Thinking of buying a D3 - pro's and con's

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Originally Posted by TAHAIC

Hi,

when you say absolutely no comparison what are the main improvements in your opinion?

is there a lower and higher output 3.0L models?

TAHAIC

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Main improvements are torque and smoothness, for me the TDV6 has over double the power of a TDI (66 v140kw) and the 440nm mated with the 6 speed auto just makes it effortless.
There is a stretch of highway west of Melbourne where my TDI with my camper on would struggle to hold 80kph and usually drop down to 60kph in a 110kph zone, the D3 had no trouble doing 110 or higher.
The 3.0ltr in either single or twin turbo would make light work of that especially with the 8 speed auto.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TAHAIC

Hi,

when you say absolutely no comparison what are the main improvements in your opinion?

is there a lower and higher output 3.0L models?

TAHAIC

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There is literally no comparison for any part of the car. You need to drive one to understand the massive difference in power, smoothness, comfort, quietness, room, design and anything else you can think of.

I have no experience with the 3.0 D4 so cant make that comparison, I have had my 2.7 D3 for almost 9 years now and I have been extremely happy with it. It is no race car but once you learn to drive it (there is quite a bit of turbo lag from stopped but you can learn some tricks to mitigate it) it is plenty zippy enough around town and has adequate overtaking ability at 100k although it drops off quickly with a heavy trailer up hills.

but overall it is great, very comfortable, amazingly capable off-road and has been very reliable. Having said that mine is the last of the D3s and it is starting to show its age, it isn’t high mileage but it has had hard usage off-road and its now starting to show it in both running gear and appearance.

if you are getting one look for low mileage, good maintenance and the youngest your budget will allow.

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Originally Posted by hello_disco3

Hi,


Real life fuel figures are pretty good. On a recent holiday trip 70/30 highway/city we got 716kms before filling up with a touch over 77L into the tank(82L) so about 10.8L/100. Not bad for a 2.7T car. We were towing a small box trailer with our camping stuff in it so maybe 300kg's.

Towed a 1.3T camper behind us and while it has no problem towing it it does so because it uses more juice. About 15-17L/100 is what the computer showed. I believe the D4's 3.0's are a bit more efficient in those regards.

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My wife took the kids down to their grandparents, about a 250k trip on the highway, did some running around and returned home a few days later. I filled it up this morning. She had done 745km using 73.61L of diesel at an average of 9.88L/100.

[bigsmile]