v8 or diesel

[cluffy]

hi all, looking at a new disco but carnt decide v8 or diesel? Or manuel or auto pls pls help. I like puddles and carnt be doing with a missfire. Pls guy help

Regards
Ashley. One very confused disco buyer.

[thermidorthelobster]

It would help if you could indicate what you're using it for.  On road?  Off road?  Commuting?  Laning?  Pay and play?  Towing?  Overland?  Load carrier?  How many miles will you be doing in it?  Driving UK or abroad?

It's purely a matter of personal preference unless we know what you actually want to do with it.

[cluffy]

very true forgot that bit. Ooops. Well i think itl be a bit of all realy, bit of road as itl be my car as wel as toy mainly laning payanplays dont appeal. I live on the plains door step so il be out their. Decided on disco as ive had two and love the comfort of them.

[JumboBeef]

My vote is for a V8 on LPG.  I love mine.

[thermidorthelobster]

If it's going to be an everyday car as well, I'd go diesel - reliable, less fiddling required, easier to waterproof, more economical than petrol, less hassle than LPG.  If you were just after a toy then V8s are cheaper but you can get bargain 300tdis now.

(I've had a 200tdi, TD5, 3.5v8 and 4.6v8 in various different vehicles, the V8s on LPG).

[JumboBeef]

less hassle than LPG. 

I've had my 1996 LPG Disco now for 18 months, and covered 26,000 miles in that time.  Here is a complete list of LPG problems I have had in that time:

















 :dance:

Plus, running on LPG is much cheaper than running on diesel.

(....and even if it did give me grief, I would still have the V8 vrooooooooooooooooom over the diesel death clatter any day :lol: )

[thermidorthelobster]

Plus, running on LPG is much cheaper than running on diesel.

Much cheaper?

My 200tdi Disco used to do about 32mpg.  My Range Rover did about 16 - ie about half - on unleaded, but engines generally run about 10% less efficient on LPG.  LPG is generally slightly less than half the price of diesel.  Put all this together and you find the costs are pretty comparable (particularly if you ignore the cost of putting the LPG conversion in in the first place).

OTOH, I could drive my Disco for 500 miles or so on a tank of Diesel;  in the Range Rover I'd get a couple of hundred miles max and have to stop to fill up, with the inconvenience of finding an LPG station that actually had fuel in the tanks and where the pump worked, having then to wait while some pillock parked at the LPG pump for 20 minutes and filled up with unleaded.  Then I'd sometimes find the pump didn't fit properly to the filler point and wouldn't fill properly, or I'd get a hand covered in freezing gas condensate when I'd release it.

My carburetted 3.5v8 needed ongoing tweaking to happily run on both LPG and Unleaded (including re-oiling the damper pots, cleaning out the carbs every so often, etc).  My Range Rover ran great, but only after I'd spent a fair amount of money getting a specialist company to install and fettle a good multi-point injection system.

This sounds very negative;  in reality I did enjoy the V8s and I'd have LPG again, in the right vehicle.  But if you've run for 26,000 miles on LPG without any impact on your performance, and your engine is happy on Unleaded too, and you get more than 20mpg or so on LPG, and you can find plenty of garages with a reliable supply of fuel, and you don't mind stopping to refuel fairly frequently, then I'd say your experience is probably the exception rather than the norm.  Browse uk.rec.cars.fuel.lpg for more information;  it used to be packed with postings from people having problems with their LPG systems, on a variety of makes and models, including factory fitted.

[JumboBeef]

My 200tdi Disco used to do about 32mpg.  My Range Rover did about 16

You need to compare like for like: I can't compare my Disco 3.9i with the RRC LSE 4.2i I used to have for example.  Your 200TDi gave around 32mpg?  My LPG gives around 20mpg on petrol, so on LPG the costs per mile is *about* the same as 40mpg on petrol and 50mpg on diesel.

But if you've run for 26,000 miles on LPG without any impact on your performance, and your engine is happy on Unleaded too, and you get more than 20mpg or so on LPG, and you can find plenty of garages with a reliable supply of fuel, and you don't mind stopping to refuel fairly frequently, then I'd say your experience is probably the exception rather than the norm.

Engine very happy on LPG or petrol (not that I use petrol much).  There are two LPG garages within five miles of here (rural Cumbria) and I have a range of about 180 miles on full tanks anyway.  Most service stations between here and the West Midlands (where I travel to a lot) have LPG.  I've never had a problem with badly fitting hoses, and only rarely are stations out of LPG (and I can always run on petrol if need be).

