a lightly modded and some heavilly modded 4x4 shouldn't be able to do.

I discribed it as almost cheating with the D3 when we went to Newnes with the others ...and when I get my 32" muds I'll be cheating even more against the others. ...

But what the heck no matter how good the D1 is the long, often -5 drive in winter, to get anywhere decent off road means the D1 hardly gets used now where as I can't wait to jump in the D3 and drive any distance even with STT's on it to go off road.

As I said horses for courses and don't worry no pink lines round this section. ... You Defender rabble are more than welcome to come visit us flash types anytime you like. ...

cheers,
Terry

Originally Posted by gghaggis

No need to pull your car apart! Happy to have you tag along on the next recce, normally have a Puma along as well. No mud tyres though, we only do the recce's and courses on road or AT's.

Cheers,

Gordon

Sounds a bit tame, I don't own ATs, and it takes 5s and one wire to disconnect the locker. I was thinking we go to the powerlines and each pick a track that both of us have to (try and) drive.

Tyres and tyre pressure are open. I will be running very worn and hard 285/75-16s.

(don't forget to remove the rods - which you always claims only takes a few minutes).

Originally Posted by JamesH

I moved from the Defender to the D4 and glad I did but I don't think I'll wear that one.

TR systems are all well and good but I'd trust my 19" Wranglers on the gravel drive of a Margaret River winery and that's about it. I could hop into a Defender and drive it straight up the nasty bits of the Gunny.

The 19" factory Tyres are a problem, but there's a few solutions, and it's not one the D3 suffers from. I took 1 RRS, 2 D3's and a D4 up the Canning Stock Route in 8 1/2 days. We stopped at all the normal points of interest, passed dozens of Patrols, Deefers and Toyo's crawling along complaining about the track. We sat on 70+ kph for most of it, in comfort, no dramas or breakdowns (the oldest D3 did a bush, but at the beginning of the track, so undoubtedly damage done previously that wasn't picked up before leaving), and everyone remarked on how relaxed it felt, in complete contrast to how others described it. Oher than tyres and my $120 hs rods, everyone was stock. The Gunny was a breeze.

Cheers,

Gordon

Originally Posted by isuzurover

Sounds a bit tame, I don't own ATs, and it takes 5s and one wire to disconnect the locker. I was thinking we go to the powerlines and each pick a track that both of us have to (try and) drive.

Tyres and tyre pressure are open. I will be running very worn and hard 285/75-16s.

(don't forget to remove the rods - which you always claims only takes a few minutes).

You have mentioned this twice now and it sounds like you really don't like the idea of pitting your Defender against Gordon's RRS when with his rods installed it has roughly the same ground clearance as you, even though he would be on A/T's?

He could always make it fair considering you have 33's ...you still got the 32" Maxxis Big Horns sitting in the shed Gordon? ...

cheers,
Terry

Originally Posted by isuzurover

Sounds a bit tame, I don't own ATs, and it takes 5s and one wire to disconnect the locker. I was thinking we go to the powerlines and each pick a track that both of us have to (try and) drive.

Tyres and tyre pressure are open. I will be running very worn and hard 285/75-16s.

(don't forget to remove the rods - which you always claims only takes a few minutes).

I unfortunately don't have much time to just go out and play, so I figured combining a recce that I have to do anyway, with a bit of playtime would be doable. And it's only as tame as you want it to be. Fine, use muddies. I don't have to remove the rods - they're adjustable, so just leave them at std. Not that it makes any difference at slow speed, as the car raises anyway, if you know how to activate it. Morning session is at the beach, afternoon at the Powerlines. Lunch on me, after-play drinkies on the loser(s). Note that I won't drive any panel-bending tracks for a while though - just got all the panels straightened from last year, and I have a photoshoot in May.

Cheers,
Gordon

Cheers,

Gordon

Originally Posted by TerryO

Come on Rick you may be tall but your built like a stick person (according to your avatar) so yes you should fit in a Fender, once you have fitted extended sets rails that is. ...

Re Defenders being a commercial vehicle so they don't need airbags or frontal crash testing to pass minimum standards to be giving ADR passenger vehicle compliance, that is a loop hole that has allowed new Fenders to be sold as passenger vehicles to the Australian public and few reasonable minded people would say its either safe or a good idea.

I accept that new Fenders are now rated to tow 3.5 ton but they still have a max ball weight of just 250 kg which means its near impossible to tow legally a decent sized off road van given the accepted norm of most Aussie vans being built with a 10% ball weight.

Plus of the Fender owners I have spoken with just about to a man they all say it would be a very slow trip towing anything over 2 ton.

I asked these questions last year in the Fender section when in a moment of madness thought about buying a new 110.

Scott, re wheels, I have 17's on my D3, which is only 1/2 inch less side wall top and bottom than if I had similar sized tyres fitted to my 16" shod D1.

Every vehicle has compromises and strengths, for me I'd rather put up with the ramp over angle and tyre size compromises of a late model Disco than the safety and comfort compromises of a Fender.

But as I said each to their own.

cheers,
Terry

Airbags aren't fitted as the car wasn't designed for them and apparently it would be a major re-design and not cost effective, pure and
simple.
Nothing to do with it only being a commercial vehicle.

110/130's have always had a 3500kg towing capacity or 4000kg with coupled brakes.

Always, right from introduction, not just late model ones.

IMO if you want to tow 3000kg regularly a Deefer or D3 is the wrong vehicle anyway, you need a small truck.

BTW, uninformed tows 2 tonnes everyday and my 'normal' load is around 800kg in the back according to the last weighbridge reading.

Originally Posted by isuzurover

[snip]

Personally, I just click the "New Posts" button. I rarely notice which section a thread is in, and the isuzu section is probably the only one I actually scroll through the threads in (rarely).

Ditto.

Originally Posted by TerryO

Cardigan you gotta be joking! ...like all proud and self rightous Land Rover owners I wear a fluro Mankini when washing the car. ...dont you? ...

cheers,
Terry

Wash the car ?

Waste water washing a car ?

I drive through creeks and rivers for that.