This monocoque chassis tested 3x stiffer than the strongest body on frame competitor, so it’s hard to say that it won’t have the long term durability. From the modification standpoint it’s a drawback, but I don’t see modern vehicles being modded like they used to do the the series trucks.
Buying Used LR4 versus Mercedes G550
- Thread starter richord
- Start date
Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.
GunsAndRovers
Member
I've said this before: The LR4 / Discovery 4 is the peak generation in the Discovery platform evolution. Wife is asking for a G wagon but I'm trying to convince her to go with a Defender.
powershift
Full Access Member
To each his own. Richard Hammond, the man with the biggest balls, best house, best wife, family, friends on Top Gear says the Defender is stronger but I don't believe him lol. However someone slices and dices the architecture, its still unibody.
The Dakar race excluded unibodies so Defender couldn't compete in the race that is the best fit for the Defender. Its one class down from unlimited where the vehcle needs to be a production version. Along with that, in America there are more 4X4's entering the market gaining popularity and some haven't been released yet. Land Rover also recognizes people are unhappy about the vehicle structure. In response, instead of creating a body-on-frame Defender to compete in the Dakar race Land Rover had the rules changed so that they could gain publicity and compete with the Defender against the competition.
I’m going of 6 year old memories, but I’m pretty sure the stats were 3x stiffer than the strongest current competition and 10x stiffer than the legacy defender, so yeah. I think he’s right. To be precise it’s not a unibody, people call it that to disparage it, but it’s not accurate. To be honest the monocoque chassis seems ideal for Dakar, the same effect of a full tube chassis with a cage in stock form. Blasting across the desert in a ladder frame, solid axle vehicle sounds unnecessarily brutal.
powershift
Full Access Member
Being stiffer doesn't negate big parts of the problem though. It wasn't me who was disparaging the design, but I can see how people would talk bad about it because of the value loss. Btw, unibody is an approach in automotive evolution. It's the LR4 that has the monocoque structure on a hydroformed steel ladder frame.
I’ve sidetracked this thread, my bad. I don’t really agree with any of that though, but I don’t think either of us care to get into a ******* match over highly technical terms. I think might agree that it all of the “value loss” comes down to the name? I think the Defender has incredible value as an excellent vehicle superior to the legacy defender in every performance metric on or off-road, if they had named it anything other than Defender. It just wasn’t what the enthusiasts wanted with that name.
MellonRover
Full Access Member
In my mind, defender on paper is the true " discovery 5". Size,style and functionally a better fit in the discovery lineage. The bubble butt d5 is just a crossover SUV they created to capture market share. They likely broke from d3, d4 nomenclature to sell on defenders reputation, and possibly to distance themselves from d1 d2 reputation.
