1st prolonged experience off road with my lr4

[CaptainSpalding]

Captain, I am aware of the 18" wheel availability for the non-US markets. But that also means older (LR3's) braking system. I thought the revised, bigger rotors (to match the increased engine torque) in US-bound LR4 did not allow for the 18 inch wheels. Isn't that true?

Apparently the bigger rotors allow for at least one 18 inch wheel. As to why the rotors are larger, who knows? There's a lot of form over function happening at Land Rover these days. I'd bet the LR4 would stop just fine with LR3 brakes. You're kind of arguing both sides. On the one hand you say that they are using Jaguar brakes because they have them lying around, and on the other hand you say they are using the bigger brakes to match the torque of the U.S. V8. I'm no expert, but I'd venture to say that brakes are matched to vehicle weight, not engine torque. What are your thoughts?

Editing for a third time, now . . . it would be interesting to know if it is possible to swap out LR4 rotors/calipers for LR3 equipment and be able to run a wide variety of 18" rims, rather than be stuck with the Compmotives.

It also didn't escape my eye that on that global spec diesel truck there are coil springs instead of air bags. I'd love to have that option.

 

[manoftaste]

Sorry, I should have been more clear.

What i meant was that when LR decided to increase the rotor size (for either increasing braking efficiency or as one review said, to better match the increase engine torque), instead of re-designing it specifically for LR4 they re-cycled Jag' parts, which is not unusual in the industry, but not to the extent where you take rotors of a luxury sedan and put it in in an off road vehicle hampering a key off road attribute such as appropriate wheel size for enough side wall.

And while on the subject of gripes, here is another big one that i have:
What a genius idea to run muffler hardware under the drive axels/suspension arms, just pure genius. That was the first thing that had struck me when i looked at LR3 (first one to arrive at the dealership) in real life seven years ago. Being naive, I really thought that its a prototype or something and that it may change later during actual production, or that it being such a high tech car that there might be a mechanism by which these pipes would get tugged under or something when in off road mode.

While on the road i often see various lesser off road vehicles with independent rear setup that seem to have more clearance than LR4. There should not be anything under the drive axels in an off road vehicle, period.