Thread: Disappointed in the D5 / waiting for the Defender

Originally Posted by TB

I just read on 4x4 Australia that the Amarok has "adequate" ground clearance of 192mm. Is that right? That's less than a stock Discovery Sport and I can tell you that's not enough for some pretty simple off-road driving. It would also make comparisons with the D5 a bit of apples and oranges as they're clearly designed with different priorities.

With reasonably minor mods it can become very good. I have wheeled heaps with a 2.5" lifted Patrol on 33's and i always have more capability, the main factors being my rear std diff lock, front tc and high diff clearance. Flex is about the same.

My D2 With modest lift and no diff locks (centre only) was far better off-road in the Cape than my mates lifted Hilux (The model immediately before the current one) without lockers. Hilux bottomed out and got hung up several times where on the identical line the D2 went through no probs Cheers

Not sure what any of that has to do with D5 versus mythical new Defender, but Amarok is just a dualcab ute like all medium duty dualcabs utes on the market. It's not a heavy duty 4x4 no matter what suspension upgrade you give it.

Originally Posted by ozscott

My D2 With modest lift and no diff locks (centre only) was far better off-road in the Cape than my mates lifted Hilux (The model immediately before the current one) without lockers. Hilux bottomed out and got hung up several times where on the identical line the D2 went through no probs Cheers

Yes, i have seen hilux's struggle big time too. I crawled a track through a drain once, and a lifted hilux with no tc or diff locks tried to follow me. Numerous attempts with wheels scrambling and in the air. Dont think he made it as far as i can recall.

Originally Posted by Zeros

Not sure what any of that has to do with D5 versus mythical new Defender, but Amarok is just a dualcab ute like all medium duty dualcabs utes on the market. It's not a heavy duty 4x4 no matter what suspension upgrade you give it.

Aspects of the Amarok are heavy duty and some aspects are not. I reckon there are aspects of the Defender that arent heavy duty either.

My Amarok handled loading better when crossing the simpson than the Perentie did.

Another Perentie i know of snapped an axle trying to do a recovery.

Now we can discuss this for another 43 pages! Lol

Discovery SVX

We've taken a wrong turn

Reminds me of a Trailhawk.

I had my first look at a D5 yesterday, The outside was as seen in the adverts and there have been enough comments about the look.

What truely disappointed me was the interior. Don't get me wrong sitting in the drivers seat was pure luxury. But the headroom in the middle row of seats was abysmal. The roof brace on the D3 & D4 is behind the passengers head, in the D5 it is in front of the passengers head. This makes it feel like the roof is much lower that it is, and the roof is quite low above the passenger head. I have more headroom in our Micro and Mirage than in the D5.

Moving to the rear set of seats was even worse, the whole car pulls in from the middle row of seats. Everything apart from the floor gets narrower the further back you go. This makes you feel like you are being crammed into a small space, tucked away in a little pocket, or put in a cupboard for punishment.

Now to the windows. I understand that with cameras all around driver vision is not such a big deal, but small cars have small windows. Cheep cars also have small windows. The D5 has small windows.

With the small windows, low roof, tight feeling space in the rear, I did not feel like I was in a luxury car. I would like to see a D4 & D5 side by side to see the difference in roof hight and passenger space.

My thoughts were that it did not feel like an SUV, just a big car. Sure it has all the tech and suspension to get you places, but as a passenger I would not want to go to those places sitting in those seat.