I missed that when looking closely at the D5. All I saw was that stupid auto retracting **** looking ball available in the UK.
What is different about the D5 hitch design that gets rid of the tongue weight limitations on the LR3/LR4?
Very cool. They must have gotten a kick out of you wheeling that thing into the dealership!
The LR3/LR4 has a click in receiver in order to allow it to be removed for off roading. Great in theory until I want to pull my airstream. And because it clicks in place and isn't solidly mounted I've read stories of it failing and am not sure weight distribution would work either (I'm no engineer but trying to distribute through a locking pin doesn't logically make sense). The d5 is a solidly mounted receiver with just the basic tow package. Looks like what you'd find on an f150. Stamped on the hitch is 8200 tow and I think like 790 tongue - and I can put weight distribution on it (which I just did on my RRS and it towed great, and did on our old grand Cherokee and old trailer).
And yeah, Land Rover Scarborough and Land Rover Bedford got a kick out of it when I showed up with my fat bike to try to stuff in a td6 RR and D5. Honestly I started the process looking at the full size RR but because the middle seats don't fold flat and the bike can't stand we went with the D5. Should be here late Oct, early nov. in the meantime I turned in our lr4 this week to take advantage of the ridiculously high value they offered and continue to drive our RRS until the d5 arrives.
Frankly I'm excited. After driving the diesel and order a car that blends a modern black design pack, the diesel/tow combo, massaging seats, and the locking diff we have a truck that we can tow to Moab with in comfort, drag our bikes, and then for an "off" day have a fully capable off road vehicle. Yeah, it's not as bad ass looking as my old D2 or even our LR4 but it really is functional.