Thread: I have a V8...but I think I want a TDi...am I crazy???

All of you people who think a 300 Tdi needs more power have obviously not spent enough time driving a Series Land Rover or an Austin A40.

Farina or Town and Country?

Originally Posted by Pedro_The_Swift

Farina or Town and Country?

1948 Austin A40 Devon, my first car.

Performance
A car tested by The Motor magazine in 1948 had a top speed of 70 mph (110 km/h) and could accelerate from 0-60 mph (97 km/h) in 37.2 seconds. A fuel consumption of 34.1 miles per imperial gallon (8.28 L/100 km; 28.4 mpg-US)

Originally Posted by vnx205

All of you people who think a 300 Tdi needs more power have obviously not spent enough time driving a Series Land Rover or an Austin A40.

An never will I hope! Why the heck would you?

Have you thought about the issue that the changeover cost will cover the petrol /diesel difference for many years, particularly as you mainly run it on gas.
I spent about $5.5K over 3 months to do 18KK on a trip to the Kimberley/Carnarvon/back to Sydney, where it would have cost 3K or so in a diesel with no power etc etc. $2.5 K would hardly cover the transfer taxes. And that was cruising on 110Kmh towing a 700Kg camper trailer, which could be difficult in a diesel if any hills were found.

Where you REALLY save with a diesel is off road slow going and around town and your gas probably covers that, although I will never get gas as I need the space in my RRC. I think you can also get gas in lots of places such as Alice/Katherine etc which would reduce the cost.
Regards Philip A

I would never consider an engine swap, I don't really want to mess around with something that much...if I wanted a diesel I'd definitely sell mine and just buy another car which was a diesel. I do like my V8 though and I rekon if I really put some time and effort into the engine to make sure it's all Mickey Mouse (like give it a full on flush and clean out all the gunk that's probably accumulated in the bottom of it, have the head/head gasket serviced to make sure it's all as it should be, etc. etc.) then if I could happily say that I had as much faith in it as if it were a diesel then I'd probably be happier with the V8.

...the other thing is the range because I probably get about 240km out of the two scuba gas tanks at best, plus I've only got a little 30ltr fuel tank. Do you think I'd have room anywhere for a bigger fuel tank as well as the scuba tanks without having to go into the boot space?

For a devils advocate opinion: Stay with the V8 but as you are on gas you will have reliability issues (I have had many gas power vehicles and inevitably they do have issues) and as you have already mentioned range issues in remote areas.

Changeover costs etc and you may be no better off. My V8 (no gas) with a long range tank is a wonderful highway cruiser with good range & overtaking power and albeit there is the extra cost of fuel, this is off set by cheap service and repair costs (Despite others individual experiences I find the V8 more reliable and cheaper to work on).

As you have already got gas then you are going down a path of variables with no easy out.

JMHO

I actually have thought about the option of having a V8 without any gas on it at all as probably being a really good reliable vehicle compared to all the gas modded ones...just with slightly higher running costs. But having only petrol you could trick it up to run at it's best on petrol and range would probably be really good if it was all in good shape.