TD5 or TDCi 110 - Which is better for towing 3.5t ??

Morning all,

I currently have a '51 TD5 with 130k on it but have the chance of a
'09 TDCi with 75k for a good pric but need to know how the TDCi tows in comparison ??
I regularly tow a 3.5t box trailer which the TD5 does well but fancy an upgrade even tho I've recently spent 4k on my current engine - is it worth the change ??

I used a variety of hired defenders to tow the armed forces rally cars around, a towed weight of about 3250kg and we used to get pot luck from the well known three letter hire company of td5s and tdcis (also a couple of times got a really posh XS model!)

The tdci towed better than the td5, the low first gear meant pulling away was effortless, however it also drank a lot more fuel while towing than the td5 did. Also the only breakdown I ever had while towing the rally team happened in a tdci when with no warning it dropped into limp home mode due to an egr fault, this was at only 20000 miles!

The tdci cab is a really nice place to be, for a defender, effective heating and demisting, better soundproofing and when not towing the gears from 2nd onwards seem perfect for on the road.

Hope that helps

Adam

Cheers Adam, that's the kind of opinion I was looking for, heard various things but point more towards TDCi being the better.