Advice please 200/300 or td5?

I would really appreciate some advise and I realise it's going to be subjective!

Asan owner of a P38 for a year and a Freelander 1 for a few years I am used to some of the vagaries the brand offers when it comes to repairs and ongoing maintenance, I gave up on th P38 and sold it as salvage and my mate nearly disowned me after fitting a turbo to the Freelander amongst other things!

Always fancied a Range Rover classic amongst many other things, but trying to understand the longer term implications and differences to own between the 200/300 and td5 engines in say a Defender 90?

Apart from the massive difference in value of some of the td5 vehicles I have seen in all the reading I have done I can't work out how different they would be to own and drive and reliability.

There seems to be endless questions about how to fix problems on the Discos with the same engines so just interested in real world owner opinions please.

Sorry if this comes accross as a numpty question!

My 90 has a 200tdi fitted. A really simple engine that runs without the aid of computers that TD5's have

As you say, it is subjective. I would not own anything newer than a 300tdi but as I do my own maintenance, the older less complex engines suit the home mechanic.

Good luck with your quest

I am a big fan of the simplicity of the 200tdi but just be aware that second-hand parts for the 200 tdi are getting scarce and expensive.

My Old Landy said:

My 90 has a 200tdi fitted. A really simple engine that runs without the aid of computers that TD5's have

As you say, it is subjective. I would not own anything newer than a 300tdi but as I do my own maintenance, the older less complex engines suit the home mechanic.

Good luck with your quest

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I agree 100% with this post. I personally wouldn’t own anything newer than an early 300tdi (later ones started to get electronic bits put on).

The TD5 and newer are basically the same as “modern” engines, in that they have fancy ECUs and other computer bits.

Ironstrike said:

I am a big fan of the simplicity of the 200tdi but just be aware that second-hand parts for the 200 tdi are getting scarce and expensive.

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I love my 200tdi. Pretty soon it will be back on the road and being my daily driver again.

Parts are getting hard to come by, but second hand engines come up on eBay from time to time. It may be worth purchasing one to rebuild and keep as a back up for when they become extinct. Hopefully that won’t happen in my lifetime, but you never know.

Parts are getting hard to come by, but second hand engines come up on eBay from time to time. It may be worth purchasing one to rebuild and keep as a back up for when they become extinct.
Hopefully that won’t happen in my lifetime, but you never know.

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250 quid for a running 200 tdi on Facebook market place at the moment and another for 270

If I had a spare 250 quid I would buy it

TD5. Best and one of the most powerful engines fitted to a Defender. Very tunable, decent mpg, can actually happily keep up with modern traffic, even overtake if youre brave. The engines have huge potential and can run 500,000 miles plus without major works if looked after.

Yes they can have a few electrical gremlins but ive never had one i couldnt solve quickly. Buy a Nanocom and youre good to go. The super common issues (Injector harness, oil in ECU) are cheap, easy and quick to fix. The less common are just as easy but can be a little more expensive (crank sensor, MAF/MAP)

For some reason Discos have more issues always been unsure as to why.

For the most part they are pretty easy to work on. I learnt all I know from this foru. and working on the TD5 went from zero mechanical knowledge to doing 90% of jobs myself.


Ive driven TD5 Defenders for 7 years and past year my 110 has been a working daily, usually do 300 - 500 miles a week without incident (that i didnt cause myself that is! )

That said I am biased towards TD5s as I love them

Td5, all day, everyday!

Also second what @bankz5152 has said. The td5's, are, in my opinion, just as simple mechanically to work on, and even self diagnose to a certain extend. For the home mechanic they are straight forward and all the work you would do to a tdi, you'd do on a td5. They've also proved themselves to be one of the most reliable engines out there, as long as service schedules are adhered to (just like every other engine out there). The total performance jump from a tdi to a td5 is enormous, especially so if you run a mild map, they are comparable to a large rover v8 when tuned, but more economical (returning between 24-30 mpg, towing, greenlaning and daily cruising). There is no comparison for me, a td5 would be the only one out of the diesel lot that I would consider. I've lived with mine for over 4 years and 45k and apart from replacing the injector loom once, that I carried out as preventative maintenance (1/2 hour job) and the glow plug relay, it has performed utterly faultlessly in that time.

