My point about the front locker is that generally when climbing something the weight of the vehicle is over the rear wheels so a rear locker is way more important than the front. Further minimizing the need for a front locker is 4ETC. It would still be an advantage, I will not argue that, but it's not as big an advantage as people think.
I bring up the front locker because to me that is the ONLY thing the G has that the LR3 doesn't. If we want to bench-wheel the two, let's do it!
- Angles (LR3 app, dep, b/o: 37.2, 29.6, 27.9 G: 30, 30, 24, another source says 36, 27, 21)
- crawl ratio: LR3 45.57, G: 34:1
- wheel travel: LR3: 10" front, 13" rear, G: 3.5" front, 9.2" rear
- ground clearance: LR3: 11.5" (Extended Height), G: 8.3"
- slope capability: LR3: 45d, G: 38.7d (another source says 45d)
- side slope capability: LR3: 35d, G: 28d
LR3 wins all of these. So...what's that you were saying????
That's fair - we can easily disagree. Numbers don't tell the full story, no matter how detailed - so it is just like you say, bench wheeling. Neither of us really know, but you do make a strong case. For what it's worth when I talk about wheeling I'm talking about the stuff most folks watch on youtube rather than the dirt road adventures and roof-top tents that most folks actually do. I don't mean that in a condescending way to anyone by any means - I love all levels of the stuff, and especially love that people do some of it in pretty modern Land Rovers since that possibility seems to be slowly dying (as evidenced by the original topic of this thread, that ugly-ass Disco 5.) Just making the distinction. I think that when it comes to the really rough stuff the live portal axles, very low COG, and front and rear lockers would make more difference than they appear to on paper. But we won't really know, because most people that do the really dumb stuff have either a buggy or a beater like mine - sanity and financial sense mostly keep things like LR4s and G-Wagens off of these trails for all but the truly crazy (and crazy wealthy, most likely.) I do the crazy **** in a vehicle that is much more expensive than it looks, but still far less expensive than an LR3/4 or G-Wagen. As much as I'd love to see an LR4 and a G out there I don't think either would fare very well, but my gut says the G would do a little better. But I've been wrong plenty of times before. Here's my wheeler - plenty capable, but ugly as hell. Still not as ugly as the Disco 5 I don't think, lol.