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

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

Good post mate. I took the middle road with my D1 and D2 (and still own both - the D2 from new in 02). I love my D2 more so because its a manual and I have to drive it, and drive the traction control to make it work properly. But it is just so much fun! I love the Deefers also and have driven a few, but I wanted a V8 and unless I wanted to go back in years to a County that was what decided it.

Cheers

Thats not bad Terry. I think the D3 with 17's may end up the last of the Disco's with half decent rubber options. I wont go any further due to the gagging of talk about 'other' rum sizes...

Cheers

I think your right Scott, new Disco's will all be stuck with a minimum of 18's at best which is not ideal.

Chances are the new Defender a couple of years away will be much more capable off road (heres hoping) and more like a Disco than a Fender so who knows in 2016 I to might own a Fender ...

As Scott said Rick your last post is a good one and explains it well.

Cheers,
Terry

Originally Posted by rick130

A slightly different slant.

Those of us that own 90/110/130's went into ownership knowing full well the compromises and pitfalls involved and are prepared to live with them.
Often you'll find Deefer owners hanging onto their vehicles for a very long time, not just the lease period, or have owned multiple examples over several decades.

We are a breed apart

If you can't live with the compromises, that's fine, but please, if you are considering ownership go in with with your eyes open, not with some romantic notion of crossing the Simpson and Canning every second week.

A 90/110/130 isn't a modern appliance, and for some of us that's the major appeal. You can't just jump in and expect it to drive itself, it needs input from you, you actually need to drive it.

One may not be able to live with the sort of commitment and compromise living with a modern legend entails.
For those that can, the rewards are sublime, for the rest, you can dream, and that's OK too

Nailed it Rick. And I'll take the 'real drive' everytime thanks

Originally Posted by TerryO

. One thing that is interesting though, there are very few D3/4/RRS owners who post in the Defender section but there are plenty of Defender owners who read and post here.

I think that in its self speaks volumes.

cheers,
Terry

speaks volumes about what?

Have a think about the various things you may be implying and whether your 'evidence' backs it up. When you have, kindly list them for me, I'm always one for some feedback about myself. Though you may find, on deeper inspection, there are a fair few implications you may not have considered, some that may not be so flattering to your position.


I would own a D4 now worries, but I don't; mainly money but also space (as usual).

funny thing, just spoke to a mate whose mate (yep, a mate of mate story) whose late model landcruiser just got written of on the beach.

did he roll it? No. Hit a tree, a reef, another car? No. He got is wet on the beach up to the door sills. It destroyed the electrics and got bogged (windscreen wipers going crazy, lights flashing, etc). tide came in an finished it off. If he had been relying on that car for family safety, they would not be very safe in a real 'adventure' situation.

If you are worried about your families safety, don't go anywhere off road in a electronic car. If you are worried about the most comfortable solution to spend the weekend, rent a DVD.

the OP wants a defender. He just doesn't know why yet. when he gets it, he will know why and won't miss the comforts.

Originally Posted by rick130

A slightly different slant.

Those of us that own 90/110/130's went into ownership knowing full well the compromises and pitfalls involved and are prepared to live with them.
Often you'll find Deefer owners hanging onto their vehicles for a very long time, not just the lease period, or have owned multiple examples over several decades.

We are a breed apart

If you can't live with the compromises, that's fine, but please, if you are considering ownership go in with with your eyes open, not with some romantic notion of crossing the Simpson and Canning every second week.

A 90/110/130 isn't a modern appliance, and for some of us that's the major appeal. You can't just jump in and expect it to drive itself, it needs input from you, you actually need to drive it.

One may not be able to live with the sort of commitment and compromise living with a modern legend entails.
For those that can, the rewards are sublime, for the rest, you can dream, and that's OK too

Rick130, Great summary and completely true.

I own a D3.

I purchased it to give me a comfortable, large vehicle that would easily accommodate my family. I knew it would spend the vast majority of its time doing city based driving with the occasional road trip. At no time did I look at a Defender other than walking past it on the show room floor.

I also purchased a D3 because I thought that if I was to buy a SUV/4wd I might as well get one that I could actually use as a 4wd, when and if I did decide to take it off road. Using it off road was not a given as I had never done any 4wding before purchasing the D3

Now cost obviously is a factor as you are talking about an almost 100% jump in pricing between the two. Realistically if a new Defender was the budget I still would not have looked at it as there are more car like 4wd option both new and 2nd hand at or around the same price point.

Having done plenty of trips with defenders I can honestly say that often their traction control seems to get confused and makes things the D3 walks up seem difficult for them. Alternatively a well sorted Defender with some bigger tyres, maybe a locker etc will go places I would never take my D3.

The videos used to provide a point in this thread are as much down to tyre choice as anything else, although the one SBD4 posted show a good example of where the standard defender TC seems to get confused.

For what I want out of my vehicle would I change to a defender. NO. If I wanted a lower cost option I would probably go the new Jeep or even a Prado

Do I sometimes look at a well sorted Defender on the road and fleetingly think romantic thoughts about spending time climbing difficult tracks and our touring in the remote outback etc, YES. But they soon disappear as I crank up the stereo and settle back into my comfortable leather seat and watch the Defender disappear in my rear view mirror

IMHO, Each to their own and the Disco and defender are very different cars almost impossible to compare them really.

George.

At least the D3, D4 or Defender aren't this thirsty.....

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