Test Drive

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Originally Posted by ozscott

Rhonny's new Hilux is not a sponsorship vehicle.

You must not have driven a new dual cab with all the fruit offroad. They are very competent. It is easy to say well with leaf sprung rear and coil IFS they can't be much good but often they are very good even in stock form. And as for carrying heavy loads down low offroad they excel.

Cheers

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Mmm..yes I have and been on trips with them and seen how hopeless they are off road in std trim and how easy they break..eg CVs.. tcs..autos too. In so far as towing 3.5t..well they are just dangerous. ...check out Dash offroad re the Navara v Y62 tow comparison. Marketing is a wonderful thing.

You are kidding re Rhonny arn't you..how many times has he mentioned the dealership and some times he can't help himself saying if you can avoid rocks (in the Hilux) .. do so....front and rear approach/departure angles🤤. There's a build thread coming. Wonder how much of the gear he'll pay for😎.

Anyhow good on him and as he says that's what we are buying in huge numbers now and then spending heaps to makes them 'capable' and reliable....and that's all good content for the masses....and for Youtube/sponsor income. PS my sil depends on such vehicle mods for a living so I'm all for the aftermarket industry which employs thousands in Aus.

Sorry to go off track but looking at the Defender or even the D4/D5 features/capability compared to others you can see why they costs more new.

Let's not raise reliability when comparing the modern crop of Thai built utes to LR mate. I am a Land Rover tragic but it is enlightening to own a well made dual cab ute and to compare first hand. As for breaking CV' all IFS IRS vehicles can do so and D3/4 are not immune. All independent suspension is a compromise offroad, so the DC utes in retaining a rear beam set up is of considerable benefit especially when heavily laden offroad.

When you say cost more new you mean 2 to 3 times more. And there is a large and growing number of people looking for less complexity, not paying more money for more complexity.

Cheers
PS I am not and won't be without at least 1 if not 2 LRs but mine are all beam axle and that won't change.

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Originally Posted by ozscott

Agreed mate. Perhaps paid for by the dealer network or LRA. The lack of 150,000 and 7 years in today's modern production line world signals to me LR don't yet have confidence in their new product. Its a shame and a bit shameful. Cheers

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In Thailand ANY vehicle comes with 12 months... that’s it.

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Originally Posted by Tombie

In Thailand ANY vehicle comes with 12 months... that’s it.

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I have read that before. It is crazy stuff.

If LR upped their warranty to 150,000 and 7 years they would sell a lot more, but I suppose they have done their projections and don't like how the numbers (their costs of replacing components and troubleshooting versus extra sales) add up.

Cheers

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Originally Posted by Tombie

In Thailand ANY vehicle comes with 12 months... that’s it.

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In '99,Land Rover warranty was 2yrs,50 000Km.

All others were 3yrs,100 000K.

EDIt Tojo is 5yrs unlimited,another 2yrs unlimited on drive train.

That should be a minimum on any vehicle these days.

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Originally Posted by ozscott

All independent suspension is a compromise offroad,

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Might be the case in cheap jap designed utes but is not a valid statement overall - IFS in vehicles like the HUMvee, Pinsgauer and Haflinger is certainly not compromised.

It is not the design that is compromised but how it is executed.

Nah, look I like my D4 a whole lot but it's fair to say that in engineering everything is a compromise, and that includes independent suspension.

For example: I get to keep my diff higher for better clearance, but now I need CVs and that restricts my suspension travel compared to having a rigid axle on coils.

Compromise doesn't mean it's all negative. Just a different set of pros and cons. You have to pick the one that matters most for your circumstances.

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Originally Posted by ozscott

Rhonny's new Hilux is not a sponsorship vehicle.

You must not have driven a new dual cab with all the fruit offroad. They are very competent. It is easy to say well with leaf sprung rear and coil IFS they can't be much good but often they are very good even in stock form. And as for carrying heavy loads down low offroad they excel.

Cheers

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Looks like Ronny managed to get a new Defender from a local dealer for a day or 2 and is going to do a mini review of sorts. Hopefully it makes it up to his channel in the next week or so and will be interesting to see how he rates it compared with his stock Hilux.

Attachment 165068

Keen to see what he makes of it. I think he will like it.

In the meantime, Mitsubishi is offering a 10 year, 200,000klm warranty on new Tritons with 10 year 150,000 capped price services (provided that you get it serviced at Mitsu dealerships). I understand this still has to pass the ACCC but at the very least demonstrates a high level of confidence in their product (and for me under a 7 years, 150,000k warranty - and servicing at Mitsu, I would have a good claim for warranty recognition out to 10 years and 200,000klm - ie on the basis that they have set the benchmark for the minimum expected lifespan off the product without failures).

Land Rover are being left further behind this area - and its a big area.

Cheers

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Originally Posted by weeman

Looks like Ronny managed to get a new Defender from a local dealer for a day or 2 and is going to do a mini review of sorts. Hopefully it makes it up to his channel in the next week or so and will be interesting to see how he rates it compared with his stock Hilux.

Attachment 165068

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Ronny is usually straight up and down on reviews so looking forward to his view. But.....like the other 4wd Youtubers it's no good to him cause it's not main stream and not in the high build/mod arena ..so no value in content creation. Hence the new Hilux.

Btw..sil said the new Dmax and BT50 clone can't be fitted with ladder racks due to the collision avoidance sensors going off. As fabricators they are facing diminishing returns with many modern vehicles due to safety tech unable to be turned off or removed 😐