Hello Folks -

I am very close to buying a new or slightly used D90. One of my few reservations is a number of years ago I bought a new LR4 and almost immediately regretted it. In fact I sold it back to the dealer 3 days later. My reason? What was for me, too much head sway/toss, (the car bobbing and swaying subtly back and forth) as we went down some 40-50mph undulating secondary roads. We never noticed it on our test drives. I guess that wasn't surprising as it was all downtown city surface streets with about 5 minutes of highway driving. I find it very hard to really understand a vehicle in 15 minutes, and admittedly I am quite picky! We have not experienced this in our ML 350 or GLS450. Can any of you speak to this issue and tell me if you noticed it also in an LR4 but have not noticed it in your 90 or 110?

Thanks for any help!
M

 

Having owned both the LR4 and the new Defender and loving them both I think they both drive exceedingly well. Having said that, they are SUV's meant to tackle a variety of terrains and are not crossovers. If you did not like the LR4, I would imagine the Defender might not be the right vehicle for you.

 

Just to make sure you’re comparing apples to apples … was your old LR4 air or coil springs? Same question for the new defender?

I have a 110 with air and I don’t notice head sway at all - but I also have a Porsche and they aren’t going to be mistaken one for the other.

 

I don't have any head sway in my D110 with air suspension.

 

I can relate, I have an RS America for the old school "feels" as the kids say, and a current gen M3 for the moderns "go".

Anyway, to your question, the LR4 I owned was on air springs, as would be the D90. My wife's GLS450 is also on air and has none of that head toss, fwiw. Yes, i get it, it's a "crossover". But its a big unibody SUV, as is the D90, so....

 

Drive it on roads you will be on.

I've not experienced the wallowing you're describing unless it was in a Cadillac with air ride. Every RR, Merc, BMW I've had with air has not done that.

I would also make sure you're ok with the short wheelbase of the 90. It does ride differently than the 110. I found it would pitch forward and back more than I expected. More like a 90's Grand Cherokee if you've had any experience with those.

 

l've got a 90 on coil springs and steel wheels, and even in this basic specification l don't notice any of what you call "head sway"

The vehicle drives very well on all types of road. l am sure that the 110 would be even better due to the longer wheelbase.

Coil springs maybe better in this respect. l drove one on air springs and it was more "floaty" on poor roads which l disliked.

 

The coil sprung D90 is very sensitive (or perhaps I am) to tyre pressures - so far nobody has mentioned checking tyre pressures............if it's a new/nearly new coil sprung not air (you don't say) vehicle from a dealer and you are just giving it a test run then most likely it hasn't been prepared fully for sale.

 

You need to find a way to spend a week with one.

I'd rent a Defender on Turo for a week and decide after that. If you don't have Turo in your market, or any Defenders on Turo, take a week trip to Los Angeles or somewhere that has them and rent one.

Otherwise, you're going to potentially put your selff in same boat as your LR4 purchase.

PS buy the insurance. Turo is an insurance mess if you have a claim. Someone hit a Turo car I rented in a parking lot and it was handled very poorly by Turo.

 

Zero head sway in the new Defender. Also had an LR4 and never had a head sway in it either. Were you driving new ones or used ones? if the one you drove was preowned, it may have had front end damage which would explain the head sway you felt.