opinions/advice needed

i need your opinions on a new car. my other half currently has a range rover P38 4.0 petrol with a LPG conversion. although we got it for a bargain the thing is unreliable and costing a bomb to keep on the road. we need a car like this as her hobby (horses) means that the car must have a braked towing capacity of 3,500kg. i've been looking at the five cylinder 2.5TDI Toureg as it has 174BHP, 295lbs ft torque and a combined MPG of 28.8 which is loads better than the rangie at 190BHP, 236lbs/ft torque and a combined MPG of 18.5!! so, what are peoples opinion of the Toareg? has anybody driven or done any work on one? are they reliable? if not, then what are their general weak points?

one more thing, is it safe to tow once a car is remapped? Revo on a 2.5TDI Toureg will see 200-205BHP & 340lbs ft torque!!

A P38 Rangie with LPG conversion was always gonna end in tears !

LPG and P38 are terms that should never be used together, the HT system simply can't manage it this before you the simple fact that P38 means expensive EAS (air suspension) faults every other week or an expensive coil conversion amongst the many p38 issues.

The VW would be a good option in terms of reliability and more than man enuff for the job

Geefer wrote:

A P38 Rangie with LPG conversion was always gonna end in tears !

LPG and P38 are terms that should never be used together, the HT system simply can't manage it this before you the simple fact that P38 means expensive EAS (air suspension) faults every other week or an expensive coil conversion amongst the many p38 issues.

The VW would be a good option in terms of reliability and more than man enuff for the job

funny you should mention that, the EAS has been the most reliable part! the coilpack has recently been replaced, the ECU taken away and redone yet is still runs like a bag o'shite. the electrics are shocking, the central locking works when it feels like it..... apart from the drivers door. the battery goes flat at least twicea week despite having two new batteries and a new alternator. hopefully it might run a little better when i replace the plugs and leads but i'm not holding my breath.

As much as I love P38 range rovers, they are truly rubbish! we had a 2.5 DHSE a few years ago and it had no end of problems with starter motors etc and eventually needed a new engine - the new ones are much better, we now have a 4.4 petrol V8 vogue, but i wouldn't recommend one as they get 15mpg - the 3.0tdi one is brilliant though - so I would recommend one of them! If you're looking for something a bit cheaper to run and less luxury though, we had a 2.7 cdi Merc ML which took so much s**t from us for 2 years, it was essentially a work horse and only let us down a couple of times but that was when it was well over 100k!