What's best for towing Petrol / Diesel

This site contains affiliate links for which LandyZone may be compensated if you make a purchase.
cornish rattler

cornish rattler

Well-Known Member
Posts
6,432
Location
Manc chester
Hi guys
Just asking out of interest as I tend to see more petrol's towing more than diesels but just wondered which is best with the current models petrol or diesel :)
 
Diesel; engines tend to produce far more torque for a given engine size than petrol. Torque is what counts for towing, not BHP. Gearing makes a big difference too, the reason most land-rover products are plated to tow 3500kg is that with low range engaged, they can make the requirement of pulling from a standing start on a specified incline. They are actually capable of much much more, but 3500kg is a legal maximum. To give you an idea, 4.0l petrol Jeep cherokee, and all the V8 range rovers I have owned come with the same towing capacity as my 2.5 oil burning disco.

I barely see any petrol range rovers, let alone ones actually towing, they all tend to be the oil burners. Not surprising, a quick look at Parkers, an Oilburner, 700Nm torque, compared to 625 for the petrol equivalent, and estimated fuel costs of a grand a year less. Why does anyone even consider a petrol one? Doubly so for towing.
 
4.6 seems able to pull anything.

Hill starts on steep inclines can really punish the clutch on the manual diesel P38. You could of course engage low but then you are stuck in it until you can stop to change up into HIGH again. Auto diesel obviously doesn't have that issue but it isn't exactly nippy.
 
Grrrrrr said:
4.6 seems able to pull anything.

Hill starts on steep inclines can really punish the clutch on the manual diesel P38. You could of course engage low but then you are stuck in it until you can stop to change up into HIGH again. Auto diesel obviously doesn't have that issue but it isn't exactly nippy.
Click to expand...
As long as you get up enough speed in low you can select neutral and then high then first without stopping.;)
 
My V8 happily pulls my wifes twin axle horse box and 2 horses and still returns 14 mpg. Some people might sniff at that but it gets to 60 quickly and happly sits there all day and no clattering of a diesel engine.
 
for the newer ones, which the OP asked about, the smallest diesel is still only around 7sec to 60 from a standstill. Not what I would call sluggish by any means. Sure its not in Ferrari territory, but will wipe the floor with most of the stuff out there on the roads. The new V diesels are remarkably refined, we have moved on past the VM in early P38s, even way past the BMW lump, these are engines fitted into luxury cars, with refinement to match. I used to use a disco TDV6 for work, smooth, quiet, and plenty of grunt at the bottom end for quick pulling away or hauling trailers that were too heavy for it on the road legally. It could be what the OP sees towing are actually diesels, but they are so good now they sound like petrols :)

Burning oil rather than petrol is still a nobrainer for me. I would only go petrol if it was not petrol, but LPG, and I planned no heavy towing.
 
Its a non-synchro gearbox. No technical reason you can't do it at any speed, providing you get all the gears, engine speed and road speed matched up.
 
For changes from high to low or low to high automatic box the vehicle speed must be less than 5 MPH preferably stopped. Manual gearbox high to low changes can be made at or below 5 MPH. Low to high changes can be made at upto 15 MPH.
 
cornish rattler said:
Hi guys
Just asking out of interest as I tend to see more petrol's towing more than diesels but just wondered which is best with the current models petrol or diesel :)
Click to expand...
Both are capable. But most lorries and tractors are diesel. This is because the low revving characteristics of a diesel suit towing well. And diesels tend to be more economical.

In the Land Rover world however, most of the diesel offerings are much lower powered than the petrols ones.

e.g. as good as a Tdi is, a 4.0 or 4.6 V8 is a much better towing tool and will keep speed better and suffer less on hills.
 
In the old days if you could double declutch then you could change from high to low and vice versa at any reasonable speed that both ratios and the engine could handle but that was with a manual box before this electronic stuff came in and told you what you can and cannot do. Similarily for going in and out of 4wd drive or at least locking the centre diff. Aaahhh those were the days
 
wattfield said:
Well my Dacia 1.5 diesel tows better than my old Kia 1.4 petrol.

I'll get my coat.
Click to expand...
Have you put weight on?
fat_scottish_wanker.jpg
 
300bhp/ton said:
That simply isn't true. Not 100%. What you are doing is comparing a TURBO diesel, to a n/a petrol.
Click to expand...
A) I said "tend to", the reason for tend to is that almost all oil-burners these days are forced induction
B) the OP is about current model range rovers, all of which I used in my comparisons, both petrol and diesel are forced induction. 3.0TDV6, 4.4TDV8, and 5.0 Supercharged petrol. The torques figures for the 4.4 are far in excess of those for the 5.0. Smaller diesel, more torque. To lose the torque battle you have to drop right down to the 3.0TDV6, which has 600Nm, against the 625Nm from the 5.0, or 700 in the 4.4, so 60% of the capacity of the big petrol, and about 96% of the torque.
 
It isn't just peak torque, it is the torque curve. As someone else said, diesel engines get lots of torque at low revs and keep it across most of the range before it suddenly vanishes. Petrol tends to be a lot more variable and you have to thrash it a little to hit the right torque in the following gear. That said, p38 wise the 4.6 pulls like a train.

thought we were considering series onwards?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

R
Advice on buying
Replies
9
Views
736
rockorover
R
M
Sport ACE bypass for RR Sport 4.2 Petrol SC
Replies
10
Views
1K
mikesavva
M
TITCH SANDERS
P38 Manual seats to Electric (again)
Replies
19
Views
1K
TITCH SANDERS
TITCH SANDERS
T
2,5 NA to 2,25 Petrol
Replies
15
Views
1K
ThomasLRNL
T
tarphenry
P38A thermostatic control for fans
Replies
15
Views
1K
Datatek
Datatek
Back
Top