Thread: Disappointed in the D5 / waiting for the Defender

I agree Kerry. But everyone is different.

For mine Couldn't give too hoots whether its capable or going to get scratched or whatever the whinging is about. Its all about having fun and getting out there, away from our everyday life to enjoy what this country has to offer.

Car Fully Wrapped picking up tomorrow.

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Originally Posted by ozscott

Did the Macan that was zipping around have mud terrains?

You know full well it wouldn't have. But it's equally certain that they were different tyres – most likely wider and larger diameter – than the standard 235mm 29" Disco Sport HTs. And I'm sure you also know that sometimes just a tiny bit more footprint makes a great big difference.

Tread could also well be part of it. Did you see how the Disco Sport's wheel wells had filled up with mud? Perhaps with a different tread on the Macan it just happened not to collect the mud to the same degree.

There's just no way you can look at this one instance and declare the Land Rover drive system to be simply inferior. It is what it is: permanent FWD with a Haldex AWD unit bringing the rear axle into play as needed, two open diffs and a whole lotta traction control. My own experience with the OEM tyres was that they seriously lacked grip on dust and gravel and even not much help in sand. I also have learned a lot about how to work with the Disco Sport to get it through obstacles and out of trouble.

Last weekend I shot straight past a Triton that was on about its sixth attempt to exit Bribie beach. I'd finished re-inflating my tyres by the time it eventually caught up.

Accepting its limits – particularly related to tyres and clearance – the DS is a highly capable machine. The fact it got stuck in mud one day for one journalist tells you approximately nothing about the car.

Originally Posted by TB

Disco Sport owner here. The situation described in that article is 100% due to using inappropriate tyres for the conditions. There’s zero that Terrain Response or 3 locked diffs can do if there’s no friction between the tyres and the ground.

Not posted as a criticism of the embarassing "failure to proceed" which better tyres may have addressed. (Gotta admit that being bested by a Macan with similarly inappropriate tyres is hard to take! If you want to argue down that path, that is...?)

I posted more for the way a bit of mud managed to rip out the wheel arch liners and other damage to the vehicle that "...would have broken us financially had LR not paid".

Compared please to the situation in the photo below: I reversed more than 150 meters in that sloppy aftermath-of-flooding flood plain mud, out to a river bank where volunteers unloaded a few hundred kg of flood relief supplies and hand carried across the river... then drove out. Not a hair turned, no damage to the vehicle at all, and no carpets were muddied in the process either despite me jumping in and out of my vehicle several times )

Now some here would perhaps be tempted to argue nonsensically that a D5 most certainly would NOT have suffered any vehicle damage like the DS featured in the article. And that with wheelarch liners and other bodywork intact, replete with road tyres, could have driven circles around my Defender and then driven across the river and up the trail on the other side delivering supplies direct to the village. Saving volunteers the effort of walking the supplies across the river.

And I don't give a rats about that. I am just worried for the D5's carpets. THINK of the CARPETS!

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The point about pinstripes, dents, dings, scratches, modifications, drill holes, accelerated rust, etc, is that because the D5 market is not into that, it will hurt resale massively.

Whereas those things on a defender can be par for the course, and will make little or no difference to resale value.

Originally Posted by rammypluge

The point about pinstripes, dents, dings, scratches, modifications, drill holes, accelerated rust, etc, is that because the D5 market is not into that, it will hurt resale massively.

Whereas those things on a defender can be par for the course, and will make little or no difference to resale value.

Totally agree... and this is the only damage repair kit needed:Landrover_Mockup2.jpg

The D4 had carpet. Was it subjected to this same level of outcry?

The mud which damaged the wheel arch liner of the DS was sticky as ****. It was collecting in the arches. Is that a design flaw of the car? Is that something that couldn’t happen to a Defender or a Macan?

I’d love to hear about the cost of repairing similar damage on the Porsche.

Whether due to overall geometry, tread pattern or a combination of both, it just so happened that mud was a problem for the DS that day. Insisting on spinning the wheels with arches full of **** is bound to cause damage to any vehicle with arch liners. The journalists took a random bit of bad luck and lit a fire under it to make a story. It’s not a valid criticism of the DS and it has nothing to do with the D5.

Did the D4 have arch liners?

I do love the ruggedness of the old Defender and respect it for what it is. I have already said that I suspect the upcoming Defender would be more suited to my interests than the latest Discovery is. But if I had to choose between old Defer and new Disco today? Disco for sure, and it’d be finding its way through the rough stuff.

(As it happens I’ve found a lovely 2010 D4 which will do exactly what I want for a lot less money, so this is all gonna remain hypothetical for a good while.)

Originally Posted by TB

Whether due to overall geometry, tread pattern or a combination of both, it just so happened that mud was a problem for the DS that day. Insisting on spinning the wheels with arches full of **** is bound to cause damage to any vehicle with arch liners. The journalists took a random bit of bad luck and lit a fire under it to make a story. It’s not a valid criticism of the DS and it has nothing to do with the D5.

Or maybe the guy driving it was just a goose, took a bad line and forgot to turn DSC off. Sounds like putting it in Mud and Ruts was a bit of a revelation to him.

Who knows, who cares. You* may not like the current models, but one thing they all have is class leading off-road capability. To suggest the Macan can rung rings around the DS off-road is more a testament to the writers ignorance than the abilities of either vehicle.

*Obviously I don't mean you TB. That was a general "you".

Looks good in blue. Still looks like a disabled taxi from the rear.

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