Disco 3 - V6 vs TDV6

[def90]

G'day guys -

I have been looking at upgrading the wife's car to a Disco 3 and noted the drive away price on the V6 is quite apealing with leather, 7 seats, etc for 63K. When I look at the TDV6 pricing on the landrover website I notice 66K for the S. I presume this means with cloth seats etc + onroads so will probably push 70K. Then the TDV6SE comes in at 74K + onroads so is probably closer to 80K. This becomes out of my price range.

So comparitively the V6 is a good price considering what you get.....but is the V6 set up worth it and a good set up with the trans and fuel economy etc?

Anyway, just looking for anyone who went through the same process or has an opinion. TDV6 is likely too expensive for me....

Thanks!

[drivesafe]

Hi def90, do a search as there is a fair bit on the differences in D3 engine types but my wife has an SE V6 and at the time of buying, there was an $8k difference between the TDV6 and the V6 and at that price difference, we still worked out that we would take at least 5 years before the additional fuel use and cost would use up the savings of the V6 over the TDV6.

We now have over 35,000kms and between the fact that we are getting much better fuel consumption than was expected ( average consumption is a little over 14L/100kms ) and that the price difference is even greater now, we reckon it will take close to ten years before we burn up the saving.

Cheers.

[Greylandy]

Drivesafe, how does the V6 manage heavy towing?

My only experience with a D3 is a TDV6. It tows a 3.5T trailer like a freight train and is lovely to drive. I don't think there will be much between the models but the air suspension and terrain response is a must IMHO. If that means the budget only allows the V6 .. so be it.

My only concern with the V6 will be the resell value. Considering the bad press and plain ignorance going around the D3 in general will not hold it's value .. and the V6 will be at the bottom of that.

[MarknDeb]

i have been told the V6 petrol has the same fuel economy as the V8

[jonesy63]

Def90 - it is a good time to buy - in the next few days. My local dealer has a sale on D3 S TDV6 - optioned up with auto, air suspension/terrain response, active locking rear diff - drive away for $72,990.

I had a v6 petrol loaner for 2 weeks and it is a thirsty beast.

Love my TDV6.

Cheers,
Rob

[Pedro_The_Swift]

Hey Jonesy!!
did they ever get the "Woronora" out?

[Ace]

Hold out longer and save for the TDV6. The V6 so i am led to believe is a variant of the ford explorer engine. If you have a look on carsales and carpoint for used D3's 90% of them are the petrol 6, this says alot to me, bugger all TDV6's. Is hunting around and trying to find a good TDV6 second hand an option?

[jonesy63]

Hi Pedro - do you mean the huge concrete boat the guy had down there? Yes - a couple of months ago... huge cranes and many $$$ later.
Cheers,
Rob

[jik22]

The TDV6 was my preference initially but the deal on the V6 on top of how much cheaper it's list price was than the diesel settled it for us. In the 3-4 years we'll have the car, we'll never get close to using enough fuel to justify the difference.

In my case, the D3 is my wife's car, so it won't be the touring vehicle, won't do any serious off-road stuff, and doesn't do a huge amount of k's or tow things often. If any of that was different, I may have gone for the TDV6 and suffered the price hike.

Overall though, it is a lovely car, and well spec'd for that price. I'm beginning to think the 10k off is going to be a permanent thing though.

I'm hoping by the time we change it, there will be a TDV8 HSE Disco available, and then I'll need to sell a kidney as I'll just have to have it....

[cafaas]

I was in the same predicament about 6 months ago. Testing the special deals on D3 V6 - vs. price on same spec TDV6 was almost $15K-20K price difference !!! - Was looking at demo's and slightly used...
Obviously you'll never make up the difference in the cost of fuel - in less than 5-10 years.

But.. My neighbour did buy 2006 build V6 - fuel economy is just below the top end average LR spec - he's now done 24K km's and average is more than 17.5 ltrs/100km - thats a mix of motorways / city and country. Approx. 450km from 80ltr tank.

Don't know how "drivesafe" only uses 14ltrs/100 km (unless he lives in the country and uses highways alone ??). That would be real pottering - with one person in the car and no tissue box to add more load.

The LR spec (for city driving - tope end) says average V6 = 21 ltrs/100km and (V8 spec says 20.9 ltrs/100km) ??

I guess it depends where you live ?