R50 terrano

[Markw336]

hi all over the next coming months im looking to buy an r50 shape terrano and for the most part its going to spend most of its life on the road and do a bit of towing but i will take it off road a couple of times a year so will probally put a snorkle a 2inch lift spring kit

just wondering which engine to go for the good old td27 or go for a zd30 or the qd32

[Crash bandicoot]

qd32 ...no comparison.

[BlakeNZ]

do not touch the ZD30.
The TD27 and the QD32 are both good engines, but as Crash has suggested, the extra torque of the 3.2 litre makes it the more desirable choice. there is no real downside in choosing the qd32 over the TD27. Make sure your example drives smoothly throughout the RPM range, otherwise you may be in for a ETi injector pump rebuild in the near future. (both td27 and qd32s have the electronic injection pump in the R50 )

[nickmcdonald]

I'm just seconding what you've already heard.....go for either the TD27 or QD32. When you test drive one, pay attention when you change from Park into Drive or Reverse.....If the injector pump is playing up, the revs will leap then settle, and the truck will give an accompanying shake. And when you initially give it some gas to take off, it will lurch forwards instead of taking off slowly. It will also shudder at motorway speeds. Most people say at around 100kmh but both my R50's have had dodgy injector pumps and they got the shudder at around 80kmh, even more so when under load.

In saying that, both of the R50's ive owned have given injector pump trouble which affected driveability to various degrees, but neither ever stopped driving, and i drove them like that for well over a few years each with neither getting any worse. If you do pick one up with a dodgy injector pump, budget around $2700 (from memory), which will cover the pump and the engine mounts getting replaced, since they're normally flogged out by now.