Thread: Disappointed in the D5 / waiting for the Defender

Dirvine I think the big difference is that with very little outlay and only very minor loss in on road performance the D2 and Defender can and do outperform a D3 or D4 on the most rugged off-road areas. That's my experience in arduous areas where all vehicles are very heavily loaded including the roof. In the same circumstances a 75 series with very large tyres, big lift and lockers front and rear didn't do better OR worse off-road than a mildly modified d2. I have a high regard for d3 and d4 but once legal mods begin that's where the differences become apparent. Live axle 4wds are legally able to go up more in tyre size And of course the d2/defender eith even a fairly modest lift has more clearance than a D3/4. And the stability of live axle is unbeatable for my money if the new Deefer will (and we are.speculating) be IS with no air. If it's not at least live axle rear I doubt I would be interested.

Cheers

One massive advantage of the D3/4 is the clearance under the vehicle,no diffs to get hung up on.

In super extended off road height setting it gets pretty high.

Anyway off to get some🍿and wait for others to chime in

I’m just bemused by the “Toyota support network” comments...

Originally Posted by Tombie

I’m just bemused by the “Toyota support network” comments...

Agree.....

Although my company hi-lux hasn’t missed a beat in 3 years 150k......FRYLYT’s failed on me last night, can I blame that on Toyota.

Scary there would be some tracks where that certainly helps but in my experience it doesn't help most of the time. There are some local.tracks where this is the case but where it was really obvious was the steep ramp.overs out of creeks in the far north where the IS Rovers in their highest mode just kept getting stuck for travel. Winches were broken out. The 100 inch D2s with a 2 inch lift and 31s just walked up and over. In stock from in most places the D3/4 is more capable than a stock.d2 but I did make it clear that I was talking modified. Overall though what makes a D3/4 a clear winner over Pajero is air suspension. I just can't see how.Defender can be the best of the LR stable with IS and no air, but we will have to.see. Cheers

Originally Posted by scarry

One massive advantage of the D3/4 is the clearance under the vehicle,no diffs to get hung up on.

In super extended off road height setting it gets pretty high.

Anyway off to get someand wait for others to chime in

Originally Posted by weeds

Agree.....

Although my company hi-lux hasn’t missed a beat in 3 years 150k......FRYLYT’s failed on me last night, can I blame that on Toyota.

They aren't ever interested in a real warranty claim,so good luck,let us know how you go

Since having tojo vans,we have done over 1000000 K's,and had one diff rebuilt.

Acceptable i suppose..

The Defender is a Bloody good 4WD in its current form, It would be lunacy to change its basic configuration just for "fashions" sake.
Maybe a bigger engine with more "Grunt" (diesel V8 would be nice) and maybe an option for an auto box But as far as the rest of the truck is concerned why fix something that isn't broke.

Originally Posted by JDNSW

Just to throw something new into the discussion - I wonder if the changed shape of the D5 is so as to leave room for a new Defender that otherwise would look too much like the Discovery? If this is the case, we could expect the new Defender to have a lot in common (as far as shape goes) with the D4. I expect it will have a lot in common structurally and mechanically anyway.

Yes you’re probably right John. Interesting though that the D5 has lost any distinctive characteristics of the D1-4, in favour looking like all other Land Rover/Range Rover products.
Hopefully Defender will be distinctive.