On or around Thu, 24 Aug 2006 09:05:34 +0100, beamendsltd
<
[email protected]> enlightened us thusly:
>In message <BJ%[email protected]>
> "Matrix" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>
>> As Nthell seem to be dropping posts has anyone seen this
>>
>> http://rovering.squarespace.com/journal/2006/8/22/2007-land-rover-defender-revealed.html
>>
>>
>
>Pass the sick-bucket! The day I see a press release that says "Well,
>we had to compromise a bit, but we've done the best we can" I'll
>take them seriously. People don't really believe them, do they?
>That applies to any product.
fair point, but then again, the ford duratorq lump undoubtedly is smoother
and more refined than the LR TDi. They do also seems to have some idea of
what the requirements are - the torque figures look more convincing than I'd
thought they would, for example.
also the 6-speed box will be a nice addition, the majority of the defenders
before the TDi were low on power and low on gearing, so a bit more oomph and
a wider spread of gears is good. The disco 300 TDi is higher geared overall
which makes for reasonable motorway refinement at the cost of not having a
decent low first gear for pulling away with a big trailer on - it's actually
sometimes necessary to use low box to avoid clutch slip.
can't find R380 ratios just off hand, but looking at the LT77 ratios for the
range rover (1.192 T-box) we have an overall range in high transfer of 14 up
to 3.25; the comparable figures for the new defender ar 23.34 up to 3.18.
there's rather a big jump from 1st to 2nd on the new one, which implies that
when running light you'd ignore 1st and move off in 2nd (which you tend to
do anyway in the current models, hell, I do that in the series III) - 2nd
comes in a bit above the Rangie's 1st. So you've got a 5 speed box a tad
higher than the LT77 rangie, with the addition of a crawler 1st when needed
for moving off under load etc. Low-2 comes out a bit higher than the
rangie's low-1, while the new low-1 is very low indeed, about the same as
the old series with the extra-low t-box ratio.
They've also given it a sensible reverse, a bit higher than 1st but a lot
lower then the rangie's 14.4, at 21.16. That sounds a lot more usable for
everyday reversing, and of course you get an ultra-crawler reverse in low
transfer, for precision work.
I'd love that set of ratios in a TDi disco, to be honest. slightly higher
top for better cruising on the flat, slightly closer spaced in the
intermediate gears, and with the addition of a proper 1st gear for when you
need it. Having towed 3 tons plus behind a TDi disco, 1st gear is way too
high if you're moving off on a slope, you end up either using far too much
clutch slip or bogging the engine down below 1500 revs where the turbo stops
doing much. That or moving off in low transfer and than changing up on the
fly, which is not exactly ideal either.
One thing they haven't done which I would like to see is improved shifting
on the transfer box so that you can (more readily) go from low-high and
especially high-low on the move. Although the changes in gearing mean that
would be less likely to happen.
As to the engine, well, I'll reserve judgment on that until I get a chance
to drive one - figures on paper don't tell all the story about engines, as
witness the TD5 which has better figures on paper than the TDi...
Mind you, I'm in full agreement on the matter of the dash. load of crap.
--
Austin Shackles.
www.ddol-las.net my opinions are just that
Too Busy: Your mind is like a motorway. Sometimes it can be jammed by
too much traffic. Avoid the jams by never using your mind on a
Bank Holiday weekend.
from the Little Book of Complete B***ocks by Alistair Beaton.
