Thread: D5 vs D4

I don't see why the D5 wouldn't do this, but depending on what accessories you need you may struggle a bit. There is only one bull bar for the D5 available which sits over the existing bumper bar. There are vehicles with a hidden winch, but so far I only know of a company in the USA making the cradle. Anyway, it is possible to fit one. Roof racks are available too, off road tyres too but depends on the wheel size - for 19 inch wheels there's not much choice. If you have a 5 seater there is some useful under floor storage in the boot - second battery could go there, I keep the recovery kit in there.

Are there any specific accessories you wanted to fit?

Ron

Ben at APT as a D5 and has set it up for travel.......RTT, Tyres, pretty sure he has under body protection and roof rack done.

Hi Mark.
We moved from a D4 Tdv6 2.7 to a 3.0SE D5. We have done about 32,000km with 17,000 on a trip to WA including the Plenty, Tanami, Purnululu and Great Central Road towing a 2.5T camper. The D5 handled everything well and was a pleasure to drive.
The OEM tyres - supposedly all terrain (!) - are rubbish on these roads. We have 19” wheels and of course there are no real tyres available in 255 60 r19. So far we have replaced four tyres. Before our next trip we will replace the lot with something more suitable, perhaps on 18” steel rims.
The D4 was absolutely dust free, the D5 less so, although not too bad.
We had bull bar, LR tank with rear wheel carrier, luggage barrier etc - now we have nothing because there is nothing available except the ugly ECB bar.
The rear loadspace is lower than the D4 and I miss the drop down tailgate.
The D5 has DEF and seems to use more than LR say.
No rear aircon unlike the D4 (unbelievable really in Australian conditions) makes it less pleasant for passengers.
We like the extra power. This was one of our main reasons for the changeover as the D4 was struggling a bit on hills when towing. The D5 eats them up.
in summary, if we had had a 3.0 D4 we may well have kept it and been very happy with it. In retrospect we perhaps should have kept our 2.7, especially considering the crap price we got for it, the lack of suitable accessories for the D5, and considering the high depreciation these cars suffer. In my opinion the ‘improvement’ of the D5 over the D4 is not that significant for what we do.
But your question is slightly different as we already owned a D4. I’m sure you would be pretty happy either way - I don’t think there is another vehicle that can match the Disco for comfort in long range travel.
Tony

Awesome comparison, thanks Tony

I have an SD4 HSE MY19 on order. So can’t speak from experience on how it will handle the long runs. On specs though there are a couple of differences going from the SE to the HSE could make a small difference.
20” rims so have read other switching wheels to duratracs.
3 zone climate so aircon in the rear.
The others are
Meridian sound system, keyless entry, power tailgate, inner tailgate.
I really struggled with a decision between sd6/se and sd4/HSE. As the price was very close for these two
In the end went with higher trim level and more comfort over power. I don’t have a trailer, caravan etc and think for my use that the sd4 will be plenty.

Originally Posted by IndusD4

I don't see why the D5 wouldn't do this, but depending on what accessories you need you may struggle a bit. There is only one bull bar for the D5 available which sits over the existing bumper bar. There are vehicles with a hidden winch, but so far I only know of a company in the USA making the cradle. Anyway, it is possible to fit one. Roof racks are available too, off road tyres too but depends on the wheel size - for 19 inch wheels there's not much choice. If you have a 5 seater there is some useful under floor storage in the boot - second battery could go there, I keep the recovery kit in there.

Are there any specific accessories you wanted to fit?

Ron

Thanks for the responses so far.

Specific accessories that I was thinking of:

Cargo barrier
Traxide kit
Snorkel (needed on D5 ?)
Llams / height rods

The wheels/tyres combo...I assume from reading that the D5 suffers the same fate as the 3.0 D4; but now 18” steelies are available.

Also whether there are any serious “bugs” that users are experiencing that would preclude a Simpson crossing, or long stay in regional areas.

Cheers

Originally Posted by SimmAus

Thanks for the responses so far.

Specific accessories that I was thinking of:

Cargo barrier
Traxide kit
Snorkel (needed on D5 ?)
Llams / height rods

The wheels/tyres combo...I assume from reading that the D5 suffers the same fate as the 3.0 D4; but now 18” steelies are available.

Also whether there are any serious “bugs” that users are experiencing that would preclude a Simpson crossing, or long stay in regional areas.

Cheers

Hi Mark, I am fairly sure that the D5 is similar to the RRS2 where by the air intake is routed through the bonnet and by that I don't mean via the fake vents. When you look under the bonnet, you'll see an intake pointing upwards out of the right fender the will mate with a matching hole in the underside of the bonnet when it's closed. The idea apparently, is that the engine draws the air from channels with in the bonnet where the speed of the air drops such that any contaminants (dust, water etc.) fall away before making it to the intake in the fender. Quite clever.

The downside is, I am not sure there is or even would be a snorkel available. Upside is you have 900mm of wading depth out of the box. How well their design works for dust, I couldn't tell you.

Perhaps Ron can confirm or deny whether I have it right for the D5.

Re cargo barrier, I'm not sure what's available for your vehicle , but I have just fitted a Boab cargo net to my Defender. It is adjustable to various sizes. Rated to 125kg. Cost $179 plus $20 freight on eBay. Could meet your needs.
In my case no drilling as I just fitted it to existing screws for handholds and bolts on the wheel arches. Being adjustable it can be moved aside as required. Easy to remove.
Just a thought.