Thread: Disappointed in the D5 / waiting for the Defender

...whatever happened to Land Rovers being 'field maintainable'?

Originally Posted by Zeros

...whatever happened to Land Rovers being 'field maintainable'?

That ended with the 300TDi, which is why they are the vehicle of choice for 'Expedition Vehicles'.

Deano

Originally Posted by DeanoH

Pat, we've all got our 'war stories' and you're right in that preparation etc is the key to successful traveling BUT with the examples you've given any reasonably competent person could diagnose the problem and arrange repair. I carry water pump, wheel bearings and hoses as these and others are common and predictable points of failure BUT with a modern SUV where the vehicle body needs to be removed to effect what would be otherwise a simple diagnosis/repair and when this is overlaid with complex electronic systems to achieve what was previously done with simple mechanical and easily fault diagnosable (if there's such a word) components the ultimate reliability of the vehicle is less than it's predecessors. I regularly travel in remote areas 'up your way' and you couldn't give me a modern LR for this purpose and this reason. I value my life far too much.

On my recent trip (Melbourne to Darwin via Ceduna and return) of 10,000 Km or so I came across two broken down vehicles. Both electronic marvels that had decided they didn't want to play anymore (nothing physically broken), a Hyundai SUV and an F350 whose computers didn't want to play anymore resulting in very expensive flat top trips to the coast and holidays ruined. The added complexity of these vehicles is just not worth the grief IMO which is why I'm a basically a TDi and Oka type person.

Deano

my question is, if you had to buy a new vehicle right now, what would you buy?

Originally Posted by fitzy

Pretty stock rangie classics won outback challenge 4 times.
I couldn’t see a D5 getting through a stage with years of forward development

Pretty stock my arse!

Originally Posted by rammypluge

In some ways thats fine if the vehicle isnt too old, but if you do that with an older one . . .

Or my tail won’t open on my:
D1
D2
RRC
Defender

All have done it....

Not only is traction control inferior to locked diffs, either way, decent articulation is still important. Articulation still gives improved traction and obstacle climbing, especially when hillclimbing, and it reduces instability and rollover risk. Have you seen the way vehicles with limited travel see-saw diagonally when crossed up? This see-sawing creates increased side angles and risk of rollover.

Originally Posted by plusnq

my question is, if you had to buy a new vehicle right now, what would you buy?

Personally I would rather buy a late model D4 than the new D5, But that's just Me

Originally Posted by Tombie

Or my tail won’t open on my:
D1
D2
RRC
Defender

All have done it....

Okay, but the fix for one is some WD40/jiggling/improvisation, and the fix for the other is a new solenoid from a distant capital city?