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Making a TD5 more fuel efficient


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Some back of the envelope figures, based on 4 weeks usage (280 miles/week), just using fuel costs initially:

TD5, 30 mpg - £280

Diesel hack, 55 mpg - £280

Monthly fuel saving: £130

Additional costs for hack:

Buy: £500  (optimistic, I think)

Insure: £150pa (Not sure what age you are or what your area is like)

Servicing/repairs: £200pa (it is old, it will need repairs, servicing to keep it going, annual service on Td5 will still happen, so no additional costs there)

Total first year cost: £850

Saving compared to running the TD5: £710.

After a year, who knows how the hack is going to fair, may need replacing, or serious repair??? Bit of an unknown.

 

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, landroversforever said:

Different to Fridge's as he's got an R56 from memory, but by F56 JCW will do anything from 8mpg on a 'fun' afternoon to ~50mpg drive to work. That's a 2L turbo petrol JCW too. I think Fridge's will be the 1.6 turbo at that age. 

R53 supercharged + someone's tweaked it up near JCW spec with a smaller supercharger pulley and whatnot - @miketomcat seemed to enjoy it :lol:

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1 hour ago, Bowie69 said:

Some back of the envelope figures, based on 4 weeks usage (280 miles/week), just using fuel costs initially:

TD5, 30 mpg - £280

Diesel hack, 55 mpg - £280

Monthly fuel saving: £130

Additional costs for hack:

Buy: £500  (optimistic, I think)

Insure: £150pa (Not sure what age you are or what your area is like)

Servicing/repairs: £200pa (it is old, it will need repairs, servicing to keep it going, annual service on Td5 will still happen, so no additional costs there)

Total first year cost: £850

Saving compared to running the TD5: £710.

After a year, who knows how the hack is going to fair, may need replacing, or serious repair??? Bit of an unknown.

 

 

 

 

I don't understand the fuel costs part as you have £280 listed for both but arrive at a monthly saving of £130. 

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2 minutes ago, monkie said:

I don't understand the fuel costs part as you have £280 listed for both but arrive at a monthly saving of £130. 

Wow, copy paste error, should have been £150, doh :)

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I still think you would save money overall as servicing, new tyres repairs etc would all come sooner in the Td5 if putting the additional miles on it. A little Clio can still go 15-17k miles between servicing but the cam belt is a consideration if no history and will add to the initial cost. 

I think there is anoth factor though. You could fall out of love with your defender if using it as a daily commute if it let's you down or isn't serviceable for Monday morning. If you had a eurobox diesel and something happened to it, you hate it already so it doesn't matter and have your td5 as back up to get to work to keep the money coming in. 

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A true eurobox is out of the question I think. It would depress me beyond belief to do 70 miles a day on a dark winter's day in Scotland in a Clio or a Suzuki Swift. Sounds snobby, probably is but I'm willing to die on that hill!

A mini, on the other hand, opens up all sorts of interesting ideas. The diesel ones are very boring if not well built but I could see myself in a wee supercharged pocket rocket.

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1 hour ago, paime said:

A true eurobox is out of the question I think. It would depress me beyond belief to do 70 miles a day on a dark winter's day in Scotland in a Clio or a Suzuki Swift. Sounds snobby, probably is but I'm willing to die on that hill!

A mini, on the other hand, opens up all sorts of interesting ideas. The diesel ones are very boring if not well built but I could see myself in a wee supercharged pocket rocket.

As it happens I've heard very good things about the Suzuki Swift, mate of mine sold an AMG A45 Merc and went for the sporty Swift, reckoned it was at least as much fun and a hell of a lot cheaper all round too.

Fiesta or Focus ST get good reviews too, plenty of them out there.

I went for the Mini as it was cheap and you know there's going to be a big aftermarket / knowledge base out there for support & parts.

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Just now, FridgeFreezer said:

As it happens I've heard very good things about the Suzuki Swift, mate of mine sold an AMG A45 Merc and went for the sporty Swift, reckoned it was at least as much fun and a hell of a lot cheaper all round too.

Fiesta or Focus ST get good reviews too, plenty of them out there.

I went for the Mini as it was cheap and you know there's going to be a big aftermarket / knowledge base out there for support & parts.

I know a few people with more expensive drivers cars that enjoy throwing their STs around.

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On 7/18/2021 at 12:29 PM, Retroanaconda said:

Embrace it - 70 miles a day on a dual carriageway will do the 90 the world of good. Alternatively it will hard to beat the economics of a £500 diesel hatchback as above. But the downside is you’ll have to drive a diesel hatchback.

When I was doing high miles in my 90 the all-in running cost was less than 25p/mile. Okay I used it for work which offset some of the personally mileage costs but it meant I got to drive a car I liked.

A Td5 shouldn’t be too bad on fuel though? Okay it’s not going to be as good as a Tdi but should still give 25mpg or over I’d have thought, unless you’ve got big mud tyres or something. What economy are you currently getting?

I hope a td5 would be better than a tdi or my conversion will be pointless. 16-18mpg out of my 300

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21 minutes ago, landroversforever said:

They can be a bit of a drinker Tim. Parents old '51 plate D2 manual used to get 25 at best on a run and 18-20 at best towing the caravan. 

Well at least i dont have to fund the fuel tank contents. Bit more poke and no worse on fuel will be ok

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3 minutes ago, Anderzander said:

Mine (Td5) would seem to buck a trend then ? 
 

That said I’m getting about 40mpg from my 200 tdi 😊
 

 

How on earth are you getting that figure from a tdi? 

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Pump the tyres up to 3 bar, remover some clutter if there is any and a roof rack if you have it and try it for a month, keep an accurate record of MPG and then you can make your decision on factual evidence, round me its fairly hilly and a 1.2 transfer box isn't any benefit and may well not be on a slopey dual carriaway. Driving at 60 rather than 70 will make a good difference, the sprinter boys get ridiculous economy bottling at 50-55 vs 70-80.

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1 hour ago, miketomcat said:

This is precisely why I fitted a 200tdi instead of td5 in the ibex. I get around 27 mpg average but normally nearer to 30mpg, everything I read said a td5 was 23mpg on a good day.

I nearly bought a TD5 Disco as a daily until I saw the MPG, may as well have the V8 there's so little in it - and the TD5 doesn't appear any more reliable and is more complicated.

@muddy driving at 55-60mph is what does it (and accelerating gently) as air resistance goes up exponentially as you get faster. I can get 22mpg out of the ambulance (4.6 V8, ~3ton, huge frontal area) if I stick in the slow lane, dropping to ~16mpg at 80mph.

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I find fixing anything will always produce better mpg as I always end up with left over bolts, washers and odd bits which reduces the weight of the vehicle overall.

 

My estimate is the current tuck is at least 5kg lighter with this ideology.

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