MY13 D4 - first impressions

**djambalawa** · 6th February 2013, 03:58 PM

Well my daughter and fiance successfully drove up the new D4 SE SDV6 from Brisbane to Darwin... only damaged sustained was a cracked windscreen that had to be replaced... it would've therefore been cheaper to put on a truck in the end but would've taken a lot longer to get here... i guess it came with 3500km of use already too being driven up... but the "kids" did a good job. Windscreen was a result of a truck coming the other way and wasn't much that they could do about that.

The young fella is pretty good with cars and made sure he altered revs etc as much as possible for such a long trip. He also had to put a litre of oil in it halfway which is apparently normal for new engines.

Still kicking myself that I didn't check whether my new insurance came with a free windscreen per year.. its like a $40/yr option...

So first impressions? Just awesome. Like my D3 but better. Really just an incremental improvement it seems but in nearly all areas.

Engine 600nm of torque sounds like a lot but it still doesn't feel like my G6E Turbo from the lights. But it is just effortless and quite punchy considering the weight it moves. But I'm probably not a good judge as I thought the 2.7l was effortless. Still a bit of turbo lag evident in the new donk at times (seems random) but this has never bothered me to be honest.

8 speed gearbox is really very nice but the 6 was as well and you don't notice a lot of difference in general driving. You can feel it shift a bit, some times more than others, but still very smooth and it apparently gets smoother once it beds in. Seems to slow me down with the gears and engine braking a lot better and smoother than the 6 did. I guess there are other benefits like the engine being able to run at optimum RPM more often with all those cogs to pick from.

Haven't noticed any annoyances like changing gear mid corners and stuff that I think I've read about. It is easy to knock the paddles which put it into commandshift and most folks apparently think they're a bit of a gimmick - not sure yet myself. Wondering if they'll be handy in low range etc.

Fuji White was something I just settled for as I didn't have a lot of options. Although I don't mind white cars as much as many do I would've like to have ordered a nice grey (actually red!) but after seeing the Fuji in the flesh I love it! I would actually be happy to order it now as a preference. There's just something about that white and the car looks great to me.

General handling/driving - as I've read the D4 is a bit stiffer in the suspension than my D3 was but in a good way. Still soft enough on the bumps but confident in corners etc. Really nice quite cab that we're all used to - a little wind noise - not sure if I'm getting a bit more with the aftermarket windscreen...

Getting used to having no gear stick already...

The base halogen lights have a crappy high beam.. spotties will be a must.. i didnt bother with spotties on the D3 SE.

Haven't done any offroading yet.

The 19" have more rubber on them than I imagined.. or maybe I'm just more used to low profile tires now... I do plan to get the GOE 18" though.. is there much of a market for 19" rims to help pay for the 18"?

So yeah all in all very happy camper.

Still trying to work out what mods I'd like... but no rush as I need to save my pennies now anyways.

**Brad** · 6th February 2013, 07:50 PM

How much was the windscreen out of interest? ARB cracked mine recently and gave me a figure of >$2000 ($2500ish IIRC?) they were required to pay to replace.

**djambalawa** · 7th February 2013, 08:43 AM

Hi Brad - it was about $950 but non genuine.. they assured me the rain sensoring would work fine with it but I don't think its quite right.. might have to take it back to them..

This was with O'briens...