L322 Ability Off Road

Soooo - did a bit more research, the front diff has been done. Only a few things I wasn't happy with, and they will be fixing all these. The LCD displays are almost gone, the 120K service needs to be done, and a few minor scratches and scuff marks inside will be fixed. Had a good climb all over and under it today - very clean underneath, no evidence of it being off road before, so once all these bits are sorted, it should be all go. Just need the bank to value my house before they will rubber stamp the extra $$$ I need, but I don't think that will be an issue, so next time I post, I should be the new owner of it. Fingers crossed...:)

Brilliant news mate. Hope they fix all the stuff properly. Love to know how much the LCD's cost to replace.. bet one day mine will die.

Hope all goes well for you;)

Camo

Quote:

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Originally Posted by spudboy

No an L322 expert, but have a 2003 TD6, and yes it has 3 ride heights + a very low entry/access height. I reckon it has:
- very low for entry/egress
- low for highway over 80 KM/h
- normal
- High for offroad

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Hi all,

Put this together with information from here and rangerovers.net - comparison of suspension heights and modes for P38, L322 early & D3.

Bacicat2000 - congrats - sat in your car at the dealer a couple of weeks ago. Don't worry - didn't take it for a drive:D Just doing my research so that if we replace with TD5 with something more luxurious i've had a look at a few.

Matthew

Well, slight change of plans due to my bank dragging its heals. Got the house valued (3 days after the application), which came back all good - bank approved the amount based on the valuation (another day), but I was told today by the bank that there is a backlog on the system, and it will take 4 to 5 more working days to get the final rubber stamp, and they wold release the funds within 48 hours after this...

So, the guy holding the vehicle had another buyer when I signed up and put down a deposit, but the contract is only good for 7 days meaning that I will have to let it go. I asked the dealer for more time, but the other buyer has cash ready to go... :(

I'll wait till the bank gets the money in my account before I go and pick another one out...

I will be moving my banking business elsewhere after this whole sorry affair.:mad:

Last weekend I took out my 2000 P38 to Land Cruiser Mountain Park and put it up against my brother's 2005 Vogue V8 petrol. I have GenIII air-springs and both cars have mudders (16" vs 18"), purchase prices ($11k vs ~$38k). We ran with a Hilux surf with twin lockers, mudders, solid diffs and and huge leafs and lifts.

We both did the Sure track and other tracks rated extreme. It was dry. We all wheeled all day with no snatching and no winching.

I noticed:
- The L322 lifted its front wheels ~5x more often than the P38 (which rarely did)
- The L322 is so much quieter
- The L322 is more comfortable
- The L322 is more powerful
- The L322 appeared more "level" more often, despite lifting wheels
- The L322 has much lighter steering
- The L322 has a cleaner underbody
- I'd prefer a L322, even though I -LOVE- my P38.

The main point we all discussed was how happy the L322 to lift a front corner, high. I cant help but equate that to poor articulation, yet the L322 is supposed to have better articulation than the P38? It still made it up and down all the hills, but I always drew a sharp breath when it reared up.

The L322 has independent suspension, so it will cock a leg far more readily than the P38 which has live axles. The traction control in the L322 takes care of this though, and as you pointed out, it still excelled off road. It's just an idiosyncrasy of the machine. Once you know about it, and are happy for it to do its thing, then there isn't an issue.:)

Understood, but isnt one of the main pro's of a good four 4x4 is good articulation? Surely it is better to keep all four on the ground and have more points of traction? I reliase that the TC bites the spinning wheel but are we saying that articulation isnt important when you have TC? My P38 has TC on all four corners too.

We also wheeled with a new pathfinder, which also lifted its wheels really early and easy, and I dont think that I would classify it as a super capable off roader? I may be wrong... My wife always thinks so. ;)

Maybe your brother is just a **** 4WDer? :)

I think the combination of below makes up some of it:
Wrong line of attack/steering angle.
Lots more weight in the rear (and high) of the L322
Speed and momentum at the obstacle.
More tyre rebound due to 18's and maybe higher pressure?

Suspension travel is desirable but any vehicle with independent suspension will never have what live axles can produce by their very nature. It is a compromised setup balancing comfort, handling and off road performance. There are only a few live axle 4wd still being made new anywhere in the world. The Defender is one of them. All the rest have to compensate for their inadequacies through traction control, or just being a **** car off road like a lot of them are now.

This then begs the obvious question; does the L322 improvements in TC and centre diff locking outweigh the reduction in articulation???

Otherwise stated: is the stock L322 (with 18" wheels) better off-road than the stock P38? I think we can all agree its better on road ;)