See Brian... told you he knows more about Land Rovers than I do :p
Thanks JC..
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I have a 2001 TD5 183000Ks,no head gasket issues,(then again no overheating issues either)
Great car. Done a mixture of highway and off-road driving,great economy.
New radiator at approx. 105000Ks,Fuel regulator at 150,000,check of oil pump bolt(an issue),replacement of non-greasable original front Cardin joint with a greasable unit,(Another issue).
Keep an eye on coolant hoses and all should be well.
Trev.
G'day Brian,
still got a '98 300TDi here and I've had it all over SA in some crazy places out in the boony Pit Lands, it is still a beast albeit neglected coz I also now have a shiny '99 TD5 as well and this one in comparison gets better economy, drives much nicer, has a lot of woofta stuff like ABS & dual airbags and is all round a sweeter bus. Crappy turning circle in comparison though.
Haven't had the TD5 grubby (for real) yet but in summary, I prefer the TD5 in a lot of ways although the 300TDi still drives as though it 'wants' to go anywhere. Just still feels like a 'more fun' vehicle.... and the motor is simply put, 'excellent' also. The 300TDi does have loads of stoopid issues though like crappy window rubbers, hoses that love to leak etc etc.... just your average Landy stuff really.
I recently traded a TD4 Freelander to get the TD5 (210k kms with excellent service books!!) and cannot recommend giving the Freebies a miss enough. They should all be painted yellow (my opinion only). Best trade I ever did!
The TD5 is my daily bus right now and even in the peak hour madness I'm currently enduring, she's a very sweet truck... Have driven all the later TD5 models and the later ones with swisho headlights (to me anyway) didn't feel as tight on the road BUT they do look better and.... have DIFF LOCKS! :arms:
BTW, both mine are manuals as the auto versions I've driven needed to be pushed a bit harder (I felt)... still a good option but to me they just needed a bigger hurry up to extract the same driving pleasure from.
Anyway mate, happy shopping. Disco's are an excellent choice... unless you can afford a Defender. :o
Mully, even with the mechanical issues I need to be aware of and endure I think the TD5 is where I will end up. They do have a loyal following.
So far I've driven one. Chased up 2 that are currently being advertised but were sold and 1 that I'm waiting for the bloke to get back to me. Won't be long before I've got one and am in here looking for info on how to fix it.:D
Hi Brian. We've had our D2 for just over 2 months now and don't regret the decission one bit. It replaced our Tarago van as the daily driver. I spent 3 months researching the D2/Td5 and came to the conclusion (from most of the advice I recieved & read from AULRO) that the newest facelift D2a model we could afford (pocket headlights), with the lowest km's was were we should be going. That meant a late '02 onwards model (facelifts were late '02 to mid/late '04 ... pre D3)
We wanted a manual, but all that we looked at had too many km's for my liking (have a personal dislike of auto's anyhow, but my auto experiences are with OLD style auto's of 20yrs ago). We ended up with an auto ! :) Don't regret it at all. We live at Stockton Beach so the auto for sand driving is heaven compared to my old series landy's. My wife loves the D2a ... she drives it more often than I.
We ended up with a D2a Td5 Auto Classic Country 7 seater - Has SLS, rear air con', factory fitted DVD player, brush guards for the head & tail lights, a dual battery system fitted by previous owner (we are 2nd owners), factory rubber floor mats, and a full set of factory waterproof seat covers. The Classics have the bigger 16'' x 8" wide rims (not 7") and came fitted with 255/70 Cooper ST's. Has the HD LR tow bar setup fitted, as well as tinted windows. It had done 120,000km with a reasonable service history, and was a pretty genuine what you see is what you get vehicle (purchased through a wholesaler) ... we paid $22,500. We were only going to spend $12k-$15k but when I factored in what I "might" have to spend dealing with "issues", NOT having an in cab operated centre diff lock, and the possible down time without a vehicle, we borrowed and extra $13k and stepped in at the top/upper end. Don't regret that decision one little bit !
Apparently, as has been mentioned, the later facelift models had a lot of the earlier D2 issues already sorted (and there was a few) ... and the facelift models have I believe a 30% bigger intercooler factory fitted. It certainly drives well, even in standard unmodified form, and has plenty enough get up & go ... but it does have an engine ECU rechipping somewhere in its future ! :) Currently returning us anywhere between 22 to 29mpg. That's about what the old Tarago (2.2L efi manual) was returning.
I factored in an extra $500 for a Nanocom so I can do my own servicing & fault diagnostics, and am in the process of doing all the oils & filters and checking everything else over ... so far, there's been no issues at all, and we've covered nearly 4000km in the last 2 months ... we can't stop driving the bloody thing !! :) :)
Go for it. You won't be dissapointed.
Kev..
I didn't realise I started this thread as far back as August. Anyway, I thought I'd better report back in and tell you what I ended up with.
I thought about the disco then I toyed with going to a station wagon and then I just pushed the idea aside. In the end I said stuff it and went out and got a '92 200tdi. I disregarded all the advice that I sought and was generously given and pretty much bought the first one I saw.
So far the tale has a happy ending. It's done 284,000 and has been owned by a lady in the country who regularly serviced it and then it moved onto an 80 year old gent who used it to tow his caravan. Its in pretty good nick and about the only thing that needs doing is the timing belt which was last done at 201,000.
I've had her just over a week now and I love her. It is a great car to drive and I should have gone down this track 20 years ago. I've got the Mercedes SLK sitting in the garage and I don't miss it at all.