Hey all,

Typically I research first and buy later with my vehicles. I scanned Autotrader for CPO Discos for about 6 months prior to pulling the trigger and had some awareness of specific features I wanted. Ended up getting what I feel was a great deal on a 2019 D5 HSE with about 15,000 miles. It had most of the features I wanted, but others I did not do my diligence beforehand to realize I wanted them - air suspension, surround view, and heated seats being the most glaring. Put my blinders on because it was such a good deal, which is a bit out of character but I’m still satisfied with my purchase.

I don’t do much heavy off roading or towing. Mostly some dirt trails and mud at our farm in South Georgia or up in North Georgia mountains. Does the D5 with the base terrain response system have a locking center diff? How can I tell? And is there much downside to not having TR2 in light off roading conditions?

I can’t say I ever used the locking dif on my Grand Cherokee, although the air suspension was nice for clearance when I needed it. Does having coils set me back meaningfully for any light off roading?

Other random question I have is around the sound system - how do I know if I have the 350W or 825W Meridian system?

 

If you have the updated sound system it will say “Surround” on the speaker grilles.

All Discoveries have a locking center diff.

The lack of a rear locking diff will make no difference in light off/roading, in fact I haven’t seen any evidence of how useful it actually is on a D5 in much heavier off-roading. That may sound strange given how many YouTube reviews keep going on about how important they are, but you have to appreciate they’re talking about vehicles that do not have the LR terrain response system. Even vehicles which have some form of terrain response do not have LR’s terrain response and that’s an important distinction.
The LR terrain response system in the D5 is so advanced it only needs 6degrees of wheel slip to make a decision, so it doesn’t scrabble and lose momentum like earlier LR systems like on say the Discovery 2 whose more crude system required a near full wheel revolution to detect slip and had people wishing they still had a rear locker and LR even put it back after a certain model year. Given the new system barely scrabbles at all as it instantly applies the brakes to the slipping wheel, the use cases for genuine need of a rear locker are reduced.
That said... having a rear locker is still better than not having one, especially if you are going through some really serious stuff and it’s not an expensive option if buying new so may as well spec it imho. Like you I didn’t notice mine didn’t have it until after I bought it, and like you I had concerns. But watching sufficient videos of non rear-locker equipped D5’s and Defenders (same vehicle underneath essentially) tackling terrain I wouldn’t take my expensive rig over I realized it will cope with anything I would throw at it, and likely get me out of problems if I misjudged and got into more serious terrain that’s I intended. At least from a traction standpoint.

Mum assuming you have a 5 seat model as all 7 seaters come with air suspension.
The lack of air suspension means you have less ground clearance and that is more limiting than the lack of a rear locker. Again, whether that is a problem depends on how light your light off roading will be. You will have to be a little more aware of your approach/breakover/departure angles and think carefully about any large rocks or other obstacles you might want to drive over, but other than that...

The above is my understanding of the situation, based on research but no practical experience off-road in the D5 so far. Given my old TJ had open diffs but good tyres and never got stuck despite having no terrain response I wouldn’t sweat it. Just watch your ground clearance.