Disco TD5 Economy

On or around Fri, 15 Sep 2006 00:05:36 +0100, "Lee_D" enlightened us thusly:

no problem. D3 V8... or a 4.0 D2...

Lat year when I did a 2,000 mile touring trip around Scotland, I kept accurate records of fuel used and came out with an average of 27 mpg. My car is an 04 TD5 auto. Around town my average drops to about 24 mpg. I would have thought 20-21 mpg a little heavy, are you remembering to take the handbrake off? :) Martin

My wife has a 99 Td5 auto and it returns on average round town 21mpg,while towing my caravan it drops to 20mpg at a steady 70mph.Now my v8 4.0 D11 returns 13mpg towing at a steady 70mph but being on gas makes it the better option except its range is 150 miles which becomes a pain on long hauls. Your D11 seems to be about right unlucky for you and my wife!

|| Richard Brookman uttered || summat worrerz funny about: ||| Disco 2 ES Td5 auto, 2001, 80k miles: ||| ||| 22 mpg solo, 19.7 towing, 21.4 overall, over 10k miles. Similar ||| driving style. Matches you pretty well. ||| ||| I wouldn't worry - sounds about right to me. People do report quite ||| big variations on the Td5, though. ||| ||| For comparison, my D2 manual averaged 28. || || I was going to suggest checking tyre pressures and perhaps upping || them but in Richards case it's just an issue of Cheese cake || || :-) || || Lee D

Cheese? Cake? Cheese - and cake? Cheesecake? No thank you.

|| On Thu, 14 Sep 2006 19:19:16 +0100, Richard Brookman wrote: || ||| Disco 2 ES Td5 auto, 2001, 80k miles: ||| ||| 22 mpg solo, 19.7 towing, 21.4 overall, over 10k miles. Similar ||| driving style. Matches you pretty well. ||| ||| I wouldn't worry - sounds about right to me. People do report quite ||| big variations on the Td5, though. ||| ||| For comparison, my D2 manual averaged 28. || || I am surprised that the autobox consumes so much power. With figures || like that I'm very glad I didn't buy the first Disco II I was || offered as that was an auto. || || -- || Cheers || snipped-for-privacy@howhill.com Dave. || pam is missing e-mail

I'm a bit displeased about that too. It seems that modern autoboxes in cars have very little effect on fuel consumption, whereas autos in Land Rovers take about 6 mpg out of the mix. Shame that we have to have an auto, or it'd be manual every time.

|| Good grief ! Talk about technology going backwards. The TD5 is load || of cobblers if you ask me, what a huge price to pay for a little || extra on road cruising speed and a little less noise. The old TDi's || are loads better at everything else and more repairable and cost || effective.

Having towed the same caravan with the same load over similar routes through France in successive years with a 300Tdi and Td5 (both Discos) I couldn't disagree more. The Td5 is light years ahead of the Tdi.

(Both autos, so we may be talking apples and oranges.)

Well I'm not arguing that the TD5 is more powerful, just that it's less rugged, particularly if you want your Land Rover to have the sort of rugged usability that one might require far from civilisation. Granted that's not what most Land Rovers these days are required to do but it's the very foundation of Land Rover integrity that should you want it to be a rugged trans Africa car it's still good for it. In Ghana for example, where despite the prevalence of Japanese 4x4's in the commercial market, the government there has calculated that Land Rovers are ultimately more durable and cost effective, but only in TDi mode. Land Rover have had to keep supplies of 300TDi's for these export customers. I wonder if the new V6 will be more acceptable?

|| In message , Richard Brookman || writes ||| snipped-for-privacy@movingvision.co.uk wrote: ||| ||||| Good grief ! Talk about technology going backwards. The TD5 is ||||| load of cobblers if you ask me, what a huge price to pay for a ||||| little extra on road cruising speed and a little less noise. The ||||| old TDi's are loads better at everything else and more repairable ||||| and cost effective. ||| ||| Having towed the same caravan with the same load over similar ||| routes through France in successive years with a 300Tdi and Td5 ||| (both Discos) I couldn't disagree more. The Td5 is light years ||| ahead of the Tdi. ||| ||| (Both autos, so we may be talking apples and oranges.) ||| || || || Well I'm not arguing that the TD5 is more powerful, just that it's || less rugged,

Plenty about now with star-trek mileages on, and no long-term issues have emerged (apart from the oil pump thing that was fixed early on), so I would say they are as rugged as most. Certainly there are no inherent weaknesses like the 300Tdi cambelt issue. Most people I have talked to have reported them trouble-free, as the two I have owned have been.

|| particularly if you want your Land Rover to have the || sort of rugged usability that one might require far from || civilisation.

Ah, now you're talking about bush-fixability, and I would agree. Thing is, if an engine costs more to put right (as in dealer involvement) but goes wrong less, then it works out about even, unless you are miles from civilisation. For me, personally, that isn't an issue, as I don't intend going to darkest Africa in my Disco any time soon. If I were, I would be looking for a 200Tdi or a V8.

|| Granted that's not what most Land Rovers these days || are required to do but it's the very foundation of Land Rover || integrity that should you want it to be a rugged trans Africa car || it's still good for it.

Agreed. It's why we love 'em. And why I laughed my testicles off when I read Vince Cobley praising the D3 in LRO as the best Land Rover ever, when in the same article he admitted that it had failed big time in Morocco and had to be taken back to Solihull on a low-loader. That's no problem, apparently.

|| I wonder if the new V6 will be more acceptable? -- || john

Ah, now there's the question. My guess is that it will make the Td5 look like a steam engine. In 20 years, people will be banging on about them good old reliable Td5s, don't make 'em like that any more, just pop it on the laptop and it's good as new. I mean, who can afford one of them Cray supercomputers that the new ones need? This'll be the end of Land Rover, mark my words ...

"Richard Brookman"

Oddly my Range Rover TD6 consistently averages 27mpg with longer runs, even fast runs, averaging 30mpg or better. I have tested the computed mpg and it is accurate. The car is mildly chipped and improved by 3mpg when this was done but with no really impressive lift in power output. I can't compare with a manual 'box because the latest RR has never been available with manual but I would be surprised if a manual version would improve on those figures much. This compares with my Toyota Land Cruiser 4.2 which achieves about 23 with a best of not much more.

Huw