Thread: TDI Vs TD5 Vs PUMA

I have a 300tdi Defender stationwagon and a D2a Td5. Of the two the Td5 with the auto is by far the better combo. The auto is not an option in the Defender, however I think the Td5 is still the better engine. If I was to look for a Td5 Defender I’d look for one with a Salisbury rear end and i’d get rid of the Rover front diff as soon as you start to get metal in the oil. The Rover diffs with two pinions and the single pin that they turn on will give up anywhere from 100kkm onwards, ask me how I know! Defender was detected early and I got an ARB centre put the in, you also get the locker functionality out of the swap. The D2 had both diffs changed after 200kkm.

All the ****ty rust issues with door frames and broken rear door frames will still be there. Don’t know if they did anything about it in the Puma.

If you don’t mind the turning circle and you are looking for a Bush/touring vehicle as you have another to get around town i’d go the 130. I think it is easier to set up and get access to your gear on the tray. The rear seats in all defenders are not much chop. Not comfy for an adult and if you have teens they too will find the rear less than comfy for anything other than a short ride.

All the best with your search.

Having started looking for a 130 300tdi and settled on a 130 tdci 5 years later, one of the main deciding factors was the ability to (relatively) easily fit child restraint points. Tdci’s can have points fitted to the seat frames, tidy and unobtrusive. Older models need either off the shelf crab bars (legality of this in NSW is a question I never comprehensively got an answer too) or an engineered solution which tended to be bulky, involve cutting and or drilling of the body and in some cases then need independent certification.

Originally Posted by SSmith

A good, bus style, air con set a friend back 3k installed to his TDI defender, it came back (from Darwin) with half the outlets duct taped up because it was too cold!

The only thing that makes a puma quieter and cooler is insulation, the cab is still built all but the same as older ones. Ok it has slightly better ac but it is still pretty weak. So add some aftermarket insulation to an older defender and viola. Spend $500 on materials, save 10k on purchase price.

Food for thought.

I've got a 2.4 puma and I dyna matted the interior and u/s of turret which makes it bearable (not exactly comfortable) on a 40+° day with the ac on flat out.
Interested to look into that anti icing sensor though.
Dyna mat also helps w sound deadening but I think the puma is just a much quieter engine than a 300 or td5.
Mine has the stupid turbo wrecking cat on plus a fairly big muffler mounted in an equally stupid place, just under the rear passenger floor (used to burn the kids feet pre dyna mat and insulation) so I'd think they may quieten things a bit too.

Originally Posted by Colmoore

[...]
Interested to look into that anti icing sensor though.
[...]

Here is the service bulletin. Apparently some models had the wrong sensor. Some had the right sensor but incorrectly fitted to the evaporator (causing false reading and evap to ice up and cooling efficiency to reduce)

ltb00406v2 - HVAC sensor.pdf

Originally Posted by Colmoore

I've got a 2.4 puma and I dyna matted the interior and u/s of turret which makes it bearable (not exactly comfortable) on a 40+° day with the ac on flat out.
Interested to look into that anti icing sensor though.
Dyna mat also helps w sound deadening but I think the puma is just a much quieter engine than a 300 or td5.
Mine has the stupid turbo wrecking cat on plus a fairly big muffler mounted in an equally stupid place, just under the rear passenger floor (used to burn the kids feet pre dyna mat and insulation) so I'd think they may quieten things a bit too.

Remove them,best mod ever. Pat

Originally Posted by tact

Here is the service bulletin. Apparently some models had the wrong sensor. Some had the right sensor but incorrectly fitted to the evaporator (causing false reading and evap to ice up and cooling efficiency to reduce)

ltb00406v2 - HVAC sensor.pdf

Is there a way to check this?. Pat

As far as deciding which engine to choose, it may be worth considering that thinking owners of any of the listed engines (including "Puma" variants) have been installing turbo Isuzu 4BD1s. Being aware of the benefits I think that is the solution I would choose being that is a simple improvement and is cheap and reliable.

So, consider finding a 110 with a doubtful engine and use the $s saved to do a conversion and then install a good suspension.

hi all,

I've actually got all three Defenders - a '96 130 tdi in Australia; a 2000 TD5 in South Africa; and a 2009 2.4 Puma in France.
I want to stress I didn't buy 3 Defenders because I think they're so grand, that's just the way it turned out, often simply because they were much cheaper than other makes and suited the purpose at the time. I do like driving them off-road though, compared to other brands. On-road we won't discuss ))

My personal experience (with Defenders it's ALWAYS personal because they're ALL so very different) is that the 130 Tdi is the best off-road by far and the most enjoyable. And I think the 130 has a charisma that is hard to beat.
The Puma next, although the electronics is really annoying because they self-drive the car up to a point and that can take the fun out of it. It feels like absolutely anyone could climb into a Puma and do a decent job off-road.
The TD5 I'm not enamoured with because it's got less torque, or rather the Turbo lag is reminiscent of a Nissan Patrol 3.0L I had.
Some Landy mechanics swear the TD5 is the best motor; others don't like it much. I'm not really qualified to say. They certainly are the best sounding motor.

On-Road it's the absolute reverse. I don't care what anyone says, the Puma is miles and miles apart from previous Defenders in long distance bitumen touring.
I still wear ear plugs though - on all three !!

In the bush if you have a problem it's the Tdi that will be easy to fix - always worth considering.