Tdci?

Hi all I'm thinking of getting a newer defender but should I go for a tdci, I've read a couple of reviews and I have to say it's made me a bit nervous, one of the things I've read was from a guy who ran a fleet of transit's with said tdci engine and said they caused him endless problems, what is the general consensus on them?

nice easy drive, torquey as hell. im getting 29-30mpg consistently and im mainly doing around town with lots of ####ing hills driving.

had no issues but honestly its early days at the moment. are you heading to rodger young as Paul the defender sales bloke there was really honest with me



remember there is a difference between a fleet of vehicles having issues where one lemon out of 50 could be a recurring PITA and that are ragged around by people who dont give a crap and your own vehicle you would in theory care about.

I looked at a 2010 tdci 110, and where Paul above said he had loads or torque, the first one I tried seemed to have very little and needed a ton of revs and constant gear changes to move about, I got the same experience from a ex SSE 110 utility which was I think a 2011. Cabin was nicer as in the ventilation and heater controls but was a little bit more cramped, if that's even possible?

Personally I prefer the previous engine, TDCI seemed fine on the LR experience, but it doesn't have that nice engine note.

Drove a transit for years with that engine with no problems 'till the boss drove it - broke the flywheel!

i should clarify a touch

im in a 2.2 tdci 90 van, and frankly i rarely use 1st or 3rd even on the hills round my way.


compared to the 2.2 tdci CSW 90 i had for a courtesy car when mine was deleakified by rodger young on warranty was frankly nowhere near as torquey at all. it was really noticeable and it was an even newer vehicle with less than 1k on the clock on pick up vs the 10k for my own truck.



it could be down to a differnt engine setup for light commercial vs CSW

cabin wise, i agree the new style dash over my old 200 tdi does take up more space and there is NO room for storage in it as stock hidden or otherwise. but you do get used to it after a while like any new vehicle. one bonus is with the ellecy windows no more sodding window winder to catch a knee on

that said the controls etc are much better laid out. i personally remedied the lack of storage with the mud stuff over head storage system and the Puma glove box. they were both fitted in a couple of hours of swearing at dropped screws.

I went for a really clean 2005 110 TD5 double cab XS in the end, cost the same as a 2010 tdci as that was a County spec and had been a farm truck as showed marks here and there, it's only a toy so I don;t use it everyday, but I did want leccy windows as I agree that winder digging in your right leg gets annoying.

Main probs I've come across with them is egr valve and injectors, nothing really major though. I find them more pleasant to drive than older models

I think also, the engine noise put me off a little,tdci, does, well, obviously sound like a Transit, whereas the TD5 sounds a bit more meaty, but I did get concerned by the ruined engine stories of the Puma models with injectors popping out, snapped cranks etc, principally whatever LR product you buy, they all have issues and problems, some worse than others.

EGR and DPF's are prove to failure,

MrNasty said:

I went for a really clean 2005 110 TD5 double cab XS in the end, cost the same as a 2010 tdci as that was a County spec and had been a farm truck as showed marks here and there, it's only a toy so I don;t use it everyday, but I did want leccy windows as I agree that winder digging in your right leg gets annoying.

Click to expand...

I do like those engines, they have real character. Our Xmas do this year is LR experience and I am paired off with Darren who owns a Dakar 4x4, we are going to take the **** out of the TDCI when we drive a Defender.

We will get away with it he has a TDi300 and me a TD5.

MrNasty said:

I think also, the engine noise put me off a little,tdci, does, well, obviously sound like a Transit, whereas the TD5 sounds a bit more meaty, but I did get concerned by the ruined engine stories of the Puma models with injectors popping out, snapped cranks etc, principally whatever LR product you buy, they all have issues and problems, some worse than others.

Click to expand...

Well the first tractor juice engined car I have owned is a TD5, there is something about that engine.

I had mine re-maped, no EGR, no cat, straight pipe stainless system, and it pulls nicely and has a nice exhaust note. Mike at DynaChip did mine, excellent job he did too.

I think I'll give the tdci a miss I've spoken to a independent Land Rover specialist and he has given a list of reasons not to get one, in his opinion and I know this guy has many years experience with Land Rover's the 200tdi 300tdi and td5 are much better.

A good 2007 TD5 is worth more than a similar condition 2007 TDCi

I did a quick look. Moest expensive was a TDCi but on average TD5s got more

Id go for a late model TD5.

Looks like the new Defender will be having a new 4 cyl turbo diesel with the option of a V6, maybe petrol versions aswell. Also all 8 or 9 speed autos. Land Rover have signed off on the new body shell design which is all alloy, though I haven't seen any pic's as yet.

Well I'm keeping my 300tdi and I'm on the look out for a td5 ��

Bit late on the reply but here's my opinion, (don't want to start the whole my engine is better than yours thread)

I drive a 300tdi 110 CSW as my daily drive , she is a bit like the forth road bridge in the 2 years I,ve owned her as I,m always doing something. She sits at 60 mph rattles quite a bit and is more fun on A roads and back roads than motorways.

This year whilst in Kenya for 3 months I had a TDCI 2.4 110 CSW. She drove really well and cruised on the roads like a motor. Wasn't as keen taking her through deep water as various lights on the dash would flash up.

If I had the money I would buy a tdci but I haven't, soi spend all my cash on my 300tdi and she still looks as good as a new tdci....All down to personnel preference......

I prefer the 2.2 over the 2.4. 2.2 was quite car like to drive( coming out of fords and jags and pugs i suppose not a surprise). Plenty of torque and response when motorway driving. Sounds better too although does sound like its blowing.