I'm more than happy to stop every 180 miles: it is good to have a break!

I've owned V8s, V8s on LPG and Diesels: it is a *good* LPG for me everytime!

[cluffy]

must admit the v8 does sound awsome. And with the price of petrol hear now at 92p its cheeper than the 109 of diesel. Its all the water profin thats turning me away an i carnt aford fancy water proff dizzys etc.

[andrew2986]

Hi,
Im very happy with my V8, would get another if I needed to.
There are loads of stations that sell lpg, I have a booklet/map in the car with post codes and phone numbers of all the lpg stations in the Uk.
I can go about 280 miles on my system on lpg,( 4 lpg tanks and just a small petrol tank in the rear wing)
Waterproofing a V8 isn't so bad, I use silicon and chain wax, and am about to modify my distributor to be waterproof. But how much water do you go through and how often?
On a recent trip to Bristol the LPG in Asda there was 45/liter.
Im running 265/75 16 tires on mine so the gearing is now a little tall for long motor way hills but it will still cruise along at 75/80 mph on the flat.
also if I were to breath in some water,( its happened a few times, no snorkel yet) it doesn't kill my motor like it might a diesel.

plus I love the noise, it makes me smile, and thats a good thing.

Andy

[peasey]

DIESEL,thats the only choice,i have had both and the petrol never liked water or damp come to think of it,cost wise yes diesel is more expensive but when you service a petrol 8 plugs nine leads and not cheapie ones oh no it will only like top of the range ones,not forgeting all the other bits and bobs you need.When i made a decision to get shot of the v8 it was hard,that roar is awesome but it will cost you dear to hear it i used to get about 360 miles to a tank(89 litres) i now get 550 miles to a tank with the diesel (89 litres as well)and you can always pop some veg in or red,shi t did i just say that out loud ;)

[bobtailed disco]

V8
i have got a v8 disco running on petrol and getting about 18mpg out of it. not to bad now that petrol is down to 89.9  at tescos :lol: thinking aboutputting the high octain stuff in now @92.9  :lol:

[clbarclay]

DIESEL,thats the only choice,i have had both and the petrol never liked water or damp come to think of it,cost wise yes diesel is more expensive but when you service a petrol 8 plugs nine leads and not cheapie ones oh no it will only like top of the range ones,not forgeting all the other bits and bobs you need.

And how often do you service/replace the injectors?

Not sure on the TDi service interval but on a similar diesel engine they should be removed and tested every 24000 miles. If they fail to atomise the fuel properly (they are a wearing item) then the chepest I've seen for a TDi injector is £44 each. If you diesel is smoking it may not be just because the pumps been tweeked, if an injector is dribbling fuel then it won't burn properly resulting is less power, higher fuel consumption and more smoke.

For a general work vehicle then I would chose a diesel. Range to a tank of fuel, regardless of cost, is a big benefit. However one common problem I've seen with a number of diesel engines is people get complacent about the reliabilty and problems arise from a lack of servicing. My experiance is the reliability of TDi engines better than my V8, but that doesn't make them perfect.


WD40 is cheap, alternators are not. My experiance is diesel engines don't like running in water, they can cope better than a petrol with no prior preperation but it doesn't do them much good in the long run. Alternators failing is bad enough, though i can think of a few TDi engines dieing prematurely due to water creeping past wading plugs etc.

[v8kenny]

Do I really need to answer that question ?  ;)

[benbenukuk]

Go for a V8 it might cost more to run but the noise is great  :D don't worry about the water issue I can chuck a bucket of water over the dizzy and min doesn't miss a beat.  Ben

[skiprat]

Ive had a V8 on gas, and it was nothing but trouble, even after getting the system re mapped.....but saying that i think its cause it was an early single point and cheap system, fuel consumption was very very poor!!! im now running a diesel, which has served me well. I would say after you take all the above comments on board, if you go V8 go auto, and manual on the diesel. For 1 with the V8 the temtation to hold it in the gears for longer is too great!!! :twisted: plus i think the auto is great when lanning. as for water proofing, plenty of spray grease on dizzy and leads (marine shops) use an old mud flap and make a splash guard for the dizzy. and if you want to go wading then you can make/use a wading matt to go accross the grill! Ive driven both manual and auto diesels, and prefer the manual, as i found the autos abit sluggish, great on long journeys mind. at the end of the day it comes down to what costs you can stomach and if you prefer V8 raor and power to the old faithful diesel rattle!

kris

[Ja1983]

theres an easy answer to this - V8 diesel... theres a few GMC 6.2 (or the 6.5 turbo) v8 dervs turning up in rangerovers and the like recently, i`m very tempted i must admit!

rumour has it they will give 30mpg (if your easy on the greedy pedal) but have the sound, and the torque required to extract the knickers from a nun!

