Cruising speed

Hi all, had a search around to see what cruising speed people feel comfortable with in their td5 defenders.
I'm looking to buy one but am worried when doing motorway journeys it will be screaming its nuts off. So what kind of cruising speeds/rpm are people getting from their td5 defenders? Also what spec are the vehicles just so i can get some idea.
Regard,
Matt.

I cruise at about 60-65 mph over any sort of distance. No idea what revs I'm doing though

60mph, sits very happy. Not too loud either so i reckon the revs are relativley low.

Used to be terrifying at 65 so loud and unstable but since the mods ive added will happily do 75 before it screams lol

Yeah, 60 or a bit more is a good crusing speed. Mods make it much much smoother at those speeds...

60 is fast enough, with the occasional blast to 70 for overtaking. You don't really want to be cruising at 70 in a car with no roof structure.

Got a roll cage

70 is purley for over taking

Fuel consumption suffers significantly over 60, my 110 returns around 29mpg if I cruise at 60, or 25mpg at 70!

I am running a standard completly untuned TD5 only hindered by full roofrack and snorkel

Thanks for all the great feedback guys, does the standard td5 feel like its comfortable cruising at 70? I feel the td5 always tends to rev more than it should perhaps some larger tyres, better transfer box ratios and maybe some tuning mods to pull it properly would do the trick.
I need to start off with some for of standard land rover considering insurance companies seem to think us younger ones are made of money

Mattward said:

Thanks for all the great feedback guys, does the standard td5 feel like its comfortable cruising at 70? I feel the td5 always tends to rev more than it should perhaps some larger tyres, better transfer box ratios and maybe some tuning mods to pull it properly would do the trick.
I need to start off with some for of standard land rover considering insurance companies seem to think us younger ones are made of money

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Sounds like you're going to be using it on road fir crusing. In my opinion, if you put a Discovery transfer box in and then a stage 1 remap you'll have a great combination.

Course you could always save a couple of grand and buy a youger, better equipped D2 !!!!.

I must confess I sometimes try to find 6th gear, I would love to fit an overdrive but at £1500 its expensive, the Disco Transfer gears sound a possible solution, but there are issues with pulling off in 1st if towing heavy trailers, so its not allways suitable there.

That said if you are just cruising and not towing then its an excellent option.

Not sure how easy it is to swap the T/B, but as my 110 still has extended warranty (and I dropped it off for a new gearbox today) I don't want to do anything to jeapordise that, despite having a a spare LT77/230 unit in the garage from an old Disco

Personally, I don't find the TD5 Defender too bad at all for motorway driving. Whilst a little slower to pick up speed than many cars, you can have a conversation at 70 without raising your voice and it will keep up with traffic very well. That's with 265x70x16 tyres and a standard 1.4:1 transfer box in my case. I was pleasantly surprised. I even have to watch it if passing a line of lorries, because it's easy to find the needle creeping up past 70. I have to watch carefully for gaps when changing lanes too, because it takes a while to pick up speed to match the traffic in the lane you're trying to get into. But that's what we're supposed to be doing anyway as careful drivers!

In standard tune the td5 engine isn't working terribly hard anyway. With a big turbo and intercooler and a remap some people are getting in excess of 200 bhp out of them, so as standard they should be able to manage a few hundred motorway miles fairly comfortably. Plus they're electronically limited, so you'd have difficulty over-stressing it with a standard map.

I've got a 110 Td5, had a stage 3 package specifically for towing/economy (regularly towing a 3.5t trailer).

Didn't want Disco gears due to towing so bought a overdrive (gulp!!)

Just done a 2000 mile round trip to the Alpes at a steady 60 - 65mph. Now returning 33mpg (loaded with just camping gear no trailer) and gone from 400 miles per tank to about 480 per tank.

With the over drive it's hard to keep it to 60, even at 70mph the engine doesn't sound like it screeming

Thanks, arboorman, when/if i get a td5 defender i might look into getting a overdrive, how easy are they to fit and how much did it cost you ?
However i can see the appeal of a overdrive but having the disco transfer box shouldnt affect me that much as im not planing on towing heavy loads.
Thanks for the great advise as well Brown. Most landys are slow at picking up the pace but i'd rather be a tad slower and took cool than be fast and look stupid
You guys are a great help, any more advise is welcome and much appreciated.
Regards, Matt.

Think I paid £1400 for the overdrive. I considered a second hand GKN unit (which I've used before on a 200 Tdi) but didn't want to take the gamble as the vehicle is used ever day for work, plus I liked the idea of the Roverdrive as it doesn't need anything electrical.

If I wasn't towing I'd gone the Disco box route. That said I sometimes forget to take the overdrive out and it pulls away in first no problems - does help have the stage 3 package mind!