What top speed for a 300tdi defender 90 swb

No not down hill with the wind behind me either - what sort of top speed/cruising speed would you expect from a 300tdi defender swb 1997, when out and about its normally around 5omph to 55mph, this feels comfortable for the engine and transmission but on the A1 this doesn't seem right when the limit is 70mph...............

youve bought a defender, not a bmw not a porche, and when they were first built, the speed limits wernt nearly as high as 70mph. I usually stick at 55-60 and shes ok, any high she rattle or uses to much fuel if you want higher speeds either try installing a discovery transfer box..

Depends what size tyres you have got on, also what type and which ratio transfer box too.........

I know its a 4x4 and not a sports car, had one of those, just wondered whats the norm.

micknkatenki said:

No not down hill with the wind behind me either - what sort of top speed/cruising speed would you expect from a 300tdi defender swb 1997, when out and about its normally around 5omph to 55mph, this feels comfortable for the engine and transmission but on the A1 this doesn't seem right when the limit is 70mph...............

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When I got my first car derestricted roads meant exactly that, no speed limit but Land Rovers usually went 50 or so flat out.

Yours would probably pull 100mph but why would you want to in a Land Rover

Depends what size tyres you have got on, also what type and which ratio transfer box too.........


Not sure on size without looking but they are the BF Goodrich mud terrains.

Probably the easiest way to find out is to do a high speed run down the motorway - monitoring your speed with a satnav

ive had 80mph outa my 110........but i was wearing ear defenders....now i just stick to 60ish

firstly there's no way at all that a 300tdi will do 100mph without serious tuning.

I've had 80/85 out of the 110 but it's not a good speed for the vehicle or the driver 65/70 is a good motorway speed without destroying the engine or your nerves.

redhand said:

firstly there's no way at all that a 300tdi will do 100mph without serious tuning.

I've had 80/85 out of the 110 but it's not a good speed for the vehicle or the driver 65/70 is a good motorway speed without destroying the engine or your nerves.

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Forgot about the 1.4 transfer box

My old 200 Disco once showed 115 on the clock, down hill on the M6 toll chasing my lad in his Lotus
My old 110 V8 with lt85 and 1.2 transfer box would show 90mph in third at about 6000 revs but it was scary.
One off speeds though and not comfortable, 45 to 60 is comfortable to me in a Landy

Mines fitted with 235/85 R16 tyres rather than the 205/80 R16 tyres it started out with. As a consequence the gearing is about 10% higher than standard, this also means the normally over reading speedo is now bang on, according to my sat nav.

With this set up I have seen 85mph on the motorway but at that speed it's very noisy and all a bit wayward handling wise. Normally on the motorway I stick to around 65mph which seems to be a good compromise between comfort, noise, handling and fuel consumption.

On normal roads 50mph is fast enough for me and my 90.

I do about 55-60 on duel carriage way but am thinking about fitting a Diso transfer box.

Rawly86 said:

I do about 55-60 on duel carriage way but am thinking about fitting a Diso transfer box.

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Disco box is very high if used with normal landy tyres, You will spend a lot of time in fourth because fifth is too high.

Not a problem though, my Disco 300 isnt happy in fifth below 45 on slight hills, and 30 mph is 1500 rpm in fourth so just tickin over in town, so Defender would be less revs.

Worth while swap though, dont always have to be in top gear just the best gear for the job, could have another gear and only use it at seventy and above, then another for downhill motorway sections

You need to be about 2000 revs doing the roadspeed that you choose so Disco happy about 50 with turbo blowing away happily

just my observations

landowner said:

Disco box is very high if used with normal landy tyres, You will spend a lot of time in fourth because fifth is too high.

Not a problem though, my Disco 300 isnt happy in fifth below 45 on slight hills, and 30 mph is 1500 rpm in fourth so just tickin over in town, so Defender would be less revs.

Worth while swap though, dont always have to be in top gear just the best gear for the job, could have another gear and only use it at seventy and above, then another for downhill motorway sections

You need to be about 2000 revs doing the roadspeed that you choose so Disco happy about 50 with turbo blowing away happily

just my observations

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Thanks for the information.

Another thing to note is that a higher gear is not allways more economical, think of a mountain bike and how much effort is needed to pedal slow in a high gear and keep going, much better to have the legs spinning a bit and save energy, same with a vehicle.

A higher gear would be wasted if you only ever travel at 45 mph and thats what a higher geared transfer box will do it will be higher geared starting off and there will be higher speeds available in each gear progessively, so you will gain for instance 5mph in 1st, 10 in second 20 in third, 30 in fourth, (not accurate just an example).

When my 2.5NA was working, 55 was comfortable. Anything above felt like I was pushing the engine too hard. But I've since learned that it had a cracked head and blown head gasket , so I would imagine that the engine was working pretty hard - but I can't imagine that there will be a dramatic improvement over these figures (if at all) when it's fixed.

Landowner, what's the story behind you towing the AA van please?

sp00k said:

When my 2.5NA was working, 55 was comfortable. Anything above felt like I was pushing the engine too hard. But I've since learned that it had a cracked head and blown head gasket , so I would imagine that the engine was working pretty hard - but I can't imagine that there will be a dramatic improvement over these figures (if at all) when it's fixed.

Landowner, what's the story behind you towing the AA van please?

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It was on lease and broke down (cambelt) north of Glasgow. The local garage were taking the **** on price so it had to be brought south for repair.
I got the job and the old V8 towed it the 250 miles to be fixed. Got a lot of smiles and waves along the way

Mud tyres up the gearing a little,I can get about 75 mph,comfortable 55 cruising. 2.5 td has about 80 horse, 300Tdi I think about 110 horse, so you must be able to cruise at 75 mph plus. But why would you want to, it will be deafening and cost you loads of fuel, landies are as aerodynamic as a brick. It is supposed too be an off road vehicle, if you want to go fast ther are many good cars available.

Turboman said:

Mud tyres up the gearing a little,I can get about 75 mph,comfortable 55 cruising. 2.5 td has about 80 horse, 300Tdi I think about 110 horse, so you must be able to cruise at 75 mph plus. But why would you want to, it will be deafening and cost you loads of fuel, landies are as aerodynamic as a brick. It is supposed too be an off road vehicle, if you want to go fast ther are many good cars available.

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Well said that man

I had a 3.9 rangie and you couldn't hear the engine at 90 mph, it would fly

landowner said:

Well said that man

I had a 3.9 rangie and you couldn't hear the engine at 90 mph, it would fly

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Btw the pic with the AA van made me too.