Only if you want less torque, worse mpg, and something that drives like a tratcor
No,not really - a decent 300TDI will not be far behind a TD5 which is far more trouble long term,is more annoying/needs a higher level of knowledge to diagnose,is more expensive to repair,has much higher parts and service cost...
A TD5 is fine,dont have problem with them - A large proportion of my living is made from fixing the crap - often from garages that have given up.I dont mind,I just quietly fix them and send them back.But as a long term prospect they are hard work,electric fuel pumps,pressure regs,injector seals,cracked heads,bent con rods,oil pumps not going round and head gaskets failing.Oh,sorry - forgot to mention that early ecu's seem to be dying of old age now, in some style - with LR only doing new units now.....
In comparison,most 200/300tdi's seem to be field fixable and all for a sensible sum - rarely does the question is it worth doing ? get shot at me.
Like all the rest of the crap that LR make now,none of it has a rebuildable margin built in - which was where they came from.
I dont care - at all,there is plenty to do,but I wont bother buying one - unless there is a large profit in it.