\/\/inner all round i`d say!

[peasey]

In reply to CLBs point about injectors hes right,I have never checked them or had them checked out because theres never been a problem with them i have virtually no smoke even under full load and thats on a disco with 127,000 miles on the clock but thats not to say that they havent been changed before i got the car.With that said im sure even if they did need sorting after 12,000 miles im sure even if they need replacing the £176 would still be cheaper than running a v8 on petrol alone.Its only around 2 tanks of petrol and the saving on fuel would cover that over the 12 thousand miles im sure.I havent done the maths for you but i did before i sold my v8 over and over again,I can only tell you of my findings and i think im better off with the diesel.

[v8bubba]

why not go v8 diesel and auto ticks all the boxes in one hit

[Range Rover Blues]

My LSE is on a mulitpoint LPG system, I loose no power that can be measured on LPG, it's done over 30,000 miles since fitting and still runs fine, in fact I've done very little to the whole engine though I think it would benifit from a new camshaft and chain.

Our TDIs on the other hand, well I've gto quite good at swapping TDi heads because I've had so much practice recently.  You are't meant to skim a TDi head either, so not only are the gaskets for a 4 pot TDi more expensive but if the head's warped add on £300 for a new head.  I've had fuel problems, drivebelt problems and radiator problems.  TDI, reliability, don't make me laugh.

I go laning in a V8 on LPG, the systems about 7 years old now and a bit rubbish (it was probably very cheap) but it still does the job.  Remeber a V8 with a misfire is still a V7, a TDi with water ingress is SCRAP and there are so many places water can get in and do damage.

Buy on condition, if it's solid and runs well then that's what you need, either powerplant is fine and the transmission is a matter of choice, my preferance is for a V8 auto (I wouldn't have said that a few years ago) or a TDi manual or auto, the manual seems nipier but the auto makes a good towcar.

Running costs across all 4 we have in the family are about equal, the V8 being marginally the cheapest, closely followed by my sister's TDi auto on a long run, the wife's TDi is good on a run but thirsty in town due to being tweaked.  The LSE is probably the most expensive to run but there's an awful lot of ponies under the hood ;) and it makes I smile :D

[cluffy]

thank u al for ur posts. Now a v8 diesel never herd one runing, now uve got me thinking. Ummm

[mike142sl]

Now a v8 diesel never herd one runing

Are you in for a treat  :D

[cluffy]

 :D i like treats. Ummm

[Range Rover Blues]

The 4.2 LSE engine used up cranks from the abandoned "iceberg" project to make a V8 oil burner in the good old rover block.

[clbarclay]

thank u al for ur posts. Now a v8 diesel never herd one runing, now uve got me thinking. Ummm

Youtube is your friend

The more expensive v8 diesel option
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=zuOsxR9Dg7o&NR=1

and the 6.2 gmc
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=HtAnnIiBoJg
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=9k1E_Vcsp4o

[Devon-Rover]

Has to be a V8,  Diesel's are for those who like swimming. Everyone goes on about how V8s are allergic to water but how many times do you actually go into Deep water enough to cause trouble? Decent leads and at the most a glove over the Dizzy will allow a good dosage of the wet stuff around the engine bay without fault. Any deeper then you will need a raised air intake anyway.
On a parallel i have a 2.25 petrol in the series and that has a glove over the Dizzy and that's it. I have forded with water being thrown all over the engine, and a bow wave at bonnet level, the engine? Didn't cough once.
Yes an electrical system won't like water to a high degree, but there is a point where it starts becoming more folklore than truth.
*Just like every 19J diesel will crack all it's pistons and drink all the oil..
*Every single early Freelander will seize the VCU and Eat the IRD...
*All the 4.0 and 4.6 V8's will go porous...
*The majority of TD5's will get oil in the loom causing a misfire.
*All the K series engine will blow the head gasket.

[Banjo]

I've got a diesel, but if santa can be a tight git this year i hope to get a V8 in the new year.  A few years ago i was involved in rallying, servicing cars ( evo's ) on events, sometimes we got chance to watch a stage,  after the cars would come the landrovers, not many  but the sound of them coming through the forest  full chat is amazing.