2.0 Mpi

Stuart Adair vaguely muttered something like ...

They would, they're trying to sell 'em ..

They are ... ;)

Seriously, in my albeit limited experience of having a 2.0 Mpi for about four days, I can honestly say it was gutless. It was close to the urge of my old S3 with it's original 2.25 engine. The Disco could only do about 65 ish if it had anything like four adults or a load in it, especially in wind or uphill.

However, we went offroad with it empty except for me and a passenger and it was pretty good. Not enough power to spin out unless really pushed and clutched, (decent BFG MT tyres) but plenty to take you anywhere slowly. Maybe as a pure off-roader or a vehicle that would never normally carry more than two adults it's be .. er .. just about adequate, maybe, perhaps.

I'd pay the extra money for a Tdi.

seemed like a strange engine to put in a disco only had a test drive around by myself seemed ok but i didn't go up any hills

Stuart Hi,

Having owned both a Disco Mpi and a 200Tdi on the same time I can only say that I prefer the 200Tdi. The only drawback of the Tdi engined is the higher engine noise level but apart from that it pulls much better.

Top speed is higher with the Mpi though but it takes a lot of time to get there.

Strangely enough the Mpi FEELS faster but it is not, apart from the 0 - 100 km/h time.

The kg/hp ratio of a Discovery Mpi is pretty close to that of a Suzuki Vitara 1.6, or a Daihatsu Sportrack so you can not say that it is underpowered. The same ratio of a Discovery 200Tdi is in fact higher (which is bad) for the Discovery Tdi but torque is what makes the difference there.

All in all the Mpi is a pretty good road going version of the Discovery. Its top speed and 0 - 100 Km/h performance is BETTER than that of the Tdi but off road it suffers from the lack of low down torque but this can be taken care of by using the low gears on your transfer box.

On the other hand a Tdi engine can be extremely easily tuned to Mpi horsepower figures while the Mpi quite simply can NOT be tuned unless you are ready to dig deep inside your pocket (turbocharged version of the same engine can be found on the later type of 620ti or 820ti Rover passenger cars, or you can fit a supercharger/compressor to the stock LR engine for about 2000 pounds)

Hope this helped. Pantelis

Pantelis Giamarellos vaguely muttered something like ...

I think the one I had for a while might have had a hard life then because it really did feel underpowered, yhough we drove it all the time with a load in it and passengers. We never tried it empty or solo. I guess what we experienced differently could be down to the low torque output.

Thanks everyone for your advice

Stu

On or around Sat, 27 Nov 2004 07:32:01 -0000, "Paul - xxx" enlightened us thusly:

dunno what gear ratios they use, but I reckon the MPi should have the same ratios as the 110 turbo pre-TDi or something. The engine is much higher-revving, redlines at about 6000 instead of 4500, and the peak torque is correspondingly higher.

You'll get the reverse of the situation you get when people trained on petrol-engined cars get in a diesel - they rev the nuts off it, going up to

4000+ revs in every gear, despite the fact that even on a normnally-tuned TDi you don't get worthwhile acceleration much over 3500, and in fact can get better results by changing up before 3500 and using the torque in the next higher gear.

by contrast, getting the best from the MPi involves probably changing up at about 4500 or 5000 revs - the engine will be "on song" at those sort of levels, and you'll hit about 3000 in the next gear which should get you to a decent spot on the torque curve (note, I've not actually driven one, but I have had experience of a similar engine in a minibus)

However, if they geared it the same as the TDi/V8 then I'd expect 5th gear to be very much an overdrive for motorway cruising. I'd reckon on being in

2nd, 3rd and 4th most of the time.

However, you could always fit transfer gears for a TD 110/90 which IIRC are about 1.4-odd instead of the 1.2-odd for the TDi and V8.

The V8 has much more torque, especially a 3.9, so you don't get the same "gutless" feeling that you get with a smaller petrol engine. However, you get the V8 revving up in the 4-5000 area and it flies... as does the money from your wallet, of course, in petrol bills :-)

Austin Hi,

you are absolutely right (as usual)

The first generation of Disco Mpi vehicles (1992 up to 1994) was fitted with the 1.410 : 1 transfer box while the V8 and Tdi version were fitted with the

1.221 : 1 LT230.

But they standarised the production line with the S1A version (1995 up to

1998) when they fitted the 1.214 : 1 transfer box on all versions.

The Mpi had a differently geared gearbox also but the S1A version had just a shorter 1st and 5th gear while the very first version had different ratios on all gears.

Take care Pantelis

On or around Sat, 27 Nov 2004 14:13:08 +0200, "Pantelis Giamarellos" enlightened us thusly:

careful, me helmet won't fit, soon.

which is bloody silly - way overgeared for the MPi. I used to run a minibus with the 2-litre O series, which is the parent of the MPi but only 8 valves, and it needs plenty of revs to make decent progress.

anyway, buy an MPi cheap, swap out the 1.2 ratio transfer box (if so fitted) for a 1.4 one, and convert it to LPG... :-)

Austin Shackles vaguely muttered something like ...

Sounds plausible enough. We didn't really have it long enough to 'thrash' it much .. I had come from a Tdi and a diesel Renault, so was used to short-shifting. Completely different beasts then, methinks.