Having owned all 3 I can without doubt say TD5 all day every day. The 200tdi is a fantastic engine but not a patch on a TD5 . The 300 was just a wasted attempt at trying to refine the wonderfully agricultural 200 to make it more suitable for the up market RR so they had one engine to cover all LR models imho.

I don't think the td5 in Discos have more issues there were just considerably more td5 Discos than Defenders.

They will all have issue,, simply down to the fact the newest is 13 years old and the oldest is nearly 30, any normal car would have been a 2/300 quid banger long time before the first td5 came out.

200 and 300 really havent got the grunt, they are okay just lacking in real power.

TD5 is a very good engine. Even better with a sensible remap and larger intercooler. A few common issues but none of them are that difficult to deal with.

Don't be scared of electrics- they aren't witchcraft and can be understood by someone who is a competent mechanic. If anything, it's easier to diagnose as long as you know what you're doing and have the right tools.

Everyone praises the 200tdi (mostly from swapping a tired 19J for a half-decent tdi back in the day) but they are noisy, unrefined and don't have anything like the grunt of a good td5.

It's a shame the planned 3.0 straight-6 variant never came to fruition as that would have been fantastic

A fairly mixed response as I was expecting really, leaning more towards the TD5 by the sound of things it would be more practical for towing with the extra grunt.

After the P38 it was the extra complexity of the added electrics that is putting me off as that thing had wiring harnesses like a Boeing 747 everywhere you looked, under the seats, behind every panel, it took me an age just to change the stereo, following wiring diagrams and trying to convert if from the Range rover specific head to a generic one, but I suppose this is the thing with all modern vehicles.

It was origonally Discos I was looking at and it was simplicity and value that made me start looking at the Defender more, also it sounds like they suffer less with corrosion apart from the chasis?

True. Chassis, bulkhead, crossmember and doors are your big concern.

The wireing in a TD5 is nothing like a P38. Its minimal wiring tbh

bankz5152 said:

True. Chassis, bulkhead, crossmember and doors are your big concern.

The wireing in a TD5 is nothing like a P38. Its minimal wiring tbh

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Is that on the Defender or does it apply equally to the Disco?

Griff097 said:

Is that on the Defender or does it apply equally to the Disco?

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Disco td5 has the same 747 looms you mentioned earlier. higher spec you go the more wiring you get!

To be fair late d1 300 also had their fair share of wiring.

Griff097 said:

Is that on the Defender or does it apply equally to the Disco?

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Disco has more. ABS, TC, AC, HDC, steering wheel controls and all sorts of other stuff.

I am guessing that its a bit like comparing apples and pears then Defender/Disco?

I am used to driving a van every day it's all I have had for over 20 years, so is a Disco 2 going to be luxury in comparison and a Defender more of the same?

I fix things for a living so not overly concerned about the electronics but it's still a headache, I don't mind welding, but it's time I am short of, still confused and not sure of the best way forward for me, but sounds like either 200tdi for simplicity, or td5 for torque.

Either way i would count a 200 out. Too under powered for todays roads imo. The 300 is more refined and a bit more power.

200 is basically a road tractor imo.

Td5 is more car like inside, especially the 2002+ ones. Much easier to use a dailt driver.

200 and 300 make basically the same power, the latter is just a bit more refined. Mainly through better engine and gearbox mountings. Neither is better than the other by enough of a margin for that to be the deciding factor, condition is the key as with all Defenders. And neither are underpowered, both will do 70mph easily - albeit noisily.

Either Tdi engine make a good daily driver. Td5 does as well, and has a bit more power. And the Tdci a bit more again.

Condition and evidence that the vehicle has been looked after are the most important things to look at. Everything else is much of a muchness unless you’re looking at much newer examples.

bankz5152 said:

Either way i would count a 200 out. Too under powered for todays roads imo. The 300 is more refined and a bit more power.

200 is basically a road tractor imo.

Td5 is more car like inside, especially the 2002+ ones. Much easier to use a dailt driver.

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Iirc there is only 4bhp between the 200 (107) and the 300 (111), but even the td5 has less power than its disco cousin, not much somehting like 10bhp less.

Where the 200/300 loses out is when you want to get a move on at higher speeds, ie above 50 put your foot down and er not to much happens, yes they will do 90 down a hill, but lucky to get 60 back up the same hill.
The 200/300 can be made to hussle, but its hard work.

Ive got two 200 and whilst I like driving them, when I get back in my D3,it feels like a rocketship, which it obviously isnt.