| Author |
Message |
    
John Davies
| | Posted on Saturday, December 14, 2002 - 11:41 pm: | 
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I started a thread in the Yahoo Disco2owners group that has raised an interesting point.
It appears as if at least some of the '03 Discos in the USA have a transfer case placard that shows CDL functions. One yahoo contributer reported seeing placards in all 5 of the vehicles he looked at. Since this vehicle does NOT have a CDL, that faulty placard has some interesting implications.
My salesman assured me that the truck I drove did indeed have a CDL ("It's new for '03"), and he showed me the placard and described how to engage the lock (though he did not actually try to move the lever). If I had purchased that rig I would now be ready to sue LR for false advertising.
I very much want a functioning CDL and will probably wait to see what the new models bring.
In the meanwhile - has anyone else noticed these placards in the '03s? Any comments about this issue?
How many people want a CDL - raise your hand now! |
Carter Simcoe (Carter)
| | Posted on Saturday, December 14, 2002 - 11:48 pm: |
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Yeah, the placards are there and some dealers are saying the have it because of this. No the NAS discos don't have the CDL and yes everyone here wants it back. |
Al Oliveira (Offroaddisco)
| | Posted on Sunday, December 15, 2002 - 12:31 am: |
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If you buy that '03 D2 thinking it has CDL based on what the sales guy said be sure you get that in writing and have witnesses. Not that a sales guy would ever lie  |
Mark
| | Posted on Sunday, December 15, 2002 - 01:56 pm: |
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I'm sure that a LR salesman would never tell an outright lie. However, I recently spent a couple of days helping a friend buy a new Disco in the Denver area and my experience with them is that outside of paint color and DVD availability, they have little (if any) knowledge of the vehicle. |
Gil Stevens (Gil)
| | Posted on Sunday, December 15, 2002 - 07:22 pm: |
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John, your salesman is a fool. He shouldnt be selling Rovers. The placards are there because up until the very last minute we were suppossed to get CDL. Apparently they did the interiors before they did the t-boxes. This was a huge issue at LRNA with alot of support in favor of the lock. Unfortunately, the support for ixnaying the CDL was the more powerful minority..(ie accountants) |
Al Oliveira (Offroaddisco)
| | Posted on Sunday, December 15, 2002 - 07:34 pm: |
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I don't buy that. I have yet to work at a company where accountants really have a direct impact on what product is sold. They may have an impact on how much can be spent on a project but in this case it's already an item offered in the ROW. It should have, at minimum, been sold as an option. |
Gil Stevens (Gil)
| | Posted on Sunday, December 15, 2002 - 07:40 pm: |
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i agree Al. Maybe it wasnt the accountants, but somebody with pull opted to kill the NAS CDL. I remember hearing in 2000 when there was talk of "why no CDL on Series II", that it would have cost an extra $18.00 per truck to have CDL. $18.00?? It just doesnt make any sense as to why its not here. |
Carter Simcoe (Carter)
| | Posted on Sunday, December 15, 2002 - 07:43 pm: |
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I can't think of any reason to not include it other than cost cutting, its not like it enhances the performance fo the vechile by NOT being there. As for being offered as an option, I doubt enough people would order it to make it not be cost prohivitive to just make a few NAS ones with the CDL. But who knows.
