fuel figures depend on what sized tryes you have on a defender , i have 7.50x16 on mine and they read 5% less mileage via speedo than 205x16 do , hence the 205 tyred vehicle will "show" better mpg in effect .
i have checked with a GPS and also by measuring tyre circumferences and the speedo oddometer is reading 5% low with the 7.50 tyres .
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beware of buying defenders that have had injector pump fuel metering messed with by amateurs , ive just spent a fair while on mine reducing the metering to its most efficient level for best MPG without affecting most of its performance , i had to undo my metering screw by 1 1/8 turns and normally the manuals say that 1/4 of a turn is too much adjustment .
you can tell a fiddled landrover a mile away by the black smoke coming out of exhaust .
they may go like stink but so does the reading of the fuel gauge .
with a properly adjusted injector pump youll get a smoother response to throttle but if the fuel metering is pumped up youll end up with a jerky response at low revs .
mine now does 27.1mpg on urban useage , driving 10 miles to work and also back again .
before with the "fiddled" pump it did 25mpg or less and i had a small amount of black smoke emmiting from exhaust pretty much all the time , now i dont even get a puff of blackness when going uphill in top gear and pulling hard ..
i would guess on a run i could achieve 30mpg .
dont beleive anyone who says the TIMING BELT modification kit has been fitted unless they have the paperwork to prove it .
my landrover had a telltale YELLOW spot mark placed on its timing cover and owner said it had the work done ,but when i renewed timing belt i did not have any modification kit fitted .
check out
www.difflock.com to see what i mean about the timing belt problems with the 300tdi engines .
110 models have slightly lower MPG figures than 90s .
200/300tdi engine certainly is no slouch thats for sure .
300tdi doesnt get very hot when running , but enough for pleasant heating functions and warms up within a mile or two in mornings .
tdi engines i have found and heard start almost insantaneously with little or no pre heating .
R380 gearbox suffers almost same fate as did the LT77 , 1st to second gear changes become crunchy , really ought to leave time between gear changes but people try to drive landys like race cars , which they arent [ well not allways :-)) ].
make sure you have "red" ATF fluid in the main gearbox and not something different which is slightly higher viscosity and causes crunchy gearchages when cold .
clutch pedal is heavier on 300tdi as opposed to N/A models , its an idea when buying a 300tdi landy to check clutch pedal has some freeplay at top of travel so not to have premature clutch failure/slipping along the way ..
lastly and most importantly ALLWAYS ALLWAYS check the vehicle HAS the VIN PLATE in the engine bay above the pedal box and make sure the vin number matches that on the chassis [front of chassis/vehicle drivers side outboard in RHD vehicles ] and also check engine number against log book .
later landys have a vin plate in the lower windscreen area on passenger side viewable from outside of car , a vin plate in engine bay on top of pedal box and chassis vin number on front of chassis on drivers die , marks placed on outside of chassis [ take a wiere brush with you when you view]
DO NOT buy a landrover that doesnt have all matching numbers , that way youll be playing safe , even if the owner may think theyre vehicle is genuinely ok .
it is not unusual to find that some landys end up being ringers and it is imperative really i think to have an HPI check made on the vehicle you intend to buy .
£30 or so very well spent for peace of mind .
story::
i went to buy a 110 defender county a year ago and almost paid for it , it really looked lovely but didnt have vin plate on pedal box and chassis number had been fiddled with .
owner said its genuine and he had papers to say it was ok .
consequently an HPI check revealed it had been written off in 2000 , crashed and declared scrap in 2001 , no log book would be issued again for that vehicle i was told .
i thought the nice black clean chassi looked too new, perhaps it was only a couple of years old , suffice to say i cancelled my cheque .
i found out later that police had impounded vehicle sometime ago but couldnt find enough evidence to prove it was stolen or whatever , but DVLC were aware off all things with the vehicle and subsequently HPI checked revealed all and saved me a lot of trouble in the long run .
i know a lot of landys are perfectly genuine but some prospective buyers overlook some very simple and important details when wanting to buy a nice looking vehicle .
.hope this helps .
