Thread: Disappointed in the D5 / waiting for the Defender

Originally Posted by Disco-tastic

As far as the height measurements go, what you measure depends on what suspension height setting you're in - unless you have dimensions for each height setting its hard to know what you're comparing.

The figures quoted would be the highest clearance available (ie. on its tippy-toes)

Mario

Originally Posted by mfpoli

p.62 of the D4 brochure states ground clearance of up to 310mm.

http://australiancar.reviews/_pdfs/L...ure_201406.pdf

The website now states 269mm for the D4. Either 41mm of clearance has "vanished" since the D5 became available in order to make the D5 look good, or the 310mm was overly inflated based on a different measurement to make it look good against it's predecessors. Probably a bit of both, particularly if such "official material" is published by the marketing department.

Mario

Could the D4 brochure be referring to extended mode, and the website (and D5 brochure) only the selectable 'offroad' height? I didn't think my D4 went up 125mm between road height (185mm) and offroad height (310mm)... 269mm offroad would be 84mm above road height which sounds much closer to me? Happy to be wrong though

Does the D5 have the same logic as the D4, where upon becoming grounded it can/will raise beyond the user selectable offroad height?

W

Where are the pressure sensors for grounding? Cheers

Originally Posted by veebs

Could the D4 brochure be referring to extended mode, and the website (and D5 brochure) only the selectable 'offroad' height? I didn't think my D4 went up 125mm between road height (185mm) and offroad height (310mm)... 269mm offroad would be 84mm above road height which sounds much closer to me? Happy to be wrong though

Does the D5 have the same logic as the D4, where upon becoming grounded it can/will raise beyond the user selectable offroad height?

W

To your first point, the D4 has standard road height at 185mm. Off-road height is 50mm higher (235mm). If stuck, the air suspension automatically increases by another circa 35mm (say 270mm, which I suspect is the "269mm" that LR are referring to) at which time you can further extend another 40mm to super-extended mode (310mm). Ignoring rounding, the key message is that the D4 has up to 310mm of available clearance. The fact that LR refer to 269mm as the max for the D4 is just a convenient and misleading way of making the D5 look better. When you combine this with a longer wheelbase and overhangs, I start to question the approach/ramp-over/departure angles being largely similar between the D4 and D5. I know we are talking at the margin, but it is at the margin where the difference is whether you can clear an obstacle or need to be scull-dragged over it.

To your second point, I don't know. But I would have thought that if the D5 had the ability (automatic or user-selectable) to increase clearance beyond 284mm, then they would have adopted it as the highest setting possible.

Mario

Originally Posted by ozscott

Where are the pressure sensors for grounding? Cheers

AFAIK there are no additional pressure sensors per se, though the car knows at what height it should be. If it realised that the height it is at is higher than it should be, it cane go into extended mode (hence why dropping to access height with a bit of timber underneath the chassis will trigger it)

There are also smarts that take into account wheel spin and steering angle i believe, but i dont think there's a pressure sensor.

My assumption is the D5 uses similar logic, though i don'tknow if additional sensors are used.

Fascinating discussion about relative vehicle ride heights. Brilliant that it's so adjustable for various terrains. ...Is anyone concerned about the durability of air suspension and the tech required to manage it over extended bush travel and long term reliability? Is this a factor with D4 / D5? Do they use the same airbags? I've never owned an air suspension vehicle. Is it reliable over say 300,000+ km in harsh environments?

You will get heaps of people saying how good air bags are. And they are BUT they are, of course with sensors, valveblocks ,lines and compressor more likely to have a failure than coil springs and good quality shocks. Simples.

Cheers

Been a little talk of Tele track in this ramble
As mentioned it can change by the week

This year in early May I had to winch DOWN into palm creek travelling south to north!
There is no other track around at palm - one way in.

Seeing the 130 winch slide and drop in was too much for my companions in a 200 and Pajero
So I crossed palm then crossed back (winching of course)
And then we all drove around to the next bypass into the OTL

No stock wagon would have driven or winched down that entry without removing a few kilos of plastic rear bumper....
As it was the Pajero modified its bumper and the 200 it's rear flaps on the track from the Bramwell servo to palm .....

Anyways

If someone parked their D5 in that first drop I then could have driven over it and down to the creek without needing to winch 😀 Picture doesn't really show it too well but that first drop in is over a metre into soft intractable mud....

Steve

PS an hour with a mattock and shovel could have made a ramp down into the first slop . Which would have preserved rear bumpers on wagons but then would still need to winch through that to get down to the creek
A week later this was driveable