I'll drop a few words of a TD5 manual...

I have somewhat been wanting something in line of this topic for my TD5 manual.
A sixth gear to bring down the revs and dropping the consumption.

With ~stock size (245/70/16) studded winter tires 2000 rpm equals around 80km/h (~50mph), which is pretty much max speed I ever drive on it.
With ~33" equivalent (285/75/16) summer M/T tires same speed is ~1750rpm.
That on fifth gear.

Having a sixth gear would lower the rpm, and I have been made to believe it is not a good idea.
Due to missing coolant passages around cylinder #1
And due to this, it wouldn't be a good idea to drop the revs under 1500 for long times, or when towing etc to have the coolant sufficiently flowing and cooling the #1.

I just had a head failure on cylinder #1 injector seat, a crack, last summer, had it welded and it's good now.
It's just that it's 20 years old, don't know how PO's used it, and it is closing in on 400k km (~250k miles) on the dial.

Average consumption for it is currently around 12.5 liter per 100km, thats what.. around 18.8 us mpg?
Varies between 10 and 15 l/100km. I do occasionally pull a trailer with it.

I would like it to be way less, like ~5l of diesel for 100km, like my wifes Mazda does, but it is a 3" lifted, MT tires, roofrack, winch and bumper etc setup. And a tune.
Gotta be realistic.

 

Rovers and realism? That's a concept in of itself. Comparing your 4.6 vs TDI manual which do you prefer and find fun to drive? I've never driven a diesel vehicle, but I love driving manual. How is it offroad? I'll start a new thread if this gains enough traction.

 

TDI vw engine, TD5 LR engine

 

RPI Engineering published a video about Most Cost Effective Upgrades for Rover V8s. Sounds reasonable to me.

 

I daily drive the TD5 ~70km to work and back etc, and I prefer it.
The 4.6 is a bit quieter, and stock, (both have center muffler removed) but the consumption is bigger so not a daily.
I did daily it for the summer for around 5000km when I had the TD5 head under work and I loved it.

Manual or auto, well, it has no real meaning for me on a daily. Autos are not the thing around here like it is in the US.
But they are taking over more and more, slowly.
You know, if You get Your drivers license on an automatic here, it will be marked on your license and You are not allowed to drive a manual.

I really haven't offroaded much in either one.
A couple of times at local land rover experience, mainly my discos stay on tarmac/gravel roads.
Occasionally on smaller logging roads etc exploring places, but definately no offorading compared to going to moab or anything even near that.

Maybe I replied to something, maybe not, ask more and I'll reply as I can...

 

In California they hand licenses out like candy. Thank you for your replies! I see you have a lot of knowledge to offer! How much is petrol vs diesel in Finland?

 

Petrol (95e10 and 98e5) and diesel is around 1.8 eur per liter now.
According to a bit of google and conversions thats ~7.40 usd per gallon.

Shell has that vpower, max 99 octane or something on the top, but 95e10 is the lowest octane avail here.

Fuel proces have lately been rolling around from like 1.6 (6.55usd/g) to 2.1 (8.6usd/g) eur per liter, can change during the day quite a bit up and down.

Highest for diesel was 2.6 eur/l (when the ukraine crap started), almost 11 usd/gallon when we went on a roadtrip to lapland with rooftent etc fully loaded.
Wasn't fun, putting in 130 euros per day for diesel in the tank, but....