Rank my shopping list

morrisdl

Adventurer
I love my ARB locker - thats always an alternative. I agree with Ray that either way its probably not that important.
The rear locker doesnt make it go anywhere that it couldnt already. It just gets there with less drama and wear-n-tear.
 
X-200 on the LR3 since you want a more utility style adventure wagon. The last non luxury interior LR built in my opinion; pretty basic with everything you need and more upfront cubby space like @Jwestpro states. Well maintained LR3 is going to meet any requirements you need at a far greater price and already comes on the 18" wheels you will most likely want to go to.

Wouldn't waste my time on a locker; good upgrade later on by ARB, just not required. Only time I "needed" a locker is in a place I should not have been in the first place! hahaha. I have a fund to ARB locker when the diff needs a rebuild; otherwise I'm pretty much bone stock on EuroSpec 17" and KM2 with a little bit of kit.

123k mileage now and loving her all the way since 55k!
 

whowa004

New member
Lockers are great but are not more valuable than a winch....I don't understand this line of thinking. A winch offers so much more and is one of the first mods I would recommend to anyone that travels off road and usually if camping you are often going alone. Lockers can't pull you out of being stuck or help fellow drivers if they are stuck or safely clear a trail from downed trees or other debris. Lockers are just more likely to push you further into trouble.

Sorry for the tangent, I don't have much of a dog in this fight since a D2 wasn't mentioned but my vote goes towards a 06-09 L322.
 

mvswain

New member
Sorry for the tangent, I don't have much of a dog in this fight since a D2 wasn't mentioned but my vote goes towards a 06-09 L322.

I'm curious, why do you say the L322, what qualities or features make this one your vote? Cheers!


Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using Tapatalk
 

RR876

Member
Hi. I have an 07 L322 Supercharged. For those who don’t know, the S/C versions comes with the rear locking diff as standard.

I absolutely love this vehicle. It has plenty of power, great off road capability and makes for a comfortable daily driver. I try to take it off road at least once a month with the NorCal Rover club and go camping about twice a month. There have been many times when my relatively stock L322 has gone further than unmodified D1&2s.

I have fitted rock sliders, a rear storage system, water tank and RTT. I run 285/50R20 tires with a 35mm suspension recalibration giving an overall 50mm lift. I’ve driven over 50k miles with only an alternator and evap pump failure. (The steering wheel heater also doesn’t work, but I haven’t bothered to fix that). The details of the build can be found here

L322 Overlanding Build and Adventures

There are limits to what you can do with any of the vehicles discussed here. Often the limit is whether you are prepared to get a few scrapes and scratches. I would suggest that if you genuinely want to go off road, then choose the vehicle that you would least mind scratching. (I also have a D2 specifically built for trail work which will leave the late model vehicles at the gate keeper of trail such as the Rubicon, but is uncomfortable, noisy and inefficient on the road. )

The problem with the L322 compared with the LR3&4 is the lack of aftermarket support. I made the rock sliders and drawers myself and was about to build a winch bumper and swing out tire carrier when I bought the D2.

The question is, are you capable and prepared to make accessories for an L322 yourself? If not, then choose the LR3 if the usage is biased towards off-roading or the LR4 for on road manners.

A locking rear diff would be my highest priority, then sliders, storage solution etc. A winch is good if you want to go solo but I generally travel in a group when the going gets tough.
 
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gatorgrizz27

Well-known member
The L322’s have a lot of “on paper” specs that the LR3’s don’t, but I don’t find a significant difference in comfort or the way they drive. I haven’t sat in the rear seats in either, the Range Rover might be slightly more comfortable to adults, but cargo space in a big win in favor of the LR3 and 4. The sloping roof of the RR really limits things, not to mention the seats folding completely flat in the 3’s and 4’s.

They also get identical mileage on the highway, even comparing the S/C 4.2 to the N/A 4.4, but the RR has a 5 gallon larger fuel tank, as well as a conventional 2” receiver hitch.
 

gatorgrizz27

Well-known member
Regarding the rear locker, yes it can make a difference, but it’s not required for the way 95% of drivers who actually take their LR3/4 off-road. If you’re used to an open diff vehicle, the traction control completely overcomes the “lift a front and rear tire, stop moving” scenario.

While this is basically just a dirt driveway, it shows the system working compared to the setup in a 4-Runner. Yes, with a locker, there wouldn’t be all the wheel spin, but I doubt it would spin much with all terrains on it either.


Being realistic, unless your car is just a trail rig, you’re probably not going to push it to where a locker is NECESSARY, because of the possibility for damage.

I have already taken mine places many wouldn’t, and have no issue with scratching, dings, etc, but I’m not going to push my DD to the point where it’s likely to roll, tear a hole in the T-case or gas tank, intentionally force a door into a rock to make a passage, or get stuck it in water over the tops of the tires where its going to seem in and destroy the electrical systems.

Not saying some don’t actually use a locker, but it gets a little old seeing everyone that’s planning to drive down a national forest road assuming they need the HD package.
 

RR876

Member
The L322’s have a lot of “on paper” specs that the LR3’s don’t, but I don’t find a significant difference in comfort or the way they drive. I haven’t sat in the rear seats in either, the Range Rover might be slightly more comfortable to adults, but cargo space in a big win in favor of the LR3 and 4. The sloping roof of the RR really limits things, not to mention the seats folding completely flat in the 3’s and 4’s.

They also get identical mileage on the highway, even comparing the S/C 4.2 to the N/A 4.4, but the RR has a 5 gallon larger fuel tank, as well as a conventional 2” receiver hitch.

Again, totally agree. The sloping rear on the L322 forced me to make my own storage solution to get the most out of the space.

On a side note, the L322 has an internal spare tires. If a larger tire is fitted, a hitch or swing out spare tire carrier will be required. As a result, this opens up a large amount of extra storage under the floor. I use it for spare parts, heavy tools and other items that I don’t ordinarily need to access.
 

Red90

Adventurer
If only I could manually switch it on my L322.

And that there is the downfall of all the current Land Rover products. They think that the computers are smarter than the driver and that is when they get embarrassingly stuck on obstacles that normal truck drive threw with ease.
 

Ray_G

Explorer
I actually disagree completely on the locker point.
What nobody wants to put into context here is if you are some kind of incredibly difficult trail where a locker vice unlocked rear dif is going to make a significant difference you got a bunch of other variables to consider.
-Start with the rather beefy weight of the vehicle. If the trail is that difficult that you need a locker, you probably need a lighter truck...
-Independent suspension (cross axle magic beliefs aside) simply isn't going to give you robustness that solid axle choices (which are lighter, by and large) will....
-This heavy, independent suspension, truck has poor geometry for approach, break over, and departure angles...
(one can go further by unpacking tire choices, implications of larger diameter wheels/low sidewalls, etc)

So in a nutshell, given the realities of the truck, I simply haven't seen where the locker would make a drastic difference for these platforms. That's not saying they don't make a big difference in say a 90 or a D1 compared to an unlocked version.
 

perkj

Explorer
As with anything, the day you absolutely need it is the day you wish you had it. For this reason I was very patient in ultimately finding my 2008 LR3 HSE w/HD and at the time only had 37k on it. Patience even ended up getting me the LUX interior as well. She just turned 60k 2 weeks ago. (y)
 

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