Which Engine? Petrol Or Diesel?

[rockafella8587]

Hi folks, im on the lookout for a rav 4, as I mentioned in the introduce yourself section.

What are peoples opinions on the 2.0 vvti vs D4D in terms of reliability. Does the d4d have a DPF or EGR and if it does do you guys get rid of them? I.e blank the egr and remove the dpf follwed by a remap?

Cheers

[redlew]

It is a difference of opinion that makes a horse race and you'll find some who think that if you buy a diesel on day 1 then the DMF will land you with a £2500 bill on day two. For some poor soul that will happen.

Your introduction refers to spending £2.5k so you won't need to worry about a DPF if you go the diesel route

You will also find that some say that you should use premium fuel but I've used the cheapest supermarket fuel whenever possible for over 80K miles and don't believe it has made any difference -if only Lidl and Aldi did fuel stations that were even cheaper than Asda.

Anyway a diesel is usually more expensive to buy than a petrol but you get more mpg and don't have spark plugs . I believe the rule of thumb is annual mileage >15 k diesel , <10k petrol . In between who knows?

The last thing on earth I would do is remap –if Toyota can’t get it right with millions of R&D, why should anyone else’s attempt be better?

[Awebb180]

you cant remap or remove the toyota diesels. tuning boxes can be bought but nobody has cracked the ecus yet

alex

[rockafella8587]

Cheers guys. I will probably be doing less than 10k miles a year so maybe the petrol might be better. £2500 sounds ridiculous for a dmf change, even at a main dealer. Saying that ive never had a rav 4. I dont really trust tuning boxes as all they do is trick the ecu into increasing the fueling. Ive had plenty remapped diesels before and if done by a reputible tuner then the benefits are amazing. Most manfacturers sell their products with very conservative maps on their cars for emmissions and tax reasons. The engines are normally running a power well below the tolerances rated for the components. A remap will improve driveability with an increase in low down torque and an increase in motorway economy. Still keeping within the tolerances for the engine. My current car is a 1.9 cdti and it had 150 bhp, since the remap it has 180 bhp and 300 lb/ft torque and drives alot better and I can get 60 mpg on the motorway at 75mph.

I do like the rav-4 tho and I could live with the less economical petrol engine if there is less to go wrong with it. I definitely want to avoid any DMF issues.

[Merseyshark]

although you sound like you will be heading down the petrol route, I find the power delivery from the D4D in my 2005 4.2 fairly relaxed. I have a pal who has a petrol version which is a year older and on the motorway/fast A roads I fine it a bit "buzzy". Nothing scientific you understand just a feeling

[anchorman]

Hi folks, im on the lookout for a rav 4, as I mentioned in the introduce yourself section.

What are peoples opinions on the 2.0 vvti vs D4D in terms of reliability. Does the d4d have a DPF or EGR and if it does do you guys get rid of them? I.e blank the egr and remove the dpf follwed by a remap?

Cheers

What sort of year are you looking at?

[rockafella8587]

Hi mate, probably an early 4.1 so around a 2001 - 2002 model. Im moving to cyprus so im looking for one to ship over there, I wont be doing many miles as the island is small and I will live within cycling distance to work.

I do like diesels and I like the extra torque you get with a diesel bit I cant help thinking a petrol will be less troublesome. Still undecided tho lol. Both engines have their positives and negatives I guess.

Is the d4d susceptible to dmf failures?

[anchorman]

That is a 4.2 model post 2001.

DMF failures? I take it you didn't read the pinned section.

[rockafella8587]

That is a 4.2 model post 2001.

DMF failures? I take it you didn't read the pinned section.

Thanks, so 4.2 it is then

Yes I have read your thread on the DMF, I know what one is and what happens when they fail. I wanted to know how common it is on the d4d.

[redlew]

http://www.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=102212

is the link Anchorman is referring to.

[Tech01]

Our 4.2 D4D returns 32-33mpg here (mountainous area, plus normal roads), 42mpg in the UK.

My neighbour's 4.2 petrol here returns 22mpg.

Even at 10k mi/year, this is a big difference!

The relaxed torque of the 4.2 is pretty useful too, even better, I find with the addition of some 2T oil (mineral grade, added at 1:200) in the good-quality standard fuel.

Chris

[rockafella8587]

Ok thanks redlew, I will have a look at that one :)

Tech01 ive heard about this adding 2 stroke oil to the fuel, I have some lying in the back of my car but have yet to try it, will give it a bash soon. Yep I would probably prefer the torquey diesel and better mpg, off to read that other thread tho and see what it says..

[LeeADAB]

Maybe worth getting other owners stats on the petrol mpg. I get just over 29mpg on my 2003 2.0 petrol rav4. That's doing short journeys. If I do longer ones the MPG goes up a little but nearly always get 29mpg. 22 sounds low to me, though it does say mountainous area. A full fill up of 49L does around 310-320 miles. I do about 8k miles a year and that's the mpg I get since I bought it in 2005.

Hope that helps and good luck with your purchase.

Lee

[CharlieFarlie]

Official fuel consumption figures for the 4.2 petrol are ...

Fuel consumption (urban) 24.4 mpg Fuel consumption (extra urban) 38.2 mpg Fuel consumption (combined) 31.4 mpg

Most figures are shall we say on the generous side and very rarely can they be achieved so quite how one can get 29MPG is amazing to say the least..

[Paulus17]

On Mrs Ps 2004 petrol Rav with low mileage on the clock we have had figures from 24-28mpg with the tests i have done.

This is mainly Mrs P going to work and taking daughter to work on 20-15 mile round trips.

But she just loves the Rav

[Tech01]

The 22 (petrol) and 32 (diesel) were cited just to make a comparison between two 2003 4.2's used in identical (mountainous) situations.

Chris

[CharlieFarlie]

The 22 (petrol) and 32 (diesel) were cited just to make a comparison between two 2003 4.2's used in identical (mountainous) situations.

Chris

I understood what you were saying Chris.... The point being that fuel wise the Diesel is a lot easier on the wallet and IMHO one heck of a nicer car to drive...

That said the petrol is likely to be the least expensive to repair. As said on another thread £500 for one injector is ruinous on cars below the 2500 budget mentioned at the top of this thread ...

[LeeADAB]

As he wont be "doing many miles" in Cyprus is diesel the way to go? I thought short journeys were not good for diesels?

The AA website says..."Diesel with DPF:

We used to recommend a diesel engine for frequent short journeys as the engine works more efficiently earlier in the journey. Now though, the fitting of diesel particulate filters (DPF) means that diesel vehicles need regular long runs, some of which must be at high engine speed to clean (regenerate) the filter."

Oh and my stats of mpg were just to give a non mountainous flat angle on the mpg factor. Most of my journeys are 30-40mph so high engine speed would be difficult with a diesel car. Does the 4.2 have a DPF?

[Guest]

Given that Cyprus is an island, I presume petrol/diesel are both easily obtainable?

[anchorman]

They've got electric and everything Gus :-)

[atkiman]

i usually reckon on 31 - 33 mpg on my 2.0 vvti and it hasn't really varied much from that since i've owned it(10 years). driving around town will bring it down to the high 20's, and a steady run down in the summer on dual carrigeways etc will bring it up to around 34.