DWillerton
Member Since: 06 Apr 2007
Location: In front of you - and pulling away!
Posts: 154
  
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| 1000 Miles on the Td5 Alive remap for TDV6 |
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For a year I had been very happy with my standard TDV6 manual Discovery 3. I thought it had enough power. Not huge reserves, but enough to more than keep up with the general flow of traffic. Not bad considering my last vehicle was a twin-turbo V8 Audi diesel.
Having now covered 1000 miles with the engine remapped I still think that the TDV6 has enough power as standard. But what the remap does do is make for a much more pleasurable driving experience. If you’ve never considered a remap - “because it’s only for going faster and I don’t want to go faster†– you’re missing out on more than you think.
Gary at Td5 Alive is very local to me and had recently remapped a tuned Td5 Defender back to a standard map for me (the vehicle was being shipped to Africa). But before doing so he was keen to demonstrate his own Td5 remap to see what I thought. On a quick five minute test-drive the Td5 Alive map was no quicker than the “big name†remap which the vehicle started with. But it was much smoother. And when Gary showed me the two fuel maps on his computer, his appeared to use significantly less extra fuelling, which was reassuring.
I had gone back to Gary to have the retro-fitted cruise-control buttons enabled on my base-model vehicle and to see what else could be done with his new computer. Unfortunately a client with a Td5 Defender, who had travelled up from London, had been delayed and this meant we didn’t get very far on this side of things and I will have to go back as soon as Gary’s new workshop open.
Having explained that I didn’t feel the need for more power, how I did end up leaving with the ECU remapped? Well Gary suggested that I try it for a week for free, and if I didn’t like it he would return it to standard, no questions asked, no charge. How could I refuse?
Having covered more than 1000 miles since, there is no way I would go back to standard!
The full-story goes far beyond additional power in the upper part of the rev range. Whilst there is significantly more power for overtaking from 2000 rpm or so, the big news is how much more tractable the engine is between 800-1200 rpm. The difference is astonishing. It can hold any gear right down to tick-over and still be able to pull cleanly (though admittedly not very quickly in top gear). This transforms progress in built-up areas. There’s no jerkiness where the standard engine struggles with low revs at low speed. Corners can be taken in a higher gear as the vehicle now has the power to pull itself round. This eliminates the intrusive engine braking previously caused by having to select a lower gear in order to be able to pull away after turning.
Throughout the rev range the engine pulls cleanly with no noticeable black smoke. It doesn’t have the “all hell’s breaking loose†feel of a chipped Td5 when the turbo kicks in, but the power delivery really suits the Discovery so it’s probably all the better for it. I can’t comment on whether the top-speed is increased (yet) but so far, it’s been all  . Discovery 3 TDV6 5-Seat
Zambesi Silver
Td5 Alive remap, rubber mats, fixed tow bar, disco3.co.uk sticker.
Manual gearbox - steel springs - 17" wheels. No tinted windows, no leather, no terrain response, no foglights, no xenons, no trip computer, no side steps, no mud flaps, no A-frame, no spot lights, no lamp guards, no sat nav, no winch, no roof rack, no RAI, no PDC, no bluetooth, no ipod connectivity, no clear indicators and no bright finish trim.
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 30th Mar 2008 3:49 pm |
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