Discovery vs. Defender off road

Which is the better car off road, my guess is the Defender, but in which areas? What can the Defender do off road, that the Discovery can't. There might be biased opinions, but I am asking you to try to be objective

Defender has bigger tyres as standard (better under axle clearance, and slightly better approach/departure angles. Not much between them really.

transfer box ratio is different on the defender, making it better off road.

as a standard car, just as they come out of the show room, the defender is better.

add diff lockers, bigger tyres, suspension, etc to a disco and its better than the defender as standard

then add diff lockers to the defender, bigger suspension, tyres, etc...and its better than the "upgraded" disco

then add...

do you get the point?

Defender's are built for a different environment ( ie not the road ) whereas the Disco is for people who enjoy a comfy ride and driving through puddles...


:bolt:

PaulWilde said:

Defender's are built for a different environment ( ie not the road ) whereas the Disco is for people who enjoy a comfy ride and driving through puddles...


:bolt:

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Is there acrowd of angry disco owners outside Paul.Personally I think disco is able but prob.not as tough as Def if worked hard in the long term

Ermmmm. Isn't it obvious which is better off road? I don't think there is such a massive gap as some might believe and a lot of a vehicles off road capability is influenced by the driver.

This old chestnut again !. ( another game of " Landrover top trumps " ).

We have both a Defender TD5 and a Disco TD5.

I got the Disco stuck when I slipped of a track into a ploughed field, ( with road tyres on ), and my brother pulled me out with his Defender with BFG AT,s on.

That was driver error.

My Disco will go everywhere the Defender will go, ( real world off road, not pay and play and competition sites ), in our part of the world.

I just see them as different vehicles with some comparable abilitys.

Our Defender rarely goes of the farm and has tools and dogs in the back. The Disco goes round the farm with no problems and is used on the road a lot.

Del.

Interesting, i used to have a series3 and longed for a defender, now i have the disco i find i no longer want a defender. Its sort of got the fun and ability of the defender but the comfort of a road-based car, while still being easy to fix etc.

I view it as two similar vehicles but one biased for road the other biased for off-road.

Depends who's driving........

[JP];1206922 said:

transfer box ratio is different on the defender, making it better off road.

Click to expand...

It is only the high range ratios that vary(1:1.4 vs 1:1.22, they both have the same low range I believe

There are way more nooks and crannies on a disco where you can hide some mud to rot the bodywork away while you aren't looking.

me mates sorted disco does "NEARLY" everything my sorted defender does offroad

the only place he cant do as well is in the woods inbetween trees his disco is wider and longer and have a smug little chuckle to meself when he has to take adifferent route that i take

Very true there hughsey.....
I've noticed that moving from my disco to the defender... defender is also easier to jet wash underneath and get rid of all the mud

Disco's have bigger over hangs than 90's so you're more likely to rip something off. Same applies to electrics etc.

id rather go in a disco for a long journey. but id rather go offroading in mi defender. they are both very capable offroaders but the 90 more so

i went to cowm quarry on sunday and my friends and i discoverys were getting into places the defenders were etting stuck! for instance ther was a defender 90 pick up with insa turbos lift kit snorkel wading kit basically the works struggling to get through some mud he was trying for what must of been 15 minutes to get through... wen he eventually got through me and my mate both had a go expecting to get stuck but we took a slower approach and kept a constant speed and glided through.... and then got out and watched him struggle all over again..... correct me if im wrong but most defender drivers i see seem to approach things faster then we do in discoverys? are we missing a trick?

Having owned a few discos and a few fenders, and a few series landies come to think of it, I don't think there's much to separate any of them in terms of ability. Choice of tyres would have a bigger effect than choice of vehicle most of the time. It all comes down to what you actually use it for and what you want it to do for you, and how much time you want to spend welding it every year for the MOT. Obviously I'm talking about older vehicles here if I could afford a new one that would be a different matter. Discos are great on the road, great for towing, generally reliable so long as you don't count the little niggles and wear and tear, but they rust like buggery and for me long term ownership of an older disco is out for that reason. I just can't be arsed with it. Defenders on the other hand are a lot easier to keep relatively rust free, simply because al the vulnerable bits are accesible for a good jetwashing and you can see problems before they become big problems. Also there are less annoying electrical bits to **** you around. I don't generally do serious offroading like p&p stuff, just some laning and what the landy was built for, ie farm type work and some fairly strenuous towing, but to be honest for local work and dragging a heavy trailer across muddy fields my series 3 109 wins hands down.

i think the defender/series is better off road only because a disco doesn't look right with dents!! other than that its all tyres and driver

I've owned 110's a 90 & a 3 200tdi discos. all have been std with the execption of the 110's having HD rer springs & this disco having 235/70/16's fitted and they have all perforned equally well off road the 110 was best for carrying loads of gear. the disco are comfier and the 90 had the best turning circle. but on a drivable greenlane none of them were better than the others.

It's not until you get in to extreme P&P or really bad lanes (that yu shouldn't be on anyway) that the 90's come into their own.

I've just spent the weekend in Wales on 3 AT's & a Road tire and never missed a beat.

Cept fer when ya forgot diff lock