Lionhound

Well-Known Member

• Jun 26, 2016

• #1

Been down south this weekend (well, south for me but what a fair number here would refer to as up north)☺
Anyway was down seeing a friend as my mission continues to return to a real land rover instead of a ****ty, turbo blown, soft, gutless canny tow anything worthwhile, freelander.
Well I was in luck. Have seen and can afford 2 that I liked and therein lies the quandary. Both are ex mod, one a 90 and one a 110 (which doesn't matter to me) however, one is a N/A Diesel and the other a 300tdi. My old series three was the na version and easy to work on, no turbo to blow etc but times change. What would the advice here. Stick with the old faithful and 60 mph or go for the 300 and jump into modernity with all its pitfalls.
Look forward to your help and opinions.
Thanks

 

Turboman

Mab An Gov

• Jun 26, 2016

• #2

Personally I would go with the 2.5, simple, rugged, and if it does go wrong bits are much cheaper.
But I am not bothered about road performance, if I needed to commute it might be different.

Surprised you aren't bothered if it is a 90 or a 110. 110 are a great vehicle for load carrying or towing, but they aren't the handiest to park, or tight manoeuvres between trees, and they have the turning circle of a bus.
If I didn't need a 110, I would go 90 every time.

 

Marmaduke

Well-Known Member

• Jun 26, 2016

• #3

Personally I find a 300tdi simple to work on, I've just rebuilt my second one in a couple of months after buying someone else's project and they fire up first time with no need for glow plugs and the parts are relatively cheap, the p gasket is its only achillies heal

 

Lionhound

Well-Known Member

• Jun 26, 2016

• #4

Embarassed by my ignorance I have to ask, what's a p gasket?

 

Marmaduke

Well-Known Member

• Jun 26, 2016

• #5

Lionhound said:

Embarassed by my ignorance I have to ask, what's a p gasket?

Click to expand...

It's a thin metal gasket between the block and the alloy water pump / alternator housing that you will only notice leaking if you look towards the front of the exhaust manifold.
In this case the bloke had seen it was using water but never noticed where the leak was until it had boiled dry

 

T

TheQ

Well-Known Member

• Jun 26, 2016

• #6

Both are excellent tow vehicles, but a longer wheelbase vehicle is always more stable towing. Saying that a 2.5 N/A only had 67hp on a good day, a 300 produced something like 111hp and uses less fuel to do so.
If the 90 has the 300 TDI get that, but the 110 with a TDI would the best.
As for the maintenance differences, routine maintenance really means one more rubber band to change (the cam belt), do your oil and filter changes on time and there should be no problem.

 

Discokids

Well-Known Member

• Jun 27, 2016

• #7

Work on something French. Go and change the oil and air filters on a renault scenic dci. Then question yourself about how easy a 300 is to work on

 

mikescuba

Well-Known Member

• Jun 27, 2016

• #8

I would go with the 300tdi. I have a 200 tdi which is more capable of keeping up with modern day vehicles. I would find the N/A Diesel too slow.