Thread: Highway driving in a Td5

Around town (traffic light to light) my Td5 auto was just as fast and tractable as my P38.
On the highway it will cruise at whatever you want it to....even 140.
Its not too bad on the hills so long as you are active on the shift and keep it on song. But accelerate it will not, if you are on a hill at 90k it will take for ever to pull to 100, they make a lot of noise and go no where.
Overtaking at 100-110 on the flat it will do it but you need plenty of room.
Compared to a V8 its dreadful in overtaking situations.
Up to 80k they are great.
Having said all the negative things about the TD5 it is a very good highway car and cruises well.
If you are a sedate driver the smokey noisy oil burning 2.5 litre tractor engine is for you

The manual gearbox makes them better at higher speed overtaking but the improvement of a remapped ecu makes a world of difference when overtaking especially if towing even a light box trailer. The remap made my manual vehicle much safer for overtaking and allowed the use of a higher gear with less engine screaming resulting in a much more relaxing drive.

Sorry I have to mention this important fact, If you feel a $500 to $600 ECU upgrade is never on the cards due to cost only, then you should rethink buying one of these cars if you are intending paying for repairs and maintenance, and doing none of it yourself.

JC

A great car on the highway I have driven from far north queensland to nsw a number of times with and without a small van. A great vehicle comfortable and good road handling BUT if you can't afford the upgrade--which I have on mine{and I consider unnesessary} don't buy a D2 just a oil change with filters will set you back around $200 for parts and oil alone!

I regularly drive a Td5 Disco between Hornsby and Narrabri (505kms) and average between 95 and 100 KPH. Overtaking is not a problem provided it is well planned, especially on hills.

As mentioned above they are not speed machines on the highway, mine will happily cruise all day at highway speeds but you really need to be patient when it comes to over taking

Planning on a few upgrades down the track but happy to just take my time until then.

Originally Posted by RR P38

If you are a sedate driver the smokey noisy oil burning 2.5 litre tractor engine is for you

Oooohhhh, that hurts!

Comments re maintenance costs, costs of ownership being high, particularly on higher kilometre vehicles, are all very valid.

There are a few things that you could get a competent LR mechanic to look at pre-purchase in order to assess if the vehicle you are looking at has issues that will affect performance (eg. turbo hoses delaminating/cracking/perishing is one).

Erm...well....
In my stock (AFAIK) Td5, overtaking is no problem....
knock the auto back to 3rd or hit sport, you don't need that long....
Love my Td5, wouldn't trade it for anything, and I do upwards of 500km a week in it