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Hi,

We have decided on a Disco Td5 for our next towing vehicle, (as our Shogun is now old and tired) and can't decide whether to go for a manual or automatic. I know you tend to get more MPG out of a manual, but in terms of towing a caravan, is it better to have an automatic?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers, Helen.

Automatic, with cruise control, peice of cake!!

Mud Muppett ' Reedrider ' Also has a diseasel Disco automatic

Its a fine car.............well for a Rust Rover that is !

Not a patch on my Mitsubishi but there you go....

Honest John at http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/home/index.htm doesn't rate Discos very highly at all.  He lists a whole catalogue of faults, from poor build quality to bits that fall off!  I have to admit I have always liked the look of them.

Carr

Helen I tow with a Disco 300tdi and its a dream to tow with. The auto box doesn't search round for gears as mentioned above if it did it would need repaired!

They are not as good on fuel as the manual but they are so much easier to drive and tow with reversing with an auto is no problem at all plus no clutch to replace

The td5 engine is a BMW design its a 5 cyclinder which produces 146bhp which will tow anything you care to hang on the back of it. Their are some good ones out there on the market all come with independant climate control so the driver could have it on cool will the passenger has it on hot.

Hope this helps a bit but you could try this site for more info www.landrovernet.com

BTW don't listern to the Fool with the Pajero hes on medication 

I dont run a Disco but at work we have a number of 4x4 vehicles and last year we bought 4 TD5 Discoverys all were manuel bar one.What I would say is we use these vehicles for commercial work, and they all tow most of their working life pulling up to their maximum weight.

The auto is driven by a guy who always has autos, before he had a Toyota Land Cruiser and did 310,000 in it,When we sold it the engine was tired but the body was in great condition if you saw it you would never think it had covered these miles.The auto TD5 has now covered a shade under 100,000 and is always dealer serviced,but out of all of them it has had its share of problems and spent a fair amount of time in the workshop.He reckons its not a patch on the Toyota and certainly wont last as long.

Now I am not knocking Land Rovers at all dont get me wrong I quite like them but they can suffer from reliability problems and the fuel consumption of the TD5 is high, but  we use them commercialy, so to buy one to pull your caravan when you want to go away and run around in it I am sure it will do a grand job just make sure it has been looked after and it will serve you well, this is all just my own opinion of course ,I hope I haven't upset anyone, enjoy whatever you buy.

Colin

How  Muppett of the Muddy Stuff

What make of engine is fitted to that 23 year old Rust Chariot ?

we have a 2.5 disco manual TD5 and its great to tow. never had a problem with bits falling off and can get 600 miles out of a tank of diesel (£75 worth) 450 miles if i am towing. the braked weight of the disco is 3500kg and our van is only 1600kg and such a smooth ride when its on the back.

its an N reg and has done 86,000 miles and still going strong.