Disappointed in the D5 / waiting for the Defender

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Originally Posted by PAT303

There must be one of the many Land Rover owners who have never been offroad,because none of my vehicles have ever been fitted with sill protection,heavy duty front and rear bars,front and rear diff locks or any of the other macho bush tucker man wannabee crap. Pat

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This thread is about the D5? And you drive a Defender? The defender has a steel bumper as standard, enough sill clearance to not have to worry whereas the D5 doesnt, where our 2 door rangie flexed so well it didnt need difflocks our 110 county with no load lifted wheels easily and progress stopped, our 2 door rangie and 110 county had the air intake right at the top back of the engine and we had the rangie floating up on the springs once without a problem but hot air intakes arent the rage these days, and i dont think your defender came with carpets in the footwell either.

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Originally Posted by Zeros

Exactly. So has Discovery joined Range Rover as a luxury urban 'I might go off road one day but I really just want the image of being adventurous' type of vehicle? Leaving Land Rover with no real off road vehicles? Boy the next Defender is important in maintaining that green oval image that the rest of the stable rely on! Amazing.

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Yep. They seem to have been following Jeeps lead, but if the next defender isnt a proper offroader, then Jeep is kinda ahead with their JK.

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Originally Posted by Grentarc

The D5 with 2 speed transfer and EAS is way more capable than a D4, so no, they are just offering cheaper spec levels for those that won't use the extra features.

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How do you justify that statement?

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Originally Posted by Grentarc

I would rather leather seats and carpet with removable rubber mats - much easier to clean than cloth seats! My D4 gets a hammering internally from my 3yr old, yet it takes only minutes to clean it all off the leather and hose down the mats.
What other features don't you want or need ? You can buy a pretty basic model and only spec the things you want.

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Leather seats dont last, get rips, and what if you get them wet.

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Originally Posted by rammypluge

How do you justify that statement?

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Better approach, break over and departure angles, better ground clearance, can take larger tyres and has better TR as standard

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Originally Posted by rammypluge

Leather seats dont last, get rips, and what if you get them wet.

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Cloth seats stain, rip and if they get wet, The water soaks into the sponge... leather is water repellant, and I have never had a car where the leather has lasted a shorted time than cloth
In fact I have had more cloth seats wear through from just sitting on them than any leather seats having ANY damage.

Whenever i get in an old car with leather its stuffed whereas whenever i get in an old car with cloth its going okay. Wandered through a fair few wreckers too. Oh well, each has their experiences.

I have been told by people in the trade that leather doesnt last. I have also been told by people in the trade that if your cloth seats are dirty, take them out and spray them with a hose. Let dry and put back in.

I reckon a stanley knife would go straight through most leather whereas cloth could take a few goes.

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Originally Posted by Grentarc

Better approach, break over and departure angles, better ground clearance, can take larger tyres and has better TR as standard

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I saw a discussion saying that they were comparing a D4 at std height vs a D5 at raised height, affecting your first four factors.

What size tyres can the D5 fit?

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Originally Posted by rammypluge

I saw a discussion saying that they were comparing a D4 at std height vs a D5 at raised height, affecting your first four factors.

What size tyres can the D5 fit?

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The D5 angles are all at Off Road height, which is a fair bit higher than the D4, the D5 also has 500mm of axle articulation, which is up from the D4s 300ish front and 400ish rear (will find the exact measurements if you like), and LR state their off road height angles, which is what I am talking about.
The D5s Off Road height gives better clearance than the D4, even with the D5 having a lower on road height. And Also, don't forget the 200mm increased wading depth on the D5.

As for tyres, the D5 comes with 31" standard, has no chassis to get in the way of larger tyres like the D4, and after having a look at the room in the wheel well, 33" should fit, as long as they aren't too wide - I have a mate that is going to confirm whether 285/55R20 fit (32.4") as that's the largest he wants to go, as he doesn't want to run permanent lift to cater for larger rubber

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Originally Posted by Grentarc

The D5 angles are all at Off Road height, which is a fair bit higher than the D4, the D5 also has 500mm of axle articulation, which is up from the D4s 300ish front and 400ish rear (will find the exact measurements if you like), and LR state their off road height angles, which is what I am talking about.
The D5s Off Road height gives better clearance than the D4, even with the D5 having a lower on road height. And Also, don't forget the 300mm increased wading depth on the D5.

As for tyres, the D5 comes with 31" standard, has no chassis to get in the way of larger tyres like the D4, and after having a look at the room in the wheel well, 33" should fit, as long as they aren't too wide - I have a mate that is going to confirm whether 285/55R20 fit (32.4") as that's the largest he wants to go, as he doesn't want to run permanent lift to cater for larger rubber

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Info i have gleaned on suspension travel over time:
RR Classic front 10" rear 12" . . . excluding articulation which takes it up at least 2" front and rear
L322 front 12" rear 14"
Disco 3/4 front 9" rear 13"
Current RRFF front 10" rear 10"

If the D5 has 500mm (20"), that would be the total, for front and back, being the same architecture as the RRFF. 500mm is not exciting. Not terrible, but not competitive with many prior LR's. So 2" less than its predecessor the D3/4.

Are you comparing the off road height of the D5 to the off road height of the D3/4? Too much height has the disadvantage of limited droop travel, how much of that is there in each case?

Earlier today i saw a pic of a D4 with 275 70 18. I dont know about its suspension height or scrubbing.