Why are defenders so slow?

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their designed to be slow to give everyone else a chance to admire them before your gone from veiw, at least thats what i keep telling meself.
 
john winsemius said:
What does the tire size ( the outside diameter) do to the acceleration of the defender when its different than factory size? and over all performance?
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I had a set of 265 75 All terrains and the 90 whizzed along on them (quicker than any of my mates 300 tdis) then stuck a set of 33 12.5 r 15s mud terrains. the tyres were the same height but the new ones were wider and softer hence i noticed a drop in acceleration/minor fuel consumption increase.

the 33s wore down to legal limit and only stood 31.5 inches tall so fitted a set of cooper stt 285 75s last week, my cruising speed at same revs has increased by over 5 mph, driving at the same speed as i used to the revs are lower, vehicle quieter and i'm saving a bit of fuel. acceleration hasn't noticably been affected but going from 3rd to 4th on steep hills isn't as easy. still very pleased with them so going to stick with them now :D
 
Boris113 said:
I had a set of 265 75 All terrains and the 90 whizzed along on them (quicker than any of my mates 300 tdis) then stuck a set of 33 12.5 r 15s mud terrains. the tyres were the same height but the new ones were wider and softer hence i noticed a drop in acceleration/minor fuel consumption increase.

the 33s wore down to legal limit and only stood 31.5 inches tall so fitted a set of cooper stt 285 75s last week, my cruising speed at same revs has increased by over 5 mph, driving at the same speed as i used to the revs are lower, vehicle quieter and i'm saving a bit of fuel. acceleration hasn't noticably been affected but going from 3rd to 4th on steep hills isn't as easy. still very pleased with them so going to stick with them now :D
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what did you pay for them coopers
 
have had my td5 90 up to a tonn a few times (fairly comfy and not too noisy) but as said could'nt live with the mpg too regular :D
 
It's down to the transfer box as people have already said but mine will do 90 ish. The problem is after about 60 you start looking like a drunk driver as you weave between lanes. Before anyone says, mine has got very good steering for a defender (well the older ones anyway). Once you get past 70, your fuel gauge starts going down quicker than your speedo goes up.
 
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I have the disco trans box, l235/85/16 tyres, just done 440 miles at a steady 70mph {can push 80} and got 32.9mpg....... very happy with that {TD5}
 
Far from showing off, just got it all running well and wanted to do that one time test.... i pussied out at at just over 80, was more to go though.

Standard 3.5 v8.
 
khaos said:
Mine is a beast off the line. Start in second, 3rd at about 25, 4th at about 45 and I'm gone before most cars can catch me. Problem is I get to 70 and they fly past me 30 seconds later doing 100 :p
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Really? :rolleyes: Unless you have had something really quite major done to that 90 I suspect a bit of exaggeration :p

A good Tdi is certainly no slug but I think you will find most 'normal' cars won't have any trouble beating you if they really wanted to.

~100bhp, 2 tonnes, aerodynamics of a house brick and a sluggish old-fashioned gearbox doth not make a drag racer. :p:D
 
Langers said:
Really? :rolleyes: Unless you have had something really quite major done to that 90 I suspect a bit of exaggeration :p

A good Tdi is certainly no slug but I think you will find most 'normal' cars won't have any trouble beating you if they really wanted to.

~100bhp, 2 tonnes, aerodynamics of a house brick and a sluggish old-fashioned gearbox doth not make a drag racer. :p:D
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run the motor up to 200hp and hold on, you'll be able to run them to 70 no problem
 
I've never heard of/seen a 200bhp Tdi. TD5, yes, but not a Tdi.

I also think the drivetrain of a standard Defender would struggle to cope with that much power too, most of it would need uprating.

If I wanted a 'fast' Defender, it'd be a tuned up 3.9 or 4.6 Rover V8, as opposed to a diesel. 300bhp is achieved relatively easily with a 4.6, though you'd need to do even more uprating.

Still, it would be entertaining to see a standard looking 'fender burn up a BMW 3 or 5 series, the look on their faces would be worth the price of the upgrades alone :D
 
Langers said:
Really? :rolleyes: Unless you have had something really quite major done to that 90 I suspect a bit of exaggeration :p

A good Tdi is certainly no slug but I think you will find most 'normal' cars won't have any trouble beating you if they really wanted to.

~100bhp, 2 tonnes, aerodynamics of a house brick and a sluggish old-fashioned gearbox doth not make a drag racer. :p:D
Click to expand...

Bigger turbo, turned up and fuel as high as it will go without black smoke.
 
Langers said:
I've never heard of/seen a 200bhp Tdi. TD5, yes, but not a Tdi.

I also think the drivetrain of a standard Defender would struggle to cope with that much power too, most of it would need uprating.

If I wanted a 'fast' Defender, it'd be a tuned up 3.9 or 4.6 Rover V8, as opposed to a diesel. 300bhp is achieved relatively easily with a 4.6, though you'd need to do even more uprating.

Still, it would be entertaining to see a standard looking 'fender burn up a BMW 3 or 5 series, the look on their faces would be worth the price of the upgrades alone :D
Click to expand...

drive trains are very under rated they will handle 3 to 4 times engine rated horse power. think when you put it low range and hammer it you have alot more horse tha 100 engine rated. what is the ratio in low low range will give you the horse power
 
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