I have no idea why anyone would wish to tow with a auto gearchange. Once you tow with an manual, you will understand the easy of take-off from junctions as there is more than enough power, the ease of slow running traffic by allowing it to pull you gently in a low gear ticking over or inching the van through tight spaces without the acrid odour of wasted clutch by use of the low range lever, you will also have the knowledge that should you need to take a run and thrash through a sticky spot or steep incline it will stay in the gear you put it and not try to change gear halfway through the manoeuvre.
I've had a 300tdi and now have a TD5,the 300 was very agricultural but did the job and parts are peanuts where as the TD5 is a much more refined drive, the traction control will get you further through the mud than the old diff lock on the 300's but parts are more expensive and it is a more complicated vehicle.
If you only want it for towing duties, don't rule out the 4.0 V8 petrol.
Much cheaper to buy initially than a 300Tdi/Td5 diesel. Petrol around 8p per litre cheaper than diesel at the pumps. Depending on your mileage you may be surprised at what little difference there will be in overall running costs.
There were issues with some V8's whereby they lost coolant, typically through cracked cylinders, but I've seen some examples for sale with in excess of 140k miles. Some V8 Discos have had their blocks converted using 'top-hat' liners that apparently have resolved the problem.
I drove one about a year ago, '52 plate with 56k on the clock. Smooth as silk and punchy too (in comparison to a 23 yr old Defender anyway!). Dealer wouldn't budge on price (on the front for £5995 as I recall) pretty good all round condition but decided not to buy it at the time.
My previous td5 manual was remapped de egr de cat over size intercooler. pulled our avondale no prob. with the van on the back calculated brim to brim it returned 33.4 mpg.V8 discovery average 14 mpg
Calculated brim to brim thats the figure it came out with. standard spec manual Consumption/Emissions mpg (combined): 30.1 mpg (urban): 24.6 mpg (extra urban): 34.4 CO2 emissions: 262 mine was tweaked
I had a TD5 manual, remapped, Air Suspension, never a problem with stability, the air suspension was a boon, didn't matter how the rear was loaded it always towed level. I had it for six years, had a gear box under warranty. Apart from a DMF nothing else went wrong. MPG was 30 around town and 27 towing, after the remap it was more or less put in top and leave it there, towed down to Geneva and apart from rest breaks never took it out of top until Bourg en Bresse, probably the most comfortable driving position iv'e had.
We have two V8 Discovery 2's in the family, mine is a 1999 manual, my youngest son has just bought a 1999 auto.
They are complex but very capable cars, and have nearly all covered high mileages by the time they reach the secondhand market.
The V8 is thirsty if you use it to its fullest on power and rev's, but can be surpisingly economical if you're not in a hurry.
Ours runs on LPG and we get the equivalent in fuel costs of 26mpg (LPG at 76.2p a litre)
We tow a fully loaded 3.5 ton trailer with our display engine, and even then we still get 12-14mpg on LPG which is about 20mpg in fuel cost terms.
The ZF 4-speed auto box is pretty bullet-proof, just needs regular oil and filter changes like the engines.
TD5's are 50bhp down on the V8, but if you're not towing at maximum weights that shouldn't be a problem.
If you get on top of the repair/maintenance issues, they will run for long periods with no problems, but if you don't they will be forver hitting your wallet.
Spares are stupidly cheap, of the two engines in the Discovery 2 I'd always go for the V8 as it is simpler to look after and doesn't have quite as many issues as the TD5 engine, which unfortunately suffered from a lack of development due to Land Rover changing owners so often.
Other than the engines, the two Discovery 2 models are almost identical.
Towing capacity 3500kg, air suspension is nice but expensive to fix when it goes wrong, conversion to coil springs is cheap and a day's work.
The low cost of spares was the defining factor for us over buying a Japanese 4X4, and the Discovery is a superb long-distance car.
The later D3/D4 are not user-fixable by any stretch of the imagination, but if you can afford the garage bills they are a nice truck.
Discovery 1's are really too old now to be considered, but a later Japanese D1 import can be a good buy as they didn't use salt on their roads so the rust problems are not as acute.
Quote: Originally posted by ad210358 on 24/4/2012
I had a TD5 manual, remapped, Air Suspension, never a problem with stability, the air suspension was a boon, didn't matter how the rear was loaded it always towed level. I had it for six years, had a gear box under warranty. Apart from a DMF nothing else went wrong. MPG was 30 around town and 27 towing, after the remap it was more or less put in top and leave it there, towed down to Geneva and apart from rest breaks never took it out of top until Bourg en Bresse, probably the most comfortable driving position iv'e had.
Where did you get your remap done? Did it affect your insurance?
I had a Range Rover 3.5 auto, mainly for off road fun and green laning, amazing car. Very capable off road-only mods were chunky tyres and diff and steering guards.
On road so comfortable and smooth, thirsty yes! Solo brilliant-and they sound awesome!
Parts cheap enough,easy to take apart, I did a bit of welding on it but it was really a hobby toy! Only sold it as I was'nt using it enough to justify costs of tax insurance etc.
Towing I found the four speed auto wanted to go into top quickly then it bogged down on gradients, then changing down it was revving its head off!
We had a Frontera diesel manual at the time which actually towed better.( probably had as much torque as the V8!)
I would love a current generation RR as they have much better autoboxes, TDV8 would be the choice or maybe a Disco 4!
I would have a 110 but SWMBO says no, but Freelander 2 is like a baby RR!
We now have the Sorento which seems to be the replacement for earlier Discos-LR have certainly gone upmarket.
------------- DS-There's more to life than football!!!
Quote: Originally posted by brianconwy on 27/4/2012
Quote: Originally posted by ad210358 on 24/4/2012I had a TD5 manual, remapped, Air Suspension, never a problem with stability, the air suspension was a boon, didn't matter how the rear was loaded it always towed level. I had it for six years, had a gear box under warranty. Apart from a DMF nothing else went wrong. MPG was 30 around town and 27 towing, after the remap it was more or less put in top and leave it there, towed down to Geneva and apart from rest breaks never took it out of top until Bourg en Bresse, probably the most comfortable driving position iv'e had.
Where did you get your remap done? Did it affect your insurance?
Had a Superchips remap and I informed the insurance company (Esure) and it made no difference to the policy. They needed to know but no price increase as they asked why I was having it done, fuel consumption and more torque for towing and they were fine with it.
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Topic: Land Rover Discovery / Senator Indiana