IMHO, FWIW |
Al Oliveira (Offroaddisco)
| | Posted on Sunday, December 15, 2002 - 07:47 pm: |
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You bring up a good point Carter but since SLS can be sold to people who tow boats as a way to compensate for overloading tongue weight you could also sell CDL to pull that boat off that slippery ramp with all the weight resting on the rear tires. Without it the front tires would just spin. There is always a way to sell the option. Hell someone out there sold a few Aztecs, right? |
Carter Simcoe (Carter)
| | Posted on Sunday, December 15, 2002 - 07:55 pm: |
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ETC would probablly take care of that though wouldn't you think??? I've pulled some heavy ass boats up some steep ramps covered in algae w/ a 2wd chevy before. I can't see a Disco w/ a heavy ass, ETC, and low range having any problems pulling a boat out of the water without a CDL. |
Al Oliveira (Offroaddisco)
| | Posted on Sunday, December 15, 2002 - 07:59 pm: |
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Yep... when going up (or down) hill with a heavy rear load is when I most often see ETC fail. ETC won't apply full brakes to both wheels on the same axle to drive the power to the rear axle. |
Carter Simcoe (Carter)
| | Posted on Sunday, December 15, 2002 - 08:06 pm: |
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Well you might have a point then (I don't have any real experience with the ETC) but I still don't know how neccesary it would be. I'm not saying you couldn't convince yuppies they need it but from my experience with pulling boats out of the water I think just having a low range would be enough to takle anything the disco can tow (epecially if it pulls from the front axle, which is less likely to be down in any slime at the bottom of the ramp). |
Al Oliveira (Offroaddisco)
| | Posted on Sunday, December 15, 2002 - 08:09 pm: |
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"(epecially if it pulls from the front axle, which is less likely to be down in any slime at the bottom of the ramp)."
Yep and that's why you might need CDL. I used to pull my boat on one ramp that was always snot and if you didn't have a CDL (or PT 4WD) you couldn't pull the boat while the tide was low. The CDL may not be neccessary but neither is the SLS... any when do sales people sell what you NEED? |
Carter Simcoe (Carter)
| | Posted on Sunday, December 15, 2002 - 08:15 pm: |
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Thats true, I wasn't thinking about tides (never had to deal with them).
Still, if you think the CDL is an important piece of equipment (and I actually agree with you there, I was just playing devil's advocate) but don't think it was cut for financial reasons then why do you think they terminated the plans to bring it back? |
Al Oliveira (Offroaddisco)
| | Posted on Sunday, December 15, 2002 - 08:27 pm: |
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I really don't know... Other than LRNA thinks the ETC really works in ALL situations and that they made a mistake. But I'm only guessing. I don't work for LRNA and not at any of the meeting where the stupid descision was made.
I would think it would cost more for LR to have two transfer cases. One for the NAS market and the other for the ROW. |
Carter Simcoe (Carter)
| | Posted on Sunday, December 15, 2002 - 08:32 pm: |
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Yeah, I am inclined to believe it must be financial simply because if it was capability they wouldn't have brought it back everywhere else, but thats the part of it I don't understand the two transfer cases. It must cost a hell of a lot more to make that case w/ the CDL or something.
And I think we can all agree that they made one hell of a mistake. |
John Davies
| | Posted on Sunday, December 15, 2002 - 10:17 pm: |
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I read somewhere that the reason we don't get the CDL is because there were a lot of damaged transfer cases due to soccer-moms accidently locking the case, or forgetting to unlock it.
While I can understand that that could certainly occur in the USA (seeing as how so many drivers are of the brain-dead sort), it hasn't stopped several other manufacturers from offering CDLs or locking axles. And what about all the gazillions of part-time 4x4s driving around. I'm sure that a fair number of them have suffered drivetrain damage from driver error, but we keep seeing new vehicles with part-time 4wd.
LR's decision just makes no sense to me whatsoever. |
Al Oliveira (Offroaddisco)
| | Posted on Sunday, December 15, 2002 - 11:13 pm: |
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I read that too but it also sounds like half truths. How many times do we hear about CDLs that are frozen. I don't think people actually use them. Not to mention the same argument could be made to not sell manual transmissions since someone could shift into 1st gear while they were really trying to down shift into 3rd or 5th. |
RonLF
| | Posted on Monday, December 16, 2002 - 07:38 am: |
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Is ETC come standard on all Disco in countries that get CDL? I would think CDL cost less then ETC. Over in Africa, they might not need ETC, so LR gives them CDL. ETC has to cost more then CDL!!! Maybe LR should make ETC an option, CDL standard. |
Al Oliveira (Offroaddisco)
| | Posted on Monday, December 16, 2002 - 08:42 am: |
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ETC costs as much as it costs to program the EROM in the SLABS unit. There really is no new hardware for ETC if you already have ABS. Same for HDC. |
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